I have owned this since new in 2004. I went to many stores, read things all over the place on line to narrow down my search and make the chase easier. What I read and what I heard only made the search more drawn out. I was not hearing most of the things I read (about pioneer or other popular brands). There was some correlation though and it boiled down to a choice between this and a Denon model of similar price. Power aside, I found the Pioneer to be more neutral (and much more than all other receivers, especially Yamaha). I can understand why people choose Denon or Marantz - they are both pleasing on the ears - not a bad thing for sure.
But I intended to match this with my existing Triangle speakers and a top of the line dvd player (Pioneer DV-79AVi, which I chose AFTER my selection of this receiver). I've now been living with the Triangle speakers (frt, ctr & surrounds, no rear) for more than 4 years with no inclination to upgrade. The triangles are 6ohm and the receiver powers them just fine as it adjusts for this impedance. I consider these speakers very neutral and revealing. If there were anomalies, I would have heard it and this setup would not have lasted. I also use triangles for my stereo, powered by an Audio Note / Spectral setup and while they sound different, the pioneer does not shame itself for what it does. By comparison to my stereo setup, bright or etched is not how I would describe the VSX-53TX. With attention to pairing this to good speakers and source, this receiver is an honest transcriber of the music or movies.

pioneer elite is said to be warm or easier on the ears than yamaha, denon sony but i found the top end to be bright and biting even on my paradigms what others called 'detailed'. pe is overrated and overpriced. definitely has lots of power as others claim.