Great sound at any listening level
Sound retriver mood major plus for listening to D/L music
Connections, Connections and more Connections
HDMI
HiDef components
Can feed analog signals into AV and have it upcovert signal for better picture (must be HDMI out to TV)

None in sound
Remote not backlite

My old ELite 26TX finally died after several years of faithfull service. Still may get it fix and use in another room or sell it. But this 81 has brought my HT system into a new age. The clarity of the music is top notch. I listen to my collection of downloaded music via my Squeezebox, and this AV makes them rival the cds they were ripped from. The sound retriver system works flaws with any file rip at 128kps and above. You rip a file at 230kps or higher and you will be hard press to hear the difference. As with any newer model AV system the 81 has more conections than the average person will need. The IPod and XM radio connections are a big plus if you are into that type of stuff. I looked at the other models in this series and didn't see a reason to spend more on a few more watts.

Customer Service

Hadn't needed them yet after a year of use

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite 26TX
Pioneer VSX 510
Pioneer VSX 505