Excellent audio quality and audio specifications (very low 0.005%THD). If you love 80's audio equipment as much as I do, you'll love this! It's the perfect example: Huge Vacuum Fluorescent Display, tons of buttons, aluminum faceplate, and a very classy appearance. 125Wx2+30Wx3 makes for plenty of power for stereo or home theater. Preamp outs and Amplifier ins allow you to add an outboard Dolby Digital or DTS processor to bring the receiver into the modern era.

It lacks all the modern features you'd find in a modern HT receiver like component video switching, onscreen display, digital inputs, Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, etc. However, back in the early 90's, it didn't have a single weakness that I can think of.

I bought this back in the mid-90's from someone I met on the UseNet in the early days of the Internet. I repaired electronics as a hobby, and this guy had a VSX-9500S with a bad amp channel and sold it to me for $70. When I got it, it was in near mint condition and everything worked! I guess I got lucky and he just had a bad connection or something. I love 80's top-of-the-line consumer electronics with their huge displays, faceplate covered with buttons, and quality construction. The 9500S is no exception; 1/3 of its faceplate is display! It shows a lot of unnecessary information, but man is it beautiful! Every function also has its own button, and the other 2/3 of its faceplate is just that - BUTTONS! Tons of buttons may look intimidating to the technophobe, but to me, it's beautiful and makes the receiver much simpler to operate than a modern one. A modern receiver would have condensed all those buttons into 5 that you have to push in weird combinations to get through some cryptic menu system. The 9500S faceplate is also made of sleek black ANODIZED ALUMINUM! Not cheap plastic like most modern receivers. Even the volume knob is aluminum and has a cool, dampened feel to it. The bottom of its chassis has a honeycomb pattern stamped into it for rigidity. A nice touch that surely added cost, but you won't find such things in a modern receiver. The sound quality is wonderful. Over the years, I have used it to drive some vintage Altec Model Sevens, vintage EPI 100V's, a pair of cheap KLH AV5001 towers, and Celestion AVP305's. No matter what speakers I hooked up to it, it sounded great! When digital started taking over, I didn't want to retire my 9500S. I bought a Technics SH-AC500D Dolby Digital/DTS Processor. Since the 9500S has preamp outputs and amplifier inputs, the SH-AC500D acts as a digital preamp and directly controls the 9500S's 5-channel power amplifiers. Push the LINE button on the AC-500D, and the 500D can connect the 9500S preamp outs to the amp ins so the 9500S works as normal. That solution allowed me to bring the 9500S into the modern era, but it's still a little bit annoying (especially to the wife) to have to keep track of which device is hooked up to the AC-500D, and which is hooked up directly to the 9500S. Digital sources also had to use the 500D's volume control, while analog sources hooked up to the 9500S had to use the 9500S volume control. Not wife friendly at all, so I had to switch to a modern digital receiver. However, the 9500S is just too cool to get rid of. Instead, I have put it to use in the living room where it's primarily used for stereo audio only. If you don't need component video switching or DD/DTS decoding, then I would highly recommend this receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-D1011 Pioneer VSX-5000

versatile, powerful prologic A/V receiver that can drive low impedance loads. switch for 4ohm/8ohm speakers

none

preouts to all channels! powerful...125w/channel stereo(8 ohm), with plenty of dynamic head room...will drive power glutton's Carver AL-III's to reasonable levels (see reviews of AL-III's to get an idea of what kind of feat this is).

Similar Products Used:

many

power and versitility

none for its era

I could not pass by the other reviews without comment. I, too, have owned this receiver for years. I purchased it in 1989 to be the first kid on my block with such a powerful and versitile box...dolby pro and more, pre-amp main in (!!) and pre-amps out to all channels. vidio tape dubbing with enhancements! Mine has been a work horse for over a decade and still is as smooth as silk.
As the years have passed I have moved to some high-end components. never-the -less, the 9500s remains at the heart of my system performing switching functions ( several s-video in and outputs) and continuing to handle some full AV functions as well.

The amp is powerful (front) and will handle 4 ohm loads!

Similar Products Used:

lots

Able to connect almost any A/V equipment to it. Easy to use features. Excellent sound quaility.

None.

I purchased this unit in 1990 while stationed in Japan. It was the floor model and the last one in the store. And I must say, it's given me nothing less than superb performance. When I got this unit many of my friends were buying other more expensive name brand receivers and sourround sound processors, and to my delight this baby sounded as good, if not better, than most of them. The only drawback was the unit tended to run a little hot. I remedied this with a small component fan and the rest, as they say, was history. After 10 years it is still kicking butt. My main speakers are a pair of Klipsch La Scallas, which I also purchased 10 years ago, and the sound quality is excellent. I've seldomly turned the volume past half-way. This is not because there's any problem with the sound or the receivers abilities, but the wife and neighbors do tend to get a little annoyed. Now after so many years of listening pleasure it is time to retire my "baby". She became outdated with the introduction of the new digital surround formats. So in the near future I plan to upgrade to the Pioneer VSX-D908. From what I've been reading I think it will be an excellent replacement for an outstanding receiver.