cheap price

horrible surround and extremely complicated remote and options

Its the worst thing money can buy. If you are looking for a cheaper sound, go buy a mini system. Just don't buy this system. I feel so happy having just returned it. Infact my TV sounds better without this receiver driving the speakers!!

I bought the whole system HTP-209 that comes with Pioneer. The whole thing is horrible. Not going back to Pioneer products anymore

Sounds great, nice DSP's, impressive soundfield depth and width,

options in set up not quite as varied as other recievers, bass could drop a lil lower, not as easy to navigate as some.

Replaced my JVC 6000 with this one. Now, the experience with the other reciever may color this review, but hey..this thing just sounds REALLY smooth. The soundfield is nice and large, and when sounds move from one speaker to the other, they just don't hop over, they seem to glide over. other reviews mention how it runs hot, but I've left this thing on overnight and it's never gotten above barely warm with me. Only problems are that in order to get the sub to kick in like it should, I have to set the front speakers to small...now, that's not too bad for me, since my 8" JBL's low end response tends to bottom out pretty harshly anyway, but people with some powerful 8" and 10"'s front speakers will probably be irritated that they're essentially turning those woofers into midranges. (then again, you got speakers like that, you should probably be looking at a step up in recievers anyway) The lowest crossover point is at 100 Hz, too, but the sound doesn't seem to suffer for it. Plus, the remote isn't as irritating as others have found, although using it to navigate tends to be a little bothersome the first few times. But these are minor nitpicks, honestly. For the price, the sound is amazing, and the full range of sounds is reproduced nicely. I'm a hip hop head, so I would like just a TAD more bass, but it's nothing an equalizer doesn't fix for me, anyway. I'm sure for most people, the bass should be sufficient. Regardless, it's a very good buy for the price.

Similar Products Used:

JVC

Awesome Price. Great Sound for even Analog systems. Not tooo advanced so that us with older systems can get great sound plus great sound with Digital Inputs too.Lots'o'speakers

Bad Remote.

This reciever is the greatest for its value and it has really great features. The Pionner system can really dish out awesome sound and Power. The bass has a slight lackage, but can be fixed by crankin' it up! The Sound is awesome,it dishes out 2 channel and up to 5.1 channel. A person with a DVD player and a 1 yr old TV will be happy. It has the old Analog Dolby ProLogic as well as The new Dolby 5.1 and DTS 5.1. A GREAT BUY

Similar Products Used:

Lifestyle receiver

Pounds pretty good with upper mid-range speakers. Good price for the features you get.

High quality big speakers, require higher quality receiver. Remote....buttons too damn small. Needs 3 optical inputs rather than the 2 it has.

Good base model for anyone just starting out. Gives a good introduction to the world of Surround Sound.

NONE!

Every aspect of this reciever is absolute garbage! NO JOKE!!

Eric (last reviewer) said it all!
How did pioneer come up with 100w x channel? Read the specs. What a rip off!
Although I must say that this reciver would be fine for someone who couldn't care about sound whatsoever.

Ease of setup. Smoothness of transition among channels. Soundfields.

Small remote.

First off, thanks to everyone else who took the time for their in depth postings here. They've helped me decide on many different products.

That said, I'm very happy with this unit. With uBid, eBay, and the rest, I wonder why anyone bothers to pay retail anymore. From my exhaustive price/features comparison, this Pioneer unit is hard to beat.

The biggest thing I was worried about in researching surround sound was speaker settings, or more specifically speaker delays. All the frustration of figuring out formulae wasn't necessary because for this unit, you just input your speaker distances and the unit does the rest!

Is otherwise a very clear and full sound, be it DVDs or CDs. Obviously, no one will confuse KLH with Bose anytime soon, but I'm still happy with the results. Of course, for the best overall sound get the best cables you can find to make up for getting the cheaper speakers.

I have the same complaint as everyone else about the remote (small overall, small buttons). However, it's easy to use once you get used to it.

Make sure to make Matrix or Jurassic Park one of your first DVDs. You won't regret it.

Similar Products Used:

None. Is my first 5.1 surround sound system. Used with KLH surround speakers with 100W powered sub.

Great sound & power

Small, cluttered remote

This is a first home theater system. I purchased the htp-209 kit that comes with front, center, surround speakers and powered subwoofer. It's combined with a Toshiba 55" screen TV and Toshiba DVD player. Terrific home theater system with this setup. Considering the low total cost to me of $369 + tax with free delivery from buy.com, it's a real bargain.

It took a little while to figure out the setup and remote, but once that's done, everything can be configured well to suit individual preferences. I suppose a real audiophile would want something more, but for 90%+ of listeners, I can't imagine going wrong with this system.

Similar Products Used:

Replaces ~18 year old Fisher 2 channel system

remote, options, sound, quality

confusing, at first...then there's no weaknesses

i got this receiver just about 5 months ago and i must say it is one hell of a good receiver. i got it for about $400 canadian and 2001 audio store and it's been worth every penny.

once i first cracked it open i loved the look of it, everything you needed was on the front and it looked pretty good. it was easy to plug in, nothing complicated. at first it was really confusing, trying to learn how the thing work and whatnot. then i realized the remote controlled the mojority of the function, then that's where the receiver was amazing. i adjested the sound to make it perfect for everything, movies, TV and video games. The sound is clear and powerful, non of those fake weak receivers that don't live up to their wattage. this one really cranks the power when you need it.

therefore, if you're looking for an excellent receiver for an excellent price i would suggest going for this pioneer receiver. it sounds great but the only downfall is it takes a little time to get use to but when you pass that stage it's all smooth sailing from there...

buy it!!!

Similar Products Used:

nothing

Came with a free Pioneer 6-disk CD Changer (I already had a 101 changer but it was a nice touch) Surround Sound, adjusts sound to compensate for no sub. with 12" front speakers almost dont need one.

May not run "hot" but still generates a lot of heat. It has to sit at the top of my A/V stack because it heats up my CD changer and equilizer too much. No S-Video in/out. Doesn't affect me because my TV only has RCA Composite inputs.

Great player for the cost, I'd been shopping around for a long time looking for something good to fit my budget. I had just about given up when I found this deal. Sound output is great, no noticible hiss. I haven't had the chance to try a Dolby Digital DVD with all four speakers yet because I havent upgraded from a computer DVD-ROM to a real DVD player. I did try it once before I had all five speakears and the sound output was crystal clear through the two fronts. I used a splitter on the analog output of my CD changer to connect it to the 5.1 Input so I could have four speaker CD audio and it sounds great. I wish this was a built in feature because I listen to music more often than I watch movies. Either the "line-level" output from my Pioneer CD Changer is too strong or the pickup is too weak but the oversample light blinks a lot during CD play. I can't hear any audible oversample but the light indicates its happening. Forget about using the equilizer. It causes major sound distortion even at small adjustments. My older audio only receiver didn't have this problem. Overall a great receiver for someone on a budget.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer VS309 (c. early 90's)

great features, nice sounding DTS and Dolby Digital, 100 x 5 watts (!), DSP's are better than most I've heard.

stereo mode, could use S-Video inputs and outputs (guess thats what the 509 is for).

This receiver has worked like a charm ever since I took it out of its packaging. The overall build quality is right up there, and the price for the features is nice too. If you are looking for a good receiver for your home theater at a good price, definitely check this out. As for the stereo mode, I thought it was a bit lacking in presence, but thats just my personal taste. With all this going for, it marks high in my book.

Similar Products Used:

Sony and Kenwood receivers.