Great Price, clean lines, easy to see LCD

Buttons poorly placed, volume buttons in a bad spot

Being new to the HT world this rec. came highly recommended. I have had good luck with pioneer in the past. My system includes: 2 paradigm 3SE fronts, 2 paradigm micro rears, 1 8" 250w paradigm sub. I use the TV as my Center. I was going to buy the technics of the same level, but in my opinion the pioneer has more high end options for low end price.
I am really pleased with this unit & would recommend it to anyone getting into HT. I watch more movies now than ever, just for the sound.

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None

Excellent DD & DTS; good power, lotsa inputs, affordable.

Remote is small and not backlit; takes a bit of time to learn how to setup

I bought the 409 after doing a fair amount of homework on receivers in the $300-400 range. Pioneer is not top of the line, but I am no audiophile either. I wanted a unit I could build a HT around, and still be able to listen to Pink Floyd loud! This model does all that, and more. [NOTE: while it has 3 digital inputs (1 coax, 2 optical); it took me a fair amount of time to configure it so I could get digital output.] It drives a pair of Polk RT1000i main speakers, and I get as much bass as I can handle. The surround sounds good to me, but again, I am just a enthusiast, no expert. For the money, this receiver has proven to be a great value, and the few times I've had to call Pioneer proved to be productive. Highly recommended.

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Really old Sansui analog

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

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Lifestyle receiver

A/B main speaker option; multiple usable digital inputs (2 opti 1 coax

The 100 watt spec is a joke

Sort of a cross post review. I have little to add to the other 409 reviews other than I want to say start with the Pioneer VSX309 if you do not care about A/B speaker and multiple digital inputs (I don't believe most consumers will need these features) If the 309 is sufficiently loud enough for you, stick with it. If it is not loud enough, you will need to go "up a notch" and look towards Onkyo or Yamaha receivers because the 409 100watt spec will not suffice.

I did not get to listen to both receivers back to back, but within a couple hours and the 409 only seemed to be about 5db louder at the same volume settings. Certainly not 40watts louder than the 309 (see my 309 review for more details) Nothing wrong with 409 if you need the features I listed, I'm just a little disgruntled over the watt spec and that I had to shell out quite a few extra bucks for a Yamaha HTR5240 to get the juice I needed.

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Pioneer 309, Old pro-logic Technics, Yamaha HTR5240

lots of features and price

none at this price range

I have wrote two earlier reviews about selling a home theatre package and I have had many emails about people interested.I screwed up because I assumed the price the shipping company gave me was with insurance and I was very wrong.It would cost more to ship the product with insurance than you could get it from your nearest price club or costco.I would totally recommend the product because I use it myself and I love it.You deffinetly need a sub with it and that is why the HT package is great.The sub works in all modes and I am not sure what the guy above me is talking about.The only this that I found wrong with the reciever was that it had no digital outs so you could not hook up a CD Recorder.They put three Digital inputs and no outputs.Great product and this proves the theory that more money doesn't necessarilly mean better.If you need a good set of speakers get the Axiom M3Ti.Go to soundstage.com and read the awesome review it got from the proffesionals,not salesman.This speaker should be three times the price and it will keep up with the bose 501's any day.I paid $280.00 canadian for mine and it blew money back at me when I took a pis.
Sorry about the tripple posting but I can't keep up with the emails and I realize the web page is for reviews and even I get pissed of when people post twenty times to give it a bad or good rating.

If you want to laugh hard go to speakers and Acoustic 3311 and read the story about the WHITE VAN.TOO FUNNY.

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Kenwood VR-407

Fabulous DD/DTS. Really good CD/TV sound quality. Easy multibrand setup.

Uninformative manual. Cluttered, small remote.

Great product for the price. I got the floor model (just the receiver w/no speakers) and got a super deal. The DD and DTS are incredible. I don't have a powered subwoofer (mine is connected through the front speakers) but after playing with the settings, I find the bass very acceptable. I found the manual not very informative. It took me quite a bit of time to figure out how to modify the settings. The remote is a bit cluttered. I am starting to get used to it but I will probably go out and buy a learning remote anyways. I cannot stress enough how good a unit this is for the money. I'm glad I read up on this receiver on this review site before I made my purchase. Thanx guys.

lots of nik nacks and the price of the reciever alone is close to the price of the whole home theatre package.

none that I could find for the price range

I wrote an earlier review 2 reviews down.The system I am selling is a home theatre package from pioneer and it has the pioneer D409, 100watt sub, and five 100watt surround sound speakers.They are brand new from pioneer and I order them from a warehouse and ship them directly to the customer.I did make a mistake though and I said that I will be selling them for $350.00 US when I am actually selling them for $450.00 US because I buy them for $600.00 canadian about $400 US and I would lose money at that price.I am also selling a TEAC AG-D9320 reciever for $450.00 US and a TEAC CD Recorder RW-D250 for $375 US and all of these products are brand new and as I recieve an order they are shipped directly from the warehouse to the customer.I have not opened my web site yet but it will be opening soon and I will post the address.If you have any questions please feel free to email me.I will also have many other Items on the web site like DVD players,VCRs, speakers and cd players.
Sorry about the double posting.

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kenwood Vr407

Great sound for a good price. Remote operates all my accessories. Midnight mode.

Small remote with buttons in poor places.

I am very pleased with this receiver. Not only does it produce great sound but it has a number of features that make a big difference. In particular I like the midnight mode which allows my me to listen to great surround sound at night when my children are asleep. I also liked the ability to pass video signals through the system eliminating the need for a separate video switching box.

Excellent power..drives my speakers far better than my previous amp. (Pioneer SX-202R)
DTS !

Nothing obvious. The remote is a little fiddly.

This unit has been the best home entertainment buy I've ever made. For the price it rocks ! Lots of features, sounds great !

Many features only found on higher-end receivers, such as loudness, midnight mode, and bass+ on sub-preout.

Occasionally weak pro-logic decoding.

I agree with the majority of the positive reviews on this sight. Just two things:

(1) For all those reviewers complaining about a lack of bass, are you using the loudness setting?! This setting is a must for getting a full bass sound. Also, for subwoofer use in non-surround as well as surround mode, select the sub+ option in the menu.
(2) The receiver claimed the input from my CD carousel was 'overloading' when playing a hip-hop CD with very strong bass. The sound was absolutely fine, but the receiver was telling me the signal was being distorted. Probably a result of the strong bass.
(3) The decoding in pro-logic mode sometimes seems weaker than higher-end receivers such as the Technics DA8K.

Otherwise, a very solid reciever.

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Technics GX-350, Technics DA8K