Great Price, Dolby Digital, DTS, Features for price (midnight mode, DSP modes, etc.)

Remote is hard to handle, reciever must be set high (70 % max) for DVD's

PRO: For the price, this reciever can't be beat. The sound is clear, and crisp and I haven't noticed any hissing in stereo mode. Midnight mode is a big plus and the setup is relatively easy. A friend recently bought a Yamaha and all the features present on the Yamaha (which cost $100 more) are on this unit.
CON: The remote is small and awkward to use; the master volume control is hard to opperate with one hand. Binding post connections for the front speakers would have been nice. I have also noticed that listening to CD's in Prologic mode caused the overload light on the front panel to flash even at low/moderate volumes, but I haven't noticed any distortion in the sound. If anyone has any hints on what's going on they would be appreciated.

Overall is a great reciever for the price for both home audio and home theater use, provided you don't mind listening to music in stereo as opposed to surround.

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Mitsubishi

Price, Performance , digital inputs for LD and DVD , Sound , DTS, Dolby Digital

Remote is basic but for 199.00 who cares. Music is a little bright.

Had a chance to listen to many rec. side by side using BIC home theater speakers . I went out and bought an okyo, kenwood, hk... oUT OF THE THREE, I liked the kenwood for theater and music clenliness. Then I saw this pioneer with both DTS & Dolby digital. I listened to it with full volume up , no signal, speakers sounded clear no hissing or humming you hear on entry recievers. With 2 digital inputs my DVD sounds great and so does my laserdisc. It has a midnight feature that is very usefull and can also be expanded for future stereo modes. DTS sounds great, and DD is clean across all channles. Alos the rec has 2 sets of front speakers so that you can have front speakers in another room for music. It does not have SVHS inputs , but I believe that video signals should go directly in your sets inputs that way you are sure to have a clean signal from DVD, LD to the TV. There is no middle unit that ie the reciever that will distort the video signal while passing it through the rec. Loudness feature is also nice touch as far as increasing boom. I have 125 watt speakers all across and I usually watch movies at volume 30 to 31 level. I usually have to turn the DVD movies volume higher than norm, but the unit still remains clear and highly audible. The unit also has sub woofer output. I can't even imagine how good this unit sounds until I have that in place.

Only setback I noticed was that music was a little bright.
If this unit had the sound EQ button that the Onkyo has, it would be perfect. Bright can be described like the sound when the treble is turned up to high.

I am sold all the way.

With the extra money left over I bought the best NTSC set on the market Hitachi 53sbx59B
I have an awesome theater set up with these two pieces. I will add a subwoofer to the system soon, even though it really doesn't need one.

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Kenwoods , Onkyo,Denon, Harmon K. ect

easy to set up , price, good for home theater

music listening not satisfactory, level not adjustable enough

good for theater, but found music listening somewhat lacking for those who like to tweak audio with EQ unless you like music in sourrond mode. i could not imagine this system without a powered sub. allover, for the price I paid I cant complain. on a personal note I did not get a manuel with the open box. open for suggestions if any one has any.

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pioneer 3300 dolby sourrond

easy to set up , price, good for home theater

music listening not satisfactory, level not adjustable enough

good for theater, but found music listening somewhat lacking for those who like to tweak audio with EQ unless you like music in sourrond mode. i could not imagine this system without a powered sub. allover, for the price I paid I cant complain. on a personal note I did not get a manuel with the open box. open for suggestions if any one has any.

Similar Products Used:

pioneer 3300 dolby sourrond

This is a follow up to my post directly below:

As for the bass.. well, thats the limitations of this equipment.. although its lacking, there doesnt seem to be a problem with it mechanically. Guess I'll have to buy a sub now!

As for the surrounds, there is no problem there either. Seems that since I'm using them in standard stereo mode, they wont turn on at all, even if I hit the button to turn those speakers on (A & B). The only time they leap into action is when they are being used in a DTS/DSP mode, and the soundtrack calls for sounds to be put out of those speakers. I checked it out and the tech guy was correct... they sounded pretty good.

My original review of 4/5 and 4/5 still stands.

Sound clarity

Bass lacking.

Although I couldnt call myself an audiophile (I cant afford the top of the line equipment), I do have a set of ears in good working order! With that said, I do like how clean the music comes out of this box, and could recommend it for that reason alone... however, please read on.

I do have one burning issue that I hope to get resolved with Pioneer, and that is the lack of bass in the low range. I do not have a sub, but was under the impression before buying this, that the subwoofer option could be turned off via the setup mode, and therefore all low tones would default to the main speakers (set to large). I have JBL SVA1800 speakers, with sub ports built in, and they sound TERRIFIC in the low range. Although the low sounds do emminate from the Pioneer, they dont radiate out.. its VERY lackluster. I had the JVC 558 for 3 years, and that sucker would just pump out the low tones, and keep them rolling, (think of a thunder clap in the middle of a summertime storm rolling across the sky). Once you get used to those types of sounds you cant go back. I checked the manual and tried EVERYTHING I could think of.. but still, lackluster in the low bass range..AAAAKKK! Also, according to their manual, the specs in the Pioneer are better then the specs on the JVC. I sent out an email to Pioneer last week, but got the normal automatic return email telling me to call their 800 number. I will be putting out a call to Pioneer tonight in hopes they might have some magic potion to fix this.

Also, for some odd reason, I cant get my surrounds to work either, even with my main speakers & the surrounds on the B connection. I hear NOTHING on the surrounds, but I know they work because if I push TEST on the remote, I hear the test tones in all 4 speakers.

If anyone has any ideas (I dont have a lot of faith in any type of tech support anymore), or having similar problem please email me at ralsch@peoplepc.com

Similar Products Used:

JVC 558

Value, Dolby Digital and DTS decoder

Settings for speakers A and B are not independent (see below)

This is a great receiver for home theater.

I hooked up two sets of speaker for home theater (A) and music (B). I wanted to use the subwoofer with the HT but not with the Music speakers. I used the subwoofer preout to connect the subwoofer.
It turns out that if I set the HT speakers (A) to "small" so that I can control the crossover frequency to the subwoofer, this affects the Music (B) speakers and doesn't send the full range of frequencies to them. So I had to change the speaker settings and shut off the subwoofer everytime I needed to use the B speakers.
I finally gave up and bought a separate amp and preamp for the music speakers and kept this receiver for HT. So it forced me to the world of higher end audio!

It also doesn't have preouts (except for the subwoofer) otherwise I would have connected the B speakers to an amp and used this receiver as the preamp.

I wish the remote was a learning one but it only has set codes to control other components.

On the positive side, I tried both Dolby Digital and DTS and it works beautifully, no shortage of power or clarity here.

HT System:
DVD Player: Toshiba SD1200
Speakers: Paradigm Cinema (6 speaker set)

Summary: Great for Home Theater, not so good for music (for my needs anyway). But I really can't complain for the price. I'd buy it again for Home Theater.

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None. Compared to friends' Denons and other Pioneers

Everything, totaly awsome receiver for the price, plenty of a/v ins and outs, dts and dd decoding is verryy nice. Listening to some Beatles right now and they sound great!

Somewhat confusing at first.

Had it for 6 or 7 months and it totaly rocks. Good theater, good music good everything. DSP modes are helpful for us poeple with old 5 disc changers that are just analog. Kicks all on my dvd player and thumps out the base for games. I can turn it up loud enough to hear footsteps half way across any counterstrike map.

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Really old 2 channel.