i think its a great buy 11 yrs. ago and still works great.

user friendly and many options

Lack of high end power, quality of DPL processor, and use of connectors

I have had this receiver for over a year now, and it has served me well. Until very recent, this receiver did everything I wanted. For the price I paid, I couldn't ask for anything more. It playes music beautifuly at lower volumes (and this to me is volume where my room isn't shaking) and works well with my VCR for movies. It is extremely simple to use, besides looking up weird fact I didn't have to use the manual but once every few months. The weeknesses, as I stated above, are the lack of power at higher volumes. For being a 500 watt amp. it should be a little cleaner. And the annoying pinch connectors. These limit the use of higher quality cable.
Over all the time spent with this receiver is very positive. It does what it is designed to do, and does it well. It is not an audiophile level component, and it was not intended to be. The problems are small, and if you find that they are problems, then it is time to bump up in quality anyway. I give this product 4 stars

I currently own this AVR for about 9 months. It has 3 video & 4 audio inputs with one of the video inputs set for 5.1 format so you will need an outboard processor (I use the Technics SH-AC500D a great budget one for $99) or a DVD with a DD decoder (get one that can also pass a DTS signal). I picked this up at BEST BUY because it was a customer return (for $189) and having pretty good experience with this product decided to buy it. This AVR also has a remote that is preprogrammed to control other brands CD, Tape, DVD, LD, VCR, TV, and of course the AVR itself (ironic that it is not programmed to control outboard processors, but this seems to be common among DD ready AVRs). This AVR also has a lot of DSP fields (for someone who really doesn't care for them) like the following: Virtual Surround, SRS1, SRS2, Hall, Jazz, Dance, Theater 1, Theater 2, Dialogue (handy for low volume listening though I prefer DRC), and 5D Theater; and none which can be used when you use the 5.1 inputs. The AVR also has the standard DPL which can used with all but the first three DSP fields mentioned earlier. I will start this review with the points of dislikes and performance so I can present what I consider an honest evaluation of this product.
The main thing I will start with is the dislike as this is something that will immediately determine whether you should consider this product for purchase as some of the inconvieniences might make you look for another product. The three main thing that I dislike about this product are 1) pinch connectors: limits the option to use the better grade cables (plus most people who gets in this hobby will eventually use banana plugs or binding posts which are far superior for sound, durability, and easy of use), 2) direct access remote: why must a person keep hitting the function key to get to desired source and then hit the multi-control (really stupid considering they have a better remote that direct accesses and source controls after pushing one button), 3) LARGER VIEW PANEL: if you are not going to use OSP/GUI then have a panel that you can read from a reasonable distance (since you have to use the remote to control most of the functions anyway). The company is called Pioneer but heck it's not even Pioneering the basics of common sense designs and ergonomics.

Now performance, this receiver is somewhat perculiar and is not an audiophile product. Most loud and deep music this AVR excels most of mine and some of my friends expectations for such as hard rock, rap, and classical music that uses the lower end instruments (organs and drums) and should be rated a 4. This AVR shows some muddiness for vocals at low volumns and doesn't do transitions and decay of high pitched instruments like flutes, dulcimers, and cymbals very well considering I run bright speakers (Radio Shack PRO-X77 LCRs, PRO-LX5 rears, and two SW-14P passive subs) and seems to be improved with Dialogue DSP (but not to well with the bass/treble control) and should only be rated a 2 for this type of performance and easy music listening. I was somewhat disappointed with the performace of this AVR for movies in DPL using both the VCR and the analog inputs from my DVD (Creative Labs on my computer) without using the DSP (Theater 1, Dialogue, or 5D depending on volume level and type of movies), without the DSP a 2, with the correct DSP a 4, and having to use the DSP 0. This thing truely was phenomenal on DD (haven't tried DTS yet) and shook my bedroom with more authority than I thought possible considering it had to power the passive subs: the shotgun blasts from Desperadoes and the thunder in Unforgiven sent chills down my spine, and the bass beats in the opening scenes of Blade made me almost have flashbacks to my youth when I used to go clubbing; obviously the on board processors were very disappointing but when used to power for an outboard decoder it was very impressive (5 stars).

If you want an AVR for music and ease of use do not buy this product as you can find much better for a similar price. If you want to use this to watch TV and VCRs again I suggest buy another product. If you want something that excels in the 5.1 channel field this receiver is clean and brutal (didn't even clip at full power for 1 hour straight which is a first for the 3 Pioneer receivers I have owned) and will make you happy as long as don't use it's own processors and literally use it as a 5 channel amp. By the way I forgot to mention two things 1) the AM/FM tuner is not very sensitive and you will need to get a better antenna, and 2) it has a switch to use speakers for 8-16ohms or 6-16ohms (I tried a friends 6 Ohm speakers and couldn't hear a difference). MY overall advice buy something else because I think that they could have used binding posts, a better remote (I can use the 606S remote on this and this is what it should have came with), and the internal DPL seems inferior to the older models (my previous 455 and my main room 606S are the previous Pioneer line-up and I can hear the obvious differences) and this is marketed on the principal that newer should be improved. To be honest I rate this a 4 for myself because I usually don't listen to music on this and the price I paid made this a better bargain. If I had to pay what it retails for I rate this a 2 as their are some better products for price to performance ratio (Aiwa and Technics). I usually do give the products I buy a one star higher rating based on price but I won't on this one.

Pretty much it is doing an ok job for now. However, in Pro-Logic Mode, the audio will sometimes shift from being balanced up front to sounding like it is coming from the left. Also, one of the pinch connectors is somewhat delicate now. The decoding isn't the best that I've heard, but since I paid $200 for it in February, I guess that I wasn't exactly expecting the best, but then again, I wasn't expecting this type of decoding.
However, I believe that it works fine when my Technics DD/DTS decoder is hooked up to it. Despite being a little noisy, it can work great at higher volumes without much distortion, but to a point, you will get distortion.

Now, I'm wishing that I had spend $500-600 at the time since I now want to get the receiver fixed so that I can sell it & the decoder (at least it is working fine) so that I can afford to spend no more than $800 for another DD/DTS receiver. However, on an engineering college student budget, I guess that what I have will do for now unless that $800 receiver (Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, H/K, Marantz) all of the sudden has a fantastic deal staring me in the face.

First of all like many company's Pioneer lies about its true power. It is not a true 100watts x 5. In surround mode the reciever is rated @ 1khz not over the entire frequency range. Pioneer packed a ton of features into this reciever but left out the preformance. I am borrowing this reciever from work temperarly. I am running a Pair of Klipsch Forte's and a Klipsch KSP-C6 center channel. Each of these speaker is very bright and deatailed which replicates all the weaknesses of this amp. The sound of this amp is way to "tinny" for lack of a better work. I am currently saving for an Onkyo 575.

looks, sound at moderate volumes
hookups and power

sound at high volumes
quality of power

i think overall it is a good reciever but a better quality amplifier could help with sound

it has some power??

low sound quality. poor sound definition. crappy connections etc etc

Having used pioneer products in the past, and been very satisfied i really expected more from this amp/reciever...i have been most dissapointed with this amps performance and sincerely wish i had invested a few extra dollars and gone for a harmon kardon or onkyo. I have had this amp to a specialist stereo supplier and ran it in comparison to the harmon kardon and onkyo and there is just nothing good to say about this amp in comparison to these models. I should say that this amp was bought as a package,,, pioneer cs 5100 speakers and a dud set of pioneer sorround & front speakers and also a pioneer sub woofer and c.d player.(package cost around $1100 u.s) Realisticly it is my own fault for expecting quality at such a price i suppose..... BUT ANYWAY NOW HAVING A LITTLE MORE EXPERIENCE, IN MY OPINION THE WHOLE PACKAGE SOLD AS "TURBO SUB PACKAGE" WAS VERY DISSAPOINTING INDEED. I WOULD BE EMBARRESSED TO SELL THIS EQUIPMENT TO ANYONE THAT I CONSIDER A FRIEND.
The only part of this package which i will be keeping is the c.d player which isn't too bad.I have just put a deposit on the onkyo 575x (approx 399 u.s)to replace this amp and will glad to see the back of the pioneer, and will be replacing all of the rest of this system as the budget allows. Sorry pioneer you have definatly lost me forever....................

kIND REGARDS YOUR DISAPOINTED CUSTOMER.....

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