Great Dvd sound, loads of features,

Difficult remote controller, RDS

This is a great receiver. Digital sound is just fantastic(especcialy witf a dvd movie). There are a lot of entrees, and there isn't any lose of quality by using 2 headspeakers + 2 surround + 1 center.

Great receiver, just buy it !

Excellent value. Once you have read the operator's manual and figured out the remote, very versatile.

You need to take the time to read through the manual and play with the remote to get the best out of it

After having seen it in the Audio Advisor catalog at $599, I was very surprised to see it in Costco at $263! I had been looking for the VSX-509S (at $199) but, luckily for me, they were sold out.

Using it with the Anthony Gallo HT speaker system (with passive subwoofer) and a Pioneer DV414 DVD player, I have been very pleasantly surprised at the quality of sound from this combination. I have now started to look out for the DTS symbol on any DVD's I watch as it yields the most entertainment (e.g. Paul Simon's "You're The One" DVD and Disney's Fantasia 2000 DVD). My audio system (Maggies, Musical Fidelity amp, MSB Link DAC and Pioneer DVD) has been unused since I bought the receiver ten days ago! I am quickly developing a taste for concert DVD's to use on the new system.

Two other testimonials come from my wife and our dog:
My wife, who is normally cynical of my audiophile activities, has just kicked me out of our new home theater room to watch one of her movies.
While watching Moonstruck, our dog was completely captivated by the sounds of the dogs being taken out for a walk. She also ran for cover to hide from the "thunderstorm" she heard on Fantasia.

A few slight negatives, but nothing that I can't live with:
It is heavy at nearly 40#, so you do need to service the rear panel like a car (you have to move around it and not the other way around).
It is going to take a little more time to get familiar with all of the features and how they operate (but then that makes it a hobby for a while so maybe it balances out?).
Bass is a little light, but that is more of function of the passive subwoofer I'm using and not the receiver. It is still tight, clean, fast and entertaining bass nonetheless.

My final comment is more of a suspicion/hypothesis as I have no facts to back it up. The Pioneer and the Gallos are possibly a good match because the "liveliness" of the audio from the receiver is nicely balanced out by the slight "darkness" of the speakers. So maybe buyers might not be as lucky as I was and may need to be careful matching up speakers?

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My first a/v receiver

Plenty of neat bells & whistles. Input autodetect is great. Nice styling.

All show, not so much go.

I bought this some months ago (and had a problem with my original one). After having it replaced, and spending a few months with it, I thought I'd revisit the issue.

I find it a very flexible, feature-rich receiver. It's got more inputs and outputs than I can shake a stick at, which is great. The input autodetect feature is really great as well. I find it pretty easy to use, and I like the styling. The pull down panel at the front and large, speed-sensitive volume knob are great.

That said, I think buying it was a mistake for me. My primary usage is for music (2-channel), and when listening to music, I think this thing falls short. Granted my PSB Image 5Ts are somewhat harder to drive than your regular department store crap, but this thing fails to generate any appreciable bass from them. It's really just incapable of powering the 4Ohm PSBs optimally. Don't get me wrong, it's okay. Certainly not bad. Just not anywhere close to being in the same league as the PSBs. And for the money I payed for it (at the time, it's cheaper now), I feel like it should be a bit better. Less show, more go, please.

My overall experience has been that this is a very 'Circuit City-grade' piece of equipment. Great for Joe consumer to use with his Technics speakers, not so great for people who really like GOOD sound. It doesn't do my PSB Image 5Ts any sort of justice.

None thus far

Overrated power levels,poor remote,gets hot

I bought this for my home theater setup. I am sorry I did. you need to crank the volume dial up high to get appreciable volume out. This thing gets hot so you need lots of ventilation. I also have the Yamaha rx-v995 and I can tell you it runs cool. The remote is poorly laid out and I could not get certain keys to operate so I had to do it from the front panel of the receiver. The manual is not much help and is rather confusing. If I had to do over I would have purchased a Yamaha or Denon receiver.

Good while it lasted ...

Didn't last

Well, I just bought this. Brought it home, hooked it up, played it for 3 hours (not very loud), and it died on me. Sounded okay until it croaked. Will get it replaced tomorrow, and update then.

Awesome reproduction of DVDs, automatic signal selection (digital or analog), Remote learns everything.

Very deep - had to cut out back of my cabinet!

I purchased (and reviewed) the Pioneer 509S from Costco about 6 months ago. I found the 709S at Costco - and took my 509 back - Kudos to Costco for making the trade! The 509 was $199, this was $269, and well worth the $70.

We primarily use the receiver to drive our system for watching DVDs and digital cable (time warner) movies - some of which are now actually being sent down the cable in DD (pretty cool in itself). As I mentioned above in the strengths, the 709 will automatically switch back & forth between analog/digital/DD/DTS signals - the 509 had to do it manually (it would get caught in Pro-logic mode and wouldn't "downshift" to DD or DTS) Reprdoduction of these digital signals is awesome. After taking the time to set up the system (lengthy, but not too bad if you follow the manual) - I popped in "Armageddon" and watched the scene where they were landing on the asteroid. I felt like I was on that rocket with them....

My ears can't discern minute differences between the 509 and 709 - but in general, the 709 strikes me as fuller, cleaner sound - excellent effects in movies - the sounds come out of the speakers very cleanly - in "Matrix" - you can almost discern which gun each bullet comes from (so it seems!)

Similar to the 509, the remote will learn anything. I'm using one remote to power the Pioneer receiver & DVD/CD (503) player, the JVC VCR, the General Instruments Digital Cable box, and the Sharp TV.

If you go to the pioneer home page & read the description of the low-end "elite" receivers - (I can't remember exactly which one - the 33 maybe?) - it reads exactly like the description of the 709. Look at the front/back panel pictures. Both the same. Now I know there's probably some minor internal differences, but you're getting awfully close to having an elite receiver for $269.

Highly recommended.

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Pioneer D-509S

Good clean power

No DVD audio output... Why not? All of the other inputs have 'em.

I am satisfied with the power and cleanliness of this receiver's signal. It's driving a set of klipsch quintets which are far from that company's top of the line and for home theater I am very, very pleased. The seperation is extremely good and the power is more than enough to envelop me in more sound than I have ever experienced in any theater.

The setup is easy and well thought out in my opinion, but the manual is a bit shaky. They could have spent a little more time editing and proofreading it.

For the price I paid ($212 plus shipping), I am very satisfied with the 709S but should point out the glich posted on the PioneerElectronics web site. Apparently a small percentage of the 709S and two other Elite models have a capacitor or resistor issue. It appears to have been corrected on my unit.

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SONY A/V Receiver

Fabulous sound, Easy setup once you figure out the manual, Great learning remote, Looks good too.

Hard to understand manual

The only reason I was easy to set this unit up is I already own a 509S. It is quite dirrefent in some areas, but if you know Pioneer's logic somewhat, it's really not too hard. This unit is great! Exceptional sound, quite different from the 509S, not that it was bad or anything, just a more refined sound. Quite a lot of power, not atomic or anything, but more than adequate in a 10' x 20' room. Good feature is you can rename the inputs with up to 10 characters. 2 digital coax and 2 toslink. Not having D. coax kept me from buying some other units such as the Technics SADA 10N.Also has "B" speakers for the mains. No problem with overheat on this unit. Maybe they corrected production somewhere along the way. It is barely warm to the touch on the top or sides. These units are discontinued and are pretty cheap if you look around. The Canadian list was $699, I ended up getting it for $160, which is about the equivelant of $20 U.S.! Anyway, if you are looking for decent H.T. receiver, but don't want to blow the whole load, check this one out.

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VSX-D509S

many inputs, clean sound, auto switching

low, muted sound reproduction (see below)

I just bought one of these discontinued units recently so forgive me if this inquiry seems a bit dated.

I have been reading this forum and I appear to be encountering the low volume problem that some others have been experiencing. I was very thorough in going through all the settings to ensure the proper settings but I still can not generate full and loud sound reproduction from this unit. When watching dvd, I need to crank the volume up to
-15 to generate full theatre sound but even then the dialogue from the centre channel still seems muted. Similarly, the rear surrounds are unable to produce significant volume. Considering that the volume ranges from -80 to 12, this volume setting is at nearly 80% of maximum! Most amps that I have used barely creep beyond 40% of full volume. The same behaviour exists with satellite tv, tuner and vcr.

I am using the JBL N-series 5 spk set with a 12" Sony sub.

I would appreciate any feedback, even a simply reply indicating the maximum level that you use to generate appreciable sound.

Thanks in advance.

Great quality, Great power. Nice bass with loudness function.

Quite difficult instruction.

I don't understand why people say you have to pump up the volume to hear something. Maybe it depends on the loudspeakers. The volume should't be set higher than -45.

Dvd Sounds ok depending on movie.

Just a cool reciever nothing less nothing more.