Pioneer VSX-D810S A/V Receivers
Pioneer VSX-D810S A/V Receivers
[Mar 11, 2002]
DBerry
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Great learning remote, flexibility, good cost/specs. ratio
Weakness:
Difficult to find at this price, however, the speaker terminals seem a bit flimsy I have to say first that this review board for audio products is outstanding. I have used it extensively for purchasing my new home theater and as such, feel that I must give back by posting my reviews on these products. I first purchased the VSX-D710S and returned it within a week as after reading the manual, I realized that the 810 model came with 5(6) channel stereo sound and a higher DAC (from 48 to 96) plus other better features. The manual was fairly straight forward but I must admit that I read it numerous times to the point where I could have written it by memory. The setup of the machine was easy but did require a lot of "tweaking" to get the most pleasing sound out of it. One feature that is very useful is that I can set the volume levels for each speaker independently (including the subwoofer)in my home theater setup. The learning remote is great! I loaded our TV, DVD, VCR into this remote without a glitch and although I have heard some negatives about the boat-shape of it in some reviews, I does fit easily into the hand. In addition, the heat sink cooling fins are relatively thin as stated in other reviews, however, thicker is not necessarily better in engineering efficient heat transfer (look at your car radiator fins or home AC units). Overall, a great product for the price. Home theater setup: Pioneer VSX-D810S (receiver-2 months old) Pioneer DV-440 (DVD player-2 months old) RCA VCR (5 years old) Sony 35" trinitron TV (2.5 years old) Paradigm speakers: CC-370, Monitor 7v2, PW-2200 (2 months old) Mission 700 bookshelf for rears (2.5 years old) Monster cable hookups Main speakers bi-wired with Home Depot 12 ga. speaker wire Center speaker 12 ga. Home Depot speaker wire Rear speakers: 16 ga. Home Depot speaker wire Similar Products Used: 15 year old JVC stereo receiver |
[Mar 08, 2002]
Audio Monkey
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
features at price, I though it looked pretty cool actually, remote was pretty good compared to some others I''ve seen
Weakness:
no 6.1 discrete(don''t expect it at this price) 100watts per channel overrated, it always overloaded very easily. Quality! when I looked inside and saw the tinfoil like heatsinks, a turtle head popped out for a brief moment than retreated into his hole, but it''s made in Indonesia what do you expect? I bought this because I worked at Sears and could get a discount. I was concerned about sound quality, but was amazed the the HT sound, sounded as good as it did, for music though it sounded flat, and to separated. for someone on a budget this receiver is pretty damn good deal for all the features you get, at the price anyway. My only concern was quality, the volume on my jumped to wahtever the hell it wanted to, and crooked buttons, dials, inputs to me showed poor workmanship Similar Products Used: Kenwood, Sony(garbage) pioneer is gold compared to it |
[Feb 27, 2002]
ryan
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
learning remote, dts-es..... if you dont have a powered sub it gives you the option of using the surround back channel to set to sub...
Weakness:
if you dont have all your components off accept for the one your using youll hear other stuff.... Easy to setup.... Got it as an open box and have had no problems with it. DTS dolby digital all sounds great.. havent hooked up 6 speakers for dts-es yet. Everything works like a charm. Similar Products Used: harman kardon avr45 |
[Feb 17, 2002]
andypress
Casual Listener
Strength:
Very nice for the price Easy to use Sounds Very Good
Weakness:
Sometimes Complicated Remote Out of the box, it takes about one hour to get it set up correctly. What i''ve noticed is that there is an internal fan that turns on around -35 and shuts of at -40. Also with the speakers off i noticed you can hear music coming from the inside. Similar Products Used: 20+ year old technics reciever |
[Feb 09, 2002]
RKelly
Casual Listener
Strength:
6.1 surround, clean styling, very programable remote. Assignable digital i/ps. Clean crisp sound.
Weakness:
no low end punch. No phono in. Audio/video i/ps o/ps are stacked vertically on top of each other instead of horizontally side by side. Needed to upgrd from Dolby prologic to DD/DTS & wanted a little future expansion. This is it!! Any budget minded person needs to take a seriuos look at this one. Component video switching, lots of ips & o/ps. DTS-ES provides the surround back(6th channel) speaker. Ample volume and awesome clarity! Preouts for all 6 speakers. A/B speakers, but no phono i/p. DSp modes okay. Front panel has drop down door which hides all buttons and video i/p. very sleek. Amber display is very sophisticated looking and isn''t annoying in the dark even at the brightest setting, 4 dimmer settings. The remote is very programable. Controls my Hitachi, JVC, Sony, & Sat Dish components perfectly. Ergonomically okay also. Learning mode very user friendly. No macro programing though. I have to mention the low end or the lack of. Just can''t seem to get much bass(punch) out of this receiver. A subwoofer is definitely needed. Loudness switch doesn''t do a good job of low bass. Seems to be more of mid bass boost. Has anyone used the surround channel preouts?? Tried to plug the center preout into my 4 yr old Hitachi 32" TV (video 1) i/p (along with S-video from rcvr). No sound at all. What signal format are they?? In cdn dollars this an excellent receiver for an entry level component and has features that only twice the price receivers like Denon''s AVR-2802 has! My second choice, but could not justify a $1300 receiver at this time. Try it you won''t be disappointed! Similar Products Used: Sony 100wpc pro logic reciver. |
[Feb 06, 2002]
HT man
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Uncluttered face, great learning remote, FEATURES!!
Weakness:
Compromises--trade quality for features. I bought this unit for a second home theater system. I wanted the benefit of DD/DTS but with a low cost. You can''t beat this unit for value. Tremendous list of features, true 100w/channel. Note that THD is 0.2%, not 2% as one reviewer stated. Of course for that price you have to expect some compromises. No discrete amps, no on-screen display, etc. Even so, I have found this unit to be easy to use/set up, and sounds great! I like the panel on the front covering the buttons and inputs--very elegant. Compare it to the appearance of Sony''s comparable receivers and you''ll see what I mean. I think the remote is one of the best programmable ones I''ve seen. Programming it takes some effort but the layout works very will with every component. Similar Products Used: Denon 3000, 3802 |
[Sep 24, 2001]
James Jacoby
Casual Listener
Strength:
Great receiver for the money, holds its own against receivers that cost twice as much
Weakness:
The instruction booklet is a little confusing, not explaining all of the different options as it should. But with a little luck and patience, I figured everything out. This receiver is a great buy and a great performer. With all the features and the performance considered, I expected to pay at least $200 more than I paid for this. I am amazed on the performance of the receiver everytime I use it and I when I think I only paid over $300 for it, I have to pinch myself to make sure than I am not dreaming. Tons of features and a good remote only enhance what is probably the bargain of the year. Look no further than this receiver if you are wanting to upgrade your system and not spend alot of money needlessly. |
[Jan 26, 2002]
Chi Nguyen
Casual Listener
Strength:
clarity, price (a steal), easy to setup
Weakness:
high harmonic distortion (2% according to spec), deep in size, light weight I couldn't pass this great deal, the unit was a display without the user guide but no problem, I immediately downloaded it from the Pioneer web site... I notice right away that the Pioneer has more clarity (treble/midrange) than the Onkyo 484, and definitely louder. The THD is way high but I haven't notice the distortion, maybe someone could give insight on how THD are measured and published? Looking thru the perforated cover, the heat sinks were cheaply made (flimsy), but who care how it looks, it sounds very good. The DSP modes distort the original source too much, thus I like it standard (without effect). Due to this additonal rear center and other future channels, I will have to rethink my wiring strategy. Similar Products Used: using: Onkyo 484, Nakamichi 1a1z, Yamaha 1000, Threshold PA |
[Jan 26, 2002]
Shane
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
LOTS of connections
Weakness:
Remote is taking awhile to get used to This receiver replaces a 12yr old Yamaha stereo receiver that only recently has given me problems (it is going to the garage since the radio works great still). I've only had it a week, so still tweaking. Had problems initially getting Dolby Digital out of my DVD player - doh! I needed to reset the DVD player for Dolby Digital output and 96KhZ output! All better now... Similar Products Used: None |
[Jul 27, 2001]
Kinjal Patel
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
The best sound in this price range. Like the fact that it is 7.1 in, 6.1 out ready (even though can't really make much use of it).
Weakness:
None that I can think of. I love this unit! I thought about going with the VSX-D850S for the extra 10 watts per chanell. Sounds incredible with by Bose AM15s. Similar Products Used: RX-V1000 |