Quality of sound for the price and size of unit. Appearance. SACD capabilities. MCACC capabilities.

Speaker connections. Number of component connections.

This receiver/DVD package must be the best kept secret going. This is the only place I could find any consumer reviews, and I have Googled it several times. I have had my unit about 18 months and am very satisfied with its performance. I purchased it for surround system in my rec room over a two car garage, about 500 square feet. I purchased it after seriously considering Onkyo TX-SR601 with their matching DVD player. What sold me on the EX-500 was the price, looks, size and the fact it would play SACDs. I had some concerns regarding power considering the size of my room, however those concerns were quickly dispelled. I also like the fact that you could get the receiver and DVD without packaged speakers. My experience with HTIB is that the speakers are usually very inferior. I wished to put together my own speaker package to fit my room. I have what I think is a fairly unique set-up with my speaker system. My front surrounds are Acoustic Energy Aego2, similar in size to Bose, but, in my opinion, superior. My center channel speaker is Mirage AVS 100, rear surrounds are Mirage AVS 200, and my subwoofer is Mirage PS10. The EX-500 provides unbelievable sound for the size room and the size speakers. I recently watched "The Last Sumarai" and "U-571" DVDs and the sound was amazing. Sounds were distinct and powerful from all speakers at the correct time and the subwoofer rattled the windows without any distortion. Power handling was no problem, and I am amazed at how cool this unit remains under such volume levels. The owner's manual takes some study to tweak the system, but it is time well spent. The MCACC calibrating system is very helpful in this regard. On screen menu is good. The unit itself is one of the most attractive I've seen in size and appearance. The bonus for me is the SACD capability for this price system. I'm sure the sound is not comparable to a $1000 SACD player, however, with a quality multi-channel SACD such as Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company", the sound is pretty amazing. Sound stage and imaging are superior. I'm sure with larger and more expensive speakers, such as Thiel, this would be even more amazing. Also, I have my Onkyo DX-C730 CD player hooked up optically to the receiver which provides outstanding sound from regular stereo CDs. With advanced surround modes on this receiver, stereo CDs can be converted to quality surround sound. "The Best of Fourplay" is really worth listening to in this mode, however, it sounds great in stereo. Speaker connections could be improved. There are limited connections for other equipment due to the small size of this unit, but optical and digital connections are adequate. It is well prepared for connection to a HDTV. Bottom line. This is a great little package for the price I paid, and you can buy it even cheaper now.

Similar Products Used:

None

The DVD player is great, the receiver is good (not thrilling but for the money it's great too). This features that MCCAP or whatever, the auto calibration and set up, great feature for the average user who doesn't have the experience/knowledge to do a full calibration with it (and it's a pain, so this is really easy). Sound quality is very good, musical, which most AV Receivers aren't (most are very mid fi sounding, this is really quite nice). Nothing I've seen can even come close to this in value ... you'd spend $1,000 doing that, this is $300!

The speaker wire connectors are not 5 way binding posts and do not accept bannana's, you are limited on wire size or will need pins to use better wire (which I recommend). The remote and set up (like every unit I've tried, requires reading, learning, and figuring out ... which isn't a weakness, just a common reality).

I'm 46, financial professional, 25 year audiophile, been there and done that many times. I know my equipment very well. I run reference audio equipment and picked these up for a couple of clients, friends, who asked for help doing a system. Suffice it to say this set is an tremendous value and very worthwhile. I spoke with an engineer/tech @ Pioneer, in essence these pieces are on par, previous model, fair to compare to the Pioneer Elite $600 DVD45 and the $800 Elite entry level receiver (you'd probably get discounted $1,000 for the pair). This set is basically on par, new in box, full 2 year warranty, and only $300. Further, it's not just cheap, it's very good and cheap, making it a tremendous value for the money. Reading the other reviews tells me lack of experience to compare accurately and lack of knowledge in operating the equipment. Like any it comes with a manual, read it and learn to run it. Paired with some decent speakers (we are using Earthquake Nova 5.1 system purchased from www.accessories4less.com $900 retail super buy @ $300 ... another absolute steal, quality at low price) these totally kick b^tt!! Commentary on the DVD Universal type player ... I tried on in my system, compared with Onkyo, Sony, and a Denon 2900 ($1,000 list known pretty good) ... this Pioneer Elite was wihout question the best sounding, it's that good. I'm buying the set just to get the player and will use the receiver as a spare somewhere ... again, that good.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 2900 Universal player Onkyo 380 CD Carousel (very good, just not this good) on redbook CD Denon 3803 for AV Wharfedale Diamond 9.5 front/rear, matched center, and 2 SW150 subs My reference ... VTL Maxline Pre $1K list Lazarus H1-A tube/transistor hybrid $2K list CD&E Tower 1 speakers (hot but not current model $3,500 list ... fabulous reference quality) Thorenss 165 with Grace 747 Arm

Plays many formats including DVD-Audio and SACD. Many digital and analog inputs. Both receiver and DVD can decode DTS and Dolby Digital. The receiver can learn the position of the speakers and adjust itself automatically. Nice looking and nice GUI for the DVD.

The biggest problem is lack of tone control. The cooling fan is audible when the music is not playing but is not bad. Remote control is anoying.

I tried to find a review of this system on the Internet before buying it but I could not find anything but just one article. I looked for it in the stores and I could not find it. In the end I decided to buy it on specs alone and I bought the system on-line from TigerDirect.ca. The Elite EX-500 system came with a Pioneer speaker set comprised of 5 small speakers and a subwoofer but these are not Elite series. I've made all connections and quickly popped a CD in the unit. Big disappointment. With the supplied speakers the quality of sound is very poor. This is in part because the receiver does not have the most basic controls required for any audio system: bass and treble controls. All you get is a set of 4 Sound Modes: Quiet, Midnight, S Bass and Bright, none of them to my liking. The Midnight mode enhances lows and highs for listening at low volume. The Bright enhances the highs a bit. You can control the output of the Subwoofer from the remote but that's all you can do for Bass. This is not what you want if you have large speakers for front channels. I've connected the receiver to my Polk Audio RT-800 speakers and it sounds much better although the lack of tone control still bothers me. Otherwise the receiver has a decent number of S-Video inputs and Digital (optical/coax) typically not found in products in similar price range. Also the DVD has the ability of playing DVD-Audio and SACD which is a plus. Unfortunately it does not play WMA format as well as DVD+R/DVD+RW. Another thing that bothers me is that when using the DVD 5.1 analog inputs the Sound Modes are not working (cannot be selected). The remote control looks nice but it is not very smart. You have to press Receiver button every time you want to change some receiver settings (like increasing subwoofer output, or adjusting balance, etc) and you have to press DVD button every time you want to use Play/Stop/FF/REW/Pause functions. If you are in Receiver mode, you can't press Play for DVD!! There should be a default mode for these buttons and they should operate even if you are in Receiver mode. To conclude this review, this is a nice system for those who want to listen to the music without adjusting bass or treble. A very good pair of speakers is mandatory otherwise the sound is very bland. I'm using it as part of my home theatre system when watching movies. For listening to music I prefer my old Sony STR-D835 receiver. And I've learned the hard way that buying online is not always a good idea.

GREAT sound Clear, Detailed, youll hear stuff you never have heard in the recording before Good choice of options Sharp looking unit as well

Different sound modes are usless (midnight, s bass, etc.) I cant get the remote to operate my Toshiba TV

I am a currently a college student who is confined in a very small dorm room area. I didnt want to go out and spend thousands on preamps amps and such. I wanted somthing simple but also needed to stay away from the Home Theater In-A-Box type of setup: I hate that stuff. I found many favorable reviews of pioneer elite products. I decided to go look at the ex 500 because of its sacd and dvd-a playback options all in a single package. Let me say that I was not dissapointed. I found an open item unit for $350 at Ultimate Electronics. What a Steal!!! This is the perfect system for a low budget buyer. I have heard friends sets including hafler DH-220's with focal fronts. To compare these two is not fair in anyway price wise. My friends set is cleary the better system (it sounds better)but for the money there really isnt THAT much difference, honestly. While i am no audiophile, i do have a good ear and i know good sound when i hear it. The pioneer ex-500 is not dissapointing. I paired it up with Acsend Accoustics CBM-170's it sounds amazing! I could not ask for more with the money i have spent. I had trouble finding reviews for this product anywhere on the internet. Im glad i didnt follow the crowd. I Listend to other units from Onkyo and Harman but this unit in my opinion blows them away. If your looking for a buget-friendly way to get into hi-fi audio; this is it.

Similar Products Used:

Hafler DH-220 (not that they are really similar)