Pioneer builds a flexible and solid receiver at a good price
Written: Sep 17 '02 (Updated Sep 18 '02)
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Pros: Great sound,6.1 channel,Flexible with plenty of connections,Good remote
Cons: No Pro-Logic II, 6th channel not discrete, tuner, DSP modes
The Bottom Line: This is an excellent receiver for any price under $700. Pioneer put the money where it counts and cut unneccessary features. Good value.
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| hvymtl6988's Full Review: Pioneer VSX-D850S 6.1 Channels Receiver |
The Pioneer VSX-D850S is not a very fancy receiver. The only "flash" to it is the cool blue LED above the volume control. The front panel has a flip down door that conceals the front panel A/V input with S-video and more than a dozen small buttons to control tuner functions, DSP modes, speaker selections, all channel digital noise reduction, and the direct source switch (the last three functions are not controllable by the remote). The front panel display is a fairly large, amber dot matrix display which is fairly uncluttered so its easy to read (which is good, there is no on-screen).
The back panel sports 4 optical and one coaxial digital connections with one optical output for a digital recorder. There's no phono input but there are inputs for 3 audio and 4 video sources. All connections are gold plated for maximum signal tranfer. There are 2 wideband component inputs with one output, four S-video inputs with 2 outputs, and medium duty binding posts for 8 speakers (two front channel pair, front center, rear center, and surround pair). If you decide not to use a surround back speaker you could even configure the surround back speaker output to drive a passive subwoofer. Cool!
Pioneer rates this receiver at a rather high distortion rate (110 watts x 6 with no more than 1% THD). Don't judge by the power specs though, Pioneer does this like most other mainstream companies to satisfy people obsessed with wattage figures to make it seem more powerful. Wattage figures are NOT the most important specification. You have to double the wattage to even have a slight difference in how loud an amplifier can go. If you bring the distortion rating down to below audibility the Pioneer would be similar to an 85 watt per channel multi-channel receiver in surround mode which is an inaudible difference compared to its 110 watt rating. It's just a numbers game.
This receiver has a very good sound. It's very clean, open, and detailed even at higher than comfortable volume levels. The Dolby Digital and DTS decoding is impeccable, very quite and accurate. The DTS-ES just takes it a step further opening up the surround field even better for any DTS 5.1 or 6.1 recording. But it is only a matrixed channel not a discrete but it still really makes a difference in the DTS soundfield.
In stereo mode the Pioneer has more than enough power to make your neighbors call the cops and even in surround mode with a subwoofer it should have more than enough power for real-world home theater use even for larger rooms. The DSP modes for music are not as bad as most but I prefer straight stereo or Dolby/DTS surround. They are a little ro "tunnel-like" for my tastes but the 6-channel stereo is good for parties. The "the advanced theater" modes are about the same, too echoey except the 6-D theater mode which does help derive a "back center channel" from stereo sources.
The remote is the preprogrammed/learning type which as a universal remote, can do quite a bit. The LCD window at the top of it helps with knowing which device you are set to control and with programming but I don't like how you have to press the RCV button to operate receiver functions other than volume and muting controls when you're controlling other devices.
I bought this as an discontinued/open-box item. The front panel door was broke on the left side hinge so that's why I got it so cheap. I was able to glue it back and it works and looks perfect. I must say this was one of the best bargains I've ever found. But that said, the "street price" was usually around $500 (list for $685) and I think it would be a bargain even at full price.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 140
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Epinions.com ID:
hvymtl6988
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Reviews written: 16
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