Great features for an incredible price
Written: Jan 27 '04
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Pros: MCACC, 110 wpc, Multi-room capability, 7.1 input, huge I/O selection, universal learning remote.
Cons: No on screen display, 8 ohm speaker requirement, unlighted remote, complex menus.
The Bottom Line: You get a lot for your money. Pioneer makes very good equipment and this has most of the latest technology.
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| cattledog's Full Review: Pioneer VSX-D912 7.1 Channels Receiver |
In looking for a home theater receiver, there are a lot of good choices available. If you can not afford to spend a kilobuck or more, but still want it all, your choices quickly become more limited. For a street price of around $300, there is no other receiver I am aware of that comes very close to the Pioneer VSX-D912-K with respect to quality, features and power.
First impressions are important and one of the first things you will notice is that this is a solid, heavy and well appointed unit. The back sports just about every conceivable input and output, all speaker terminals use two way binding posts, and most of the front controls are behind a drop down panel. With the digital display and blue light above the volume knob, it has a look of lean muscularity.
Pioneer has a well deserved reputation for some strong features that can be found even in their lowest price offerings. Their FM tuners are exceptional and are among the best you can buy at any price. Pioneer equipment is also well known for very clean amplification with well isolated power supplies. This receiver fully lives up to this reputation. The tuner section is excellent and sucks in distant stations while rejecting multipath distortion from nearby strong signals. In a test using the same powered Terk antenna that I use with my primary two channel system, this tuner pulled in more clear stations than my Magnum Dynalab tuner.
The amplifiers provide substantial clean power. As a pre-amp, Pioneer takes a minimalist approach. In the stereo direct mode, pre-amp controls are basically limited to volume control. This results in a very satisfying experience and the more complex the music, the better it seemed to sound. Switching to 5.1 mode and using some very well recorded live material was breathtaking. Live material like the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" and "Fiesta" by the Dallas Wind Symphony (RR-38CD) are enough to give you goose bumps. For some other material like Bonnie Raitt's "Luck of the Draw" and Tracy Chapman's debut album, 5.1 mode seemed a bit distracting and inappropriate, but when switched back to stereo direct the sound stage snapped sharply into focus.
Several reviews of this and other Pioneer receivers criticize their sound as thin, cold or harsh. In over 40 years of working with and listening to high fidelity equipment and source material, I have found that there are a lot of people who seem to prefer a type of mid-bass emphasis and rolled off high end. Also, very clean amplifiers and pre-amplifiers have a way of revealing flaws in associated equipment such as cables, sources and speakers. For my ears, this receiver provides a clarity of signal amplification that would have cost a couple thousand dollars a decade ago. While I have had extensive experience since the 1960s with stereo equipment, my experience with home theater is quite limited. The MCACC Auto speaker equalization was the strongest selling point for me in my selection of this receiver. It works amazingly well and for a natural tweaker like me, it is almost too simple.
Using an AV receiver like this for audio is not much like using a standard stereo receiver. Gone are the simple balance and tone adjusting knobs. Instead, you have to plunge into a complex menu structure to make manual adjustments for speaker size, distance from listening area and room size. This is why the auto room EQ is so nice. It does this automatically. On screen menus would make this type of adjustment much more convenient, though.
One of my biggest disappointments upon reading the manual after I got the receiver was the discovery that you can not use speakers with less than 8 ohms impedance. Twenty years ago, this was a very common requirement, but these days a great many fine speakers have 4 to 6 ohm nominal impedance. If you already own speakers that you are happy with, make sure they are 8 ohms before buying this receiver. Popular high quality brands such as Canton, A/D/S, Aerial Acoustics, Elac, Jamo, Krell, Legacy, M&K, Dynaudio, Martin Logan, PSB, RBH, Totem Acoustic, many Infinity and Polk as well as many other brands fall into this category. So, if you own some of these speakers, cross Pioneer off your list.
In summary, this receiver offers a lot for the money. It is flexible enough to grow as your home theater system evolves. It has plenty of good clean power and is accurate enough for you to use it for critical listening of music. It incorporates most of the latest AV technology and can be used for anything from a two channel stereo to a 7.1 setup.
My wish list of features I would like to see added are; on screen menu display, ability to accommodate 4 ohm speakers, DVI I/O, lighted remote, and THX Ultra. There is nothing on the market that I am aware of that has everything the VSX-D912-K has plus my wish list for under $1000. So, overall, this is a receiver you can grow with and which will serve you well. It has its quirks, but so does every other piece of gear I know of. As you learn how to use it, you will grow to appreciate its great sound and tremendous flexibility.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 300
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Epinions.com ID:
cattledog
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Reviews written: 2
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