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The PioneerVSX-918V receiver is easy to hook up and works very good.It is used with a HD LCD TV and as a stereo/AM/FM receiver. The only problem is that I can not get the I Pod connection to read either of my I Pods.Shows an error code.
Amazon handled the return with care but I can't say the same for UPS. Lastly, a call to Pioneer was utterly useless. The CSR rep there told me that I'd have to get the brand new unit repaired and that Amazon would not take it back. This receiver has a lot of bells and whistles but was not easy to use. Unfortunately the unit was also defective and I was unable to get surround sound working. He was uniformed to say the very least.
I guess I went into the purchase of this receiver with expectations set far too high.I have owned Pioneer receivers for years and was saddened by the death of my Pioneer vsx-608D.I really liked that unit alot.It came out in 1999.It did have Dolby Digital 5.1 sound with DTS.When I got this new 918 hooked up I was very happy with the sound of Dolby Digital and DTS movies.They sounded fabulous.I do however like to listen to music alot.When I switched to the cd input I thought my powered subwoofer had stopped working.I tried everything I could think of to get the bass level up.I made sure the Plus setting was turned on.This setting makes sure that bass signals sent to the large front left and right speakers are also sent to the subwoofer.I ran the auto set-up where you hook a microphone up to the system and it goes through a series of test tones to determine the best set-up for your room.Well,after going through this, all I heard was a trace of bass.I turned on the midnight setting and noticed a positive result.I tried the loud setting and it too made a more noticeable difference in the output of my subwoofer.The midnight setting however was better to my ears.It sounded like the subwoofer was putting out very little bass.I finally called Pioneer customer support and they ran me through a bunch of settings trying to get to an answer to my problem.Nobody was able to tell me anything that could explain the cd input's lack of bass.Finally I was told to take the unit back and exchange it because I had probably gotten a defective unit.After getting my new 918,I was saddened to find out that I was stuck with the exact same problem.I again called tech support and this time was told that the 918 was not designed to play cd's with stereo sound.I was told that it just wasn't capable of outputting a good bass signal to the subwoofer.I couldn't beieve my ears.He said that this model is designed as a home theater receiver to decode 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS.It is "not designed for 2 channel music".I just don't understand why this unit can't do both.Why did they bother to even put a cd input on the amp.I ended up taking the 918 back and trying a Yamaha model RX-V463.What a difference.I can hear my 5.1 and DTS movies with plenty of bass but more importantly,the Yamaha puts out great bass to the subwoofer for great sounding music cds recorded in stereo.I'm through with Pioneer although in all honesty it had fantastic Dolby Digital and DTS sound.This one issue over music cds ruined the Pioneer experience for me.Pioneer 120 Watts X 5 Hybrid Receiver
There are nice blue lights and the receiver is very easy to set up. I connected the speakers to it and followed the instructions in the manual to go through setting up the auto calibration. I've never had a receiver before so this is my first purchase of something like this. It went through and tested all 5 channels for me in just a few minutes. Connecting the HDMI cable, digital coaxial, optical cable, etc was easy. The price was right ($270 at time of purchase and then amazon adjusted it down to like around $260) and it's this year's model. It's been a month and I'm very satisfied with the receiver.
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