Just bought Pioneer VSX-74 (long)

[camtah]

Lets just say that I have been a loyal Denon fan for over 10 years. I just retired my
AVR-3200 and was looking hard at the 3805. After snooping e-bay and missing on a
few bids, I finally decided to audition the 3805 at a local HiFi store along with t
he Pioneer VSX-56TXi. I hate to admit it, but the Elite sounded better than the Denon.

Fast forward: I set upon a quest to locate a 56 locally and ended up at the local BB/Magnolia store. They had a few 56's laying around abd I picked one up for a
somewhat discounted price. I took it home and never opened the box. After some more late night/early morning internet research I decided to go for broke and exhange it for the VSX-74TXVi.

After installing it and running the Advanced MCACC for the first time (it was fast....) I was inmpressed !!! After spending a few hours listen to CD's, watching HD-cable
and even a DVD of "Finding Nemo" (don't ask), my final thought was ..why didn't I upgraded sooner. Even thru my cheap Polk R50, CSi3 and R15 's, I could tell that the
Pioneer felt warmer than the Denon. Don't get me wrong, I was inpressed with the
Denon when I got it..but for me there is a new game in town...

Is there anything I don't like about it? Yes....

The remote, for lack of a better word....Sucks
No backlight, tiny buttons and small colored silk screening that you can barely see
if in bright room lighting. Pioneer needs to rethink this one. The LCD display is rather
worthless. The older 56TXi remote would have been better

 

[Thunder18]

Yeah, they really cheaped out on the remote for the 74TXVi. If you look at Pioneers parts ordering website, the remote for the 74TXvi is only $60 whereas the remote for the 56TXi is still $135. I wonder if you could use the remote for the 56TXi on the 74TXVi though? I know the 56's remote would control most of the features on my older VSX-D912. Man, I don't know if I could live w/o the backlight anymore though.

I hate to throw another wrench in the works, but there has been some discussion on avsforum that the 72 and 74's power supply and amplifier sections being less powerful than the 56's. I don't know the truth as I'm not a Pioneer engineer by any means, but the power supply is rated significantly less than the 56's and also weighs about 10 lbs less than the 56TXi

 

[camtah]

Being somewhat of an electronics guy from way back, I think using the "weight"
to distinguish the true quality of the VSX-56TXi is a tad misleading. I am not bashing the 56 by any means, as it was my first choice. However we are talking about 2 different types of amplifier designs, some newer, more efficient VLSI
devices, etc. I did hear both units. although not in a side by side. In both cases, I was impressed, but the newer features of the 74 won me over.

The remote control issue is almost embarrasing considering I could not get
it to even learn one of the most common devices out there., a Motorola Comcast HD cable box. No preset for that device nor is there any satellite preset for my Hughes DTV receiver. I need to get a new remote

 

[Thunder18]

No offense taken.

I'm suprised about the remote though. I saw the remote on Pioneer's website and it's almost the same remote from the VSX-1015TX/VSX-52TX. At least they didn't really cheap out and use the remote from the VSX-54TX, it's got no lcd display whatsoever

All ribbing aside, I am envious of the new MCACC. It's a slow process on the 56TXi. I have to set aside a good 30 minutes to get through it, and if I can't get my girlfriend and her daughter out of the house I won't even bother because they will make too much noise and I'll have to start over again anyway. Also, gotta love the Hdmi i/o. I have an HDTV with DVI and I've never connected anything more than component video to it. Speaking of which, I'd love to have 3 compoent video inputs rather than just 2 and 5 optical digital inputs rather than just 3.

There is definately a lot to like about the 74TXVi. I may have very well ended up with one if they had been available when my VSX-9300TX was struck by lightning.

 

[camtah]

Solved my remote control problem !!!

It's called a Harmony 676....Paid $118 at TigerDirect. Maybe I can turn in the cheap toy that Pioneer packaged with this unit for a credit

As for the 676, This is how all remotes should be programmed.
Awesome and so easy..no more punching in codes that don't even work or trying to fiddle with IR programming..although you can if you want...

I'm happy with Logitech and disappointed in Pioneer They should be ashamed to have this kind of remote on an Elite reciever.

But I do like the 74 itself and the MCACC took all of 5-7 minutes..wow
I will give high marks here to Pioneer ..so far

 

[Team_Canada]

Hello all, I need your opinions.

My question is not about the quality of video between HDMI and Component video as the HDMI is obviously better, the question is will I notice that much of a difference. Obviously the convenience factor is there with having less wires.

I purchased the 56TXi. I have never used my new receiver that I bought new in June of this year as I am finishing my HT room. It was removed from the box to have a look, that's all. This is my first Pioneer product so I am very excited. With the new releases such as the 74TXVi that has both HDMI and i-Link, I am tempted to sell the 56TXi and upgrade to the 74TXVi.

I guess the million dollar question is, is it worth it to sell just for the upgrade to HDMI. The 74TXVi has many new features that sound fantastic but there are still some mixed opinions with respect to the amp section between the 56TXi and the 74TXVi. I find this very important. I use my system for 80% HT so I want the best sound quality possible.

I will be purchasing a projector this fall which I will make sure it has HDMI or DVI/HDMI conversion for the future. I would assume the better the DVD player the better the quality picture. Lets use the Pioneer DV59-AVi or Yamaha DVD-S2500 or any other high end player as an example. Will the quality through HDMI be that much better than component video that it is worth the upgrade?? Again, I will eventually be running this through a projector, 100" screen.

Sorry for being so long winded but I had to explain my situation.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks