Pioneer VSX-82TXS Receiver Review

[gene]

Anyway, I found a good thread about this on AVSforum (warning: one post contains a disparaging statement about Audioholics AVR reviewers)


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=740749

You can't please everyone We've noticed its always the people that know the least who flap their mouths off the most on forums

 

[krabapple]

You can't please everyone We've noticed its always the people that know the least who flap their mouths off the most on forums

I haven't noticed that, because on the forums I frequent, the know-know nothings tend to get challenged just as often by the know-somethings, so it about evens out. Including here. ;> It does explain why I stay away from places like AudioAsylum, though.

One thing I do notice is, you aren't addressing Tom's use of 'physical' sub distance in the setup he used. It might be that the AVR's 'acoustic' distance calculation *was* off, but that doesn't make the 'physical' distance right by default. Your readers might get the impression it does. In fact, I would guess by your own criteria, that since DSP is being applied to the sub output (in the AVR, not the sub) in this review, that something other physical distance could well be optimal. If I have guessed wrong, I'm open to correction.

Again, might I suggest that in the future, such reviews include some good room measurements, particularly of bass response, as these tend to be the most difficult problems to solve? Objective evidence of the utility, or not, of automated room/standing wave correction would be very interesting to see in a review of modern AVRs that offer them.

 

[evivbulgroz]

Great review. Now however I don't know if I should buu this receiver.

I am looking for a good receiver that will last long and that is packed with "features". This receiver looked great and I did plan on using the upconversion with my Tivo and with my DIVX dvd player.

The VSX-81 is cheaper, has a TBC bit no real upconversion. Do you guys have any opinion on that?

The Marantz SR 4001 looks also very interesting and can be had for around $500. The features are decent. I am hearing bad stories about Onkyo/Marantz products however.

I don't know what to do. Any idea?

Does Anyone have any opinion?

 

[tonywood]

I setup the vsx-82txs today, and to me this thing sounds great. It does not have quite the slam of the Denon AVR-4800 that it replaced, but does do a better job with just about everything else. I can not get over how much better the center channel sounds with this Receiver vs the Denon. I would have to say that I very happy with it's sound quality, auto setup, and video switch ( not upconverting at this time ). I use an Oppo Digital DV-970HD basicly as a transport through HDMI and let my Optoma HD-72 ( by the way this thing kick ess ) upconvert the video. SACD and DVD-Audio DVD's sound great...

The Elite is a bit more laid back than the Denon, I prefer the Elite with my Speakers ( Energy Audisey 5+2, AC-300, RVSS ).

I also tried the Yamaha RX-v2500 and I did not really like it overall in my system. This receiver seemed a bit weak at high volumes, the sound seem to change as you pushed it's volume higher. The Energy's are 6 ohm and around 93 db 1 w/m.

I will post more after I have had more time with it. I have not noticed any hiss or noise from the receiver. I would have liked to have seen a higher SNR from it, tho so far this does not seem to have any real world impact.

 

[shepsan]

tonywood, please post your future opinions concerning the Pioneer VSX-82 vs the Denon AVR-4800. I am interested in your findings.

Today, I expect delivery of a VSX-82TXS that is to replace my aging Denon AVR-4800.

My pre-purchase scrutiny of published data about the VSX-82 indicates that it should be an exceptional HT controller. It has all of the connection ports necessary to control a wide scope of components such as those of the new Plasma HDTV and HD DVD player that I just puirchased. The Denon AVR-4800simply would not allow me to partake of these features.

 

[Tom Andry]

Since I am getting a ton of questions about it...

No, I haven't heard back from Pioneer about the video conversion problem. I'm also getting a number of emails from people that have bought a unit that they are experiencing similar problems so it doesn't seem to be limited to the review unit. I promise that the minute I hear something, I report it here. I'm reprinting the relevant part of the review:

In the course of reviewing this receiver I noticed some visual artifacts on the display that seemed static - some vertical lines that ran across the screen mostly at the bottom and top of the display. Unfortunately, I had a display in for review the same time I was reviewing the 82TXS so it took me a while to identify the problem. I thought I had a bad monitor until I ran a 6.75 MHz test and the display failed. For those of you that don’t know, this is a 480p test. There is no way that display should have failed (it was 720p capable). So, off I went to test the connections and discover the cause. Eventually, I figured out that when I turned the video conversion “Off” so that all the unit was doing was switching, it passed the 6.5 MHz test and the artifacts went away. On a whim, I went back and sent the unit a 480i signal. With a 480i signal, the unit passed the 6.75 MHz test. It seems that sending the unit a progressive signal caused it to fail the test.

But that was not the end of the saga. Buried deep in the AV Parameter menu is an option called Resolution. You can select Pure, 480p, 720p, or 1080i depending on your display capabilities (the default is Pure). Once I selected 720p, I found that the unit now passed the 6.75 MHz test on both component and HDMI. But I still noticed some visual artifacts on the HDMI output. If I sent a 480i signal, I noticed the visual artifacts on both component and HDMI. I’ve informed Pioneer of my findings and will report back once they respond.

 

[krabapple]

Do any of the Elite AVR line apply MCACC to the multichannel analog inputs?

 

[rjf]

Since I am getting a ton of questions about it...

No, I haven't heard back from Pioneer about the video conversion problem. I'm also getting a number of emails from people that have bought a unit that they are experiencing similar problems so it doesn't seem to be limited to the review unit. I promise that the minute I hear something, I report it here. I'm reprinting the relevant part of the review:

I'd be interested to hear what they say. I was going to get this one till I read about the problem. I guess we'll see what happens.

 

[MrBuffet]

I'd be interested to hear what they say. I was going to get this one till I read about the problem. I guess we'll see what happens.

I just talked to Pioneer, and their service call center claims they have fixed the issue with a firmware patch to version 1.005, and that all customers can receive such an upgrade free of charge from any of Pioneers 25 certified service centers in the US.

The big question though seems to be to Tom: what version of the firmware did the review unit have?, which an obvious follow-on of "can anyone with a new firmware release confirm that it indeed solves the issue"?.

I truly hope that it does as I'm not too keen to have to wait until September or so for Pioneer to release their 90-series Elite receivers (which according to the rep I spoke to should support HDMI 1.3).

Thoughts?

 

[jjurroz]

can you turn off the scaling on a per input basis or is it a one or the other across all inputs?

 

[arthur50]

Other Pioneer VSX-82TXS Video/Audio Problems?

I have owned this Pioneer unit now for about 6 months. Since from beginning I have had blanking problems, whereby the video and audio would just disappear (blank screen and no audio) for about 4-5 seconds, every 10 minutes or so. Bypassing the Pioneer and going directly to the TV connections, the problem did not occur. In both instances everything was connected through an HDMI cable. I have taken it in three time to authorized Pioneer dealers, where each time there was another firmware upgrade. Took the Pioneer unit home last night, hooked it up and sadly, it still blanks out, albeit not as often.
Any thoughts. I have not idea which firmware number I am at nor know how to find out.
Thanks!

 

[adk highlander]

To check your firmware start with the receiver off/stand by. Then hold down the Standard Surround button ON THE RECEIVER and while holding down the STD Surround button, press and hold the power button ON THE RECEIVER. Hold if for 3 or 4 seconds and the unit will then turn on and begin displaying the information. The information rotates automatically and the HDMI firmware version is on the second display of information.

I don't know what the most recent version whould be for your model but with this info you could call Pioneer and see what they will do for you.

The only times I have experienced an issue like yours was when I was using a VCR and upconverting to Component it would black out once in a while with old tapes.

I have had the firware upgrade done on mine and it did fix the low LFE over HDMI.