Elite VSX-33 A/V Receiver Review

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(More customer reviews)I am an experience AV and tech person. I had Sunfire, Sony, NAD, even Macintosh. But as I got older I notice that technology has change and sound hasn't. Speakers sound the same and I am sticking with my Paradigms. My last receiver was an Onkyo great price for what it offered. I like new technology and I am early adopter. It's an expensive taste and now that i am older i will slow down on the latest and greatest. I have friends that spent over $5000 for their receiver and i cant tell the difference. The internet market has changed the way people buy and now i am here writing my first review. I explain a little bit about myself so you can understand where the review and point of view is coming from. I am also a CFO so i understand value.
There is nothing negative about this receiver, I highly recommend getting it. If you are smart you can get this $1000 receiver for $680 on the internet. I have the iPad and downloaded the iphone app from Pioneer and works great. The reason I picked this unit is that I do own a 3D TV - Samsung PN58C7000 and BDP6900 3D Blueray player. So I wanted to run all my cables through a 1.4A HDMI receiver. This receiver is feature rich. Now there are several units out there by Sony, Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo, and Pioneer. I picked Pioneer unit because they didn't charge another $100 for a docking station for an iPod and you can do so much with this unit.
I live in an apt and therefore the power is adequate at 120Watts per channel. I feel it should be a little heavier but if I wanted that i would have gotten the next model up the SC model with the "D" rated amplifier. But i didn't need that. This unit sounds very clean no hissing noise. Switching between HDMI input is a little slow. I turned off the automated pass through feature that can cause some issues with Samsung Product. I always turn on my Receiver because the sound from the TV is terrible.
My setup is still 5.1 but then again i live in apt in nyc so i don't need 7.1. onkyo offer 9.2 again overkill. The unit has Ethernet connection and i can stream music but the internet radio choices are terrible, i will just use Pandora on my Blueray player instead. Ethernet connection will be good if Pioneer does an software upgrade on the receiver. I haven't tested the DLNA capabilities but i do have DLNA storage unit one by netgear called Stora.
I wish this unit has a PC input like the onkyo but it does not and i do not like the way HDMI from my mac looks on the Samsung Screen either so it doesn't matter. VGA from MAC to TV is just fine with me 720p.
What i like most about this receiver is the surround settings this is a THX receiver and it has many surround sound options more than onkyo or sunfire or any receiver I have played with. Options are great, remote control is easy to use. I have TIVO thru RCN so it can do 1080p. I programmed the Logitech Harmony remote to follow Pioneer VSX-1120 the non-elite version which works great. The VSX-1120 is not much less in price so why pick the VSX-33 Elite version. Build quality is better especially on the front face of the receiver, i believe it is made of aluminum. It's heavier that means the heat sink for the amp is better for cooling and power control, Amber glow, more power, better remote, more inputs, THX, etc. There are a lot of little details i notice that warrant the extra price, but more importantly the ability to expand. You can assign the This receiver is future proof, it has an additional HDMI out in case i want to add a projector. I figure best street price for the VSX-1020 which is below the VSX-1120 is around $449-$499 so the best difference is $180?? to me that is a amazing deal.
The GUI interface on setting up the system is cleaner and better than most receiver. Another big advantage is the Video upconversion which is better than the VSX-32, VSX-31, VSX-1020, VSX-1120, Onkyo SR608 to 808, Denon new models etc. I checked them all out. But i don't care about this feature because everything is passthrough at 1080p for my system.
I hope this info helps, shop around carefully someone is selling this unit for under $700 including tax and shipping. I am highly impressed with this and recommend it for it's features. It can do bi-amping and other things which i was not able to test. I am probably missing alot here on what else the unit can do but to me this is alot of stuff already plus it is 3-zone capable.


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