Pioneer 509S Receiver

For a good home theater system you need a good receiver. The Pioneer VSX-D509S is a great receiver with an excellent price. With the list price over $400, you can buy them for as low as $249 if you shop around.

These days everyone is looking for DTS (Digital Theater Sound) and Dolby 5.1 Digital Sound, if your not, you are behind the times. With the quality of DVD movies in picture and sound, you will need to upgrade to a five-speaker system with a separate subwoofer. This will give you the home theater sound, as the producers of the movies want you to hear.

This receiver has what you need for quality sound and performance. One hundred watts for each of the five speakers for Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS and Pro Logic sound. You can also use it as a stereo with two speakers that have 100 watts each.

The 5-Speaker Setup
To get the full sound features you will need 5 speakers and one subwoofer. I recommend 5 satellite speakers. You don't need those big boxy speakers anymore with the big woofers built in. the subwoofer will take care of all the bass sounds that you will need. Plus satellite speakers are smaller and easier to place.

First of all hide the subwoofer, you can put it anywhere out of sight you wish. The bass sound will be there no matter where you place it. I have mine behind the couch that we sit on while watching a movie. Behind the couch will cause some vibrations from the subwoofer to come through the couch for that live experience.

The five speakers are generally placed in the following order for best sound effects. You should place three up front and two behind you. This gives you a front left and right speaker with a center speaker. The center speaker is where most of the voices will come through. Then you have a left and right rear speaker. The 5.1 system stands for 5 speakers and one subwoofer. With this type of setup you will hear things that you have never heard before in a movie. It is Great!!!!!!!

Hookups
Oh boy! To a lot of people this can be a nightmare if you just look in the back of the VSX-D509S. The back is literally covered with hookup components. It's really not that hard if you just follow your instructions.

For the Audio Inputs; (Inputs are what you want to hook to the receiver, like your DVD player.)
There are two optical inputs. (These use a fiber optic cable and are better than the coaxial.)
There is one coaxial input.
There are also all kinds of RCA hookups (A/V inputs) for the sound, now it takes 5 RCA hookups for the sound verses one coaxial or one optical hookup.
There is a total of 6 audio inputs.

For the Video Inputs.
There are a total of 9 video inputs for this model.
This includes 4 S-Video inputs for best picture performance.

There is one S-video input and 3 RCA inputs (A/V inputs) in the front.

For the output you have 2 video and 2 audio.

The five minutes to hook up your receiver are gone, it will take you much longer with the newer receivers like the VSX-D509S. The payoff is worth it.

Other Specifications
Built-in DTS & Dolby Digital decoder
New DSP for DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Pro Logic
Advanced Theater (Musical, Drama, Action and Expanded)
DSP modes in Hall 1 & 2, Jazz, Dance, Theater 1 & 2 and 5 & 7-Channel Stereo.
Pioneer Hybrid Amplification
Midnight Listening mode
You can presets for 30 FM/AM stations.
A/V input on front. (S-video and 3 RCA)
A fluorescent display with dimmer.
5.1-channel input and Optical digital output.
With 100 watts for each speaker for a total of 500 watts.
A pre-programmed A/V multi remote control with learning function.

The Remote Control
Not bad, there is a lot of buttons and a lot that it will do. This means getting use to another remote.

This one has buttons that are favorable in size and easy to motivate around with. You can program in things like your DVD player, VCR and more. This makes it easy to use one remote instead of several. Though I always find at least one feature that it will not due that the original remote will only due.

The instructions are fairly easy to understand and learn.

Overall
This receiver is hooked to 5 JBL 120 watt satellite speakers and a JBL 150 self-powered subwoofer. This combination makes it come alive and if you wish you can make the hair stand up on the back of the house cat. This is great sound!

Learning all the functions and what this receiver can do will take some time to get use to, it offers a lot. Though it is easy to learn, just time consuming.

Warranty for parts and labor is one year.

I highly recommend the Pioneer VSX-D509S.


Things to know before Buying a New Receiver!

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