Pioneer VSX-47TX 7.1 Channels Receiver

Wheeeeee
I bought this unit when my old Elite VSX-99 unit failed. The Pioneer service dealer couldn't fix that unit, so Pioneer gave me a deal on a new one I couldn't refuse. It just happened around the time Dolby Digital finally settled down with their standard. My older receiver had AC-3 Dolby Digital, hence, the inputs to use Dolby Digital wouldn't work with Dolby Digital outputs, like DVD players and Sat Dishes.

In The Beginning
I couldn't wait to get the VSX-47tx in my house. I've been without my home theater setup for about 6 months and my speakers were getting dusty and wanted my Dolby Digital 5.1 back.

Start Of The Fun
Bringing in the 47tx nearly killed me. the 47 pound unit in the box was back shattering, but I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could without popping out my o-ring like a bad day on the bowl.

My old stereo cabinet that is suppose to have a turntable ontop, I knew that there was no way wouldstand the weight of the unit, so I slapped a peice of wood big enough to cover the glass so I wouldn't have to worry about the unit plummeting to the floor. My only problem now would be getting the unit out of the box all the way up to the top of my cabinet.

Viola!
The gloss black front finish with only two big knobs and a huge display start to tell the tale. A hidden array of front input jacks are also in the cool flipdown front. The sides look like the stereo belongs in a computer rack, while the top is so vented it exposes what looks like a computer with cards in it.

Once I finished that I plugged everything in. Hooking up my old stereo took about 2 hours for me to do with all the wires with the components I had. When I disconnected the old one when bringing it to the shop, I labeled all the wires with labels that I had gotten from Crutchfield years ago, I knew they would come in handy some day. You could use pen and masking tape if you aren't so lucky.

Wires? Ugggggggh
Featuring every device you could possibly own, this baby has hook ups for it. Notable inputs besides your standard cd, tape, vcr, etc inputs, it has two component inputs (progressive scan) as well as the output. It also has two digital outputs and six ASSIGNABLE digital inputs (2 coax and 4 optical). One of the coolest things about it is that you can assign the inputs, so they can be used for any source. It also has the RF coax so if you still have a laserdisc player to achieve Dolby Digital AC-3 playback with it. Each input themselves, has analog right/left audio, video, and s-video jack connecters. There is NO worry of running out of things to hook up on this baby. Oh yeah, thought I missed it, huh, SACD, well, it has the 7.1 multi channel input in the back as well, for your Super Audio CD needs.

Wires? Part II? Ugggghhhh
Speaker Wires that is! THX Ultra2's spec is for Dolby Digital 7.1 specs, that has passed LucusFilm's "rigorous testing." This baby allows you to hook up 7 speakers to acheieve 7.1 Dolby Digital sound. But wait, there's more. 160watts per channel in 7 channels isn't enough? Alright. Pioneer threw in 7 pre-amped channels so you can hook up an external amp for a certain channel, meaning, not enough power in the front left and rights? go buy an external amp and hook that up to it! It also features two powered subwoofer outputs for the LFE (Low Freq. Effects) channel or "plus" modes.

Turn The Key! Start 'er up!
Running through the almost 100 page manual, I wanted to test before I hook everything up, and the manual instructs to do this, by hooking up all my speakers, and the TV, see if I see the on-screen menu, as well as firing up the MCDACC setup.

MC Hammer?
Nah, MCDACC. Multi-Channel something something or other look in the manual.
You rip out the remote and pop in its batteries watch the LCD light up and be dazzled. There's this wire that hooks up in front panel and into the remote and you place the remote where you would normally sit to watch a movie. After a few patterns (about 5 minutes), your done.
After reviewing, whoah! This thing just figred out what types and size speakers I had, it set the EQ for me by itself, for EACH speaker, the sound levels for each speaker, and the channel delay for each speaker, based on where I'm normally sitting. I proceeded to go to the bathroom. This to me, was like the miracle of life for others.

Play That Funky Music White Boy!
Alright, the CD player is hooked up, and wacky enough if has a digital output on it, but I also hooked up the normal analog audio outputs up as well, cause well, I like the versitility (sp?).
so lets here what this puppy can do.
Turning the stereo up, wasn't normal for me. The display lists it in decibal levels. Starting at like -50db. I'm unable to hear anything until like -30db which is a normal level, I guess. -25db to like -15db are good in my book too depending on what i'm watching/listening to. after a few months, letting my speakers break in with this stereo since it has so much power compared to my older one sporting "100 watts per channel," I finally said, lets CRANK IT. I got it up to about +5db. WHOOOOOOOAH. If the police weren't going to come to tell me to shut up, I think the house would've fell down. CRYSTAL CLEAR and CLEAN with no ditortion at ALL. I went to the bathroom again.

I'm stuck in the couch! Change this!: The Remote
The remote, somewhat disappointed, because its not as cool as its older brother, the VSX-49tx, but, its gonna have to do at this price, and more, I mean, damn, it better help me out when i'm in the bathroom. Well, it does.
I was blown away, and to consider, I wasn't all that happy I wasn't getting the palm pilot type remote that 49tx gets.

This baby is BIG, but fits comfortably in your hand and the buttons are in good spots, and it can do ANYTHING you want it to, it just takes some time to figure it out, and realize what it can actually do. If a button on your components remote isn't listed on this 68 button or so remote, no sweat, this has an "Extra Menu" button which pops up, you can write in your own text button that will display on the LCD display on it, and scroll through those choices, which of course, the remote will learn from the others. You can have it light up when your in the dark, and the "light on" button is easily accessible since its in a good spot, plus it glows in the dark rather nicely.

You can setup one touch features, like, for instance, what I did was, when I switch to DVD, put the TV on the Progressive Scan input, and then switch the TV into FULL mode. No problem, the Pioneer loves to do it for me, and when I switch back to the TV, put it back into the S-Video input, and put it back into Theatre Mode 1. No probleeeem

All These Bucks, What Else?
You can set the tone and the bass, change the dimmer setting on the display of the stereo, watch a different video source while listening to a certain audio source, etc etc etc etc.
DSPs, tons of 'em. Depending on the listening mode your in.
The Pro-Logic II mode is easily noticably better than Pro-Logic, this along is a big plus when watching normally broadcasted TV and two channel sources.
The modes are, Advanced Cinema (for movies), Action, Sci-Fi
Drama, Musical, Mono Film, and 5/7-D Theater.
Advanced Concert modes (for music) are Classical, Chamber, Jazz, Rock, Dance, and 5/7 Channel Stereo.

I personally don't use the advanced cinema modes except for mono film if the movie i'm watching is in mono, and for music, either two channel stereo, or the 7 channel stereo, which is really cool.

When you hook up 7 speakers to this baby, you are able to get the THX Ultra 2 modes available. When you hit the THX button and it displays on the display "THX," you can go through some other processing, but I generally use THX Ultra2, since this is the "best suggested." I ususally only use this mode when I'm watching THX certified movies.

The Overall
What can I say.. This unit is awesome. functionility, build quality, and most important, sound quality, is unbelievable. I'm still kind of "ehhhh" to the digital sound produced from CDs, so I still use my analog EQ and turn off the MCDACC when listening to my CD player, but DVDs sound amazing, and laserdiscs sound even better, but personally, I always thought laserdisc sounded better than DVDs, its just too bad they aren't anamorphic, like DVDs.
Be able to watch the sat dish in Dolby Digital blows my mind, and how far TV has actually came. Sound quality is out of this world, and its power is simply amazing, I unfortunately can't use its full potentional yet because of my location, but I've tried it out quiet a bit (tee hee), and I'm sure my neighbors are still "upset" about it.
Also, the video quality of the progressive scan doesn't lose its video quality in this unit, none that I've noticed at least.

If there were no such thing as women, I'd marry this thing.
Enjoy!