Pioneer VSX-D608 Receiver

About a year ago I dived into the world of home audio and found myself overwhelmed by all the information and products available. I have always been partial to Pioneer and buy their products whenever I can. I had read good reviews on this receiver thru Cnet and others and wanted to check it out. I went into the electronics store acting like I hadn't a clue what I wanted to look at. I told the sales person what I was looking for and what I had planned to do in the future. The first thing he pointed me to was the VSX-D608. At this point I could tell that he knew what he was talking about in the way he talked about it. I get this unit home and am floored by the amount of connections on the back of this thing! It has any type of connection a beginner like myself could want. It took me a day to thoroughly read the manual and understand how to operate the unit. Once I had it in place and hooked up to everything, I was ready to enjoy. Little did I know how MANY functions and settings you have to go thru to adjust to get it sound just right. But I think that it is well worth it because it sounds great. Granted speaker quality and placement, cable quality, etc have a lot to do with it; the receiver is the core of everything. I have a DVD, VCR, CD player, Playstation, 31" TV, tape deck, and a DirecTV dish plugged into it and STILL have room for more! I am also able to hook up my computer to auxiliary port (VCR2) to play my mp3's. Getting everything hooked together is a chore, but once it is all working I highly suggest labeling EVERYTHING. I only have a center channel, two fronts and a sub-woofer hooked up at the moment; but for me the sound is fantastic. The remote is very small for the amount of functions and takes a while to get used to. It controls 4 of my components which isn't bad. I do wish it had an illumination on the keypads to be able to see when watching a movie in dimly lit areas. I like the fact that it has a white noise option to aid in speaker placement. The 100 watts x 5 channels is more than adequate. I doubt that all channels are at 100 watts, but for my place it does the job nicely. Plug ins for video equipment are a nice plus also. The fact that it handles DTS and Dolby digital was a big factor in purchasing this unit. Since the receiver already has the decoders, you don't have to worry about getting a DVD player with the decoder. This saved me quite a bit of money on my DVD player purchase. I have noticed that it does get a little warm when pushed for periods of time. I have to make sure I leave the glass door on my entertainment center cracked to aid in heat displacement. I think this receiver is a very good buy. I purchased mine for 329.00 at Circuit City. Sure, it's not the TOP of the line for the hard core audiophile but for the novice/intermediate crowd it is a great deal.