Pioneer VSX-1015TX... Opinions?

JeffLab · 09-27-2005, 09:00 PM

I am in the market for a new receiver, and have been eyeballing this unit for a little while. On paper, everything looks good, especially for the price. How does this unit compare in the real world? What are peoples experiences and thoughts on this?
I am currently running a set of recently purchased Athena Audition Series speakers and 10" sub from an old JVC receiver, and am due for an upgrade. I don't want to necessarily break the bank on a receiver, but I am willing to shell out for quality.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

John Garcia · 09-28-2005, 10:21 AM

Have you checked local stores to see if they have any? They seem to be in short supply, I believe due to the fact that they are selling well. In it's price range, I think it is probably an adequate choice. I tried out a 1014 and found it's power to be a bit overstated, so don't rely on their claimed power of 110wpc (the manual specifically stated this was a 2ch rating only). It should have no problem driving the Athenas.

ChrisCan · 09-28-2005, 10:45 AM

In It's price range the 1015 is an excellent receiver. Quality components and a strong amplifier plus surround modes galore. I am very happy with mine.

Jasen Chandler · 10-06-2005, 12:37 PM

I do home theater installations for a local electrical contractor. Just a few days ago I installed one of these recievers in a dedicated 7.1 channel theater room. Prior to the home owner bringing this reciever for us to install I had been using a kenwood 7.1 (vr-9050) that had been lying around for auditioning the system.

I am so dissapointed in the pioneer. The Kenwood is rated at 20Watts less per channel and had way better output. The 1015 really falls short in sound quality and output power. I expected way more from a THX select 2 reciever. For curiosity sake I took over a friends Outlaw 1070 and it whipped all of them. The Kenwood seems to have a bit more power but the outlaw rated at only 65WRMSx7 killed the pioneer. I'm glad this isn't my room. Tough to get to reference levels with the pioneer without distortion.

IMHO the new Kenwood recievers are WAY better and super easy to set up right. I'd put my $400 somewhere else besides the underpowered Pioneer.

Good luck looking for a reciever.

John S · 10-06-2005, 04:50 PM

Not a power house for sure. Great AVR for smaller rooms, or for people that do not demand true pay theater like reference levels. I liked the AVR, but it would not handle the volume levels I run at. But true pay theater type reference levels are way way loud and most people I run across do not run them very often if ever.

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JeffLab · 10-06-2005, 06:40 PM

Well, I went ahead and picked this puppy up over the weekend (bestbuy 30 day return policy!), and have had the chance to play with it a bit over the last few days. My first impression with it was that its a pretty nice unit, nice setup, easy to use, great features, but not as powerful as I had expected.

Typically, I am running it between -28 and -10 db for the sound levels I am accustomed to. Anything below -55 is nonexistant, and at -55 is barely audible. -35 is about where my wife likes it.

The thing is, I don't think I should be so high up on the volume scale to be producing these levels of sound. My room isn't huge by any means (450 sq ft), so it seems odd to resort to cranking it so high to achieve what I consider acceptable listening volumes for a unit that is supposed to fill a 2000 sq ft room.

I am debating whether to keep this or to trade up for a more powerful unit. Bang for the buck, it has all the bells and whistles, but I am definitely considering spending a few extra dollars for a stronger receiver.

Stephen Hopkins · 10-06-2005, 10:44 PM

Just remember volume scales vary wildly from model to model. I replaced a Pioneer Elite 43TX with a 1014TX and imediatly noticed the volume scales didn't match up and these are two similar units from the same brand. The 1014TX however had no problem powering my Swans 5 speaker + DIY sub setup to reference level in a 15 x 20 room. Features galore and alot of clean output. In my opinion the 1014TX and 1015TX are great values for power and features.

SummyD · 10-07-2005, 07:55 AM

JeffLab, I am in the same boat as you. I almost don't hear anything from the speakers below -60db volume either. See my thread titled "1015 not loud enough". All the bells and whistles are holding me back from returning this as well. It's great bang for the buck but does seem to fall short on the output power front. I am giving it a few more days before making the return or keep decision.

Stephen Hopkins · 10-07-2005, 11:30 AM

Think about it this way... IF (not saying it is) 0db on the 1014TX or 1015TX were reference level then that would indicate that conversations would be around 75db and peaks around 105db. At -60db (in theory) that would lead to 15db conversation and 45db peaks. No wonder it's not audible. For reference your average computer fan is around 30db and percieved silence is around 10db. The lesson here... it's not an absolute scale and scales varry from model to model... AND even if it were an absolute scale relating directly to reference level and the db level below it you're listening at you still wouldn't hear ANYTHING at -60db. I listen to movies at -15db and TV at -20 to -25db. There's plenty of headroom above that. The scale probably isn't even linear because going from -15 to -10 seems to be a much larger jump than going from -25 to -15. Don't let the "-xx" db on the front make you think it doesn't have alot of output power. If it goes as loud as you want with a little room to spare then does the "-xx db" on the front really matter?

SummyD · 10-07-2005, 11:52 AM

Stephen, I agree with you. It's just a little difficult to digest that for the same manufacturer, the scale would vary that much.

BTW your HT link is broken.