best successor to Pioneer 1014TX? (1 Viewer)

[Allen Hirsch]

A friend of ours is doing a family room/HT. They're not serious audio or HT folks, so they just want a reasonable setup, as hassle-free as possible - so I'm recommending what we did in our "everyday" rooms, not our dedicated HT (which has more serious/expensive gear).

My surround speakers we have in the family room and bedroom are still made (at least close enough to the same version we bought several years ago) to give as a recommendation, but the Pioneer receiver I got then for both rooms, the 1014TX, is long since discontinued.

I've not "shopped" for any HT gear in 3 or 4 years, so I'm not "up" on best value HT receivers - can anyone make a recommendation for similar value/pricepoint/features as the 1014TX?

Thanks!

 

[Bryan X]

I recently replaced my 1014TX with the Pioneer 1018AH. Great features for the price and adds HDMI and lossless audio stepping up from the 1014. The only thing I didn't like about the 1018 is the remote sucks compared to the 1014. But I just bought a Harmony remote so no big deal as the Harmony is better than even the 1014 remote.

 

[John Brill]

Get a Harmony remote - saved my marriage

Other than that, stick with any of the Pioneer, Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, Panasonic a/v's in your price range and you should be golden.

JB

 

[LanceJ]

If they desire something with a low hassle factor, wouldn't a less feature-laden receiver be a better match for them? Unless they are using a really large room coupled with inefficient speakers and require the extra wattage the 1018 generates.

I don't enjoy criticizing gear in light of the financial problems so many manufacturers are experiencing right now, but many HT components have become incredibly complicated, sometimes needlessly so IMO, and are becoming a bit spooky even for this A/V geek to set up and operate. Though the automatic calibration systems that most receivers include now are a big improvement over older models, where the user had to manually enter fundamental operating parameters i.e. speaker-to-listener physical distances, channel levels, etc.

 

[Allen Hirsch]

I've got 4 of 'em, so that's an automatic part of the recommendation for hassle-free operation.