Sammans actually does sell online, but they do it under the name Ultimate Electronics through yahoo shopping. I purchased my 4ES from Ultimate Electronics for $592 shipped, and only found out I was REALLY buying from Sammans after I noticed the charge on my debit card statement. Here's the link...
So far (after a little over a week) I'm loving the 4ES. I have it set up and calibrated, but haven't even skimmed the surface on the EQs yet. The remote is different... I could probably get used to it, but I've also just purchased a pronto which I'm also absolutely in love with. As for the...
It might help if you told us what speakers you plan to use and your room size. One of the biggest complaint about the current x11 Pioneer receivers is that they are somewhat lacking in 2ch stereo. I'm guessing that this will carry over into the 912K because from most reports it has the same amp...
I'm almost positive the auto MCACC on the 912K will ONLY do speaker level adjustments and not individual speaker equalization. This is based on my reading of the description of the 912K's MCACC from pioneer. That said... the price difference in the 4ES and the 45TX is pretty substantial...
That depends on the bass management of the 912K and of your actual player. You may want to call pioneer and see how the 912K handles bass from the multichannel inputs. I'm pretty sure that the 4ES's crossovers and EQs take effect even on multichannel inputs, but I could be wrong. Bass management...
The 912K looks like it's going to be the next version of the current 811S w/ the addition of Auto MCACC being the most notable change. It'll have a great feature set and be very hard to beat at the $350 price point. As a previous 811S owner, I would not hesitate to recommend it to someone...