For under $350 can the Pioneer 1014TX be beat? [employee pricing] (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

My sister's fiance, who is an employee at a big retail chain, can get the Pioneer 1014TX receiver for under $350. We want to get a receiver for my parents for Christmas (to go with their new HDTV they bought a few months back).

I've been out of the receiver game for a while and did a search on the 1014, seems to get good-to-great reviews here. But since time is short (I have to buy within a couple of days) I just wanted to see if people thought that there's a better deal out there for that price. Among the selection my sis' fiance can get, that receiver looks to be the best. But if there's a different make/model that can be purchased online for under $400 that would be better than the 1014T, please recommend it to me for investigation.

Are there any glaring weaknesses or bugs with the 1014? My parents aren't luddites, but they aren't the most technosavvy either. This receiver, being mass market, should be fairly easy for them to work, right?

Many thanks!

 

[bryan A]

let's just make this a simple answer NO. I bought this receiver a few months back I could not be happier, it is also easy to setup no more difficult than any other receiver I have setup before. They will be happy. They should not have to upgrade for a while.

 

[James Phung]

I don't think anything can beat it at $500.

There are some issues with the 1014 with optical connection to some satellite boxes. If the 'rents have satellite you might want to test this out or look up more info on the problem on the big 1014 thread here or on AVS.

 

[Carlo_M]

They do have satellite, but I think it's a cheapie receiver that may not even have optical/coax outputs, just the standard RCA outs. Don't think they plan on upgrading that at all, so perhaps this will be a non-issue. But thanks for the heads-up on that potential problem.

 

[Shane Martin]

For that price and those features, No.

 

[Yohan Pamudji]

$350? It smokes everything at that price point. As long as you do the hooking-up, they should be able to operate it.

 

[Chris Brock]

the only thing that is in the same league as far as features go that I can think of is the Yamaha 5760 and maby the 5790 if he gets a big discount. But the Pioneer would still have a huge power advantage over either of those. I have a Yamaha 5760 and am very pleased with it.

 

[Carlo_M]

The store he works for does carry Yamaha, but his discount % is roughly the same. So the 5760 would come in at about the same price as the 1014TX, +/- $20.

But the 5790 is several hundred dollars more than we can spend.

So if you say the 1014TX would have a power advantage over the Yammy models, what does the 5760 have over the 1014TX, featurewise?

Thanks!

 

[bryan A]

It is not just the power advantage that the pioneer has. The pioneer also has better speaker calibration Mcacc is much better than the speaker calibration on the Yamaha.

 

[James Phung]

I believe the YPAO on some of the Yamahas don't really do EQ either.

 

[Chris Brock]

the yamaha doesnt have an advantage in features, and actually as stated above the auto calibration on the pioneer unit is more advanced. The 5760 is probebly the closest thing you will find though.

 

[Carlo_M]

So it seems the consensus is still to go with the 1014TX...

Thanks!

 

[Kin Poon]

Just dont expect that thing to power speakers like dyaudio or totem. I tried it on my HTD level 3 bookshelves before. It was able to push it fairly well, but the clarity/separation/soundstage just wasnt there as compared to my Sansui AU-D7 integreted amp...but then agian i am just too picky as i am using a 7.1 reciever compared to a dedicated 2chnl stereo amp.

However, when i used the 1014 for the Infinity Primus surround, it made the primus SING.

but for 350..nothing can beat it, esp its power rating. Not the best for 2chnl music, but absolutely rocks for home theater.

I might buy it again when i later upgrade to 5.1 and use it as a preamp.

 

[Nigel Hooper]

The 1014 also sounds better than the 1400/5790.

 

[Will.MA]

Several months ago when I was contemplating the 1014tx or the 5760 I heard many supposedly "informed" persons here at HTF give as a reason to favor the Pioneer the inferiority of YPAO to MCACC because it didn't adjust for room acoustics. I can tell you factually that it just isn't true. I now own the 5790. When you use the auto setup (YPAO) it adjusts the system parameters for delay (diatance/amplitude) and room acoustics (Parametric EQ).

IMO, the 1014tx is a strong value at its price point. I'm sure it will be more than enough box for your parents to enjoy for many years. Good luck & Merry Christmas.

 

[Carlo_M]

Speakers are *the next* purchase for my parents [hopefully the receiver will get them to jump on that purchase as opposed to having "the kids" buy them ]. Chances are they are going to get a small satellite system, so no worries about having to drive big 4-ohm speakers.