I wish Circuit City would carry them. I have a $100 gift card just itching to be spent. They carry other lower end Pioneer models, so why not the 1014TX?
Have you stopped by the store to see if a salesperson can pull it up in their system. Usually, they can tell if it has hit the warehouse - or, if it will eventually be stocked. I'd bet that CC will be stocking it - now, it's just a question of when they will.
I pulled the trigger and went ahead and got the 52TX. I first wanted the 1014TX, but could not find one locally. I walked into my local Goodguys tonight and they were selling the 52TX for $599 and today was the last day of that current sale. They had one left in stock, so I jumped on it. Couldn't resist at that price and got a 12 month same as cash deal. I need to get my surrounds and a center speaker before I attempt to set it up. Will be ordering those tomorrow and should be here in a week or so. I can't wait to get everything hooked up.
I was able to find the operating instructions for the 1014TX on the Pioneer website. The manual is not readily located anywhere on the site..meaning no direct link for it so you'll have to do a search for it under the manuals section. FWIW, its 75 pages vs. 79 pages for the 52TX. You can download both to compare. Basically, the differences in the manuals are pages devoted to multi-room listening and use of the 12V-trigger on the 52TX.
I have already backordered a 1014TX and expect the retailer to get more in sometime next week, so I need to make the decision maybe by the end of day tomorrow in order to cancel my order before they get it in stock and fulfill my order.
I called an in state authorized Pioneer Elite dealer who is about 3 hour drive from me. I was able to get a deal on the 52TX from this dealer which will cost me about $155 more out the door than what it cost me to get the 1014TX from OneCall. I save on the shipping because the dealer says I can drive to the place where they ship from which is only about 1 hour drive from me. The dealer was willing to negotiate with me somewhat from an original quoted price a few weeks ago.
I have been saying that if I can get the 52TX for $125 to $150 more than the 1014TX then I would get it. At one time I might have stretched that to $175 but after finding out more of the similarities between these two units, I narrowed it a bit. I always liked the elite look with the piano gloss finish and amber display and I like the fact that I have an extra year warranty on the elite. Those two items alone make the 52TX worth $50-$75 more to ME. This is especially the case after reading how the elite service center treated graphicguy when he had his unit serviced. Granted he has a 59TXi, but hopefully it extends to the other elites as well.
The 52TX also offers the ability for multi-room and multi-source. These are things I don't need immediately, but the idea of letting my wife listen to a cd in another room while I watch a dvd is something that is interesting and appealing to me.
I'm not the type of person (at least I hope I am not after spending the past few months at this forum) that constantly upgrades their gear and I can see myself happy with the new receiver (be it 1014TX or 52TX) for the next 7-8 years if it lasts that long. The next big upgrade for me when HDMI switching trickles down to receivers under $1K, so that is probably at least a few years away. So, now I have to decide whether to get the 52TX or the 1014TX and save $155.
What did you put in the search box for a model number? I have tried all the permutations I could think of and I still can't get the link to the manual. Maybe they took the manual off the site (as they did to the actual spec page)?
I got my 1014 two days ago and so far I love it. I am in a temporary rental place while my house is being built so I only have my main hooked up to it. From what I can tell, this receiver is an absolute steal. MCACC is pretty fun.
The 1014 has been off of the Pioneer website for two days now and no one seems to know why.
I tried to search for the 1014TX manual again, but can no longer find it. They must have removed it. I downloaded it today at another computer and only have a hard print out of it for now.
How do all these unauthorized dealers get these units?
It's frustrating when the authorized dealers are always out of stock, or haven't even received them in the stores, but the unauthorized dealers seem to have no trouble stocking these units.
Yung, for me it came down to one thing, sound quality. The bottomline is for the coming future I was not going to use alot of the features of the Elite line. The 52tx is just too similar and I doubt you would hear any difference.
Chuch, even If those sites say they have the receiver in stock you better call them. Even the top rated ones have plenty of negative feedback. So from my experience, when it goes good with unauthorized dealers it goes good, when it goes bad, it goes real bad. Thats why I got mine from Vanns, I wanted the yr warrenty also.
I understand your frustration as both OneCall and BB have these backordered. The guys at my local BB didn't have a clue as to when they will get these in the stores...they said maybe mid-October.
However, it seems some authorized dealers like Vann's and J&R seem to get them back in stock pretty quickly as opposed OneCall. J&R is local to me, so if they can match the OneCall price out the door (meaning including tax), then I may just pick it up from them.
John, did you get to hear the 1014TX before ordering or are you buying blind? I couldn't find any dealers in NYC which have this unit on display. I heard the 54TX at 6th Ave in NJ and really liked it, so I am hoping the 1014TX/52TX sound similar.