Pioneer SC-55 vs Anthem MRX500 (1 Viewer)

[sancmat]

I currently am running a PIoneer Elite 92txh. I am looking to replace it because of two problems.
1. No HDMI on screen display outside of the menu. My setup involves all of my equipment other than tv, sub and speakers being in a different room. With not being able to see my reciever it is inconvienent to change settings. I've lived this way for 4 years now so I'll survive but it is a feature that would have value to me.
2. Dolby TrueHD 7.1. The 92txh has a known bug related to TrueHD 7.1 where the dialog hops around the room and is therefore unusable. As far as I can understand the only way for me to fix this is to pump a couple houndred into getting the firmware updated. Which in this day and age is insane.
3. User driven firmware updates. See point number 2.
If people have a way for me to fix #2 without shelling out a lot of money then great.
Now to the point. I have an opportunity to buy a Anthem MRX300 at a great price (current price is $800 but I might be able to negotiate down from that)
It meets all above requirments and sounds great. the problem is compared to my 92txh it is way underpowered on paper (I know numbers arn't everything) but I am running full 7.1 in a large room and if I remember right it's rated 80 watt per channel (and some reviews said thats at 2 channels only) vs the 92txh which is 120 watt per channel.
then you trhow in Anthems "A very beefy amp – more ‘real’ power than the competition!" comment and I really wonder if I'm am over reacting.
Looking for advice.

 

[dmiller68]

I have a SC-37 and previously had a SC-27. They have been rock solid receivers with plenty of power. The MCACC does a pretty good job I needed to tweak some of the settings.

 

[bobby hamilton]

Based on "class" status and not much else. First, you have brands like Pyle, Sherwood, Insignia, etc. Then the mainstream brands like Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, etc. Then you have the upper-tier brands like Arcam, Rotel, NAD and...Anthem. Those are the boutique brands, if there is such a thing.
Pioneer should offer the better value and more features. But each receiver brand has it's own nuances. The good about Pioneer Elite is that they run very cool compared to most other brands. Even the standard line. They seem to be very reliable and well made. They have 6 MCACC presets which remember not only the eq settings but individual speaker volumes as well. Great for setting up for different situation. One preset can be for two channel music, one for 5.1 movies, one for late night viewing, etc. They're fairly easy to setup and operate, have good power but not class leading, have crystal clear and detailed sound and are one of the best looking receivers out there.
The not so good. One crossover setting for each speaker group. No video processing via hdmi. Whatever comes into the receiver through hdmi goes out through hdmi un-touched. MCACC automatic setup not thought to be as good as Audyssey (it doesn't eq the sub) and Pioneer's MSRP can be a bit higher than some other consumer level brands.
Having said that, I've owned maybe 15 different receivers of varying brands over the last 4-5 years including a Pioneer 1014 (great receiver at the time) an Elite 59txi (an absolute 68 lb beast) a 94txh (good over-all receiver) A vsx-32 (nearly identical to the 1120) and the afore-mentioned SC-35 and currently have a 23txh and 03txh. There is no perfect receiver, they all have the good and bad. But I've decided to stick with Elites for now. To go with the 23txh I also have an Elite DV58av and BDP-05 and with the 03txh a dv48av and BDP-23. They all make great combinations and offer good looks and ease of use.
Unfortunately I don't have any experience with the "upper-tier" receivers as I don't think I can take advantage of what they have to offer so they would be a some-what poor value for me. I felt the same way about the 35. Just too much receiver for me.

Just thought it was interesting, but the two receivers I have currently are the 23txh and 03txh.