Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH 7.1 Channel A V Receiver
Last month Ara picked up an Apple TV for use in his media room. That became the fourth HDMI device which was one device too many for his Yamaha RX-V2700 receiver. So he contacted Pioneer to see if he could review the Pioneer VSX-94TXH 7.1 A V Receiver. In actuality, Ara was auditioning the receiver for his own personal use.
Within a few days the receiver showed up and it's not going back! Just so everyone is clear, Ara has to pay for the receiver to keep it. We did not need to adjust any of the settings once it was done. The VSX-94TXH is a beautiful machine albeit substantial in size and weight. It has a nice piano black finish that looks great, but you can definitely see finger prints.
But who actually touches their equipment? The size and weight are definitely put to use producing 140 watts of power per each of its seven channels. As an aside, when reading the product specs I ran across a term called Symmetrical Power Train Design. I couldn't find any documentation on what it was. But since it was in the product specification it must be important right? For nothing more than clarification we asked Pioneer what this was, this is their explanation: The Pioneer Elite A V receivers each feature power amps for seven channels.
Accurate multi-channel sound reproduction is possible only when the operating environment of one channel is physically identical to that of the others. Setup Setup was as straight forward as it can be when introducing a new receiver into your system. Connections were simple since most of the gear being used supported HDMI.
HDMI does make life easy in cable management and universal remote programming. The only complication was using an HDMI to DVI cable between the Mac Mini and the receiver. Since the DVI cable does not carry audio, the optical output of the Mini was connected to the DVD input of the receiver. We then had to tell the 94TXH to use one of the HDMI inputs for the video.
In general we like the flexibility the receiver has in assigning inputs and outputs. After everything was routed we ran the Pioneer auto calibration to tune the room. Auto calibration is something most manufacturers are putting into their systems to get the best sound out of their equipment. Most mid range and up receivers have some form of auto calibration.
To start the process you connect an included microphone to an input on the front of the receiver and place it in the area you want the sound optimized for. The receiver will output a series of tones and measure the response at the microphone to find the optimal settings for your room.
On some receivers we've felt compelled to go in and manually tweak the final results. Not so with the Pioneer, the system accurately determined the size and distance of the speakers and was able to set the gains to the proper levels. Another feature we liked was the ability to have multiple calibration profiles. Say you play your video games while sitting on the floor.
You can place the microphone in that area, run the calibration and store it off in one of the receiver memory positions. Sound We listened to the typical suite of material, compressed mp3s, music CDs, Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital, and Dolby True HD. All sounded fantastic. Dialog was crisp and clear, effects were dramatic, and the LFE could shake you to the bone. Music CDs sounded great!
We need to listen to more music on CDs or at least high bit rate rips of CDs. Also, please consider that much of our listening tests are a reflection on the speakers that we use. A high quality receiver like this needs to be paired with high quality speakers to get the most out of it. One feature that we found interesting is something called "Sound Retriever".
This technology is supposed to bring back some of the high frequency sound that is lost with compressed audio. Then you won't need technology like this and your audio will sound like it was meant to be.
Although there is no sound quality difference between having Dolby True HD or DTS Master Audio decoded on a receiver it was still nice to see "True HD" or "DTS Master Audio" light up in the receiver's display. However, with my Blu Ray Player, the only way to hear DTS Master Audio is to have the receiver decode it. The receiver definitely has the power to drive a 7.1 system and fill a large room with sound! Video Nowadays, receivers are also about video.
The 94TXH has a Faroudja video scaler built into it and it will perform video switching for you. The issue we had with it was that receiver would not upconvert 1080i or 720p source material to 1080p. Nor would it upconvert a signal coming in over the HDMI inputs. For Ara's use, scaling adds zero value. As far as switching goes, the player passed the signal through to the TV unaltered. We did not experience any HDCP issues with any of our equipment.
Having four inputs makes programming the Harmony Remote a snap. I did not need to do any tweaking to get the activities to work the way I wanted. Odds and Ends The 94TXH has some extras that don't cost extra. It comes complete with an iPod cable which allows you to listen and watch your content on your TV through the receiver. We didn't spend too much time with this because we had a Mac Mini connected to the receiver.
There is an Ethernet connection which allows for Internet radio and streaming music via and DLNA server. We couldn't find a way to do an update to the firmware via the network connection, nor could we find a way to access the settings via a web based interface. And that would be nice considering the on screen GUI looks like something that was considered good in 1985. The remote is jam packed with buttons that you may never use so your Harmony remote is almost required.
Conclusion Overall, Ara liked the receiver enough to bump his current receiver to the family room. Sound is very good, build quality is first rate and you get an iPod connection cable included in the deal. Four HDMI inputs make the 94TXH a very capable HDMI switch!
We were a bit disappointed that the receiver would not scale a 1080i or 720p signal to 1080p and that we couldn't find a way to get our 480i signal via HDMI to scale to 1080p. The remote and on screen user interface was not worthy of an otherwise stellar product.
I was wondering if there are Pre-Amp outputs for each 8 channels, on this devicce. Better yet. The 94TXH has some extras that don't cost extra." Mar 15, 9:53am But the article conveniently fails to mention what this receiver costs! Today, there are many comparable AVRs with these features and MSRP is a needed mention to compare value of such a device to a user. Re: Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH 7.1 Channel A V Receiver Mar 15, 10:13am Pioneer doesn't offer any surround pre-amps.
I believe Onkyo makes a version of the same Re: Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH 7.1 Channel A V Receiver Mar 16, 11:18am Greg, you mention that the REON HQV video chipset in Onkyo's TX-SR875 is superior to the Faroudja in the Pioneer. If they are older and cheaper ABT chipsets, I would take the REON HQV. ADSG was the R&D unit of the sound department producing products for movie theaters and movie studios. Two of the products they worked on include the DCP-1000 and DADR-5000.
The DCP is a digital cinema processor used in movie theaters around the world. The DADR-5000 is a disk-based audio dubber used on Hollywood sound stages. ADSG was awarded a Technical Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2000 for the development of the DADR-5000. Ara holds three patents for his development work in Digital Cinema and Digital Audio Recording. Every week they put together a podcast about High Definition TV and Home Theater.
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As switch to digital approaches, a few last-minute reminders
But if you use an antenna to watch TV, you'll need a converter box. Depending on where you live, you might not need a replacement antenna. Right about now, it's good to be in the business of installing antennas and TVs. We are busier than we have ever been," said Brett Miller of the Satellite Store. It's a wonderful season for us." But not exactly wonderful for all the TV owners out there who might be confused -- and upset -- about the digital transition.
If you pick up the signal for News Center 16 through an antenna, and you have a converter box, you're probably okay. Before you shell out cash for an HDTV antenna, see if yours works. If you have an antenna now and it's picking up the stations relatively clear, that antenna will work just fine, you don't need to buy a new HD antenna or anything like that," said Ryan Pogue of the Satellite Store.
If you live closer to WNDU's transmitter in South Bend, you're probably okay with an inside antenna. But if you're further away, you might need to use an outside antenna on your roof, or maybe even your attic. If you have any questions about the digital transition, feel free to call the FCC at 1-888-225-5322. Posted by: Linda Location: Peirano on Feb 19, 2009 at 04:57 PM I hooked up my converter box.
How do I get to receive channels? Posted by: Deb Location: Goshen on Feb 14, 2009 at 10:37 PM Todd, thank you for your advice. I will try that and hopefully it will work as well for me as it did for you. Posted by: kb9ymx Location: roseland on Feb 14, 2009 at 03:19 PM the switch to digital is being done in hopes of freeing up frequency spectrum's.
Simple terms the analog TV's use a lot of signal area and the switch to digital gives the FCC more freq's to auction off to the highest bidder. Many economically challenged people have had to ditch cable and sat TV from losing jobs, more distressing is the time limit for the coupons(they expire in a few weeks after ordered.)
Some TV's if it has a fine tuner may still work and just like analog show snow sometimes in signal fade - you have to wait till analog is off to see unfortunately. USA. Posted by: Todd Location: South Bend on Feb 14, 2009 at 08:53 AM Deb, you might try moving the antenna closer to a window.
It should also be pointed in the direction of the towers which in South Bend area is the fair grounds off of the bypass. You can extend that cable if you need to. I did this and have had no problems. There is no such thing as an HDTV antenna.. Most just do not include the rabbit ears for VHF which you don't need in this area anyhow. Posted by: THE KING Location: S.B.
Feb 14, 2009 at 07:45 AM Can someone please tell me why there are actually neanderthals left that don't have cable!! Posted by: MANY HA HA S Location: LAZY TOWN on Feb 14, 2009 at 06:40 AM I wish ALL the area stations would just switch,so I can hear all the crybabies cry. They were too lazy or stupid and now are caught with the pants down in public. HA,HA,HA, HA.
Posted by: Cthulhu Location: Mishawaka on Feb 14, 2009 at 01:31 AM I keep hearing about all of this stuff and I feel glad I don't watch tv at all but just read the news online. Posted by: Anonymous on Feb 13, 2009 at 11:08 PM the analog comes in WAY clearer than the digital here. The digital is choppy and freezes Posted by: Aaron on Feb 13, 2009 at 08:36 PM Whats the point? The same old judges will be elected anyway. Posted by: Anonymous on Feb 13, 2009 at 08:00 PM Great job WNDU!! TV is beyond me..
TV! Posted by: David Location: South Bend on Feb 13, 2009 at 07:57 PM Interesting. However this works both ways. I can decide to take the tv, turn it off. I'm thinking my quality of life is going to improve in just a few days.
Posted by: Deb Location: Goshen on Feb 13, 2009 at 07:27 PM I have both the converter box and an HDTV antenna and when I can get the signal the picture is very clear. I don't like the fact that I don't always get a clear picture because of the freezing of the screen or sometimes I just can't get this station in at all. I have the most problems with this channel and channel 25.
I live in an apartment building, so putting up an outdoor antenna is not an option for me. Is this the best I can look forward to? WNDU News Poll There are currently no active polls at this time. Click here to view other polls on our site and past poll results. Most Popular Headlines 1. One person dead, one in critical condition after car collides with train 2. Driver and child injured in collision with snowplow 3. Inmate escapes from Kosciusko County Jail 6. Non-stop snow causes slick roads 7.
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