Pioneer - 875W 7.1-Channel A/V Home Theater Receiver with AirPlay

I have always been a Onkyo fan. Having owned several Onkyo THX certified receivers. When my Onkyo TSXR803 when on the blink I needed a new receiver. I did not want to spend another $1000.00 or more at this time. After much research I settled on the Pioneer VSX 1021-K. My biggest concern was the fact that the VSX1021-K had less rated power than the Onkyo TSXR803 and the lack of THX certification. I was also concerned that a $549.00 retail receiver simply could not compare to the $1000.00 Onkyo in performance or sound quality. Boy was I wrong, the Pioneer VSX1021-K performs great, sounds great and has enough power to fill my large family room. This receiver really woke up my Boston 7.1 surround speakers. The Boston’s are many years old, around $4000 when new. The feature set of this receiver is just fantastic. I have a HTPC Media Center (Home Theater PC) that we use for movie playback as well as our audio source for digtial music. We do watch more movies than listening to music. The Pioneer surprised me with its performance of AC3 & DTS encoded movies. I have not had a chance to test it with a Blu-ray disc, but after listening to the DTS tracks I am convinced that this unit will reproduce True Dolby HD & DTS-HD with no problems. I have tested the receiver with 720P & 1080P MKV files with DTS & AC3 audio tracks, they sound great, real dynamic. MP3’s even as compressed as they are sound great, Lossless audio even better. The iPhone / iPod interface works well either plugged into the Pioneer or wireless streaming. You can stream via your wireless home network from your I device, from iTunes or Windows Media Player. I do not have a iPad, but the free Pioneer iPhone apps work great. The unit is also networked via a Cat 5 cable and can play media from all of our computers, pretty sweet. Add to this Internet Radio & it makes a nice package. My Onkyo had XM radio, the Pioneer has Sirius radio, and I do not have the Sirius tuner so I cannot test this feature. The Fm radio works well. The HDMI makes hook up easy. The remote works well and has a ton of buttons, but they are very small. I am using a Logitech Harmony remote, I had no problems programming it even as new as the VSX 1021-K is. I have only had the Pioneer about a week now, but I have to say I am impressed for the money spent. It works & sounds great. It’s hard to believe that you can get this much receiver for $549.00 retail. I would recommend the Pioneer VSX1021-K to anyone.

Some are griping about the glossy finish etc etc. I spent the last few days 6/3-6/9 testing Denon 1912, Yamaha 671 and lower end Pioneer 821. This Pioneer 1021 has the picture image of 671 Yamaha and the sound quality of Denon 1912. I am very pleased with this receiver. Don't take my word for it. Do the auto-cal tweak it like you like. Then sit back and watch this thing take off. If you don't like it what you have to lose. Take it back. I love this thing and very happy with the quality. To me CNet was unfair to the Pioneer 1021 because of two pet peeves. 1 no front HDMI and 2 Nicer GUi on the Yamaha. Plus you get a IPod cable for free with Pioneer. Only thing I miss about the other two is the 2 year warranty. Be warned of Denon 1912 that receiver washed out my colors to the point I'm trying to adjust them. I have a nice Samsung too. This thing has features out the wazoo. Lastly I have never had a midrange receiver let me customize picture on EACH input. Good Job Pioneer.

I had been searching and researching mid range receivers. Narrowed down between this and Denon's 1912 After several side by side comparisons and sound tests, there was finally no doubt that the Pioneer was the way to go. After set up and the calibration with the included microphone, all I can say is HOLY *** this thing rocks! I have it hooked up to my new Klipsch VF-35 towers, Polk Surroundbar50 and Klipsch surround rears. The highs are amazing and the lows melt right into my Energy subwoofer. The H.M.G (Home Media Gallery) is also a great feature which streams internet radio with great CD quality. The included Airplay also rocks as I can hit the function on my IPAD or Iphone and instantly get music thru my home system. My system is wired via ethernet which is required for this feature or you can buy the Pioneer adapter to stream wirelessly. This receiver was a close second to Denon 1912 as rated by Cnet, but because of one less HDMI port and they said the Denon sounded slightly better....WRONG! I heard them side by side multiple times and there is no comparison as the Pioneer was always on top,

Like many folks I did my research online and read all comments before buying this receiver. During my research I was down to Onkyo NR 609, Pioneer 1021 and Denon 1912. I did not liked Denon connectivity options and hence was down to Onkyo and Pioneer. I first took onkyo home and while I was overall impressed with connectivity and video quality , I was not impressed with the sound. I currently have phillips receiver and it sounded very good except it is 6 years old and lacks HDMI (the reason for by upgrade). With Onkyo (5.1) setup you cannot hear anything until the volume is turned between 30-40 (according to customer service this is expected behavior) and even with full volume it does not sounded too good . I have POLK CS1 center speaker and the Onkyo receiver was not able to challenge this guy. So i returned this one and got pioneer. Once the auto calibration was done (it took some time as it reported errors for no reason which later got resolved by running retest) I was so very much impressed by the sound quality. Its much better then Onkyo and I did not had guts to put in full volume with fear it will blast my ears. Video quality was good ( against some reviews which mentioned up-conversion was horrible) and the connectivity features for iphone is a bonus. I will recommend this anytime over Onkyo

1. when 1st setting up, plug hdmi cable from "out" in the back of receiver to your t.v. before you do anything 2.hook up all speakers and componants and then plug in 3. to turn off factory demo mode hold down enter while powering on device, use tune ^ button to go to FL DEMO, use preset button to turn demo mode off 4.there are 2 buttons on remote that say receiver , the one you will need to program the receiver is on the right side 5 buttons down(may seem silly but it took me a half hour and almost tossing the receiver across the room before i found the second receiver button on the remote so i could program it 5. if you dont set the front speakers to large and you turn the volume up more then a whisper, the unit shuts down to protect speakers, once u go into the menu and change them to large you can crank it as loud as you want! 6. pre set radio stations; tune to channel wanted then press t.edit guide button then use > to select preset and enter to confirm i hope these tips help out a few of you so you dont get as angry as i was trying to set this thing up. once all hooked up and programed its an amazing receiver and i would highly recommend it p.s. the usb port in front will also work for mp3 players

Seamlessly integrated w/ ipad,iphone or ipod. Great sound! Easy to use and setup. Love that I can control it through my ipad. Has builtin tools to set up speakers and EQ. Also comes w/ cable so you can plug your ipod, iphone or ipad into the receiver and play itunes or you can play it through your home network by wired ethernet, wireless or bluetooth (both require additional adapter purchased additionally) buy in full confidence. You wont regret it!

Really excellent equipment, but poor technical support and also knowledge in such repairs. I do not trust such a department. The unit has a great quality sound and futures also verify. I love it and made by our good quality people of Japan.

First, the price on this receiver is crazy. It's listed at MSRP at many places and about half that at others (big name retailers...not fly by night sites#. I paid list at Best Buy for the return policy...there is a small number of lemons (everyone has them) and because a lot of people can't get the HDMI pass through to work. I couldn't either but then I found the love for the other features...so I am keeping it. Pro's * Sound Quality * Looks * Airplay * Airjam * iAVcontrol App * Internet Radio * Remote is a learning remote for 5 #? or 3 ?# devices * Build quality is top of the line Con's * Price * HDMI Pass Through #hahahahaha....# * Manual is HORRIBLE * Setup is way more complicated than it needs to be * Remote is laid out poorly This is a GREAT receiver in many ways. There are some features though that weigh it down. First...I really do like this receiver for audio use..especially because of Airplay and Internet Radio. This is one of the main reasons I went from a basic receiver to a higher cost one...and it works. Sat on the couch using Airplay for about 3 hours. Then another hour or two searching out world music...trance music from Algeria? WOW! Next is the iAVcontrol application…WOW…I have been waiting for this all my life. This application itself made me want to upgrade. AFAIK this is the least expensive receiver to offer this. This seemed cool be a little gimmicky..until I used it. Love it. Bad stuff…HDMI pass through doesn’t work for most people…seems like VERY hit or miss. Depends on when the HDMI codec was implemented and even some pretty recent Pioneer TVs won’t work with it. Wound up putting CATV to TV via HDMI then pumping out the sound via digital optical to the 1021. Works fine…but still…that means I have to HDMI out from the 1021 on a separate HDMI port on the TV. I am NOT the only one who has this problem. It’s well documented in many forums. The other complaint is the manual and setup on this are as complicated as putting as S5W nuclear plant in a single pump line up…yeah, it’s that bad. If the manual was better or Pioneer hadn’t used such bad labeling names this would have been a big boon to newbies. The remote is good because it’s a free learning remote and bad because…well, it’s super complicated. You have to see this monster to understand how they crammed all the commands onto it…one button literally has 7 functions depending on what you push before it…Yikes! In closing I will say I REALLY like this receiver. It does have some quirks but many do…especially ones that offer all the features as this one. Would you be better off getting a more basic receiver #Onkyo TX-NR509 is $240 shipped at many retailers# and add a Apple TV #$99# for the same functionality? That’s your call. I like the receiver but it can be frustrating for a noob to hook up…but it delivers MOST of what it claims #and read the forums…most competitors have problems too…the Onkyo NR509 has audio drop outs for some).