Customer Ratings & Reviews

Overall a great product. This is my second purchase for Pioneer products of this type. I am totally appreciating all of the features this system has to offer. I did a lot of comparing before deciding to go for the Elite. Pioneer is a solid company with a great reputation, and I do hope to enjoy this system for many years as I have with my previous unit.

Bought Elite SC-65 Feb 2013, never could get 9.2 to work right, dropped down to 7.1 and it worked ok. Almost made it 5 years before the dreaded code. Audio started breaking up slowly, then went silent January 10th 2018. Swore off pioneer but after seeing what was out there and having to relearn everything, wish I'd went yamaha or something else in the first place. I broke down and bought Pioneer 11.2. Got a pretty good deal with price match. 2500 tax included and shipping to my house. Roll of the dice

This receiver is an absolute beast and will channel and drive anything you need. Sound is fantastic and the ease of use is great. I've talked to Pioneer on the phone a few times and they're phenomenal as well.

The new 3D ready Pioneer Elite SC-65 elite receiver is nothing short of spectacular. This top of the line receiver is sure to satisfy even the most hardcore audiophiles. After constantly using the SC-65 for the past 3 months, I can say I am very happy with it. What I like most about the system is the integration with apple products. You can be listening to a song or album on your mac, iphone, or ipad and use the airplay feature to stream it directly to the receiver if you have it set up on the same internet network. If you download the pioneer iControAV2012 app you can use it on your iphone, ipad, or ipod touch to control almost any feature on the pioneer receiver. I still love the fact I can turn the receiver on and control almost any feature from anywhere in the house with the app. The picture and sound quality are some of the absolute best from any receiver I have used or tested. I am using it with a last generation Pioneer Kuro Elite and the picture is truly jaw dropping. The video conversion gives you the best picture from anything you connect to it. You also get Pandora radio, Sirius Radio, and Vtuner radio which offers thousands of radio stations from across the world. This receiver also supports 4K pass through (also known as 4K2K or Ultra High Defenition) which is the new high definition format expected to eventually replace 1080p. With 1080p TVs you have a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels thus the p at the end. With 4K you get 3840x2160 pixels resulting in an even much better picture than 1080p. Think of it as kind of a retina display on a ipad or iphone where the pixels are almost impossible to see resulting in a much clearer picture. Now 4K TVs are barely coming out now and are ridiculously expensive starting at over twenty grand, but will eventually drop to a reasonable price range in a few years. The first 4K2K blu-rays or Ultra Def blu-rays are expected to hit the market sometime in 2013. So with the 4K passthrough not only are you future proofing yourself, but you will be getting the absolute best quality that will even rival the best movie theaters. For some reason the UK version of pioneers website has much more detailed information and great videos on this model although their model number is SC-LX56-K and its the same receiver minus the elite branding.

Okay, so I remodeled my entire house, and saved the best room for last. The living room. I have been a long time pioneer fan, using their products since I could turn a knob. I have tried others, but always seem to fall back on pioneers solid products. Anyway, I recently purchased a Panasonic gt65 television, and along with it bought the vsx-42 ($400) It was a fantastic reciever, but just didnt have the "umpf" I was looking for, as I have 2 - 600 watt aal 2230 (dual 12 subs, 3.5in mid and a horn tweeter) 2 - 600 watt MTX C12 (single 12 sub, 3.5in mid and a horn tweeter) and 2 - ODSD 3 way 175 w ceiling speakers. The vsx just wouldnt give me the bass response I was looking for after trying vigorously for a month. So I did some more research, and decided to take it back and upgrade to this SC 65. Best buy was even really awesome and knocked off $600 because I found it online for 1000 and they price matched. Either way, this is a really really great receiver that delivers awesome bass, ( note I do not have a powered sub woofer, its all my main speakers.) but keeps the mids and highs in balance too. I didnt really find the auto mccac adjustment to sufficiently set up those speakers, so I did the adjustment manually. The best piece of advice I could give someone who has any receiver from this product line is to DOWNLOAD THE ICONTROL 2012 ANDROID APP!!!! The app is AWESOME! It makes controlling the receiver about a million times easier, and its actually more responsive that the standard remote (disclaimer, I have a gigabit network that I built in my house) You can control EVERYTHING from this app, including DLNA, Pandora, set your EQ with your touch screen! Mess with every setting available except for mccac. If you have or plan to get one of these it is imperative that you download the app! I dont ever use the remote haha

This is a really great amp, runs cool, excellent sound and video processing. It runs really cool compared to conventional A/B amps. Also it sounds great; clear, crisp and awesome! I also think its a great value compared to its competition; have excellent video processing. Overall I am satisfied with receiver and is a great buy for this price range. I don't really care for features, but do care for sound and video. Pioneer Elite has legendary built quality and this amp is built to last. I have a Denon 4311ci also and this amp hold its ground compared to it.

I purchased this to replace a Harman Kardon AVR3600. While the new Harmans are known for having one of the best user interface's out there, this receiver is just the opposite. The good news? The Class D amps and audio processing are terrific and can produce extreme and crisp sound worthy of a receiver in the $2k range. These amps are noticably different from a class A/B with a slight harshness to the tone. This can be adjusted down with the MACP program. The problem is, these amps are housed in a receiver that's needlessly over complicated, gives features that no one needs across multiple menus, only half of which can be displayed on screen. For a multi room reciever this lack on on screen info is an astounding fail. A simple feature like allowing the sub to produce low frequency effects (not just the "sub" channel is missing while you can configure a variety of less important features. The on screen guide mirrors the graphics on an ATARI, is slow to respond and only alows for approx 20% of the total configuration. Its really a shame that such nice amplification and sound processing is stuck behind a poor design. Visually, its pleasing and typical of the Elite series, the controls feel weighted and screem class. Unfortunatlly, all that goes out the window once you attempt to ask the AVR to perform a function like switching a source or you pick up the 1992 themed remote. She's headed back to BBY at the end of the week. At this price point, no one should be dissapointed with such basics as control.

This thing is a beast. I love the digital amps, they give a phenomenal sound reproduction and separation for surround sound. If you want a receiver to listen to "smooth jazz" in stereo go buy a marantz or a yamaha... If you want a versatile receiver and listen to more than one genre, AND be designed FOR movies, than this is the receiver you should buy. Also, in regards to the review above..... who the heck wants to have their tv speakers and surround on at the same time?!

I returned this SC-65 Reciever only because it did not have a designated phono jack with ground. This was an absolute must for me as i have a very extensive album collection that I listen to very often. At the price of this reciever I should not have to buy a adapter that would lessen sound quality. I posted a review on the SC-67 witch I upgraded to. This SC-65 is a great reciever but I needed more. If you dont need a turn table hook up, this is all the reciver you will ever need. check my other post for more info.

I could feel the envy of the magnolia sales people as they watched me walk out of the store with this amp..need i say more..

I have been needing to upgrade my sound system for a little while. I think that this one will be the last one I need for a while! Great component.

I waited anxiously for this receiver to be released. The Pioneer website and videos made the product look incredible, and I wanted two zones of output, one for living room and one for my office. The biggest flaw was the that it won't support sound integrated into a television via hdmi without disabling all the sound in the receiver. The installers called Pioneer and learned this. I didn't believe them and called Pioneer myself a few days later to confirm. The tech on the phone told me how to make sound transmit through hdmi, but I was unable to duplicate the commands on my receiver (grayed out). The final straw was the remote. Even after several hours, I couldn't begin to operate it and was constantly referring to the manual. I returned the unit and Best Buy was kind enough to give me a speedy refund.

Let me start by saying I've been a big fan of the Pioneer ELITE line of receivers for years. I'm not anymore. I bought last year's version of this unit as an open-box special at a fantastic price, and for a couple weeks was thrilled with the sound quality and flexibility of the unit, although some "convenience" type features that are common on other brand high-end units seemed to be missing (HDMI standby pass-through and HDMI audio return channel, or ARC). Still, I was happy just because of the great sound. After 2 weeks the unit stopped working. The front panel looked normal but it produced no sound or video. After 20 minutes of trying all the inputs and scratching my head, the unit shut itself off and the iPod light flashed. The manual says this indicates a serious problem. Tried all the usual turning it off, unplugging, etc. Nothing. I took it back to my local BB, traded for this year's version (SC-65), paid the difference for a factory fresh unit (ouch), trundled it home, spent an hour hooking everything up, hit the power button and.......it stayed on for 1/2 second, shut itself off and the iPod light flashed! Ugghhhh!!! Returned that one for a high-end Yamaha unit. I'm done with Pioneer ELITE for the foreseeable future.