My choices for an entry level replacement receiver were between this and the Sony STR-DH720. I picked the Pioneer as I was replacing a 10 year old Pioneer that had just recently started acting up and I was quite happy with. This receiver is plenty loud, but I do have two primary complaints. My first (and biggest) is the fact that it doesn't seem to support ARC or Standby Passthrough unless you enable "Control via HDMI" which only works with certain pieces of equipment as is only spelled out in the manual. On the website, they simply have a check-mark next to both features, so I didn't expect either to have caveats. Perhaps I am wrong in thinking that the HDMI signal should pass through the receiver if it is in standby regardless of whether "Control via HDMI" is turned on and regardless of the equipment being Pioneer-compliant, but I feel it was a bit misleading in my mind. Please note that I am no A/V expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt and please research for yourself. In the mean time I am considering leaving the HDMI switching to my display and making use of the dual optical inputs like I did with my old receiver. My other complaint is that the on-screen-display (OSD) is only output through the RCA ports and NOT through HDMI. After purchasing brand new 1.4 HDMI cables and attempting to rid myself of all of the other optical-toslink, etc. cables, I find it a bit retro that you would only allow menu setup to happen through RCA video out. Just my opinions, decide for yourself, but given the info I have now, I believe I would've went with the DH720 and hoped for the best. Pioneer VSX-521-K 5.1 Home Theater Receiver, Glossy Black
Wonderful receiver with the audiophile quality performance one would expect from Pioneer. It has clean stylish looks and not terribly complicated with all the audio features any home theater system needs at a fraction of the cost of the higher end receivers. The owners manual is fairly well written and easy to understand. It took me about an hour to setup and get all the internal settings to my liking. All the receiver functions are available via the remote control. Only a couple minor negative issues I could find was is the on screen setting menu is analog only and anything beyond basic control of the unit requires the remote so don't lose it! I believe the higher end units in this model line don't have these issues. Things like these are obviously left out to help keep it affordable for the budget minded.
Bought this receiver with Polk Audio RM705 5.1 Home Theater System (Set of Six, Black). The sound is great really easy to setup. The only issue is the need for a component cable to your tv for the on screen setup during the MCACC calibration of the speakers. I didn't have these cables but I was able to run the MCACC setup without the on tv interface.
This is a good unit that i was using for DJ-ing. I also got into the VJ (video jockey) while i was doing shows, so this unit got replaced with an all in one DVD and receiver amplifier. I don't really have anything bad to say about it, it worked great till the day that i decommissioned it.
received the pioneer vzx-521-k promptly from Amazon. with new LG TV it required a digital audio optical cable.... HDMI cable from direct tv box to lg and optical cable from 521-k to tv is all it took. however, to get menu onscreen, you'll need cable from 521-k to tv. menu must have been set up by upper management but i figured it out after a while. menu has to deal with all the different appliances you can hook up but i only need tv. remote control has buttons i still have yet to figure out what they do. AUTO SPEAKER SET UP HAD REAR SPEAKERS TOO LOUD WITH NO WAY TO ADJUST DELAY. I USED MY RADIO SHACK SOUND LEVEL METER TO SET SPEAKERS. all said i hope 521-k lasts 15 years like the sherwood 70 watt a/v receiver it replaced.
I purchased this stereo due to the fact it had the auto calibration which I employed with my last Pioneer and I needed to clean up the wires behind my system with the much better HDMI cables.
I ended up returning the 521-k due to the system not picking up the source format. If something was in Dolby Digital it would not register. Also, the sound was no where as rich as my previous Pioneer after running the auto-calibration.
I went ahead and purchased a Denon for $50 more and am so impressed with the sound quality and ease of set up that I am a fan for life. I never knew what I was missing for that price range.
Avoid this one as it is a swing and a miss.
Helped my parents select and purchase this receiver. They just needed a simple, quality receiver to accept HDMI inputs, and then output via one HDMI to HD TV. I had hoped that they would be able to use the advertised on-screen display (OSD) for setup and occasional settings changes. However, the OSD is not sent to the TV via the HDMI cable. Instead, you have to run a separate video component cable to the TV in order to see the OSD. Also, my parents have a good set of 5.1 speakers, but they didn't want to run the wires for the rear speakers. Supposedly, this receiver has Dolby Pro Logic IIz which will allow you to use two "front high" speakers instead of the two rear surround speakers. When we received the receiver, we realized that the "front high" speaker connections on the back of the receiver are "pre-amp," and you can only use this feature if you buy a separate amplifier. We were really looking forward to the OSD and the "front high" speakers. Without these features, I can only give 3 stars. Otherwise, the receiver is nicely designed, has simple controls on the remote and on the unit, sounds great, and includes a printed user manual that adequately covers most of the features. - Excellent Value - Hdmi - Av Receiver - Receiver'
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