Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS review

The VSX-82TXS is a seven-channel receiver, but if you intend to use just five channels, you can reassign the Surround Back channel amplifiers to biamplify compatible front speakers (ones with separate connectors for woofers and tweeters). Biamping can produce significant performance advantages and allow the speakers to play louder without distorting.

The receiver's multiroom design lets you can play different sources--say, a CD in one room and a DVD in another. Additionally, Pioneer says that online downloads for the RS-232c interface and IR/Input will allow custom installers to add and program third-party IR receivers, repeaters, 12-volt triggers, and touch-pad remote controls--allowing multisource sound in as many as three rooms.

If the 82TXS doesn't fulfill all your audio-video needs--and we find that to be hard to imagine--you can step up to Pioneer's flagship receiver, the $1,500 (list) VSX-84TXSi, which adds a bit more power, FireWire and USB connectivity, and a second room remote. We conducted all of our listening tests with the receiver's MCACC's speaker EQ and room correction enabled. The improvements were subtle, but worthwhile for us, and we're sure that with some speakers and rooms the processing will make a more dramatic difference. Compared to the last Pioneer receiver we tested, the VSX-1016TXV, the far-more-expensive VSX-82TXS clearly produces more a refined sound quality. Play a blockbuster DVD such as King Kong and you can't help but note there's a remarkably effortless quality to the ape's heavyweight antics--you feel every footstep as he bounds through the jungle. We also cranked U2's Live From Sydney DVD--it was recorded during their 1993 Zoo TV tour--and provided an aerobic workout for the big Pioneer. You really need a receiver as capable as this to unleash the DVD's big dynamic range and the band's floor-shaking rhythms.

Roxy Music's Avalon multichannel SACD features an especially adventuresome surround mix--on "India" and "My Heart is Still Beating" the sound glides between the front and rear channels. The sound floated free of the speakers and took on a life of its own.

Listening to classical music CDs in stereo, we were struck by the VSX-82TXS's breathtaking clarity and expansive soundstage. There were times we even thought we might be in listening in the faux surround offered by Dolby Pro Logic II processing--the stereo image was that big. Most impressive was the receiver's ability to render orchestral strings with their natural tone intact. True, the Pioneer isn't as richly balanced as the Denon AVR-2807--but the Pioneer is more neutral, with superior detail. So we can't really say which receiver is "better" sounding; it's more a matter of picking the one that matches your speakers and sonic preferences.

In terms of video performance, the Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS was a little disappointing. Using our Denon DVD-3910 via its S-Video output, we upconverted the 480i signal to the HDMI output. Going through Silicon Optix's HQV test suite revealed a few deficiencies. The most noticeable was that the VSX-82TXS did not pass the full resolution of DVDs--on the test pattern, horizontal resolution patterns were a solid color where there should have been noticeable detail. The rest of the tests on the HQV test were mostly good in 720p and 1080i mode, but we felt that it looked almost uniformly worse in 480p mode. It displayed its 2:3 pull-down processing on a scene with a race car going by, locking into film mode in less than a second. We switched over to the Windows DVD Test Annex and noticed some ghosting during the chroma bug test, which was a problem we noticed on the Samsung DVD-HD960. There was also the chroma bug error--although it was more difficult to see with the ghosting--but this will only show up on poorly authored DVDs. In all, the upconversion wasn't bad, but its processing wasn't as good as some of the upscaling DVD players we've seen. We'd caution videophiles who may be expecting more.

Assistant Editor Matthew Moskovciak contributed to this review.