Customer Reviews

Pioneer SC27 / SC-27 / SC-27 Elite 7.1 Channel Digital Home Theater THX Receiver

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're looking for a receiver to drive your home theater look no further. With massive power that is so clear and surround channeling that is so discrete it's hard to imagine a better receiver. The receiver is typically Pioneer in all the great ways we've come to expect but the rich, pure sound it produces is remarkably warm and enveloping. Uncomfortable with replacing my VX-49TXI my fears were all squelched the minute...and I mean the first minute of a bluray disc playing through the SC-27. Absolutely magnificent sound that can compliment the most discriminating home theater atmosphere. Mated with appropriate speakers and a pair of great subs it will knock your socks into the next room.

I have had the Pioneer Elite SC-27 receiver for about 2 months now, and I have gotten to know it pretty well by now. Let me start by saying that I am very happy with this unit, I have learned a lot about it and I'll try to give you as much detail as possible. Before I bought this unit, I was looking for something that had a lot of power, clean sound, multi-room capability, internet radio, relatively easy to use once it was setup, and something that felt solid and not cheaply built. I haven't owned anything Pioneer Elite before, and I compared this unit against the high end Onkyo and Denon units before I bought it.

My ears liked the sound of the Pioneer Elite significantly better than the Denon, and just slightly better than the Onkyo. I'm not saying the others didn't sound good, but when compared side by side, the Pioneer Elite sounded cleaner and more detailed to me. This was a blind listen with the same audio source and speakers, and I know there could have been other variables at play like calibration.

The SC-27 is heavy, and it feels absolutely solid. I've moved mine about a dozen times now since I've changed my wiring and speaker cables a number of times now. The initial setup and speaker calibration was extremely easy to go through. It also seemed to set my room up with a 5.1 setup very well. Big difference from pre-calibration to post, and the MCACC setup takes about 5 minutes to complete. Once I had it setup, I've had to read the manual several times to learn about advanced features like how to output an HDMI audio/video signal to a 2nd zone, or how to set the limit on the volume, and how to set the LFE (subwoofer) so that it is active for all audio, not just my HDMI inputs. I have a Monster speaker selector that lets me push this receiver into 6 rooms in my house, and this took me a while to get setup correctly. My only major complaint about this receiver is that you can only push certain inputs to your zone 2/3. For video, I can play my Dish Network or Blue Ray DVD player in my main room, or on my patio TV via HDMI, but both TV's can not display different video. So I have to watch the same thing, I knew this was how it worked and it's all that I needed. For sound, you can only push inputs that are RCA to your other zones, can't push audio from your optical or HDMI inputs. I don't know if all receivers are like this or not, but this was pretty weak. For me to get my Dish Network to play on my patio speakers, it has to be connected to my received via HDMI and RCA for audio. This is not a huge deal, but it is a little quirky.

On the flip side, so far I haven't found anything that I can not do with this receiver. You can customize the names of your inputs, you can skip the inputs you don't use when you cycle via remote, The remote is very easy to use and my wife has even been able to work it. You can dim the front panel, customize the speaker output levels one by one, play internet radio (although browsing stations could be better), hook up your ipod with the included cable and control it through your remote, and much more I am sure. I've enjoyed about a dozen movies through this receiver now, and it sounds fantastic. I'm glad I made this purchase, and have no regrets whatsoever. Good luck with your decision, and happy listening.

After searching long and hard, and reading every review out there, I settled on the purchase of the SC27. While competitively priced, this was a big ticket purchase and I questioned my sanity while awaiting its arrival. Having had it for about a month, I now consider it a great investment.

One thing to note about the SC27 is that this is the only THX-Ultra certified unit of this type (D-chassis or something like that). Attaining this certification is REALLY difficult, many manufacturers have applied but few succeed.

When you first unpack the unit, the quality construction is immediately apparent. It is difficult to describe but if you placed it next to a unit from another maker, you would see and feel the difference.

The back of the unit contains just about every sort of connection available. The one shortcoming being that there is no firewire port to connect an HD camcorder or your JVC Hi-Def VCR (remember those). All of your video sources can be routed to the HDMI output (there are two of those). This makes cable management so much easier. These sources are also upconverted and the Pioneer handles this task extremely well. My VHS and laserdisc (remember those too) videos look as if they have been digitally remastered. One thing I really liked is that just about every input or output is highly configurable. This gives you a lot of flexibility in hooking up lots of equipment or odd ball equipment. The configuration is done via the menus. I have a BD player, VCR, VOD Cable Box, LaserDIsc, and a Wii all attached.

The provided manual is large and very comprehensive. Do not let it intimidate you, it is simply showing tons of different configuration options. I am reasonably techie but am hardly an audio or video guru and was able to navigate my way through setup reasonable easy. I did not have to use tech support, but I am told that Pioneer offers some of the best support you will find.

The internet connectivity is a great feature. I am now completely hooked on internet radio and rhapsody.

The sound is amazing. I had an older THX Kenwood so I was not expecting much of a noticable difference since I am using the same 5.1 speaker setup (JBLs). Before I even tuned the unit to the room, the experience was like discovering surround sound all over again. I am told that after they received THX certification that Pioneer delayed release of this unit for almost a year as they were still not satisfied with the sound. All I can say is Wow, whatever they did is magic!

You can spend a lot less or a LOT more for an AV receiver. I can not imagine you will do any better than this one.

One thing to note is that that the warranty on the Pioneer Elite series is only valid if purchased through an authorized seller. While these things tend to be very reliable, you are spending a lot of money. In this case, spending an extra $100 was worth it to me to have the factory coverage.

Pro's: lots of features, good sound quality, and 140 wpc rating isn't just for two channels driven, per Pioneer website, its 140 wpc with ALL channels driven. This is a bigger distinction than it might sound for home theater users.

Con's: set-up isn't the easiest. Not terrible, but not necessarily intuitive either. Definitely required opening the manual.

Also, the SC-27 isn't rated by Pioneer as stable with 4 ohm speakers, such as the Polk Lsi series. In fact, there is a warning printed on the back of the receiver next to the speaker outputs that the SC-27 is intended for 6 ohm or higher impedence speakers only. The SC-27 is heavy, with a decent heatsink, and with moderate use it may perform just fine with 4 ohm speakers, but if you use (or are planning to use) 4 ohm speakers, then this isn't the receiver for you. Instead consider a switchable receiver (e.g., has a switch on the back to reduce the power output when running 4 ohm speakers) or better yet, consider a separate amplifier rated for the job.

I replaced my old Marantz receiver with the SC-27. I love the sound quality - very crisp and clear, albeit slightly less warm than my old Marantz. MCACC works as advertised, and I love the Expanded Stereo processing that brings in the surrounds to create a beautiful sound stage that makes you feel like you're sitting in with the band. Instrument separation is excellent, and with my favorite acoustic recordings, I really felt like I could hear the acoustics of each individual instrument being played, bringing up mental pictures of a large ride cymbal, small fiberglass toms, an old double bass... lovely. I bought this receiver based on reviews that cited its excellent sound quality, and was not disappointed.

Video processing is excellent too - even OTA cable HD signals were crisp, clear and punchy.

The one drawback is it's LARGE and HEAVY!! It doesn't fit well in my entertainment console, so I'm probably going to have to replace it (the console, not the receiver!).

All in all, 5 stars all the way.

I was looking for some time for a receiver that could replace my 12 year old Adcom (200W) amplifiers and Sony ES preamp processor. After reading many reviews on this Pioneer Elite SC-27 and much careful consideration I decided to make the move, BTW the amps and processor still worked great, I was looking to get the newest processing and HDMI hook up for my gear. I am very happy to say that 3 months later I have not been disappointed once, but amazed many times over.

This is a true competitor to seperate components.......

If you Google Pioneer Elite SC-27 you can find a couple of very thorough and compelling reviews for this unit. As someone who simply enjoys his music and his home theatre I recently purchased this because it seemed to have some very impressive state of the art features(read the professional reviews). I was trying to find a piece that would give me the best sound quality I could get- for less than $2000. The only downside to this receiver is that to do it justice the rest of your components really should be high quality components as well. I have a Pioneer Elite 47-Ai DVD/CD player and a Pioneer Elite 50" Plasma Pro-1000; both of these were purchased in 2003 so they are a little behind the times but the SC-27 really enhances the performance of these pieces.(I had a Rotel RSX-965 but it recently passed away) At 140 watts per channel the SC-27 has plenty of juice and the sound quality through my Infinity Kappa speakers and my Sennheiser HD 650 headphones is truly Amazing! As soon as I turned it on I could hear a very noticable difference from the Rotel. A friend of mine who is a certified audiophile read the reviews on the SC-27 before my purchase and he gave it a "thumbs up"! I am very pleased and would suggest that for the money($1395 on ebay from gear4less) it is a terrific value available for anyone in Home Theatre Market. As Morgan Freeman and Jim Carey put it in Bruce Almighty-"It's Good!!!" I am looking at a Samsung 55"LED 3D ready TV and a Samsung 3D Blue Ray player; In order to have 3D capability my receiver needs to have a 1.4 HDMI capability but the Pioneer Elite SC27 only has 1.3a and as a result is not capable of providing the 3D function. It requires an additional HDMI Cable directly from the source to the TV. Bummer- the extra cable is about $200.

I'm replacing a 21 year old Pioneer VSX-D1S with this unit. It arrived yesterday, and I've spent the evening running speaker cable and reattaching components and so forth. I haven't done any of the calibrations or other setup, but right out of the box, this thing sounds awesome! I'm playing the new Styx: Grand Illusion / Pieces of Eight - Live [Blu-ray] and it really sounds/looks great so far. I'll post a more detailed review later...

After having it running a few days, I couldn't be more pleased. I sort of thought that the audio calibration routine might be marketing BS, but wow. It does make an audible, impressive difference. Setup is pretty easy, and I like that you can label the inputs (laserdisc instead of video 1, for example), so it's operable by non-geek types. I'm using Cerwin Vega! VE-12 12" 3-Way Tower Speaker as my mains, with Cerwin-Vega Cmx-45C 5-Inch 2-Way Cmx Series Center Channel Speaker a MADE IN USA Cerwin Vega CVT-200 12 inch 300 Watts Powered Home Subwoofer (MADE IN USA) with a pair of ancient JVCs as the surrounds. The Dark Side Of The Moon - Immersion Box Set sounds just like it should. I LOVE it!!!

have had this unit for about a month it works great easy to understand instructions easy to use remote lots of good clean power it can really rock your house, i am no expert auido guy i did listin to other brand recievers in this price range and thought them all good, the easy to understand instructions and remote sold me on this one, the auido speaker set up was easy and works great, i am very happy with my choice i am sure there are better multi componet systems out there for way more money that sound even better if you could hear the difference, i am sure a dog could but a human? as a all in one it is hard to go wrong with this unit

No matter how much I spend hours with different reviews, I will always end up choosing a Pioneer product which for the last 20 years have made me enjou music and video at its best. This receiver SC-27 almost top of 2009 line, only surpassed by SC-09 model but only in price not in the hugh amount of options this unit has to offer.
Beautifully design, it encompasses countless of video and music options to keep you busy and discovering new ways to make your blu rays and your music gear sound really amazing like I never experienced before (sounds like the official Pioneer web page).
Well, take your time, review every single brand but Pioneer will always be unique.