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.
