Pioneer VSX-520-K 5.1 Home Theater Receiver

by Pioneer

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 13.7 x 16.6 x 6.2 inches ; 19.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 20 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0039XQKXQ
• Item model number: VSX-520-K
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #76 in Electronics > Televisions & Video > AV Receivers & Amplifiers

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Key Features are 110 watts X 5, Dolby True-HD / DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Pro-Logic IIz Height Channel Decoder, Phase Control. The Auto Level Control is 2 Channel. Sound Retriever – 2 channel. Bluetooth Ready with optional AS-BT100 HDMI 1.4 x 3, 3-D Ready, Deep Color & x.v. color. Component Video Inputs (2 in / 1 out) , Front Mini Portable Input, Audio Inputs (4 in / 1out - includes Tuner), Audio/Video Inputs (3 in / 1 out), Digital Inputs (3 - 1 coax / 2opt), Dolby PLIIz Pre-Out, Glossy Black Cosmetic, System Remote Control

Product Description

There's only one way to get closer to an artist's true intent-and that's to get as close as possible to exactly what the artist created. With this in mind, Pioneer ushers in an entirely new era of high definition stereophonic performance. From enjoying the very best 1080p high definition picture available to hearing every last nuance with award-winning audio capabilities, Pioneer's range of receivers offers nothing less than a miraculous performance at every level. And with an ever-increasing list of connectivity and integration options as well, these receivers will also guarantee to get you closer to the original experience than ever before. The Pioneer VSX-520-K delivers amazing home theater performance in an elegant package at a surprising value. With connectivity options for all your latest high-definition home theater components, the VSX-520-K takes it a step further with support for the latest high-definition audio formats, and support for your portable devices via a front panel mini-jack input and compatibility with Bluetooth sources (using the optional AS-BT100 adapter, sold separately).

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full Featured Receiver, July 14, 2010

By 

D. Brewster (Tacoma, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pioneer VSX-520-K 5.1 Home Theater Receiver (Electronics)

I ordered this for a friend as a replacement for a Panasonic SA-HE70 (which got good reviews a few years ago). He isn't disappointed. He now is set for both 3D and blu-ray HiDef. With his Bose speaker system, he doesn't need much power, but this little receiver seems to have alot of it for the money.

This is Pioneer's bottom of the line, but don't let that fool you. It has 3 HDMI 1.4a inputs, decodes Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Audio, and Dolby Pro Logic IIz, is Blue Tooth ready (need adapter), and 3-D video ready. Quite a bargain for $200.

Cons: Spring Clips for surround sound speakers (binding posts for the mains).
If you don't connect with HDMI, DVD audio is monitored thru the "CD" connection. It took a little while to figure this out -causing much anxiety.

If you want a basic surround reciever that is fully capable of supporting all current forms of video and audio, you could do alot worse than the VSX-520-k, and, for the money, you would be hard-pressed to do better.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great receiver once settings are adjusted, February 18, 2011

By 

Ronald P. Smith II - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pioneer VSX-520-K 5.1 Home Theater Receiver (Electronics)

Well, let me start by saying that I selected this receiver due to its specs and features being among the best for this price range. Pioneer's reputation for providing solid products was also a factor. With support for the latest audio codecs from Dolby and DTS, as well as HDMI 1.4 support, this receiver is a great buy.

Prior to purchase, some of the other reviews that I saw had me afraid that I may be returning this product. However, upon setting up my receiver, I realised that some of the complaints that people noted regarding sound quality probably had to do with the receiver's default settings being optimized for satellite/subwoofer 5.1 speaker packages with small satellites used for front, surround, and center speakers. Therefore, the receiver attenuates low frequenies prior to them being sent to these speakers, as they can't typically reproduce them anyway.

This pioneer receiver lets you set a speaker size setting, which in turn adjusts the frequency range that will be sent to each speaker accordingly. If you have large speakers, the setting will need to adjusted to "large" from the default of "small". This will allow for lower frequencies to be passed to the speakers in question (front, surround, center, etc).

This receiver also has a "xover" or crossover setting, which sets a frequency cutoff between your main speakers and subwoofer. In a 5.1 channel setting, this allows your subwoofer to output the frequencies below the frequency threshold that you set. Frequencies above this threshold will be handled by the other channels in your setup. If you do not have a subwoofer, and have main speakers that are capable of producing low frequencies effectively, you should set the "xover" setting to its lowest frequency setting so you are not removing this range of frequencies from your audio.

This really is a solid receiver for the price. It produces more than enough power for the average listener, with lower total harmonic distortion than comparably priced counterparts from Denon, Yamaha, and Onkyo. I am an electrical engineer whose studies were emphasized on audio, so this was a big draw for me.

I hope this review clears some things up for those looking for a solid value-priced receiver, as well as for those who had complaints about sound quality.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for the price, May 24, 2010

By 

John D. Sprengelmeyer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pioneer VSX-520-K 5.1 Home Theater Receiver (Electronics)

Just hooked eveything up this week and was pleasantly surprised. I had been using what was at the time (19 years ago) one of Pioneers top of the line receivers with Dolby Pro Logic surround sound. It still works fine, but I tell you: the sound from this inexpensive receiver blows away the old one. For me, just for the Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound feature playing through my Bose Acoustimass system is just amazing. I will play with it a little further for sound enhancements and see where it goes. The connections were simple and the HDMI hookups make it easy for the TV install.