Customer Reviews

Pioneer VSX-821-K 5.1 Home Theater Receiver, Glossy Black

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The sound is excellent, slightly better than my old Yamaha receiver. Let's call it "more realistic" but the menu interface is miserable.
Pioneer flat out distorts information on their advertisements. For instance, they claim the VSX-821 is compatible with iPod's Audio AND Video. This is not entirely true. For starters you need to be a geek to figure out the connections and which iPod is compatible with what. It is not a plug and play thing they are selling you here. I finally got it to play video but if I had to explain it here, I wouldn't know where to start. Furthermore, the iPod video and images are presented as analogue video through the RCA connector on the front, both, photos and video look mediocre at such low resolution. Black bars all around. I blame "Apple" for most of these quality issues, but it is Pioneer's fault too for hidding these facts in their ads and manuals.
The most offending advertised "feature" is the so called "on-screen" menu which it is just a pixelated text only retro menu and get this, it does not work via HDMI. Yes, that is right, to see the menu you need to hook up a second cable and even then you get very limited on-screen menu choices.
The remote is a mess but I think all the new receivers have similar issues. The most frustrating thing is that the remote did not accept any of the Sony TV codes included in the instructions, and inputing the code is a complex task, more than it should be. As of now I cannot control any other devices with this remote and I resent the excessive steps compared to other remotes..
On the remote you have to keep pressing certain buttons over and over again to stay on a certain modes that time out after a couple of seconds for no reason. If you don't know what I mean, don't worry, is because no one else has built a remote that times out.
Good news, the "sync-mode" works with some Sony Bravia TVs.
The blue LED display on the front does not tell you much, and some of the icons are too small to be read by human eyes. So, I never know if I am listening to a Dolby source, or DTS.
There is no real HDMI pass-through despite what they advertise. The receiver needs to be turned on to pass the signal.

So, what is the advantage of owning this receiver? Well, if you manage to decipher the remote and the hidden menus, you will get pretty decent realistic sound for a reasonable price. Better than what you would get from a Sony receiver for sure.
My opinion? It is a good deal if you are very familiar with electronics and it works better if you never use the HDMI ports.

I bought the VSX821 as a budget way to get HDMI switching for my system(AppleTV.Bluray,cable box).Performs this function well.However, when you first activate the receiver you must perform some setup functions.Unfortunately you cannot do the setup thru a HDMI connection. It can only do the setup over a composite connection to see the onscreen menus.So I had to dig out a old cable to do this .Moderately irritating.The picture quality is outstanding over HDMI to my Panasonic plasma.Easy to plug a Ipod Nano into the front of the receiver with the supplied cable.Sound was very goog thru my Monitor Audio speakers.Overall, I'm satisfied with the unit.Just don't expect too much as this is a low/mid level product.

I was looking for a midrange receiver with features and functions that are useful but not so many that I don't know what to do with them all. At the price this unit has enough HDMI ports for me to connect my PS3, Xbox, and cable box. The onscreen setup is easy enough and the instruction booklet is actually very helpful. It is nice to be able to connect my iPod and use an onscreen interface to select songs and playlists; however, it is not very nice to look at and I expected a bit more from the interface - it looks like an old MSDOS screen. I also wish the little cover for the iPod connects in the front didnt pop-off, I wish it slid so I don't have to worry about losing it. The banana connectors in the back seem quite sturdy and were easy to connect with the speaker wire. Over all I am very happy with the purchase and it is up to date enough that I will be using it for many years to come.

The only reason I went with the VSX-821-K 5.1 Over the VSX-521-K 5.1 was because of the Ipad/Ipod compatibility. Well it is very very much useless in that feature. You can listen to your music true the provided cable but you will not be able to see video on your TV as they claim. Had I know this from the start I would have gone witht the VSX-521-K 5.1. it does the very same thing this model does but you are not paying extra money for a feature that does not work. Just go with the cheaper 521 model and buy the blue/t adapter. The only reason I can see buying this one is if you want a 5.1 system that gives you the ability to have a 7.1 setup in the future. I wish they had a better menu after all things are suppose to get advanced with time not more primitive as this menu is. Once you finally get it set up the sound is just what you expect out of a Pioneer product. I give it a 3.5 good looks, Great sound poor features and horrible menu. I got a pair of Sony F6000 speakers and with this receiver they sound amazing for what I paid for them. I hope this helps you decide wich receiver to go with.

I'm an audio visual professional and all around tech geek. I can confirm what most of the other helpful reviews have stated. This receiver sounds great, but you're going to have to spend some time with it. The manual, while not impossible to read, is wordy at best and doesn't give you too much information. I have no issue with the idea that you have to run a video cable for the on screen menus. it's an rca connection that you're probably not using on your tv anyway. The first issue I have is the auto calibrations and adjustments. For example. If you let the receiver choose for you, and it detects that you have large right and left speakers, and a large center channel, anything that isn't DTS won't go through your subwoofer. So if you plug in your ipad/ipod/usb or you're streaming movies with audio compression no matter what setting you put it on, it's 5 channels only. You have to set your center channel and your left/right speakers to small if you want to use your sub. This really bothered me, as it took a long time to play with the eq and settings to get any real sound out of my large center channel and right/left and I still wasn't 100 percent happy with it. Second issue is, either the remote freezes or the receiver does. I've read reviews that say both, but it's true, sometimes while using the remote, the functions just stop working, and you either have to wait a bit or turn the thing off and back on. Another issue is you can't do certain calibrations while listening to music through the usb/ipod which is where you're going to have to make the most adjustments in the first place. Final complaint is that tuner tries to be "smart" about it's signal and for certain sources such as streaming audio from a home server, it turns off certain features. So you have to constantly be playing with this thing to get the right sound. All this aside, I'm happy that I got a really decent sounding tuner for under 200 dollars. If you're on a budget and you're ready to sit down and do alot of adjustments yourself over a period of time, and you're like me and don't mind pressing buttons all the time then this isn't a bad choice. IF these types of things drive you absolutely nuts, I'd go with another choice. The ipod connection isn't worth the headache. My speaker set up is a Sony SS-CN5000 dual 5.25 center channel, Sony SSB-3000 (8 inch woofer) for the left and right, Sony SSB-1000 for the back surround channels and a Sony Sub SA-W3000.

Really nice receiver. Perfect for my needs in the man-cave. Came highly recommended by the sales guy at Best Buy but found it cheaper at Amazon. Sounds great and I was even able to hook up my outdoor speakers to the B zone.
Two things: I'm usually pretty good a following instructions, but to get this baby calibrated and working properly was not easy for me. I had to swallow my pride and call my brother-in-law for help. It makes no sense to me that you need to use analog cables to set up something that's otherwise all HDMI.
The second (very slight) criticism, and I don't know if this is available on ANY models, is that it would be nice to play one input on zone A, while playing another on zone B. In other words, if I wanted to watch sports on the TV inside, it'd be nice if others could listen to music out on the deck.
Otherwise, as far as this model is concerned, so far so good.

I was originally looking at the Pioneer VSX-1021 to get the airplay feature for my iPad, but saw the great price on Amazon and decided to purchase the VSX-821 and purchase Apple TV. I needed an HDMI switch to work with my old Pioneer receiver, VSX-498 but it is 11 years old and had trouble playing some new audio formats. The 821 took care of the switch problem. My TV only has 1 HDMI port.
Setup was easy, the only problem I had was inserting the speaker wires, the opening was hard to spot and it took me awhile especially on the black connection on the bottom.
Some people have complained about the setup connection via an open port on your TV, I found this to not be a problem. I have a side port on my TV and when I need to use the setup function I just connect the cord to the port and remove it once I'm done. It's not a problem at all. The on screen setup is easier to see than the display on my old receiver.
The sound is excellent, blu-ray plays great as does Apple TV. Overall I am very happy with the decision to go with this over the 1021. I saved about $150 with the great price ($179) from Amazon. Plus Apple TV does much more than just Airplay.
I debated a little before pulling the trigger, I finally went ahead with the purchase. The next day the price went up to $242. a good decision. If you see a good price, don't hesitate as Amazon plays with prices.

If you are looking for a quality system, the VSX-821-k is awesome. Dynamic sound, easy to hook up. Automatic surround set up. Great price. Many features and Apple compatible.

I bought this receiver on special a week ago or so at Amazon for $199.99 and free shipping ....it was such a good price, I bought two. Replaced my older VSX819 as this unit had more features and for this unreal price, it was just to good to pass up. It looks and sounds wonderful....understanding the manual is a bit difficult especially if you are not familiar with setting up a HT receiver. But once you set this up, it is a pure delight.

It does just about everything and HDMI switching is wonderful.....I have Polk Audio speakers in both of the rooms where I use these receivers....all I can say is the sound is clear and distortion free at even the highest levels. Even better than my older Pioneer VSX819 units. You simply can't go wrong with Pioneer receivers as I have owned nothing but for over 20 years. Solid quality throughout and did I say this baby looks great !!! It's a litter bigger unit than most but just show it off. Buy with confidence....and if your thinking about speakers to go with this unit, Polk Audio is tough to beat.....especially at Amazon's prices.

I had the same Pioneer Home Theater system just a much older model (almost 10 years older!) before I bought this one to replace it (lost it in the divorce!). This unit works just as well and sounds GREAT!! I am thrilled to have all of the more modern 2011 conveniences of multiple HDMI ports, RDY for my DVD player, a USB port with ipod controls, etc. that my old unit was to dated for. Very happy so far! Need to read the manual to figure out how to operate half of everything, but the old unit was just as complex!