Customer Reviews

Pioneer VSX-9040TXH 7-Channel Direct Energy Amplification Home Theater Receiver (Black)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Have used the 9040 for a month now and feel like I can post an objective review. It rocks! I do a lot of research before I buy and was looking at the Onkyo receivers (707) but came upon the 9040 in the Pioneer posts on avsforum.com where I learned the 9040 was a re-badged vsx-21thx Elite model. The 9040 does not have "Elite" on the faceplate, but if you look at the specs on both they are the same, as others have pointed out. That said, so what? How good is the 21thx? After reading all that I could find the 21thx is a great unit with many satisfied owners so the 9040 seemed like a great deal. It does not run hot and does not do that annoying click when changing input sources that the Onkyo's do.

The 9040 took @ 2 hours for me to set it up and I played with it for 2 weeks until I got the settings I wanted. Now I am a very happy camper. Take the time to go through the manual and try the different settings. The audio calibration system from Pioneer (MCACC) is very easy to use and does a good job at settings based on your room config (seating, acoustics, etc). The are 6 settings that you can save, each of which is manually cutomizable which is what I did after running the advanced auto mode. This thing is a beast weighing in the same as the 21-thx, about 17lbs more than the other non-Elite models. It has many more settings than I will ever use ( I don't have THX certified speakers and no need for a pre-amp, for example) but I wanted the power and the QUALITY of a model in this class. There is little info on the 9040 on Pio's website and I do have to say I have been surprised that Pio doesn't offer more detailed info. For example, The Anchor Bay video solution found on high-end equipment is rumored to be in this unit but I can't find that in print anywhere (also nothing to dispute it). Look at different vendors and you see different specs. However, specs are just specs, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I have been awestruck. When I connected this up to my speakers and ran the MCACC I was blown away. My wife and I watched MJ's "This Is It" and the room was rocking! Better than when we saw it in the cinema. The newer ipod models connect flawlessly to a connection on the front of the unit with an included cable. I even copied mp3s to a usb stick and it appeared on the menu and played beautifully. What a seamless interface. One of the "older" ipods didn't connect (sorry not sure of the generation but it is at least 4 years old). Don't like the remote, buttons are too small and lack a good design. Not a problem as I use a universal remote. Only other complaint is I would prefer to set a crossover point myself, MCACC offers it in increments (80, 100, 150).

Amazon is selling this right now at a great price. Read reviews and compare other models - spec for spec this unit has enormous value. Also, just my opimion, don't get hung up on the differences between Audyssey and MCAAC sound calibration. From what I read both have equal fans and critics. The important point to me is that the version of MCACC included with the 9040 is an advanced version and allows you to tweak the settings to your liking.

Up to this point I am loving the unit and am very satisfied with this purchase. Hope this helps.

I was in the market for a new AV Receiver after buying a new LCD and Blu Ray player as my old Panasonic receiver had no HDMI inputs/outputs. I was comparing it to several other higher priced models from Onkyo, Yamaha and Denon. I decided to go with this one because of the inputs and higher power. I have several pieces of AV equipment that do not have HDMI and my TV only had one set of components. This receiver solved my problem with its 4 assignable HDMI, 2 assignable Component and several S Video inputs. Everything that goes it gets put out via the HDMI to the TV. It has a tone of other connections as well for everything from satellite radio to a tape deck to an iPod.

The first thing that blew me away was the sound quality. I ran the speaker setup (it informed me that a couple speakers were out of phase which I fixed) which only took about 5 minutes and threw a BD into my player. I never had sound like that from either of my previous receivers. I put a CD on and it was like listening to it for the first time. My favorite feature though is the iPod link. Pioneer throws in a connection cable for the iPod and it works with my Touch perfectly. The song info and album artwork are displayed on the TV screen and you can control the iPod with the Pioneer remote. You can scroll through the playlists, albums and artists (although if you have a ton of music it take a looong time to scroll through it all, they need to improve this...) My digital music never sounded better.

This is an excellent receiver that I cannot recommend highly enough.

I fully agree with the last reviewer - the bang for the buck with this receiver is off the charts. I already owned a Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K and am very happy with it. But I was a little leary of the lightweight power supply and hybrid Direct Energy amplifier. The 1019 sounds great at low to mid volumes in a small to medium sized room with reasonably efficient speakers, but I did notice as I went up the volume scale some "glare" creeping in and other MINOR signs of being over-driven.
I started researching other Pioneer receivers with an eye towards the Elite line and the VSX 21TXH in particular. I wanted discrete amplification, pre-amp outs, and at least as good a feature set as the 1019. Sound quality is paramount to me, as I spend much more time listening to music than I do watching movies. I also have a very high dollar two channel audiophile rig in another room, so I tend to know the type of sound I am looking for. While researching the Elite VSX 21TXH I noticed a very curious fact - the VSX 9040 has EXACTLY the same specifications as the 21TXH Elite. This includes not only feature set, but amp specifications and even dimensions and weight!!! The only perceptible differences that I could find are purely cosmetic. You don't get the pretty "Elite" gold emblem on the front. You don't get the gloss black front panel(the 9040s front panel is black aluminum), you get blue rather than amber display and one year less warranty. You even get the same chip set and THX certification in the 9040. In essence, a VSX 21TXH Elite in sheeps clothing.
Now the important point - Acknowledging that sound quality is highly subjective in nature, I have to say that for the price, the 9040 sounds fantastic. No more glare at higher volumes. The sound has more "weight" than the 1019 does(more real power and discrete amps). Detail and midrange veracity are well above what I would expect in a mid-range AV receiver. Imaging is wonderful. The build quality is exemplary by todays standards. I also find it to be a very handsome piece of equipment. It has all of the features of the 1019 plus some. I am not knocking the 1019 by the way - I intend to keep mine and use it in a bedroom system. I still think that the 1019 is a great buy - it's just that the 9040 is an even better one. I highly recommend this product, and could not be more happy with my purchase!!!
One more addition - Amazons specs say that this receiver uses the Farjouda video scaler. Pioneers product sheet states that the highly regarded Anchor Bay VRS video scaler is used in this receiver. Doing some research on the net seems to confirm that the Anchor Bay chips are used in this receiver. Since the video quality I am getting through this receiver is excellent at 720p and 1080p in every regard, I am inclined to agree. I have not pulled the cover to confirm this, however.

I've had this thing for about 2 weeks now. It replaced an old school Sony STR DE 597; which is a fairly ancient receiver with no HDMI inputs. Install went very well. This receiver supports banana plugs, so the speaker wire swap out was pretty much instantaneous. Furthermore, it has SIX s/pdif inputs! (digital audio inputs). Two of these are coax and four are toslink.

The main reason I got this unit was to support a new HTPC I just built. I had been having to run a toslink from my motherboard to my old receiver, since it had no HDMI. Well now, I can run just the one HDMI cable from my ATI Radeon video card to the receiver. Some terminology that I ran across which may be useful. Some receivers have HDMI switching or HDMI passthrough. A/V purists consider these 2 things the same thing and also consider it to be fairly useless. A receiver with switching or passthrough acts as an HDMI switchbox to alter which signal is output to your display, without pulling out the audio stream.

What you want is a receiver with HDMI repeater architecture. Sometimes the product info will just say HDMI repeaters, and then say how many. The key here is the receiver is able to pull out the audio signal from the HDMI signal, and then repeat the signal again, unaltered, on to your display device. Well, this receiver has repeater functionality. Sometimes this info is hard to find when looking at budget receivers; plus the semantics of it is confusing.

I also have an Xbox 360 unit hooked up to the device. It is a non HDMI 360, so I have to use one of the toslink inputs for dolby 5.1. This receiver also supports the highest audio option the 360 can output, which is Dolby Digital 5.1 with WMA Pro. This codec uses the least compression of the other options. Keep in mind, even though this receiver supports Dolby True HD for the now defunct HD DVD format, you can never truly get that signal from a 360. Besides the software limitation, the new blu ray bitstream audio formats of Dolby True HD and DTS HD master audio can ONLY be ported through an HDMI cable. A s/pdif of any type will not carry this signal. I think someone else on here mentioned that the receiver doesn't broadcast well enough what type of signal you're getting. Some of us really like to see the evidence of what we're hearing. Well that is true. But the receiver does absolutely let you know what it's outputting. You just have to get sorta close (very tiny, won't be able to see it from the couch), but it's got dedicated backlit codec messages for EVERYTHING. Download the manual and check it out. On the page that shows what you may possibly see on the front panel, it's got everything. To add to the confusion, though, in some cases it depends on if your blu ray player is doing any decoding on its own. As with the PS3, it does the decoding itself vs. just sending it on the receiver. So if the receiver isn't doing the decoding, it's not going to show DTS HD MA, for example. It will show up as multichannel LPCM. Now chances are DTS HD MA is what you're hearing, but just another little nuance/annoyance of these newer audio streams.

An interesting tidbit on my HTPC was that I opted for a high end ATI Radeon, but not the 5000 series. Most all video cards now only support HDMI spec 1.1. Well, guess what, you actually need HDMI spec 1.3 minimum to support transport of DTS HD MA or Dolby True HD. Nice! Well, after the rebate, my card which is awesome, only cost around $60. The 5000 series Radeons cost 350-ish. You could also try a Xonar sound card for a couple hundred instead. But I opted to go with the cheaper option and wait this out until the 5000 series drop in price.

Turns out this was the right decision. This receiver is amazing. The only blu ray I own that has a DTS HD master audio track is the Michael Jackson concert DVD of This is It. So the receiver only shows it's getting a DTS signal, but I really don't see how the newer codec could sound any better if I do upgrade my video card. Just amazing clarity on the highs and precise bass thumps. If you get this receiver, you have to get this DVD to showcase it. It will make you smack your mama.

Keep in mind all of the other BS that goes along with blu ray playback if you're putting one of these in. There's virtually no home theater PC in existence which meets all of the HDCP(high definition content protection) and PAP (protected audio path) requirements. So your blu ray player will likely down rez picture or sound if there is some component that is not up to par (or possibly just drop any output altogether). The only solution to this is to use a product called AnyDVD HD to strip all all the DRM, including the HDCP and PAP restrictions. Of course, this only applies if you're using a HTPC. You do not have this luxury if you're using a stand alone blu ray player.

So the MCACC system is the auto setup function this unit uses. You wire a little microphone into the unit, place it on a tripod or box where you sit at about ear level and then let the big dog eat. Get out of the way, so you don't interfere with sound waves, and the unit starts piping white noise type of sounds out of all the speakers. It puts your sub woofer through the ringer, too. This it pretty loud, so don't run it at night when the babies are already asleep. It actually worked really well and I honestly haven't felt the need to tweak any settings after running this.

One option I did have to tweak was to set my front right and left tower speakers to small. It had defaulted through MCACC or possibly just factory setting, to large. Well, the problem here when you're streaming Hulu or Netflix that doesn't pipe in with 5.1, your sub never turns on. Setting front speakers to large tells the receiver to let them handle most if not all of the bass. So when I was streaming netflix, I was missing my bass hum on key scenes. Setting the speakers to small fixed that, the sub kicked on instantly, and started handling the bass. I guess if you have some whipass front speakers, it would be ok. But to me, that's the whole point of having a good sub. I likey my bass.

Since I figured most people looking at this receiver were geeks like me and were putting it in a similar scenario, I wanted to share a few things in hopes it might help.

I picked up this receiver from Amazon and am really happy with it. There is not a lot of info on this particular Pioneer model because this is the Canadian version of the Pioneer Elite VSX-21THX. The only difference is this unit comes with a 1 year warranty and the faceplate is different.

This unit has more real power per channel then the highly rated 1019 and also comes with preouts. You can tell just by the fact this unit weighs almost 10 pounds more the the 1019. It also runs very cool driving my Polk Monitor Series speakers.

The setup is fairly easy and the MCAAC adjusts all your speakers to give you a fairly good place to start for listening to this unit. This model also comes with the IPOD cable and allows you to control and listen to your IPOD using the remote.

This unit replaced a Sony STRGD 820 I was happy with but the difference in sound is quite noticable.

This unit is a much better buy over the 1019 since I only paid $5 more than the 1019 and got a much better AVR.

I purchased this A/V receiver after nearly a year of frustration with my slightly older purchase of an Onkyo 606. The HDMI inputs on the Onkyo became defective over time. I did my homework and discovered that I was hardly the only person having difficulties not only with Onkyo but with HDMI itself. It seems that the HDMI ports on a receiver can become defective and refuse to even recognize a signal, and that this is probably due to our old friend, copy protection; it's primarily a "handshake" issue but can vary depending on design, cheap parts or the manufacturing plant. The Onkyo was still fine for non-HDMI uses, so I moved it to another room and got this Pioneer model.

Which, to my delight, I was able to find at a substantial discount (on Amazon, below $500). It is supposedly identical in all but nameplate to a Pioneer Elite entry-level model, and I believe it. After a few weeks of use this receiver has surpassed my expectations. Not only has there been no hint--yet--of HDMI switching problems, the sound is superior. It's sweeping, deep, powerful. Video upscaling is first-rate.

Yet Pioneer's approach to surround sound is a little puzzling at first. Today's consumers know a few buzzwords--"1080p" and "DTS HD Master Audio" are two big ones right now--and this receiver doesn't unavoidably inform you (on its display) that the input you're accessing is indeed 1080p and/or DTS HD MA. The indications are tiny and as far as I can tell the best way to acess these options is to set up a "pure direct" PCM signal, which defaults to the source without mucking about. (Like many I want to actualy see the quality of the surround I've paid for, all lit up on the display.) MCACC, Pioneer's auto setup for surround, however, seems to be be very effective. It combines the four Surround Back and Rear channels by default if the source isn't 5.1, a gimmick that results in a wonderful effect but is ridiculously hard to undo.

Yet I would not hesitate to recommend this baby. After a year of receiver hell we are very satisfied.

The only true design fail? The remote. Volume/mute buttons are located and shaped in a way that they are always difficult to locate, as if these most-important buttons weren't accessed constantly during use--in the dark. Onkyo's remote was far better in this one regard.

I've owned this Pioneer receiver for about two weeks now and have been quite pleased with it. I'm replacing my old Denon AVR-682 which is pushing 10 years old now. I'm using Energy's Take Classic 5.1 speaker system since the reviews from both the experts and customers were among the highest of all the HTIB systems. When I had the Take Classics set up to my old denon I couldn't set the crossover setting right where I wanted it. It only has one setting and that setting is 80 hz. Energy recommends setting the Take Classics at 100-120 Hz. The Pioneer has settings at 60, 80, 100, 150, 200 so it gives you more options to fine tune the system to your speakers. This was one big reason why I wanted to upgrade.

The other reason was the Advanced MCACC. This is Pioneer's version of yamaha's YPAO or Denon and Onkyo's Audessy EQ. What this feature does is runs a series of sound tests through your speakers for roughly 5-10 minutes and checks speaker connections, distances, sound levels and even equalizes the sound in up to 6 different seating positions. I have one setting for my lazy boy and one setting for the end of the couch. It does a very nice job with very little error. I ran it numerous times on each spot to check for variations. It did sometimes tell me my speaker was out of phase when it wasn't several times but I ran it again and it changed it. Also, It did sometimes set my front speakers to LARGE which can easily be edited later. It set my crossover setting at 150 Hz which I've left alone for now. I may try to set it at 100 hz and see if it makes much of a difference to my ears. Though I've been more than happy so far with 150 hz setting. Overall, I'm very impressed with this feature. When you change it from the standard sound to couch to lazy boy you can definitely hear the difference! The sound is very balanced from speaker to speaker.

I guess I lied. Another big reason I wanted this receiver is for the IPOD connectivity. I have an Ipod nano 5th generation and thought it would be great to have. And I'm very happy with this feature. The sound is definitely an improvement from regular RCA jacks with the aux plug. And I LOVE how it charges the ipod as well. Scrolling through songs using the remote CAN take awhile. So I try to search by artist if I can. Also, if you absolutely HAVE to you can change it quickly so it uses the Ipod controls and change the song on the Ipod instead. Listening to Keyshia Cole's "Remember" was candy to my ears! The bass was smooth and accurate. Keyshia's vocals were very clear and concise. The middle range in this song was a delight to hear since it was highly accurate. Owl City's "Vanilla Twilight" put a smile on my face. The bass was smooth and precise as well. The mid-upper frequencies on this song are incredible on this system. Definitely much better than the old denon. You should be very pleased!

I also popped in the DVD (yes I don't have a blue ray or PS3 yet!) "Into the Blue" with Paul Walker and Jessica Alba. This DVD has some wonderful surround sound effects that even sounded nice on the old denon. The Pioneer makes is sound 10 times better. The sound was very precise in location doing a great job of matching the position of the boat as it flys by. Dialogue is nice on these speakers even considering their small size. Keep in mind this is all in regular Dolby Digital NOT Dobly True since I don't have the blue ray. Everything sound wise left me VERY impressed. I wasn't able to use the video upscaling yet so I can't comment on that. But sound wise I can't imagine Dolby True sounding any better thant the Dolby Digital I heard with this movie.

Overall, I have very minor complaints about the receiver so far. I would highly recommend this unit and would be surprised if you could find anything with overall better performance in the 500 buck range which is what i paid. I may come back on later and update if I get a PS3 or try the video upconversion.

***UPDATE*** 1/3/2012

So I've owned this receiver for almost two years now. I have to say that I am still extremely happy with it. I will go through everything that I've noticed so far. I still have it hooked up to my Take Classic 5.1 system although I've been looking to upgrade to some speakers that have clean, distortion free sound at louder volumes. These speakers are rated at 100 watts per channel but I believe when you push them past about 50-75 watts you will start to hear some SLIGHT distortion. Overall they are excellent speakers and at around $400 dollars for the set, you will be hard pressed to find a better 5.1 speaker system. I've been looking at getting some Definitive Technology speakers to replace my Take Classics to use the full potential of my receiver. I'd like to get 4 promonitor 1000's, 1 promonitor 2000 and a supercube 2000 or similar sub. Now this whole system will cost around $1800 dollars so I haven't been rushing out to buy them seeing how the Take Classics still do quite well. I believe the Def Techs will help give me an overall fuller lower midrange which I feel is SLIGHTLY weak with the Energy's considering the deftech's use two 5 1/4" drivers vs one 3" driver.

I have my laptop hooked up to the receiver through an hdmi cable and the receiver hooked to my LCD through another hdmi cable. I like to watch hulu plus through my laptop and sometimes when I turn the receiver to HDMI 1 and my LCD to HDMI 1 with the laptop on I will get no sound. All I have to do to fix it is turn the receiver off and on again and it fixes the problem. Now the sound works. I'm not sure if it's a receiver problem or a laptop problem but it's very minor and it doesn't really bother me. That is literaly the only problem I've ever had with the receiver functioning properly.

Now I'd like to comment some on the Advanced MCACC. It isn't a perfect feature but it still seems to do quite well. Keep in mind I've only been able to test it out on the Take Classics as I haven't hooked it up to other sound systems yet so results may vary from mine. After running the advanced MCACC I would definitely check to make sure that it set all your speakers to the right size small or large as well as check to see if it set your crossover where you really want it. Also there is a setting in there called X-curve. What this does is steadily decreases the trebble from 2khz and up and you can change it do decrease a certain number of decibles per octave. I ended up setting it to -0.5 db per octave because it felt a bit too rich to me. It also sounded good at -1.0 db per octave. I'm not sure if it's the speakers or the EQ calibration or both but the trebble felt a bit unnaturally loud to my ears. I would recommend trying it on a few different settings and comparing them to eachother and see what your ears like. Another big improvement that I've come across just by messing with settings over the past couple years is turning up the center channel about 2 or 3 decibles (I can't remember the exact amount). I always noticed that I had to turn the volume up quite loud to hear voices in the center channel. I don't know if it's the center speaker or the Advanced MCACC settings or perhaps just my own personal preference but I was much happier after I turned the volume up on the center. The action sounds seemed to blend better with voice volumes. After all these small yet significant changes I feel I have my system close to optimal performance. I would recommend looking over all the advanced MCACC settings under manual MCACC once you run the Full Auto MCACC and make sure everything is where you want it. Like I said before it isn't perfect but it is a good starting point to get the settings near where you want them. Slight changes in how you set up the microphone can make a big difference. Some people said putting the mic on a tripod vs a stack of pillows can make a difference too. I used a stack of pillows and it seemed to work fine.

Bottom line I would still keep my rating of 5/5. It's an overall very high value and has had excellent reliability for me. I will probably have many more years of enjoyment from this unit.

Let me start by saying that I don't consider myself an audiophile or any kind of A/V system devotee. I'm technically adept enough to have no problems hooking up multiple components and programming devices, but other than that I wouldn't describe myself as any kind of "power user" when it comes to home theater equipment. I just enjoy watching TV and movies with good, immersive sound.

I recently upgraded from a cheap old Sony "home theater in a box" receiver (STR-SE501) that we've had for about 10 years. The Sony served us well, but since we're accumulating components with HDMI outputs (the Sony had no HDMI) we needed to get a better receiver. I looked around for a while and considered a variety of receivers, looking mainly at the Yamaha models ranging from $400 to $1000. When it came time to finally pull the trigger on the purchase, I stumbled on this Pioneer unit on Amazon and was intrigued. I quickly checked reviews on AVSForum and based on those reviews and the price, I was sold. I added guaranteed Saturday delivery for $6.99 (placing the order around 11:30 on a Thursday night) with my Prime membership, and it arrived at my door just before noon on Saturday.

Hookup was straightforward, except for a little confusion (my fault) in which speakers to hook up for a 5.1 configuration. Overall, I prefer the screw-down connections to the spring-clip kind my old receiver had, it makes for a much more secure connection. Works fine with the cheap Sony HTIB 5.1 speakers, which I don't have the resources to upgrade right now... in fact, I was surprised to find that the sound quality is even better. Setup was pretty easy - the MCACC program walks you through the level test and tells you if your speakers are in phase or not, so you can swap the wires if necessary.

The unit has a reassuring weight to it (35 pounds shipping weight) that makes it feel like a serious piece of equipment, but one minor unexpected issue was that it's considerably deeper than the previous receiver, so I had to scoot the entertainment center another inch or two away from the wall to allow some room for the cables hanging out of the back.

Copious inputs on the back ensure that you can run pretty much any kind of components... 4 HDMI inputs is more than most people will need. Was easy to program with my Harmony 880 remote and has been working well for a couple of weeks now. Don't think I could have gotten a better receiver for the money ($540 including shipping).

My background for context, I started using Hi-Fi equipment 25 years ago and have had Pioneer, JVC, Kenwood, Sherwood, receiver setups. Done the reel-to-reel, all the way to todays stuff. For the past 10 years I have been a major fan of Yamaha having two high-end systems. I finally went looking for a new setup when I started seeing newer blue rays that my Yamaha 992 could no longer decode (its Dolby digital 5.1) such as the dolby digitalHD, and the multitude of other stuff. I looked for about a year at everything between 1200 and 300 bucks. I was just about to spring for the pioneer 1019 due to the great reviews when I found this one. A Pioneer Elite wrapped in a different package for the same money as what I had decided on. While I'm partial to Yamaha this is a great receiver. Power and music is great, the video upscaler is great and the flexibility of connections is great. A word of warning...it is so flexible and versatile, read the manual. I hate manuals, I never read manuals.....so go ahead, hook this up and then start wondering how can I tweak this or that? You'll read the manual which I found very easy to follow. Is it complicated, no...its flexible.

This is a great piece of equipment and an excellent value.

I upgraded from an Onkyo and I must say the Pioneer runs quite a bit cooler, even with a closed cabinet door. All the best sound formats are there, installation was a snap, and it works great with my Samsung LCD, PS3, and DirecTV Sat Receiver.

Took 1 star away on Features because for the $$ I wish it had an HDMI on the front like the 9130 or VSX-23elite. The price jump in those models for just an extra HDMI port on the front is stupid; I'm sure next years models will have HDMI ports on the front standard.

No regrets here though, great product!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!