Customer Reviews

Pioneer VSX-920-K 7.1 Home Theater Receiver

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

I got this to replace the VSX-820-K, which I liked but had few shortcomings, such as the requirement to use an analog video connection to the TV if you want to use the on screen menu. Got this at a non-Amazon retailer for well under the $399 MSRP.

Looks and design: Classy black - got the spouse approval. However, like the 820-K, the cover of the front USB and video/audio ports is not connected to the receiver - it's a piece of plastic that you have to take out completely if you want to hook up a USB device or any source to the front connectors. I wish it had a permanent connection because I can completely see it getting lost. Reduced one star for this.

Sound: Great. I used to have a 10-year old Denon 5.1 receiver which I loved. I think that sound quality of this Pioneer with movies is pretty much the same as my old Denon. The sound quality when playing plain music though is much much better than the Denon - just cleaner. I don't consider my self an audiophile, but I'm very happy with the sound (connected to a 5.1 Onkyo speaker set up).

Video over HDMI looks good. My Wii is connected through analog RCA cable to the receiver and the video is up-converted (if that's the correct term) and comes through the single HDMI connection to the TV. Motorola Cable box and Media Center PC are also connected through HDMI and work great with no issues at all. No need to switch inputs in my TV anymore which simplifies life and the macro operation of my universal remote control.

Setup is pretty usual for receivers, you will not understand many features and setup options unless you bother reading the instructions.

Power: Seems to have to crank up the volume much higher than I used to with my Denon receiver and the sound is not even with that of my Home Theater PC (i.e., same volume level can hear the PC great but when I switch to cable I have to crank up the volume to get a decent sound - it may be a problem with the cable box outputing lower levels but I wish the receiver was capable dealing with that and make the volume level even with all sources).

Overall for a little over $300, to get a 3D capable receiver from a reputable manufacturer such as Pioneer, with 7 channels, up-conversion and USB support is pretty amazing value. I am very happy with my purchase.

Purchased this from Amazon last week on sale for a great price! This receiver replaces a 9 year old Yamaha HTR-5440 5.1 Ch receiver. I think the sound quality is great, as was the Yamaha's and since my tv only has 2 hdmi inputs I am now able to connect my Tivo HD, Blu Ray Player, and Media Center PC to the receiver and I only have to run one hdmi cable up to the tv and I don't have to disconnect one component to connect another. I could've done this with an hdmi switch, but that is another piece of electronic's plugged in and drawing a little power all day, every day. The upscaling seems to do a great job with my wii that is connected with just a composite video cable. The iPhone/iPod interface is great, but if you want to see your cover art on your tv (not an issue for me as I usually don't have the tv on when listening to music on the iPhone/iPod) you will need to buy atleast the 1020k as that is the next step up and offers that feature. I have stereo speakers on my deck that are connected to Speakers B which have much better sound with this receiver than they did when they were connected the same way to the old Yamaha because this receiver allows me to add or subtract db's sent to those speakers (up to 15 db extra) and the Yamaha did not. This receiver works flawlessly with my Logitech Harmony remote. The one drawback for me was that this receiver does not have a 110 volt switched outlet on the back to turn off all power to my subwoofer and the old Yamaha did have this feature. I have checked all of the other Pioneer's and Yamaha's and they too do not come with this feature. I am hooking up a surge protector to a wall switched outlet and then plugging my sub into that to turn it off so it is not sucking any power while not in use.

I would highly recommend this receiver to anyone that is on a tight budget and wants to get a lot for less out of pocket expense.

The primary reason to buy this receiver was to reduce the number of audio and video connections behind the cabinet, as well as to be able to have easy, one or two button switching of both audio and video feeds. This does all the above. I have 2 HDMI sources in (cable HD-DVR and DVD player) and one composite in (Wii). I have one HDMI out to TV and one digital audio out to TV. That's it other than speaker wire. The best part is not having to switch the sound separate from the video feed. My better half never really wanted to learn all the necessary steps and now doesn't have to.

The video up-convert feature doesn't really make much difference to me...you aren't going to get a picture that looks like a blu-ray disc, so don't expect such. But the 1080i and 720p that are broadcast come through (to my eyes) as good or slightly better than when sourced straight to the TV from the cable box. Wii, which outputs at 480p, doesn't look that much better either, but I love having sound through the tuner now instead of previously using the TV sound due to lack of connections on old receiver.

I ran into an HDMI handshake issue wherein the picture would turn pink/purple upon changing a channel. Turns out it was the older cable DVR box. Switched to a newer one I had in another room and all good.

All said, it does what it should, quickly change from watching TV/cable to DVD or Wii with only one button press, including sound.

Pros:
easy audio/video switching between sources
4 HDMI in and 1 out
great sound from all sources
price-under $300 for features that some charge $500 for
nice audio setup program to optimize sound from each speaker (cheesy on-screen interface but it works)
good rear connection layout...speaker connections are not cramped
smaller depth than previous receiver allows more cord room behind in cabinet
USB connection in front
included IPOD cable connects to front of receiver

Cons:
switching sources could be a little faster (not a big deal - still less than 3 seconds)
remote doesn't have power on-off for all devices with one button press, but it does control them
remote buttons are somewhat small...number buttons require careful touch in particular
bluetooth connection looks flimsy...I'm not paying extra for it

This is my first true receiver so I can't actually say how the VSX-920-K compares to other products. I was mainly interested in the number of available HDMI ports, and originally I was looking at the VSX-1019H-K. However the 920 and 1019 are practically the same device, but the 920 (at the time of my purchase) was $140 cheaper. So far the only complaint I have is the time it can take to interact with the receiver. It seems like the remote goes to sleep when not in use, and you have to press a button to "wake" it up. So you end up pressing an input selection twice just to get it to change, and once it does pick up the signal from the remote, it still takes 5-10 seconds to switch inputs. Like I said this is my first receiver, so this may be fairly common for digital a/v receivers, and it's not really that big of an issue since you don't usually need to change inputs more than once or twice a sitting.
The iPod interaction is a little disappointing. While you can use the receiver remote to browse & listen to the music on your iPod, you can't browse and view photos or videos. In order to do this you have to (using the remote) change controls of the iPod over to the iPod, and then you have to sit next to the receiver as the cord is only 1.5ft long. If you are pulling up a movie, maybe that won't be so bad, but it seems like it should have been easy to display video and photos in the same method you listen to music. The text interface for browsing music is also pretty slow. There's about a .5-1 second delay between pressing a button on the remote and seeing a selection change on the screen. It doesn't sound like a lot, but with no search function built into the receiver browser, that time builds up when you're trying to find a particular song.
Last thing is really more of a tip for Wii owners. I had a problem with video cutting out while playing any virtual console games(n64, snes, nes, but not the WiiWare games). I fixed it by changing the resolution in setup menu 5b to "Pure", which I suppose means that it's no longer upscaling. I don't really see much point in upscaling 16bit games and if I did, I would try out the component video adapter for the Wii, although since Pioneer claims it will upscale from any source...
I know it sounds like I hate this product, but I'm actually pretty happy with it. The sound and video quality is great, it has more than enough inputs for all my devices. I can't give an opinion on the 3-D performance since my tv doesn't have that feature, but I can't say I care since 3-D movies give me a headache. It might be worth it to get the 1020-k for it's network features, though I think it's better to just go with a nettop with HDMI for more functionality like web browsing. Anyway, I subtracted a star from the score considering the slow interface and inconvenience of the iPod interactivity. Overall this is much more of a problem to me than a detachable front cover which I leave underneath the receiver so it doesn't get lost...

Note: In case it helps I bought the Dayton HTP-3 5.1 Home Theater Package 12" Powered Subwoofer, although they were cheaper to buy directly from Parts-Express(free-shipping, very fast too).

If your Speaker "B" system is not working after you do the basic setup with 'Auto MCACC' you mut go to setup again, select MANUAL SP SETUP, SPEAKER SETTINGS, FRONT HEIGHT select NO, SURR.BACK, select SMALL,X2. The manual does not tell you to do this, and obviously some people at Pioneer do not know how to fix it. The reason I pass this along is because I was told by Pioneer that I had a bad Speaker Terminal so I returned the first product to Amazon.
Otherwise this is a Great A/V Product. The Video UP converting is great. I only have ONE Wire going to my HD video monitor.

This is an excellent receiver. I decided that I wanted to upgrade my old HTIB receiver, but keep my old speakers. I did a lot of research and it was between this receiver and the Denon AVR-391. Both basically had the same capabilities, though this one lacked customizable labels and the Denon lacked an Ipod input, but I went with this one because of the price (50 dollars cheaper than the Denon), the ease of setup (I read both manuals online and after an hour of reading the Denon I was still completely confused and I am an Electrical Engineer and a "gadget freak.") and the ipod connection (not too terribly important, but a nice feature). The main item I wanted was the single HDMI cable to my TV, which meant I needed a system which had video upconversion as I have a Wii. In any case, I ordered the Pioneer and received last weekend. I set it up right away (good size too) and had it up and running in about 15 min. The auto speaker setup was a breeze and everything was working perfectly. I had Last Airbender from Netflix which has DTS-HD, so I decided to try it out...WOW, what a difference. The receiver automatically picked the DTS-HD audio and it was amazing. the picture quality was amazing, though I would expect that since it is just passing the signal from my blu ray. The one minor issue i had was with DolbyTrue HD. I was playing Dark knight and i could not get TruHD to play, turns out it was blu ray player and I had select the TruHD audio track, so not really an issue, though I am kind of surprised that the TruHD track would not output along with the regular Dolby track, but again, not a big deal, just an extra button to push.

Overall, this was a great buy and I am very happy with the purchase.

The value is certainly here.
The receiver is powerful, sleek and well designed.

PROs:
The HDMI inputs and outputs are easy to hookup
The speaker inputs of the back of the receiver are high quality, not cheap inputs like I am used to from a sub $400 receiver
Comes with a microphone used to tune the receiver and verify working speakers



CONs:
The little removable plastic plate that covers the iPod input should not come all the way off!
Hooking up the component cable to the TV input to run the receiver menu and iPod controls is a little tacky. It should run with the HDMI! I love getting rid of wires, not adding them.

I already had a 5 speaker system mounted in my wall, so I have been using 5.1 with these. My wife would kill me if I started drilling more holes for more speakers = )
But the sound is great, the remote is adequate, the receiver overall is a nice product. I replaced a 10 year old Onkyo that was closer to $750 when purchased, and this sounds much better, is easier to use, and looks much cleaner.

Wow, this one took me a while to solve. Seems as if most of these units work flawlessly with all devices. Mine didn't out of the box. This is just an initial review and I'm only going to cover a few relevant things. Sound is awesome! There's tons of sound choices too for making the most of your setup. This unit is just as good as the 1020 minus a few features I didn't care about. The sound makes my Energy RC Micros sound crystal clear with audible sound I wasn't picking up before. The sound is beautiful and plenty spacious for my basement home theater. I'm in a 17x25 foot rectangle and it's working perfectly.... now.

I had a PS3 issue similar to a poster above when it would drop in and out with both a blank screen and drop the audio. I had a "cheaper" HDMI cable to test with it along with my high speed cable currently hooked to the PS3. I have a long 25 ft cable running to the projector. However, it wasn't just dropping video, but the sound, so I knew the PS3 was the culprit. All I had to do, after about 40 minutes of searching, was go into the settings menu and select "PURE" under the video source. Meaning that PS3 is going to handle the 1080p rendering, of wich, it does an incredible job. I haven't tried hard setting it to 1080p either, but as of now it's a crystal clear screen with some incredible sound.

This is just my initial review, i'll keep in mind to update in the future. One other reason I chose this receiver for the PS3 is because Sony's box will broadcast slightly different PCM audio based on whether it's a Blu Ray, streamed video, video stored on the hard drive, or a game on the hard drive. With this receive I can tell it to output DTS, DolbyII or whatever I want regardless of what the PS3 is shoving it. My old receiver was fine for BluRay, but would only do 2 channel audio on streaming video, and this receiver fills in the sound.

I'll keep you updated, but right now I think it's a confident buy.


EDIT: It wasn't the Pioneer at All! I tested this receiver through HDMI in, and out on a Epson 8500 Projector, a Toshiba Regza TV, a LG LCD Monitor, and a Visio 27" cheap 720p HDTV. It perfectly played the PS3 and full rich sound regardless of the video parameter setting I mentioned earlier. What I discovered was that my 35ft HDMI cable going to the Projector was the culprit! Using a slightly shorter cable, 25ft, and a higher grade/thicker gauge, it is working flawless. No more dropped signal whatsoever and Blu-Ray, Streamed Content, DLC, everything is crystal clear and sounds phenomenal. If it stays this solid over time I'll come back within a year and up my review to 5 stars. I was able to pick this up at $199 my cost, and for the money I don't think I could have found a more feature rich receiver. I was comparing it to the Onkyo 608 which I almost purchased until I found out the video upconvert and rendering on that model is nearly broken and 3D is tough to pass through. The Pioneer 920 wins hands down.

This is one of the best receiver I've owned so many options produce great clean sound and its very powerful it makes u want to watch movies this thing is amazing and i have it hooked up to my ps3 with no problems the only con is the remote cant get it to controle other components thats my only beef with it other than that great receiver.

I needed to update from my Denon AVR-483 5.1 and came across this super deal with the Pioneer VSX-920-K 7.1 with all the latest features and plenty of power to push my 15 inch 3 way speakers. The music sound is amazing with all you can do with this receiver and also the push it gave my speakers.I also love the usb hook up in the front of the receiver for my mp3 (Sansa fuze) player and works really well showing the artist and song on the screen of the receiver and being control by the remote of the receiver. Can't wait to hook up my lcd tv to it for theater sound and explore the rest of these features on this reciever. Can't also wait to get the bluetooth adapter for this receiver all around a great receiver for a electronic junky like me:) This part is an update...I connected the hdmi from the reciever to tv and works perfect with an amazing theater sound. Also have now the pioneer as-bt100 bluetooth and it's worth getting trust me. I stream music threw my andriod phone and also my laptop and the sound quility is unbelievable.The only two things i have to get is the 3D dvd player and the 3d tv then i have completed my updating on my entertainment center. Thank you pioneer for all the options i have now with the pioneer vsx-920 and the deal i got it for from 6ave electronics.