OK, I did it.. Last week, I bought a Pioneer Elite SC-25 to go w/ my 7.1 Epic Grand Master 500 system. All I can say is…… UNFREAKING-BELIEVABLE!!!!!!!! I am a 40+ yr old Average Joe who is hard to impress, but am totally awestruck at the difference in the total sound clarity, balance & power this receiver produces vs. my Yamaha RX-V659.
For those curious, below is a quick layman’s review of the SC-25, which I now affectionately refer to as “the beast”.
First, the MCACC setup was easy and accurate except for the sub. I did increase the subwoofer level+1db for movies, copied the setting over to a new memory location and went +6db for music. I found that leaving on all the misc functions such as standing wave control, full band phase control, EQ, etc… greatly enhanced the sound quality.
Video performance: Pass through of HDMI is flawless. I notice no difference in video quality in my Dish DVR or Panasonic Blu Ray when run thru the SC-25. On the other hand, I did plug in my old Pioneer Laserdisc player, via composite video, and it looked a bad VHS tape. Don’t know if that’s a knock on the player or receiver or both…... it was what it was…... unwatchable.
Music Listening (with Panasonic Blu Ray): On CD, I‘ve listening to everything from Elvis to Queen to Pink Floyd to Michael Jackson to Chris Rea and it all has sounded great. Never would have believe it prior to (as I was a stereo only for music guy), but I have settled to listening to music w/ Neo 6 THX. With this setting, the surround channels compliment the fronts, without ever intruding. Even tossed in my DTS 96/24 DVD of Queen’s GH1… sound presentation was awesome.
Movie Listening: The SC-25 simply shines when watching a movie. So far, I have watched all my favorite scenes from Transformers, Transformers ROTF, the Dark Knight and Star Trek. The sound clarity & dynamic range has never faltered, even at EXTREME volume. Believe me, this receiver's class D ICE amps are capable of some SERIOUS volume in the average home theater. Good news is…… Axioms are more than capable to handle it. The sound field created by the SC-25 is seamless and superbly balanced. Bass management is remarkable as well. Before the SC-25, my EP500 had a very annoying peak at 40-50Hz, which made it sound annoyingly boomy most of the time. No more. I can only assume the SC-25’s standing wave function is adjusting for this. All I have now is THUNDERING, FLOOR SHAKING bass when needed from my EP500.
To wrap it up for you…… My “Turn It down!!!!!!” wife even noticed the difference in sound quality and was truly impressed. When she commented that “it’s not as loud”, I knew it was money well spent.
