Hey all,

Been researching the 9040 and I see it's virtually identical to the Pioneer Elite VSX-21TXH, except with 1 year warranty instead of 2yr and an "elite" badge.

Amazon has the 9040 on sale with good reviews, and I was wondering if anyone here has 9040 or the vsx-21, and if so, can you comment? likes, dislikes?

I am more interested in the features. I have external mono blocks, so the pioneer avr amp is not driving my M80's.

I wanted a decent avr before I move forward with the v150 and QS8's. Any opinions welcome...and thanks!

Dduval

I've had the VSX-21TXH for about 2 months. I don't have a lot of experience with receivers, so I'm not much help here. I'm not dissappointed in the power it puts out, sometimes I get really impressed with the power output, as in loud and deep bass in some material out of M22's.

I'm satisfied with straight stereo for music and Neo: 6 Cinema for movies. I'm somewhat satisfied with the tuner quality, but I may look into getting a higher quality antenna sometime. So far, I haven't had any problems with it.

Edit: The MCACC equalizer does a good job of improving sound quality. I used the front stage stereo settings for a while, but switched to straight stereo for a more realistic quality. I do turn on the sound retriever. It enhances bass and treble without going overboard.

Thanks Cat...appreciate it, I see most owners are happy.

Dduval

Dana, the determining feature may well be the respective room-correction processing systems. My view would be to give a preference to one of the Denon or Onkyo models in a similar price area with Audyssey MultEQ.

Yes John,

That has been a big debate in my mind, audyssey or MCACC. The more I read about it, I just don't know..:)

The 9040 is $514.00, can you recommend a Denon or Onkyo at that price with pre outs? I can't seem to find one with the same features around that price...

Thanks so much,

Dduval

Yes, the Onkyo 707 factory refurb from Accessories4less for about $500 should be considered. My experience with factory refurbs has been good and my view is that they should be even more reliable than brand new units.

That's a nice unit, thanks John!

Dduval

Decided on the Pioneer VSX-9040TXH. Got it yesterday, so far I'm loving it. Big difference from my old yammy.

Haven't had a chance to check out HDMI video performance yet, but so far no problems, that's actually shocking given my luck with new audio gear...

Dduval

Glad to hear you're happy with it.

Same as the 21TXH which I have. I love it also. I think it has great power for the M22's anyway. I'm interested in how good it drives the M80's.

Since I'm running external amps with the 9040, I have no clue, but I plan on at least trying it without the amps.

Dduval