I like Pioneer Elite receivers.
I use a Pioneer Elite VSX-43TX as my pre-pro in my system. It is old; made in 2002, but it was a good receiver (~$1,000) in its day. I have three problems with it 1) it was made before the HDMI era, 2) it lacks an On-screen-display, and 3) it can't effectively power my M80's. Fine at low volumes, but the sound gets harsh and clippy as I'd reach 'loud' levels. The LPA-1 amp solved that. Before my M80's, I had a pair of M22's as mains and the 43TX worked beautifully with those.
1 and 2 are a not an issue with modern Elites, and I suspect that 3 might not be a problem either. I've read of a few others around here with newer Elites powering M80's without incident.
It continues to be an excellent receiver, other than my minor quibbles. Clean sound (never any hissing, popping, etc), relatively easy to setup, solid connectors & dials, has never required a reboot or otherwise hiccuped, etc. It just works. I've been very happy with it and really can't find any reason to upgrade to anything else until I take the leap into Blu Ray media. And when that eventually happens, if I get another receiver (rather than a real prepro), I will definitely start by looking at Pioneer Elite's offerings.
