Well I hear lots of bruhaha about this MCACC stuff and the Stereo music quality of the Elite series line so I figured let see what the $1500 Pioneer Elite 53TX can do vs the older $3000 Flagship Rotel RSX-1065. Went out and bought it tonight. (retail prices above but got it cheaper)

Preliminary findings:

Cons:

- When connecting interconnects at back creaking or cracking noise can be heard when connecting the connectors into the sockets. I think the connectors are connected straight to a system board (for the pre-outs). The Rotel had a much more robust design. The connectors at the back push in as you push the connector in place. Almost like shock absorbers.

- Speaker connectors even though both are plastic the Rotel is a more heavier robust connector. Also spades do not work with the 53Tx. The 53TX have it patterned in a way so that putting barewire is much simpler. Had to cut out my crimped spades and put on some bananas. I was not too thrilled to do that.

- Rotel is definitely about 10lbs heavier. That doesnt mean anything though. The 53tx was better for my back.

- Remote is not as robust as the Rotel's. The Rotel's remote is heavy duty.. excellent learning remote. My fiancee loves that thing.

Pros:

Even out of the box that 2 stereo bypass or hi-bit upsample is the closest I got to have my CD player(which has volume control) straight to the power amp. That is the main reason at least for this purchase. The Rotel 2 stereo was always lacking..in my books. I think Rotel in the receiver level at least does not separate the analog from the digital. It was always running digital. But I will need to further play around with the 53tx direct feature or hi-bit sampling feature.

Will let you know in a couple of weeks if the 53tx at half the retail price can give the flagship Rotel receiver a run for its money in either HT or direct 2 channel stereo

Saturn

http://www.quadloft.com/hometheater- new HT