Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Pioneer Elite VSX-54TX vs. Yamaha RX-V2500

I need some advice...
I am in the process of setting up my HT (M22ti, VP150, QS8, HSU VTF-3) and am having a hard time picking a receiver. I was able to do an AB comparison (at Magnolia) between the Denon AVR-2805 and the Elite 54TX and found the Elite to be much more natural in sound with a much wider sounds stage while the Denon's bass seems to be somewhat overblown So I have now narrowed down to either the Elite 54TX/56TXi or the Yamaha RX-V2500. The usage would be 90% HT and 10% Music and my room is 18.5X15

Unfortunately I am not able to do an A/B comparo with them so I am wondering which of these receivers would you recommend for the set of Axiom speakers I've purchased. Any advice is appreciated.

I did several A/B comparisons with various receivers (although no Yamahas were available for me to test with), and I ended up with the Pioneer Elite VSX-54TX. I have not used mine yet (still boxed up waiting on my factory outlet Axioms to come in 4.5 weeks), but I did audition one are a local high-end audio shop (Pioneer Elite, and a few Denon's were in my price range). The sales guy liked the Pioneer a little more, but couldn't say why. I told him up front that I already had purchased my speakers (I actually ended up ordering them that night), to get him off of that trail and back to the receivers. I asked him to connect up some speakers that he thought were "bright" (since people call Axioms bright), and the Pioneer 54TX sounded great with them. Better than any of the Denon or HK stuff. He hooked up a $4500 receiver and $3500 amp, and the Pioneer still held it's own. Granted, that test was with a $22,000 5.1 setup, so it was hard to make it sound "bad"...

I know that the Pioneer can be had for about $100 or maybe $150 less than the Yamaha, so if you don't get a clear cut idea from someone, money may be a factor too. It shouldn't be the only factor, but may put a couple more "points" in the Pioneer side.

Good luck. This decision is almost as important as the speakers that will be connected to it.

Thank you for your helpful response. It make me feel a little more comfortable to know that it wasn't only me that feels the Elite sounds better than the Denon. Have you listened to the 56txi? It has a 27kuf capacitor and I am wondering if it is worth $300 more together with better construction, a better remote and a phono input which I can use. Regarding the rx-v2500, it's specs are impressive and i can have it for just $25 more than the 54tx. I wish if it was a $100 difference, the decision would be alot easier. =)

I would say go with the Yammie; I have the RX-V2200 and I'm partial to Yamaha.

You really can't go wrong with any receiver at this level/price range. They have more processing modes, etc than you'll probably ever use.

I think the deciding factor comes down to the additional features...number of component inputs, video upconversion, multi-zone (ie: can the zone 2 play a different source than the main - my 2200 can do this and I find this to be a great feature; then again it doesn't do upconversion to component which I would like to have).

You'll end up with a great receiver either way...look for the features that you would really use.

YMMV
Joe