Pioneer SC-79 9.2-Channel Multi-Zone, Networked, Elite Class D3 AV Receiver (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

It took a while but this amp/receiver sounds great. I ran it 24/7 for one week to test it and break it in. I could actually hear it when the amp finally broke in. There was a change in the Timbre and the sound was richer and deeper. This receiver is everything I hoped for and more. Yes, I could have spent another grand on this years model, but Dolby atmos is just in it's infancy and so it sounds, to me, just like Pro-logic did when surround sound first started. Besides, the newer model SC-88 does NOT have THX certification, and I needed it. My speakers sound great, but they are VERY inefficient, especially at lower volumes, and needed the 3 ohm THX power curve guarantee so that I could hear the full range of sound at lower volumes, which if you know anything about speakers takes A LOT of power at between 1-4 Ohms.By the way, This DOES have 4K upconversion and wow do my dvds look great. Even though I have a 720 P TV I could instantly tell a difference in the resolution. Yum !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Denon 5800 finally bit the dust after 14 years of solid performance. I was surprised to learn that Denon no longer made an equivalent high end receiver. I purchased this after reading many reviews, and was completely blown away by the improvement in sound over the 5800. After following the automatic speaker set up, the sound was far superior to what I had been listening to for all these years. I agree that the remote is cheesy and it is disappointing that you have to buy a blue tooth adapter for nearly $100., but otherwise I am completely satisfied. Hopefully, the reliability will meet my experience with Denon.

Sound is great, easy to configure, Advanced MCACC room measurement system sounds fine after you tweak it. Per-source-adjustable video scaling looks good on my 55" screen. The SC-77 scales the TiVo's 1080i up to 1080p with noticeable improvement, but passes thru the superior 1080p from the Oppo 103.Has features that I need: front bi-amp; SPDIF out for my infra-red wireless "surround" headphones. Bass management is adequate after you spend time getting it right, highly dependent on the quality of your subs. Light weight, sturdy construction, standard small footprint. Some of the DSP settings really improve the sound for special events like sports. Apple airplay and DLNA from my Linux server work flawlessly as far as sound and connectivity, Pandora works fine.Note: I don't use zones/multi-room capability so I cannot review them. I have a very basic 5.1 setup with bi-amped B&W 803 fronts, Axiom M3 on-wall surrounds, a Gallo Acoustics center, decent SVS subwoofer. Far from an audiophile setup, but multi-channel SACD's played through the Oppo 103 sound superb, movies sound great once you've got everything tweaked. No complaints in sound department.Price: $1500-1600 not too bad.Cons: Cheapo remote control not well-designed. IR presets built into remote are iffy. No dedicated stereo mix down analog recording outs. No HD radio, either built-in or optional, a ridiculous and irritating omission at this point. DLNA user interface is as irritatingly clunky and inefficient as you could imagine, I can't figure how they let that stuff be so bad. EDIT: I should add that the free Iphone/Ipad apps--available on the app store--let you control most of the ordinary functions of the receiver and a few of the more exotic ones are great, and make up to some degree for the lousy DLNA interface. However, those apps DO NOT serve as a complete remote control...they control only the functions of the receiver, not those of other devices. In my case, Oppo has a similar free app, so I can get by with watching e.g. a blu-ray disc with nothing but an iPad as a remote.I'm sure comparable units from Onkyo, Denon, Integra, Sony etc. are just as good and may be better for finicky audio tweakers. I'm a long-time Pioneer user and have never had any problem. I didn't comparison shop, just waited a few months after SC-77 came out and ordered it when price settled. Would unhesitatingly recommend this item to anyone except picky home theater or audio fanatics, who should get separates. (I actually got rid of separates to get this receiver and was delighted to be rid of them and simplify my system).

This replaced a Pioneer Elite SC-05. Set up was easy, and I bi-amped my front speakers with this unit. But I ran into a problem after running the MCACC room calibration program. If I raised the volume to -20, the unit would shut itself off. The troubleshooting section of the manual suggested I was trying to run it too loud (which didn't make sense to me.) After a lot of adjustments and trying to re-run MCACC, I did what I should have done in the first place--check my wiring. I mentioned I bi-amped the front speakers. And that's where the problem lay. Two strands of wire were touching the opposite post on one of the speakers. Network set up also was easy, and I enjoy listening to internet radio. I also really like using Airplay with my iPod Touch. No wired connection needed. While this unit is not a quantum leap over the SC-05, I'm still glad I got it.

Used this unit to setup a 3-zone downstairs and also to link up a 4th HDZone upstairs in my master bedroom. I now have an extremely impressive level of flexibility in my home audio / video setup, and the SC-79 has performed beautifully. My only critique is to provide a little more flexibility on multi-zone video switching options, but very very pleased overall.

If you're wanting to buy an AV receiver that includes room/speaker calibration, take a close look at the DACs used in the unit. Because all the calibration parameters are adjusted in the digital domain, the DACs play a big part in the resulting quality of sound. The SC-77 includes the ESS Sabre32 DACs which are highly regarded and used in a number of audiophile digital players. The beauty of having high-grade DACs in the AV receiver is that everything connected to it sounds better -- blu ray, dvd, WAV, FLAC, mp3, even regular Dolby Digital from my cable TV sounds a lot better with the Pioneer SC-77, compared to my old Denon 3806. The SC-77 is highly recommended.

Top notch receiver with good power. Highly recommended