Rotel 1056 vs Pioneer Elite VSX 74

[JohnnyH]

I understand that I may get a biased answer on this, considering the forum, but I have a question.

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on my first setup and I'm trying to decide on which Surround Receiver to go with. Has anyone been able to compare these two units side by side. They will be powering a pair of B&W 704 mains/Center/Sub and surrounds. The display will be a Pioneer Elite PRO 930 Plasma.

DVD will either be a Rotel 1040 or Pioneer elite DV79 Avi. I need to make a decision by tomorrow so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
John

[Kens1]

Info on your listening preference would be helpful - music vs. HT, but judging by your speaker choice music obviously is important to you as well. I have the 1056 but I also use the 1080 amp for music driving my front speakers. In my opinion the 1056 is the best out there for the price - again music is important to me.
If you are looking for a feature laiden receiver than the pioneer probably gets the award.
I think a lot of us 1056 ownners get leary (myself included) of standing up for this receiver because of some of the buzz/ hiss issues people had with the first run units. I don't have any issues with mine and I believe this has all been corrected by Rotel. For me, after owning many mass market receivers I would not change the 1056 for anything unless I went with seperates all the way.
I have auditioned the Pioneer 56 and the 74? and found them very good, but I am particular to the sound I enjoy (mostly for music) and still much preferred the 1056. However, I did enjoy both Pioneers better than the Denon 4806.

[gianni]

Answered your other thread. Basically:

Rotel 1056 and Pioneer 79Avi.

[images]

1056 / 1080 Combo

Aloha Ken,

I only joined the HTGuide forum for Rotel last week. I noticed your posting stating that you use the 1056 with the 1080. This is exactly the system I am now trying to aquire. (I say 'trying' becasue I am at a pretty low tide, financially speaking, due to a heart attack 20 months ago. I survived just fine, but my sole-proprietorship didn't.) In any case, I now am seeing some light at the end of the financial tunnel and have already talked to a local dealer about both these pieces. I always have been a two channel kinda guy, with almost all my listening to classical music and occasionally some jazz or blue grass.

Truth is, though I enjoy DVD playback and the entertainment value of home theater, I really am going the five channel route to be able to listen to multi-channel playback of SACD.

Because of my health I now am almost two years behind the times. I don't know a whit about HMDI, or HDMI, or whatever, and the blueray...bluezone...bluegoose technology is currently going right over my head. I imagine with some judicious reading I will be up to speed in a week or so.

OK, my question to you, sir. Because the technology changes so rapidly now, am I ill-advised to invest in the 1056 / 1080 combo? (BTW, the outboard stereo amp does not have to be the 1080. I am very interested in switching amps such as those offered by Nuforce and Channel Islands, and I have had good luck with Monarchy monoblocs.) But as far as the receiver goes, will it soon be outdated due to connectivity/compatibility issues? The new single cable connectivity issue seems to be more of a video concern than anything else, though I could be mistaken here. Lastly, I am quite content with a 5.1 system.

Any opinions you care to offer are more than welcome. They also would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Mark... Honolulu (though I grew up in Minnesota, which is like living in "Winterpeg." I'd tell you that I miss ice fishing, but then you would know that I'm a liar.)

PS. OK, as long as we are discussing receivers, is the 1067 an option I might want to consider (though this may be out of my financial league right now)? I expect outboard amplification will be a necessity for my speakers, regardless. They are DIY D'Apolito configured two-ways. In other words they are mid-tweeter-mids with the mids being Scanspeak 8545s in series... so a 4 ohm load and a sensitivity of 86 dBs.

[Dmantis]

Being more into music, maybe the Rotel is a better sonic choice but anything else the Pioneer Smokes the Rotel. It is one of the finest priced per what you get receivers on the market today. Have an Ipod??? Man is this receiver for you. Like XM radio??? It's got it. It's full of features and all are useful. Home theater performance is excellent and Pioneer Elite receivers mate very well with B&W speakers shy of the N series.Not to mention that it has McACC and itr works great.

You can always add amps if you feel you need better sound quality or more power.

So in this case I vote for the Pioneer. I have Installed it many times and it put a smile on my face. the Ipod interface is priceless.

Dan :T

[Andrew M Ward]

Being more into music, maybe the Rotel is a better sonic choice but anything else the Pioneer Smokes the Rotel. It is one of the finest priced per what you get receivers on the market today. Have an Ipod??? Man is this receiver for you. Like XM radio??? It's got it. It's full of features and all are useful. Home theater performance is excellent and Pioneer Elite receivers mate very well with B&W speakers shy of the N series.Not to mention that it has McACC and itr works great.

You can always add amps if you feel you need better sound quality or more power.

So in this case I vote for the Pioneer. I have Installed it many times and it put a smile on my face. the Ipod interface is priceless.

Dan :T

Yes, The pioneer is a total deal. I'm not a huge fan of the "sound" but hey, they sell them for less than it costs them to make them, a consumer can't beat that.

It's an unusual strategy on Pioneer's part...

( Pioneer CE took a $472 million dollar annual loss ) ;x(

[mattburk]

All the things I have read about the new pioneer have been pretty negative. Where did you see a good review? The true power specs are horrid.

[shadow]

All the things I have read about the new pioneer have been pretty negative. Where did you see a good review? The true power specs are horrid.

Where did you read negatives? The only review by a magazine was very favorable to the Pioneer. The power specs are a red herring. This spec made sense with a two channel system where both channels were frequently driven to max levels. This never happens in a five channel system. Suggest you go to the Audioholics web site to get a more technical critique of this spec. Sound quality is still most important and that quality can only be experienced in person and not by numbers. I have heard the Pioneer driving five smaller Martin Logans very well at levels as high as I would ever use. Features and ease of use are also important, with ease of use critical to long term satisfaction.

[JohnnyH]

I ended up ordering all of my equipment the other day.

B&W 704 Mains
HTM-7 Center
ASW-675 Sub
DS6 Surrounds

Rotel 1056
Pioneer Elite DV79-AVI Dvd player
Pioneer Elite PRO-930 Plasma

Still up in the air about the 1056 though. I guess I have to decide if sound is more important than bells and whistles.

I cant wait for it all to come in.

[aud19]

Where did you read negatives? The only review by a magazine was very favorable to the Pioneer. The power specs are a red herring. This spec made sense with a two channel system where both channels were frequently driven to max levels. This never happens in a five channel system. Suggest you go to the Audioholics web site to get a more technical critique of this spec. Sound quality is still most important and that quality can only be experienced in person and not by numbers. I have heard the Pioneer driving five smaller Martin Logans very well at levels as high as I would ever use. Features and ease of use are also important, with ease of use critical to long term satisfaction.

That's all great but the fact is the 1056 DOES output it's rated power on all 5 channels simultaneously and IMO sounds a heck of a lot better doing it

[gd]

Pio receivers did have some power rating / performance issues a couple years ago, but they've pretty much resolved them by now.

But it's reasonable to acknowledge that the Rotel does perform better in that regard.

Sound-wise, the Pio's have quietly improved the sound quality of their receivers over the past few generations... these ears find them increasingly comparable to Marantz (a good thing)... I don't think you'll lose much if you need the features and go with a Pioneer (or Marantz for that matter).

But if you're a serious music listener, and you want to squeeze out the last bit of music performance for the money, forget the features... go Rotel.

[wb2fcr]

I ended up ordering all of my equipment the other day.

B&W 704 Mains
HTM-7 Center
ASW-675 Sub
DS6 Surrounds

Rotel 1056
Pioneer Elite DV79-AVI Dvd player
Pioneer Elite PRO-930 Plasma

Still up in the air about the 1056 though. I guess I have to decide if sound is more important than bells and whistles.

I cant wait for it all to come in.

JohnnyH - let us know what you think of the B&W 704 / HTM-7 working with the 1056 when its up and running. This is the same setup I'm looking at in a couple of months and would be interested in what you think.

[gianni]

I ended up ordering all of my equipment the other day.

B&W 704 Mains
HTM-7 Center
ASW-675 Sub
DS6 Surrounds

Rotel 1056
Pioneer Elite DV79-AVI Dvd player
Pioneer Elite PRO-930 Plasma

Still up in the air about the 1056 though. I guess I have to decide if sound is more important than bells and whistles.

I cant wait for it all to come in.

Nice choices. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised. Give the 1056 a chance and listen to it before you make up your mind.

[Andrew M Ward]

I'm not sure if this is the correct location for this email but I find this kind of thing fascinating. Basically the TWICE (This Week In Consumer Electronics) article said Pioneer was losing money to the tune of about a half a billion dollars a year and their solution was to "Lower prices"

Okay,
I'm no rocket scientist but...
I mean as a CEO of Pioneer how do you justify that move? Yes we're losing about 200 million dollars every six months so I think we need to lower our prices.... Duh...Errr...

Huh?

(Below) From TWICE magazine on-line

Yet Pioneer's home electronics business registered an operating loss of $113.6 million in the second quarter, compared with operating income of a bit over a quarter-million dollars in the same three months in 2004. Gross profit margin for plasma displays and DVD products dropped due to lower market prices, said Pioneer.

The operating loss for home electronics in the first half hit $221.1 million, compared with a loss of $37.1 million in the first six months last year.

[JohnnyH]

I will be sure to post my impressions as soon as everything gets here. I know I will need some assistance hooking everything up, so stay tuned for questions. Actually I'll ask now. Exactly what cables will I need and where do they go. Components will be a Scientific Atlanta HD Cable box, Media box that comes with Pioneer Plasma, Plasma, DVD player, 1056 and some sort of power conditioner. I know the DVD player has some sort of DVI or HDMI output. I'm already confused.

John

[shadow]

This strategy is not unique. B&K were losing market share with the Ref 30 and 307 receiver a couple of years ago so they drastically lowered prices on each unit, which resulted in increased sales if presumably less profit per sale.

[Andrew M Ward]

This strategy is not unique. B&K were losing market share with the Ref 30 and 307 receiver a couple of years ago so they drastically lowered prices on each unit, which resulted in increased sales if presumably less profit per sale.

Uhhh...
Losing "market share" and losing "money" are two completely different things. Pioneer is losing money... Lowering prices does not fix the losing money part.

[shadow]

Any constructive ideas to offer??

[mattburk]

Pio receivers did have some power rating / performance issues a couple years ago, but they've pretty much resolved them by now.

But it's reasonable to acknowledge that the Rotel does perform better in that regard.

Sound-wise, the Pio's have quietly improved the sound quality of their receivers over the past few generations... these ears find them increasingly comparable to Marantz (a good thing)... I don't think you'll lose much if you need the features and go with a Pioneer (or Marantz for that matter).

But if you're a serious music listener, and you want to squeeze out the last bit of music performance for the money, forget the features... go Rotel.

Agreed. I have done extensive a/b testing. Results are as follows 1.Rotel 2. Marantz 3. pioneer. This is based on sound quality alone.

[soundhound]

Well put mattburk. Congrats on the 1056 JohnnyH, It will convince you, with some run time on it.