First impressions of my SC-57

ibewbrother

Well..... I heard the Pioneer for the first time. Carver's are still out, so with all of these speakers lying around, I decided to hook them all up. First thought is that the class D amps are no joke. It pushed around 110db average at reference in thx music. Ears are still ringing......but I was actually trying to clip it. I didn't go too overboard, but , here's where the bad comes in. The remote is awful. Completely non-intuitive. I couldn't figure out how to go mode to mode effectively. It wants on the network...It acted like it didn't want to give me any options without being online.

I apologize for the randomness.....back to the third manual reading......

Brother

mantis

You don't need those amps with that receiver as you probably already know. Get yourself a Universal remote as using factory remotes suck ****. Get to know the SC-57 first . Get that read on my man , you'll benefit from it.

Congrads on the new toy.

lenny1958

hi
the logitect remote is really good

lenny1958

hello
its the harmony1100 by logitech

Emlyn

I picked up one of the SC-57's last week and set it up this afternoon in a major system reconfiguration, going back to a receiver after using home theater separates for the last few years. Initial impressions are extremely positive with the power of the amps and the results of the MCACC auto calibration. I initially did a manual setup with an SPL meter and actual physical speaker distances. The result was a sort of hollow sound with a slight lip-synch delay. After plugging in the microphone and running the auto calibration everything snapped right into place. The frequency response correction applied automatically, mainly to the center channel speaker, worked remarkably well. Right now my home theater gear is sounding better than it has before, including when I was running a full Parasound Halo/Marantz setup.

The top of the receiver gets only slightly warm after being driven hard, which I think is from the video processor. It's certainly a lot more economical running one receiver than an AV preamp and separate amps. However, if the receiver didn't sound better than what I've had before I would have stuck with separates.

I agree on the complicated tiny buttoned remote control. It's a case of trying to cram too much into a relatively cheap push button remote with the functions not laid out in an intuitive way. It does have a light button to light up the keys, which can be a plus. I think there's just a steeper learning curve to using the remote than others I've had, which I'm already getting used to. I've never been a fan of universal remotes since I don't mind using a couple at the same time. I wouldn't say the receiver's remote is enough to make me switch to a universal at this point. I also haven't tried any of the wireless connectivity stuff yet, which from what I've been reading elsewhere can be a frustration for some.

erniejade

I have the 27, ( ice amp) it sounds much better than I thought it would actually. The dac sounds darn good with sacd or cd on my denon.. Actually brought new life to it!. I was shocked actually on how much better the dac on the 27 sounded vs using the internal on the denon.

I can imagine the 57 sounds as good if not better! I agree with trying to get used to what it does and trying to figure out all of that manual. I have read the 27 manual twice already and i still cant figure out a few things lol. The MCACC does a decent job but, it kept putting my rears and center to large instead of small and made it sound funny so i manually had to overide that. For me, I have found letting the MCACC do its thing but, then go through and tweek it for your own liking a little more. I am still stepping through all the settings on this unit. It does sooo much! I have yet to figure out all of what it does and all the settings.

In my den, I had a seperate HT receiver, and a seperate 2 channel setup but, this pioneer has just replaced it as I think it actually sounded better than my 2 channel setup i had in there.

I need to figure out the code for the unit though because when the girls want to watch tv and they use the all on on the cable remote to turn the tv and cable box on, the receiver turns on and I dont want that to turn on.

BTW congrats on the 57! After you get used to it, I think you will like it more and more. Again for me, i was shocked on the sound quality for a receiver and the Wolfson WM8740 192 kHz / 24-bit DAC

leroyjr1

^^^ I'm glad you like your new 27, it's a darn good receiver for the money.

leroyjr1

I thought the sc07/27 ran cool to the touch but the 57 takes it to a whole new level. It's runs very cool even when being pushed to reference levels.

kingtut

Emlyn wrote: »

I picked up one of the SC-57's last week and set it up this afternoon in a major system reconfiguration, going back to a receiver after using home theater separates for the last few years. Initial impressions are extremely positive with the power of the amps and the results of the MCACC auto calibration. I initially did a manual setup with an SPL meter and actual physical speaker distances. The result was a sort of hollow sound with a slight lip-synch delay. After plugging in the microphone and running the auto calibration everything snapped right into place. The frequency response correction applied automatically, mainly to the center channel speaker, worked remarkably well. Right now my home theater gear is sounding better than it has before, including when I was running a full Parasound Halo/Marantz setup.

The top of the receiver gets only slightly warm after being driven hard, which I think is from the video processor. It's certainly a lot more economical running one receiver than an AV preamp and separate amps. However, if the receiver didn't sound better than what I've had before I would have stuck with separates.

I agree on the complicated tiny buttoned remote control. It's a case of trying to cram too much into a relatively cheap push button remote with the functions not laid out in an intuitive way. It does have a light button to light up the keys, which can be a plus. I think there's just a steeper learning curve to using the remote than others I've had, which I'm already getting used to. I've never been a fan of universal remotes since I don't mind using a couple at the same time. I wouldn't say the receiver's remote is enough to make me switch to a universal at this point. I also haven't tried any of the wireless connectivity stuff yet, which from what I've been reading elsewhere can be a frustration for some.

Mark,

How much of an improvement is the Pio over your old Denon AVR 3803? I realize that you last had the Denon 3803 about 7 yrs ago. Just a rough impression please?

Thanks

PrazVT

SQ wise, I like my SC 57 over other receivers I've had / used - Denon 3311ci, Onkyo 707, Yamaha RX-V663. Just more dynamic.

Speaking of DAC - anyone know which one the 57 uses? Is it the AK4480 or a Wolfson?

Emlyn

kingtut wrote: »

Mark,

How much of an improvement is the Pio over your old Denon AVR 3803? I realize that you last had the Denon 3803 about 7 yrs ago. Just a rough impression please?

Thanks

I remember I used the Denon 3803 as a pre-pro with a Rotel RMB 1075 five channel amp for a while with the big Polk RTi150 speakers. The Denon didn't really have enough power itself to run those speakers comfortably, and adding a separate amp was a big improvement. The Denon was pretty solid for its day though, and I had to spend a whole lot more to get a big step up with a Parasound Halo C2 preamp a couple years later. The Denon had only basic surround sound processing and speaker setup. A big part of the improvement in the SC-57 is the on-board decoding of the new higher resolution formats and the ability to have the processor correct for speaker interaction with the listening room. I can't say I've noticed any reduction in sound quality with the Pioneer's amps driving my speakers for home theater use. For my uses, it actually compares pretty favorably to amps that are rated with a higher output.

kingtut

Thanks Mark for your quick reply. Believe it or not, the 3803 I purchased from you is still going strong as a pre-pro for the front channels. I believe that "Made in Japan" (vs. made in China) has a lot to do w/it

ibewbrother

I haven't really run the whole set-up yet...no MCACC... no ethernet (I didn't bring my good tools home from work and didn't want to put on ethernet ends with a pair of scissors). I have really just finished painting everything, and wanted to hear this thing that has just been sitting on the table taunting me. I also didn't want to run a auto calibration with my speakers out of position. Bad part is, after hurting my back moving my anchor of a couch around, I haven't felt like messing with it anymore. All paint should be done by this weekend, so I might get serious about it. I'm even painting my cherry M30 heights gloss black to match my trim.

More to come........

Brother