Pioneer VSX ?

boston1450

Pioneer vsx521----got a chance to trade of some unwanted gear for this.... Will this be a better improvement over my Onkyo mini @ 15wpc. I think Pioneer is 80wpc. I looked but im not sure if its the K model... It will be used 2/1 channel with subwoofer & 2 Paradigm Monitor 7's. I think at 15wpc im starving the Paradigms.... Another question. Im old school & know nothing about HDMI stuff. Do i go from Blue Ray player to receiver & then to tv ? Would it be HDMI to tv -or- the Opticle cord ? have a new LG-55 in tv.... It has hdmi ports on side & i think it has a Opticle spot in rear. (Not looking at it right now)..... Right now with the Onkyo i had to buy this unit that converted rca-to-opticle to tv. So i could send signal from tv to Onkyo to use on tv.... Any help would be appreciated Thank You
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Randy

boston1450

Thanks Ken. Yes its black & 1y/o with hdmi's n remote. I havent seen it yet LOL. On its way. Yup Entry level unit is all i need. Basic unit. I figure Pioneer & Paradigms & Polk subwoofer is far better than the stock speaker they put in the back of the tv. Sounded like shat. So bye bye to my little wonderful Onkyo mini

mhardy6647

What kind of "unwanted" gear are you tradin' away, there? ;- )

cnh

That model should give you what you need. Nothing to write home about musically, but adequate for decent HomeTheater work. I have an Older VSX-711 with no HDMIs that does toslink duty in the basement with my A. Jones bookies, center and Polk 12" sub. The actual output in surround is about 50-55 watts continuous. With a SUB in the mix you should be FINE. This is an AVR built more for surround than anything else-it is pretty much entry level. $200-249 MSRP, NEW!

And as mentioned above, HDMI from B-ray to AVR and AVR OUT to TV.

tonyb

I think the added processing is worth it alone, not to mention the added oomph over what you have been using.

boston1450

Thanks all. I think the Pioneer will do well (i hope lol) Definetly better than 15wpc. I will let ya know tomorrow. Down in Bath Me by Bath Iron Works on the Kennebec river getting ready to watch fireworks with my lovely wife took a few pics of unit. Its minty w/box/manual/accs.

boston1450

We had stopped for ice cream & rode in on the bike. Watched the fireworks. Had a great evening

boston1450

nbrowser wrote: »

If it's black...it'll be a VSX-521-K...in Pioneer lingo, the K is code for black chassis.

Anyways, yeah BD to AVR to TV via HDMI to let the AVR do the processing, granted the 521 isn't much to write home about though, it's Pioneer's entry level AVR.

. Will i still be able to hear tv shows & Netflix on the receiver ? By hooking the HDMI cable to HDMI-1 will the tv be still sending signal to receiver if i watch regular tv ? Right now i have Opticle cord to receiver basically & i got on menu & changed settings on sound..... Sorry so many questions. Im not a tv kinda guy & this smart tv has lots of stuff & yalls help over the years has been great. Thanks
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Randy

tonyb

Just hook up an optical cable from the tv or cable box to one of the digital inputs on the receiver. That's if your TV has one, a lot today don't anymore, even on some 4k sets.

boston1450

The tv has optical. I have it hooked up that way now... If i hook up optical cable from tv to receiver, i take it i wouldnt need to hook up HDMI correct ? Which is good because the hdmi hook ups are on the side & the optical is smack dab in middle of tv back kinda. We just updated our blue ray player & it is only hdmi & i will run it to the receiver. Thank you

boston1450

The tv was a leftover-done away model bought on superbowl week at BB it was nib & i like it for the most part. There was some 2000.00 ones that looked awesome but above my tv budget

tonyb

Cool.....optical from the tv to the tv/sat input on the receiver. Blu-ray hdmi to receiver then hdmi to tv.

If your running a cable box, I might opt to run digital from the cable box to the receiver instead of going threw the tv.

boston1450

Well i got er all hooked up. Sounds much better. Used the optical cord & perfect. I gotta read manual carefully cause sub isnt working. I browsed at it & it says set speaker to small for sub to work. I messed with it some & will attempt it later. Too stinking hot n nice to be messing with it now thanks again

cnh

You have the blu-ray HDMI to AVR and AVR HDMI to TV, right? You need to do that if you want the Pioneer to process Dolby TrueHD and DTS M.A.

Otherwise, toslink from c-box to Pioneer is fine. Though if you want to watch the TV just for New, etc., sometime and don't always want to fire up the receiver for that. You could also run analog (if your C-BOX has that, mine does) to the TV, if the TV has those inputs. Or, I suppose you could run an HDMI from the C-BOX to another HDMI IN on the TV itself if the C-Box allows multiple audio outputs at the same time-mine does.

Have ALL the window fans running overtime. Just got my DUAL TT back from Pete so it's off to the basement-which is a tad cooler to get a listen in!

Enjoy the receiver not the heat. Although compared to what everyone else get mid 80s or so ain't that bad!

dromunds

I bought a similar model Pioneer for a buddy of mine who had a back operation recently and is currently disabled. Polk Monitor 30's, vintage Peerless Monitor 4's, a CS-1 center, a small Polk sub and after figuring out all the settings/calibrations it sounds pretty decent in his small room for surround sound on movies/TV. Lacks on 2 ch. music but as mentioned above its fine for surround.

Jimbo18

If it has HDMI 1.4 it should be able to return the audio via the same HDMI cable that you use to send the picture to the TV. I had a VSX 821K and only had to use one HDMI cable from the receiver to the TV. It handled the audio back to the receiver.

boston1450

cnh wrote: »

You have the blu-ray HDMI to AVR and AVR HDMI to TV, right? You need to do that if you want the Pioneer to process Dolby TrueHD and DTS M.A.

Otherwise, toslink from c-box to Pioneer is fine. Though if you want to watch the TV just for New, etc., sometime and don't always want to fire up the receiver for that. You could also run analog (if your C-BOX has that, mine does) to the TV, if the TV has those inputs. Or, I suppose you could run an HDMI from the C-BOX to another HDMI IN on the TV itself if the C-Box allows multiple audio outputs at the same time-mine does.

Have ALL the window fans running overtime. Just got my DUAL TT back from Pete so it's off to the basement-which is a tad cooler to get a listen in!

Enjoy the receiver not the heat. Although compared to what everyone else get mid 80s or so ain't that bad!

Changed it up. I have a optical cord to receiver thats it. I have a blue ray player direct to hdmi. I only want to be aboe to use the receiver & speakers/sub for all tv listening. The receiver sounds pretty good on that. Tuner stinks & i still gotta set it up so sub works.... I gotta get ahold of Pete. I direct people to him & im hearing they cant get ahold of him. Yes its been hot here. On the coast it isnt as bad. I head down to the harbor as much as possible

cnh

Pete's got a NEW job working as a PC Tech for the state. He's continuing electronic repair on a part time basis and prefers dealing with higher end units at this point. If you want to contact him you have to set up an appointment-no more walk-ins or regular business hours. No wonder your guys are not getting a hold of him. But I'm happy for him, he was just getting by before. At least he has steady work and some benefits now, he deserves it, a real nice guy even if he is a little slow and you have to give him some slack (he's had the stuff I picked up today for about ten months).

Should be a COOL evening. I hit the grass today, late! God I hate cutting grass!

boston1450

Good for Pete. I knew he was taking time away for family issues & i hope he is doing well. I will see him again soon. Im up in that area once in awhile. He does great work. My cr2040 is still running strong. Enjoy the outside work & be safe

boston1450

dromunds wrote: »

I bought a similar model Pioneer for a buddy of mine who had a back operation recently and is currently disabled. Polk Monitor 30's, vintage Peerless Monitor 4's, a CS-1 center, a small Polk sub and after figuring out all the settings/calibrations it sounds pretty decent in his small room for surround sound on movies/TV. Lacks on 2 ch. music but as mentioned above its fine for surround.

I just got everything adjusted to my likes & got the subwoofer working & adjusted too. It always takes me a solid sit down session to read manual & figure it out. Sometimes ya wanna pull your hair out. Not bad for a cheap budget vsx.

tonyb

LOL, yeah man...a pain in the rear but once you set up one receiver the rest are a breeze.Glad it's working out for you.