Grimster's official Pioneer Elite SC-07 review...

mantis

Grimster74 wrote: »

You guys are too funny. Well, my SC-37 should be inn today so luckily I left a blank spot under my original post so I can atleast take pics to prove it.:biggrin: I'm sure there will not be that much of a difference between the two units that will require a review but I will clearly note the different options. BTW, this was purchased due to me loving my SC-07 so much that the 07 will be moved to the upstairs rig and the SC-37 will take over the downstairs rig. The receiver I have upstairs (Denon 3805) doesn't have HDMI and come to find out something had chewed through some of the speaker wires which is why I thought the unit crapped the bed but by the time I had figured this out, to late to cancel the order. Sooooo, it's due for a upgrade upstairs anyways.

You are going to notice a huge difference in sound quality when you replace the AVR3805. I done many upgrade from Denon AVR's to Elite SC models and the results are spectacular . I even had customers wives stop in their tracks and comment on how much better the system sounds compared to the way it did before. I love those moments.

WGDB

Pioneer SC 35 Review

My music listening background goes way bay to the mid 60's growing up in Florida, when my dad and mom used to dance around an old GE Tube reel to reel with what I believe was an 8 inch speaker. Dad used to fire it up on Friday and Saturday nights. A few years later Grandma moved in with us and brought her ?solid state? Silvertone stereo console with turn table. That was some hifi stuff. I can remember by the early 70's jamming to Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles, Deep Purple, and a new band called Led Zeppelin. From there I went on to install a relatively powerful 8 track tape player in dad's 62 Thunderbird. Many years later and long past the disco days of the 80's, I purchased a 2 channel Kenwood system that served my listening needs ? in fact I still have that system in my shed for backyard tunes.

More recently (2007) I decided to delve into a Home theater system and bought a Sharp 46 flat screen, Sony STR-DG 920, a Sony BD player, and a Polk RM6750 surround speaker system. At once and at that moment I was hooked ~ line and sinker. I soon needed new speakers and began my E-bay - Polk Direct, and New Egg, quests for fronts, backs and a subwoofer. Bringing me to today.

I began letting my wife (the commander) know that there were serious drawbacks with the Sony, the core of our system. In fact, on several occasions she experienced these drawbacks first hand when the Sony suddenly went to Protection Mode. Usually in the middle of a great song, in front of a half a dozen partying people. Not cool.

I had been researching new AVR's systems for the last year and auditioned all at various locations here in the San Antonio Texas area. The Denon's sounded nice, the Onkyo's as well - but the day I auditioned the SC series Pioneers, I new from that moment I would replace my tired Sony with top end Pioneer ICE - SC something or other. It was just a matter of when.

I'm retired US Air Force and I work part time in tool sales. In March (last month) I topped sales and my employer graciously bonus-ed me just about enough money to purchase a brand new Pioneer SC 35. Admittedly, the commander was skeptical of spending serious coinage on something that she perceives as not priority, but since I had earned the bonus, she gave me the nod. Love this woman!

I ordered my SC 35 on E Bay for substantially less than all the authorized dealers and I included a Square Trade 3 year warranty for it as well. Last Thursday I received it midday and spent the next 7 - 8 hours setting it up. I used my existing 14 AWG oxygen free in wall speaker wires, existing speakers (Polk Monitor 60's, and 40's, PSW125) and installed a Cool-guys thermostatically controlled fan to allow for more ventilation. Also, left the front door off of the hand made oak cabinet for the Elite aesthetics, although the commander may ask that I reinstall and I may comply.

The SC 35 is massive weighing in at 44 pounds. By far the heaviest AVR I've ever owned. After bi-amping the fronts, and attaching backs with RatShack banana plugs (soon will be upgrading these), attached the Apple TVII to HDMI 2, Panasonic DMP-BD 85 to BD HDMI (Not Assignable), Squeezebox Touch to the ?CD? coax, Sharp Flatscreen to HDMI 1, and finally the Sub line out. I was very excited (giddy to be exact) to hit the power button. MCACC Full Auto was a snap and automatically set the Monitor 60's, 40's, to ?Large?. Based on other reviews I've read I switched them all to ?Small? and proceeded to switch the input toggle to CD which in my setup is ?Squeezebox? then toggled to "Pure Direct", this turns off MCACC and the signal is unaltered. I needed to run something lossless and I selected some classic Dire Strait songs "Sultans of Swing" followed by "Money For Nothing", "Brothers in Arms" and finally Jimmy Lafave's "Never is a Moment" literally brought tears to my eyes. Lafave's piano is so pure even on a mediocre system, but this is top shelf sound quality. Although the monitor 60's struggled with LFE, they held there own. As I toggled through the various music listening modes I settled on "Ext Stereo" for the fuller LFE to the Sub. This mode with my speaker setup sounds phenomenal. On a side note, the Squeezebox doesn't interface with the flat screen. Turn the flat screen and go to MCACC to the "setup" allowing a full array of fine tuning to toggle the THX or Sub "Plus" "on" or "off" etc. Fine tuning while you listen, what a concept.

Movie night around here usually entails something the commander and I can share with our 5 year old daughter. So Yogi Bear on DTS-HD Blu-Ray it was. Once again, the Pioneer far exceeded my expectations and puts my old Sony to shame. The SC 35 and the Polk monitors all around seem very well suited for home theater. In addition, Yogi Bear is funny as hell !Heyyy Boobooo!!. Next, alone I watched Blu-Ray version of Pirates of the Caribbean "The Curse of the Black Pearl". Both the Panasonic DMP BD85, and the SC 35, sport quality DAC's and Video processors. It's difficult for me to say which processor's are in use at this point, but I was captivated like I had never seen this movie before.

I've only scratched the surface of this Pioneer SC 35, and as we all know, Polk Monitor series are low end by contrast to this AVR. So my trek down the proverbial Rabbit Hole continues. I've since reset the front 60's to "Large" and occasionally toggle the back 40's to "Large" just for grins - frankly not sure which sounds better, because both settings are absolutely perfect.

Not a day goes by where I don't learn something else that the SC 35 is capable of. I've run the MCACC Full auto at least 5 times changing this switch or that - Remarkably, even when it's not setup optimally, the SC 35 performs flawlessly and sound quality is expansive, airy, punchy, and otherwise the best I've ever heard. As others have said, and I wholeheartedly agree, the sound stage literally puts you in the room with the artist.