Pioneer Elite SC-09TX - Manual (Page 2)

November 2008 www.hometheatermag.com
annoyance (“Where is that
&%#$@ front-panel dimmer
control?!” and “Why is this
&%$@# remote only partially
backlit with dim, hard-to-read
blue lighting?”).
You could do the same and use
the receiver with increasing
pleasure as you scope out its
advanced features, one by one.
Since this is a very complicated
product, that will take time. The
Pioneer is THX Ultra2 Plus
certified and offers all the options
and listening modes that heaven
and THX allow. For this review, I
stuck mostly to good old
two-channel (with a subwoofer)
for music, and unadorned
5.1-channel decoding for
surround formats. I spent most of
my movie time with HD material
that had lossless or uncompressed
audio (including Dolby TrueHD
and DTS-HD Master Audio). The
Pioneer decodes these formats
from their bitstreams. It can also
accept them as multichannel
PCM if you choose to let your
Blu-ray player decode them.
The receiver has 10 channels of
amplification, each rated at 200
watts into 8 ohms (with seven
channels driven). There’s only
one practical way to squeeze so
many powerful amp channels
into a product like this. It would
need to use the latest in highly
efficient, Class D switching
amplifiers, in this case from
ICEpower. Pioneer calls its
implementation of this technol-
ogy Direct Energy High Fidelity
Class D.
You can use the 10 amplifier
channels in several ways,
including biamping, using
multiple zones, or placing up to
9.2 channels in the same room
(with up to six surrounds).
Oddly, Pioneer did not include a
specific menu choice for a basic
5.1-channel setup. I simply
selected the option for 5.2
channels, which is designed to
biamp all five full-range
channels. Then, I hooked up
each speaker to just one of the
two biamp outputs for each
channel and used a single
subwoofer. The SC-09TX was
none the wiser.
The SC-09TX includes so
many audio and video inputs and
outputs that the specification
page doesn’t give their numbers.
The receiver will play vinyl LPs
through its moving-magnet
phono input, Dolby Digital audio
on Laserdisc through its RF input,
and XM and SIRIUS satellite
radio (with optional tuners). It
will also play audio and video
from an iPod and play back
photos and video through the
receiver’s Home Media Gallery
from your iPod, USB flash drive,
or other storage device. You can
also link to a home network via
the Pioneer’s Ethernet port. In
short, if the Pioneer doesn’t have
enough connections for your
system, you need to get out more.
The receiver cross-converts
(transcodes) analog component,
composite, and S-video to one
another and to HDMI. But it
can’t convert HDMI to analog
video.
The SC-09TX also features
onboard Marvell video process-
ing. (Go to www.marvell.com for
more info, but don’t drop the last
“l,” or you’ll be reading about
Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the
Hulk.) Unfor-
tunately, with HDMI sources, the
video is passthrough only, with
video processing active only with
component and lower forms of
analog video life. The upconver-
sion is limited to a maximum of
1080i, analog-video-to-analog-
video. But it will upconvert to
1080p if you transcode an analog
video input to an HDMI output.
The analog video processing
offers its own video controls
(Brightness, Contrast, Hue,
Chroma Level, and Noise
Reduction) and two optional
aspect ratio settings. Unfortu-
nately, these controls weren’t
always accessible on my sample.
Sometimes the controls were
active, but other times they were
inaccessible.
The Pioneer’s front-panel LCD
screen displays the receiver’s
menus or the actual source image
(as a sort of preview monitor). It
can also show the source image
with the menus overlaid on top.
But the front-panel screen cannot
display an HDMI source.
The remote control is a sea of
small buttons. Since it must
perform a variety of operations,
it’s designed well enough (apart
from that dim blue backlighting).
It also offers direct input
selection. But I suspect that most
SC-09TX installations will
substitute a higher-end,
user-friendly programmable
touchscreen.
Setup: The Fun Begins
You can set up the Pioneer in
several different ways. As I noted
earlier, I spent most of my time
with the Pioneer in a manual
setup, which made me a happy
camper. However, the SC-09TX’s
manual doesn’t explain a manual
setup until page 56.
Alternately, you can set it up
with Pioneer’s MCACC
(Multi-Channel Acoustic
Calibration) system, using the
included microphone. According
to Pioneer, MCACC “measures
the acoustic characteristics of
your listening area, taking into
account ambient noise, speaker
size, and distance, and tests for
both channel delay and channel
level.” It also performs equaliza-
tion on each channel and can
include your room’s reverbera-
tion in its calculations. It
compensates for standing waves,
tweaks phase, and can save up to
six setups (at different listening
positions, for example). You can
even link a PC to the receiver to
help with the setup (using a
special downloadable program
from Pioneer).
I’ll end the MCACC discussion
here to cover the receiver’s actual
performance.
Putting It Together
Except as noted, I made all
of the following observations
in a manual setup with no
equalization. I used an HDMI
link for the multichannel audio/
video and a separate coaxial
digital link for two-channel,
music-only playback. The
subwoofer was always in the
system.
The Blu-ray release of the
revival of the musical Company
(DTS-HD Master Audio) opens
with a startling, audio-only
cacophony of street sounds that
Features
pioneer elite sc-09tx a/v receiver
audio decoding: dolby: TrueHD, Digital 5.1,
EX, Pro Logic IIx
dts: DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS, ES, 96/24
other: 14 proprietary DSP modes
thx certification: Ultra2 Plus
number of amp channels: 10
rated power (watts per channel):
140 into 8 ohms, 20Hz –20kHz, 0.05% THD,
10 channels driven; 200 into 8 ohms,
20Hz–20kHz, 0.05% THD, two channels driven;
200 into 8 ohms, 20Hz–20kHz, 0.05% THD,
seven channels driven
specified frequency response: 5 Hz to
100 kHz, +0/– 3 dB (Line)
dimensions (w x h x d, inches): 17.34 x
9.73 x 18.87
weight (pounds): 70.5
price: $7,000
•
The SC-09TX’s LCD
screen displays the
menu, the actual
source image, or a
combination of the two.
•
hIgh end Pioneer elite sc-09tx A/V receiVer