Price Paid:  $1850.00

Summary:
This thing kills me. I purchased the Pioneer VSX 29TX 6 or 7 years ago. and it NEVER worked !

So here it sits in my rack while I listen to my Kenwood from 20 years ago, that still sounds respectable.

This thing was in chage shop 2x and when I got it home, boom, same thing, like the sound was under water or something.

I am really pissed.

Its way out of warranty, its sitting here with an hour or two on it, and i am drinking.

Oh well.

Thanks ! Im not the only one I guess.

Tom

Weaknesses:
Sucks

davidhutt

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $2400.00 from Mission Audo

Summary:
This unit was awesome. The 5.1 sound was better than non Pioneer units. We found the sound via digital optical was harsher (still great) that with digital coax. This was a suprise to me since it is digital, not analog for those inputs. The multi-room works very well and the remote is still my favorite remote. The setup and testing options through the remote works very well for setting the 5.1 levels of each speaker to fit/match the room. This unit runs hotter than expected see the weaknesses section below. I purchased a second unit for another part of the house because I like it so much and have recommended this unit as well as other Pioneer Elite products to numerous other local people. But...

Strengths:
Remote Control has great features. Digital Audio sounds perfect with a suprisingly small difference between Coax and Optical.

Weaknesses:
THERE IS ONLY ONE WEAKNESS with this product. Pioneer clearly has a defect with the DSP board in this unit. Both of my units each within a few months after warranty expired failed. Two other units here in town with people that I recommended this unit to have failed; ALL four with the same problem. The DSP board. Apparently the solder connections failed/breakdown. Pioneer's answer is the DSP board is no longer available. It wasn't available years ago either. I find it impossible to accept that I pay $2,400 for a AV Receiver only to have the DSP board be no longer available rendering the unit useless. My $300 Pioneer 5.1 equipment has run perfectly for years. Now there are so many people who have apparently had this problem we (here in Santa Barbara) are moving to the next step. We have collected enough contacts to file class action this problem and here in our state we have 67 days left to do so. If someone can fix these units, I would not bother but we cannot sit down and just pretend that $2,400 was a bad buy. There was a power cord recall on this unit and they (Pioneer Elite) delt with that because it was a fire hazard, but the failing DSP board - nothing - not available - can not even purchase one. Not acceptable. Otherwise these units were GREAT. hutt@bravelogic.com

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer Non-Elite AV Equipment (Still running strong after years) & two HK units but without the same sound quality.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from used, private party

Summary:
After reading the reviews I almost did not buy this unit. My Son has the model below, and he changed my mind. I took the extra caution of mounting two 5" square fans above the unit, but turned them off the second day, they were to loud on quiet classical passages. As both a critical listner to music, and a musician, I believe my standards are rather high. I use Warfdale speakers with the reciever. Thay are not very efficient, but have a sound quality that is very good. On my old Rotel stereo reciever the sound was okay, but had some distortion that I could not quite put my finger on. With the Pioneer the sound opened up and really shines. I hear details that were missing on CD's, and DVD's sound VERY GOOD! I prefered Lord of the Rings at home as compaired to the theatre. I have not had any problems, even though I run the volume close to 0dbm when I feel like a "rock concert" at home. My musical tastes run everywhere, and it all sound good with this system. (Did I mention that I have been a recording engineer and producer...)

Strengths:
Transparent sound Power to spare in most situations

Weaknesses:
Could have used more digital inputs More power would be better (What do you expect from a Rock Bass player)

Similar Products Used:
I have heard, tried or owned most of the high end electronics available in the U.S.

Price Paid:  $699.00 from Sound Waves

Summary:
I've got to say that I was quite skeptical about buying the VSX-29TX based on some of the reviews I had read. However, I was offer a "B" stock unit with full factory warranty. I figured that I couldn't go wrong buying a $2,300 unit for $699!!! Additionally the journal reviews raved about its performance. Well wouldn't you know not a week after I had it hooked up the DSP board went south. I took it back to the dealer. They in return sent it you their service dept. A day later I spoke with the service tech. He informed me of the problems that they were having with the 29's. He assured me that he would not repair it like so many other shops were doing. Rather he chose to decide to completely replace the DSP board and perform all current "tech bulletin" updates on this unit. His goal was to not have the unit ever come back into his shop. A week later the unit was hooked up and playing strong. This unit is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! When in the auto select mode it distinguishes the digital signal coming from the DVD player - and does it's thing. DTS is breath taking!!! (biasly speaking) althought THX isn't bad either. I can honestly say now that I have no regrets purchasing this unit. It serves our needs well in a 17' X 20' Great Room mated to the Polk Audio RM-6600 surround speakers and PSW-650 sub-woofer. Although manufacturer's specs recommend at least 8" of free space above the unit for adequate ventilation, this unit runs surprisingly cooler than expected even with only 3" to 3.5" of space in my cabinet.

Strengths:
Well built. Numerous features for its time. LCD touch screen remote with learning capabilities.

Weaknesses:
The 4 digital inputs are split; 2 optical and 2 co-axial. Would rather have all optical. Although 120 wpc is nice, the 170 wpc of the current VSX-49TX would have been better!

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha M-80 (250 wpc powerhouse amp) Yamaha C-80 pre-amp

Price Paid:  $1700.00 from Audio ville Quebec C

Summary:
Yes it is me again to tell you how much I hate my VSX 29 TX. This the fourth time this piece of cheap crap has broken down. During play of a dvd the surround started to sound as if the were under water. next day I played a DTS sound track of bonnie rait. well it did it again,so I tested DV 09 and found it was working fine. Now I went back to vsx 29 tx turn on FM tuner the click came on but no sound. after using this unit for two years. I don't want it back, this company knows very well that these units are defective. I would strong fight for my money back. Or give me a deal on newer vsx product, to show your loyalt to me for brying their ELITE line of products. Lets see what be comes of it.

Strengths:
The remote

Weaknesses:
to many to write about, like rose wood, what rose wood it's particle board with veneer glued to it. and it is five hundred dollars more. Or plastic face plate, really cheap crap not like the one on VSX 49 tx.

Similar Products Used:
dennon