# Pioneer Elite SC-05



## weeZ (Sep 10, 2006)

Have had the05 for almost a week now and I like it. I thought my Sunfire sounded good, but this has completely different sound. The Ultimate receiver would get harsh the closer I got to reference levels, the Elite sounds just as smooth at reference as it does at -20.

Before disconnecting the old receiver I played a few scenes from The Haunting so it would be fresh in my mind once I got the Pioneer hooked up. The 1st thing I noticed was the bass sounded and felt to have a faster response, the Sunfire was boomy in comparison. Much larger spacial soundfield and vocals were cleaner.

The ability to finally experience lossless audio is a joy!! There's no comparison to the Sunfire, which I thought sounded pretty good with the core dtsMA but the full codec is something else!!


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## xspacecowboyx (Nov 18, 2008)

I just bought the Sc-07 and I'm completely impressed. I thought movies sounded wonderful, then I just had the opportunity to do some 2-channel listening and I was pretty much blown away, this is the best receiver I've heard, at least to my ears, and with my speakers (b&w 603s3). I've just started playing with around with the media gallery and again I love it. Glad I didn't wait till Christmas!


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## Antripodean (Feb 2, 2009)

I can second the positive on the SC-07. Great sound and really easy to operate. Beat out the Denons at this price point and I had thought they were good until I heard this Pioneer


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## LHHT (Mar 5, 2009)

I am looking for info on the sc-09 anyone using one ....


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## deacongreg (Jul 29, 2008)

LHHT said:


> I am looking for info on the sc-09 anyone using one ....


This should definitely help you out LHHT.


http://www.hometheaterreview.com/eq..._elite_sc-09tx_av_receiver_reviewed001142.php


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## gobrigavitch (Feb 25, 2009)

Has anyone listened to both the SC-05 and SC-07. Is there any actual sound quality difference or is the difference just in the inputs and outputs? If someone isn't interested in the extra HDMI out and whatever other extra features it has is there any point in spending the extra dough?


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## deacongreg (Jul 29, 2008)

gobrigavitch said:


> Has anyone listened to both the SC-05 and SC-07. Is there any actual sound quality difference or is the difference just in the inputs and outputs? If someone isn't interested in the extra HDMI out and whatever other extra features it has is there any point in spending the extra dough?


No, I hasve not listened to both, but both are built off the same platform, so, depending on power and features, make your decision, and you should be in great shape.


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## gobrigavitch (Feb 25, 2009)

Another question for people that are familiar with these receivers. A reviewer in Hometheatermag thought the SC receivers had great dynamics, but lacked air when compared to the older elite receivers. Over on AVSforums there are one or 2 owners who agreed somewhat, but I didn't see any responses that disagreed. With all the glowing reports these receivers are getting I'm thinking he may be wrong. Anybody have experience comparing a older Elite (74,84,94) vs one of these SC's. 

I'm thinking of replacing my 74 to gain 1080p and more HDMI inputs. I do like the sound of my 74 and don't want to lose anything in the upgrade.


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I wonder what he means by "lacked air"? I have never heard that term before... sounds like one of those hocus pocus Stereophile phrases that I used to read about many years ago. :gulp: Did the article report that he did an A/B comparison? Otherwise, I would brush it off as simply an subjective statement. These reviewers really tickle me sometimes. :whistling:


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## Lordoftherings (Feb 8, 2009)

The Pioneer Elite SC-05 and SC-07 are both excellent deals right now at their highly reduced prices. They seem to be very popular indeed. At over 60% off from their list prices, they are of very high value, and with a great sound too, plus lots of dynamics.


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## deacongreg (Jul 29, 2008)

Lordoftherings said:


> The Pioneer Elite SC-05 and SC-07 are both excellent deals right now at their highly reduced prices. They seem to be very popular indeed. At over 60% off from their list prices, they are of very high value, and with a great sound too, plus lots of dynamics.


Yes, people should pick these up pronto.


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## Lordoftherings (Feb 8, 2009)

deacongreg said:


> Yes, people should pick these up pronto.


They do Greg, they do... At least the ones that know of their heavily discounted prices.

And now with the Onkyo TX-SR805 almost impossible to find anymore, these two Pioneer Elites are taking over for the great receiver's value.

But, myself right now, I'm very happy with my TX-SR805 and my TX-SR876.
And if Onkyo did not exist, I will probably get the Elite SC-07 for the same price that I paid for my 876.

But I also like the Marantz SR8002, SR7002 and SR6003. And right now the SR7002 and the SR6003 are also at very attractive prices (in fact they are at the same price than the Elite SC-05). I'm talking about their discounted street prices as of now.

And, you cannot forget about the Denon AVR-2809ci and the AVR-3808ci neither.

So, in conclusion, this year, we have quite a few excellent performing receivers, for fabulous prices' (street) value. 

Must be the benefits that we gain from a down economy.

However, I'm extremely interested by the new comers from Denon (the AVR-4810ci in particular), coming up later this year.
We are living in very exciting times (9.3-channel with Audyssey DSX).

Bob


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## deacongreg (Jul 29, 2008)

Very exciting times. And, I myself really like the new marantz gear. Looks very modern and sexy, sounds wonderful also.


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## Lordoftherings (Feb 8, 2009)

deacongreg said:


> Very exciting times. And, I myself really like the new marantz gear. Looks very modern and sexy, sounds wonderful also.


Hey Greg, I fully agree with you, the SR6003 looks very sensual, with only 2 knobs and 1 button (power) on it's front panel. And what is very surprising too about Marantz, in top of their nice audiophile sound is that even with a weight of only 29 pounds, the SR6003 manages to delivers 96 watts in 7 channels continuously driven into 8-ohm loads at 0.3% THD. Quite impressive power results indeed. 
Marantz put something very magic into their components, they love their copper, they love their hyper-dynamic amplifier module (HDAM), their noise cutter rings and few other things that make them quite unique.

What they are lacking in features (Audyssey MultEQ XT, good video processor, Audyssey on top of Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD MA, nice updated GUI, to name a few), they made up in a very sweet sound that is easy on the ears and soul.

I will certainly consider the SR6003 as one of the best sounding receiver in that price range, even sweeter at the street price. Shall we say $700, which is the same price as the Pioneer Elite SC-05.

Bob


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## deacongreg (Jul 29, 2008)

Lordoftherings said:


> Hey Greg, I fully agree with you, the SR6003 looks very sensual, with only 2 knobs and 1 button (power) on it's front panel. And what is very surprising too about Marantz, in top of their nice audiophile sound is that even with a weight of only 29 pounds, the SR6003 manages to delivers 96 watts in 7 channels continuously driven into 8-ohm loads at 0.3% THD. Quite impressive power results indeed.
> Marantz put something very magic into their components, they love their copper, they love their hyper-dynamic amplifier module (HDAM), their noise cutter rings and few other things that make them quite unique.
> 
> What they are lacking in features (Audyssey MultEQ XT, good video processor, Audyssey on top of Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD MA, nice updated GUI, to name a few), they made up in a very sweet sound that is easy on the ears and soul.
> ...


Yes Bob, your right on it, definitely. Listen, just an fyi, but I was in Long Island this weekend for a Meridian show at Home Theater of Long island. While there, my cousin wanted to make a trip to 6th avenue electronics. They had, a Denon universal dvd player, the 1940CI for $87.95. Turns 6tn ave bought the last 1500 of them. This player has the goods, HDMI, decoding, and of course will play SACDs, and DVD-as. Gotta get one but the end of this week. It list for $349.95.


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## Lordoftherings (Feb 8, 2009)

deacongreg said:


> Yes Bob, your right on it, definitely. Listen, just an fyi, but I was in Long Island this weekend for a Meridian show at Home Theater of Long island. While there, my cousin wanted to make a trip to 6th avenue electronics. They had, a Denon universal dvd player, the 1940CI for $87.95. Turns 6tn ave bought the last 1500 of them. This player has the goods, HDMI, decoding, and of course will play SACDs, and DVD-as. Gotta get one but the end of this week. It list for $349.95.


Hi Greg,

The Denon DVD-1940ci is an excellent Universal DVD player for the list price.
At the $87.95 price, it is now an absolute steal. :wow:

I own the DVD-1920, and I love it. It has a very good Dac for playing CDs (so it's for the two front main channels), it is the Burr-Brown PCM-1738 (24-bit/192khz, DSD/PCM discrete), the same Dac employed in the Denon AVR-5803 A/V receiver.
Good upconversion too from it's HDMI output. Smooth transport, gold plated jaks, and some nice features for audio and video adjustments. And when playing SACDs or DVD-Audios, the multichannel analog output uses the Burr-Brown DSD-1608 (SACD 5.1, DVD-Audio 5.1 and MLP) multichannel audio Dac. The DSD decoder for SACD is the Sony CXD 2753R. The DVD-1940 video progressive scan decoding engine is the DCDI Genesis FLI 2301-LF by Faroudja. It also uses the Analog Devices ADV 7322 for the Dual, Discrete 12-bit/216mhz video Dacs. It also uses a Silicon Image Optix chip (the SIL 9030 ctu) for it's upconversion to 1080p for it's HDMI output (HDMI version 1.2). The DD & DTS MPEG decoder is a Panasonic chip (the MN2DS0009AA) by Matsushita, which also performs the DVD-Audio decoding.
It also plays Divx. And it also uses a RS-232c serial port.
* By the way the BB PCM-1738 is the precursor of the BB TI PCM-1796a Dac.
The BB TI PCM-1796a is now employed in the Denon AVR-5308ci ($5,500), the AVP-A1HDCI ($7,500), the Yamaha RX-Z11 ($5,500), the Onkyos; TX-SR906, 876, 905, 875 and 805, and of course in their counterparts of models from Integra. And also from some high end Universal DVD players from Denon, Yamaha and others.

But the best implementation of the PCM-1796a is in the Denon AVP-A1HDCI, in Dual Differential Balance Mode, 
4 Dacs per channel in Stereo mode! :woohoo:

Is there something else you would love to know, and about anything at all? :fireworks2:

Cheers & Regards, :dancebanana:

Bob


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## deacongreg (Jul 29, 2008)

Lordoftherings said:


> Hi Greg,
> 
> The Denon DVD-1940ci is an excellent Universal DVD player for the list price.
> At the $87.95 price, it is now an absolute steal. :wow:
> ...


Bob, no, you were more than quite thorough with your info, thanks. Normally I`m the one giving out the info, this was very nice of you. You just confirmed me buying the 1940CI. It just seems like a no brainer


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