Pioneer VSX-1018AH-K

"Check the user manual for the power rating. pg 93

Continuous Power Output (20 Hz to 20 kHz, 8 ?, 0.09 %)
Front. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 W + 110 W
Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 W
Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 W + 110 W
Surround back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 W + 110 W"

"This receiver is highly anticipated, but also somewhat of a mystery. Pioneer used to have a product page and a manual for the 1018, but they removed it. There is also speculation about 1) will there be a 12V trigger, 2) 1080p video upconversiont, 3) S-Video inputs. Maybe they're tweaking the specs at the last minute.."

"I know what you mean. It seems like an odd omission. Personally, I would think this receiver rivals the Onkyo TX-SR606 at this price point, but the lack of S-Video is just plain weird. Seems like an easy/obvious thing to have.

@Pioneer engineers: Are you listening?"

"

I'm going to give the Pioneer 1018 a tentative edge over it's competition. One of the main selling points is Pioneer's reputation for build quality and audio components. I've heard enough bad stuff about the previous gen Onkyo 605, to be wary of the 606. I'll adjust my vote later if there are any surprises when the 1018 is actually available for sale.

You may want to consider an upgrade to the Elite series VSX-01TXH for $750 when it comes out. It features a Class D "ICEPower" amplifier. There is even less information about the VSX-01TXH on the web, however.

"

"Interesting. I think they've rebranded this receiver as the VSX-1018AH-K from 1018TXH-K (the "K" refers to the black color). I don't think it ever was reported to have THX certification. I'm going to rename this product report to reflect the new model # convention."

"People are starting to get their hands on this highly anticipated receiver. See the above owner's thread on AVS Forum. The power rating is 110 Watts (not the 130 Watts that was speculated), and there are in fact 3 HDMI inputs. The owner's seem pretty happy so far."

"This is a good A/V receiver, I've been using it for two months now combined with a polk VM 7.1 set of bookshelf speakers. Incredible sound, and the improvement of MP3's to "almost" CD quality is marvelous. Some reviews claim its design to be a bit old'ish, but I personally like it and it fits perfect on my living... If a firmware update would ever bring an improvement of the ODS ergonomics, that would always be a plus!

The only thing I have a doubt is in it's video performance, I've seen a lot on the reviews that it can perform Video upconversion to 1080p from analog to digital through the HDMI interface, nevertheless I have not been able to set it to do so. I'm connecting my set-top box via it's analog S-Video + digital optical audio, and my 1080p flat tv tells me it is getting a 540p input signal, does anybody knows how to set the output to 1080p? ... that piece of information is missing in all the reviews and even in the user's manual ..."

"I think it's hilarious that the elite VSX-01 get a 90 score when these are the same unit internally... This receiver is plenty for the audio enthusiast. Great audio quality and plenty of tweaks for those who like to "play"."