Pioneer VSX-1021-K best deals 2012

Up until now I've been living with a limping-along Kenwood Soverign VR-5090. It was definitely showing its age. The lack of HDMI was really getting to be a problem. About a week ago it started completely breaking down and stopped detecting audio properly; instead of detecting digital audio it would default to analog inputs and simply not play anything. Time for a new receiver. I am no audiophile but I can tell the difference between high quality audio and an undersampled MP3. That said, most of my comparisons will be with respect to my old VR-5090 as that's what I was coming from.

I settled on the VSX-1021 because the feature set was strong, the 1020 had some pretty impressive reviews, and because after getting burned by the Kenwood Soverign line I wanted some solid tech that didn't really represent being an early adopter again. Yes the 1021 is brand new, but it's very similar to the 1020 which is a fairly well-tested design.

Notes on my setup:
5.1 Home Theater + 2nd Stereo zone
HDMI Set Top Box that plays 720P and 1080i
HTPC with Blu Ray
Handful of video game systems, some HDMI, some Component

Audio
IMO the audio is solid. Certainly strong enough for my home theater system, stays smooth and gets as loud as the wife will let me make it. I wasn't thrilled with the results of MCAAC so I've tweaked calibration by hand... I'm still tweaking to find that perfect balance, but that's not an issue with the receiver.

I've put the system through its paces with a variety of DVDs, CDs, and digital music and I'm well satisfied with the results. Again, I'm no audiophile, but it's certainly on par with the 5090 paid quite a bit more for 10 years ago.

Video
Mixed results. Handles clean signals just fine, but I'm not thrilled with any of the video processing features it is capable of. Every option seems to insert a great deal of noise in solid color/muted or out of focus backgrounds. I've pretty much turned any video processing feature the unit provides off and let my television handle the signals it receives as it sees fit. Even then I swear there's more noise in the signal than my 5090 used to allow. I'm no expert but I'm not as satisfied as I'd like to be here.

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