BEFORE YOU BUY an AV Receiver! (Part 3) Pioneer VSX-LX505 VSX-LX305 & VSX-LX105 

You know it!

I sold audio back in the mid 70's to early 80's. vintage gear is what I know best But I currently work in Pro A/V so I'm still in this hobby, but I don't sell consumer gear.

I sold Carver back in the day the Silver was an awesome sounding amp. It could drive anything even Infinity Reference standards.

@@patricknicolucci5073 Have you seen Carver's new line? If only I was wealthy. LoL forced retirement changes things!

Robert I saw the new Bob Carver line a few years back. Cool Looking, it sounded ok, wasn't blown away for classic rock.

@@patricknicolucci5073 I did also my main job was changing the crt"s in the old tvs at the time. I wasn't that good just expendable. And yes I got bit by the "dog house" a few times. A side note talk about old becoming new in Stereophile this month an ad for an integrated from Western Electric ! Bringing back their old amp! Matched 300b's!

Let us know how you like it!

Loving it here at the store!

Awesome Tom! Hopefully you picked it up from us 😁👍 Either way, thank you

What matters is also whether the current drivers are power FETs, and my SC-LX901 had those. Also read my comments above. The FETs allowed Pioneer to meet 4 ohm performance over the band.

Good info. I thought most avr amp. sections only support full output power for brief periods of time. Did you ever get more info. of this 505 amp section ? Could you suggest another avr in this price rance that actually does have a better amp section ? Thanks

But that Marantz is twice as expensive.

outdated. no HDMI, no Arc, no calibration, no 4k, no Atmos (when every movie in the last 8 years has had it). Today's receivers are more sophisticated. Also take inflation into account. That has impacted everything in every industry. I used to own the HK AVR 520 back in the day (and I still have their HK 3490 stereo integrated that I use) but these are antique surround receivers that although still sound good, are missing a plethora of features that are needed for today's movies and shows. Not counting the HK 3490 that's still a stereo class A/B 125 Watts/channel that has the warm HK sound signature. Back when the AVR 320 was released a McDonald's meal was still $5-$6 for a full combo, compared to $15 today. One can argue about everything from the past, houses, cars etc etc. on how they used to be so cheap. $1000-$2000 is a fair price in today's market and it's not artificial. If you were paying attention to BF deals this weekend a dozen receivers went on HUGE discounts. I picked up a Pioneer 11 channel for $750 brand new. Denon, Sony all had massive sales.

@@cyberathlete I do my video switching through my display instead of routing it through the receiver where it's subject to more noise, and the receiver has to be powered on to use the switching, inconvenient if just watching TV. So having all kinds of video "goodies" is unimportant to me. An older analog amp with discrete components and the sound quality from such is more important than a ton of video processing and switching. If the video is already 4K Blu ray it doesn't make an ant hill difference anyway.

@@ericr530 There is no noise and you can pass video signal through receivers without any form of degradation. There is no processing being applied if you choose 'pass through' for video. HDMI is all digital signal. There is nothing that will affect the picture or sound quality in an HDMI cable. You can Google it and hundreds of myths have been debunked about it. Also with eARC or ARC, your receiver communicates automatically with the TV and you only need to use the TV remote to control the receiver. No programming needed. The receiver responds to the TV volume. If you turn on the TV the receiver automatically turns on and the TV remote can then control the volume on the receiver. Modern technology has made hi-fi even more convenient and fun to use. All my setups in the entire house run off of eARC. My gaming consoles, my PC, my 4k blu-ray players. ZERO video compromise and ZERO audio compromise and ZERO hassle of using more than one remote.

Awesome, thanks for the great feedback!

Does the 504 have HDMI 2.1 inputs and outputs?

@@tafb94force29 it does not, so minus Dirac and minus 2.1 but it does have 2.0. But overall its pretty much the same specs in terms of processing and amplification power.

Good catch! Yes nothing really future proof in video.

Thank you! Yes would be a fantastic upgrade!

It uses a Texas Instruments dac The 504 uses AKM 4458 which is probably a better dac anyway. They only went to a TI dac because AKM had a fire that shit them down for a while. They are back now with the AKM 4499 which is probably one of the best current consumer grade ‘dac’s. So maybe the next series “506” will go back to the AKM chip. Late reply ,just saw it now. I also have a 504 and a 103, they are both great avr’s. 🍻

Great feedback Mike! Thank you!

On the LX305 that I have it does show the codec. Interesting.

The old sc-lx series from around 10 years ago were animals 💪

@@LennyFlorentine Their 2019 models were more efficient and I don't need HDMI 2.1 of their newest models. Most people don't realize 2.1 is for gamers only. Even gamers don't need it for their AVR's because they plug it directly to the TV and eARC the sound to the AVR. So I felt Pioneer's 2019 models were the better deal with the HDMI 2.0.

@@asafblasbergvideographerI'm looking to replace my old Flagship Elite VSX 47TX with the LX305 or LX105. Does the codec stay on the display the whole time since I've gone to Best Buy and I've also noticed the newer Elites (LX304 and LX504) needing to use the remote control to see what's being used. Reading this, I hope that Pioneer did change their software to having these new amps display codec the whole time instead of the source being used.

Ouch, yeah they just started coming in the US. I'm sure international is awful. Thanks for the info!

You are 100% correct. I ordered my receiver in September and I'm still waiting for it to be delivered it's nuts..

Just watch out for HDMI 2.1 incompatibility on older models if 4k 120 or 8k is important to you.

Same. Had a yamaha v4a and the 505 is miles ahead. Dirac is the goat. Get mini dsp if you have 2 or more subs. Thank me later

Enough power to drive big towerspeakers?

It's like a free reverb

You could get the 305. But for best results I would go 505 and use a separate amp with the HPMs

@@LennyFlorentine thank you very much! I appreciate the advice 😃👍

Not yet

That's awesome!

@@LennyFlorentine thanks man , they are at the 10 o'clock position on the volume and it's more than enough output for music/movies/games , best part about having multiple subs is they don't have to work so hard . Great video by the way!

How u got that wired?

@@dwgwnr1969 on the left and right subwoofers they are daisy chained with Y-splitters 3 each side

@@joeymatthews8233 how do you calibrate that in the receiver settings. I want to set up 2 subs with only 1 receiver output.

In terms of audio analog quality I think it makes no difference at all 👍🏻 Used to have a cassettedeck (3010???) from that time, what a build quality.

This is tested using a PS5 with an 8k hdmi cable into a LG C1 OLED. Good call there. Haven't tested calibrating 2 subs seperately

@@LennyFlorentine Not even sure it can do independant subs with the calibration. If I had to guess I'd say that you cant.

Yes full range. Have them hooked up and running 2 channel as well!

I stream mostly through the tv that has IMAX and eARC back. It's a good way around that.

I don't use features like IMAX, but so far it's been very good for me. After I finally started using ARC for my Smart TV, and updated the firmware, it's gotten better in convenience.

Not anytime soon unless they send one. Not a brand we work with unfortunately.

@@LennyFlorentine I appreciate you for at least responding back. I’ve asked a few other channels and no response. You just earned yourself a new follower. 👍🏼

Yes

Awesome, thanks for the info! Video is constantly changing.

Go with the 305. If you are in the US get it from us, if not yeah go 305

Awesome thanx for the quik response!!! 👍👍

I'd say zero. They use Internet FM Radio now or Tuned In

@@LennyFlorentine Too bad. HD radio is virtually CD quality and you don't need an internet connection. It is built into my Subaru Outback.....wish I could get it in my living room!

Save those tests for the reviewers

It's only going to do 9 channels (speakers) at a time

The LX505 can achieve that with an external 2 channel amp. The Yamaha A8A is the only 11 channel receiver without using an external amp for the last 2 channels

Yes it will, give the guys a call and they can build the whole package for you!

Yeah love that look!

That would work great at least for 2 channel!

@@LennyFlorentine I also have Roku 3 which I like since it supports Plex. I run a Plex server on a Linux server with SSD storage for music and movies. I take RCA pre-out to a hifi amp from Pioneer AVR and connect Roku 3 to AVR via HDMI. The Ethernet input to Roku 3 is connected to Ethernet output of Linux server, which cleans the noise and galvanically isolates from the router Ethernet input. Using Roku 3 and Plex I can also listen music. But now I got Bluesound NODE and I wonder how I can add it to this hifi and audio setup? The Linux server has two outputs, Ethernet and USB. If I run both Plex server and MPD or DLNA and connect MPD/DLNA to USB output to Bluesound NODE USB input and connect Ethernet output to Roku 3 as described above, but I am not sure that will work. I want to use Bluesound NODE only as a streamer since I have hifi DAC already. Now DLNA can be configure to both manage and stream or just manage, in which case Bluesound NODE would stream via USB output to hifi DAC. I am not sure at all if this is a good strategy. The idea is to leverage the old Pioneer AVR, Roku 3, Bluesound NODE, and hifi system as much as possible for both audio and movies

I have a 3803 too..thing is a tank

You would need a phone, but thats it

same here, UE22, SC-65. I'm reading HDMI board, I'm sure not worth fixing. It lasted approximately 10 years

Auto or Dolby is my recommendation

can't you set the cross-over manually in Dirac Live?

@@Mike_v_E Old, I know, but did you ever get an answer to this question. I'm shopping for a new receiver now, and this is a concern since I have different surround speakers.

@@Fidelity_Sound i believe the pioneer 505 has 2 trigger and the ONKYO rz50 has just 1 ,

I personally have a LX305 at home and I don't even use it... I'm a right out of the box kinda person 🤣

I can assure you I have been working out. Haha, this ones about 30 lbs

I haven't used the Denon

@@LennyFlorentine I see ok. Can you compare it with anything else i.e Marantz, Onkyo etc.