Best Buy Ratings and Reviews

Best Buy Ratings and Reviews

Customer Reviews for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

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Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Model: VSX-517-K
SKU: 8274538
UPC: 012562849676
This 5.1-channel receiver boosts your home theater to a new level of sonic realism. Sound Retriever technology improves the sound of compressed audio files for more impressive MP3 playback.205.99
Average Customer Rating:
4 out of 5
4.0
 out of 
5
(13 Reviews) 13
Open Ratings Snapshot
Rating Snapshot 13 reviews
5 stars
4
4 stars
7
3 stars
1
2 stars
0
1 star
1
85% of customers would recommend this product to a friend 
(
11 out of 13
)
Customer Reviews for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver
Review 1 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

An Excellent Buy

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: AudioEnthusiast
from Spokane, Washington
on 04/14/2008
What's great about it: Clear, Excellent Price, Great Features
What's not so great: No Comment
"This is the best peace of audio equipment I have purchased. It has excellent features for speaker configurations. It has almost every fine tune adjustment there is to think of, Phase Control, Speakers Placement, Audio Leveling, Room Size. You can just about name everything and this receiver has it. The clarity is excellent, and an almost non audible destortion when turned up all the way on speakers that are not of the greatest quality. It in fact gives them beautiful sound. If there is any distortion at all, the receiver can be fine tuned to eliminate the distortion. This reciever though the little brother to it's bigger brothers of the Pioneer in it's class, has the same amp technology, quality, and clarity built into it just as that of the bigger halfs in it's class by Pioneer. Though it isn't the most powerful, any other amp of this quality is higher priced. I really recommend this amp for those who want that great, excellent sound that can easily be given by bigger amps. All the buttons on the amp and remote can make things a little confusing, but with a little practice and experimentation, the process of hard work will pay off. It did for me. As they say, excellent results can only be payed with hard work, even if it is confusing at times."
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 2 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Affordable receiver for home speakers

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: bipi101
on 02/24/2008
What's great about it: Large informative display, affordable, decent power output, easy to connect, nice manual
What's not so great: Remote is terrible, almost too many options on the reciever, difficult to configure
I wanted an affordable receiver to hook up my JBL scs500 speaker system to my tv and other devices, and this did the job by providing a good price and an outstanding sound quality in return. I was looking for just a straight audio receiver seeing all my devices are HDMI but I don't know if even such a thing exists without video inputs, so this was the next best quality device. I ran the optical out from the tv into this and my speakers sound great, enough power and clear sound. The unit is fairly bulky like most units are, but the display is easy to read and the buttons on the front of the unit are easy to operate. The manual is informative and a big help when setting up the options. My only complaint is that there are almost too many options for sound settings, that it gets quite confusing with so many sound options to cycle through. The display does show you which options are on though, to make it easy to tell what's on. The remote is tiny and crammed with buttons, it is very hard to locate buttons, they should have made the remote exclusive to this unit, rather than a universal remote, because there are too many extra buttons. Overall this unit did what I needed at an affordable price and provided excellent quality sound / decoders. Unit could have more digital inputs. Would buy again.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 3 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

worth considering

Customer Rating
3.0 out of 5
3.0
Posted by: mattfromwisconsin
from janesville, wi
on 02/20/2008
What's great about it: performance, good price
What's not so great: too big and bulky, confusing remote
this pioneer has all the features and performance anyone should expect in this price range. so why did i only give it three stars? first of all, let me say that movies did sound really good, the separation and quality of sound was good. not great, but for this price range i would say above average. this receiver was one of three i tried for a secondary home theater i was setting up in my living room, and compared to the others, programming this pioneer was much more difficult than it needed to be. to do certain steps in setting it up you may need to push a button on the remote, turn a dial and push buttons on the unit, and the manual isn't very clear about whether the button you need to push was on the remote or on the unit. keep in mind i am no expert at this, but had two other receivers to compare this one to, and the others were much simpler. also, the remote is the worst i have ever seen. 50 buttons on a remote that measured about 2 and 1/2 inches by 5 and 3/4 inches (if i remember correctly!). there are so many tiny buttons crammed onto this thing, i found myself pushing multiple buttons at once even though i have small hands! finally, the size and bulk of this thing was a problem. i don't have a large space in my entertainment center, but the other receivers fit fine and had plenty of room for ventillation. this pioneer was a tight squeeze, so tight that when i tried to push it into place speaker wires kept getting pulled on and coming loose. i don't know why pioneer had to make such a big receiver and such a tiny remote!
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 4 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Decent

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: Seth
from St. Louis
on 02/13/2008
What's great about it: Low Price, High Feature Content
What's not so great: Relatively low power
I purchased this as a temporary replacement for my Marantz when it burned up, but have kept it as my 5.1 setup. This reciever features lots of customization options to fine-tune your 5.1 system, which is fairly uncommon in this price range. The "dialog enhancer" works very well (it sends most dialog to the center channel for higher clarity) without distorting the suround effects. Could use more power, but that's expected in this price range. I would definitely purchase this reciever again, and may buy a second one for my other t.v.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 5 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

The perfect home theatre

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: hoisington
from oconomowoc, WI
on 01/09/2008
What's great about it: easy to use lots of features
What's not so great: none
this is a great receiver for a great price. I bought it in november of last year and it works great. when i bought it the price was only $105 dollars on sale at bestbuy. this receiver has a lot of power and makes all music sound good. I have this as my main home theatre receiver and it works great. Its a lot cheaper than other receivers that compare to its quality. Pioneer makes good quality electronics and i have had pioneer components for about 5 years now. I highly recommend this receiver. it is a very smart buy!
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 6 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Wonderful mid range reciever

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: Gucci
from Texas
on 01/03/2008
What's great about it: Many audio enhancement features and good sound
What's not so great: not crystal clear but that takes more money lol
I recently purchased this reciever as an upgrade from a previous pre packaged system I had. I am extremely happy with it's all around quality of sound and power! If someone is looking to start getting into Home theatre systems this is a great start to build on.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 7 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

GREAT PRICE.

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: jaboy
on 12/12/2007
What's great about it: The price was great. Many jacks. Powered sub hookup.
What's not so great: Hear some interferance when on but no music playing possibly due to wiring.
I grabbed this on black friday for 105 bucks, definately can't beat the price! I always wanted a receiver with a powered subwoofer output because my previous receiver was a 8 year old 7 channel sony which i really liked and I also have a home theatre in a box pioneer receiver. But it was a tossup between the 100 dollar sony receiver with hdmi hookups or this pioneer receiver but about 5 best buy employees recomended the pioneer so i went with it. I really miss the features like the bigger more colorfull screen of the sony but this pioneer makes up for it with more power and the sub output. The sound isnt the greatest i noticed but i have more tweeking to do and i learn more things about it everyday. Overall this is a decent receiver with a unbeatable price.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 8 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

get what you pay for

Customer Rating
1.0 out of 5
1.0
Posted by: Trinity
from SC
on 12/05/2007
What's great about it: got it for $140.00 on sale
What's not so great: can't take it back now
bought this reciever for use in the living room. No bass at all with a powered Sub and the surround sound sucks!!! The way I come to say this is that I bought a SONY STR-DE695 out of the newspaper for $75.00 with speakers. I put it in my bedroom and after about a week of listening I could tell that the SONY was 110% better in all sound fields. This "pioneer" reciever is at best a good bedroom system. SONY has got my attention. Check out Sony before you go with this reciever. I now have my used $75.00 SONY system in the living room and the new $140.00 pioneer in the bedroom
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
-1point
0out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 9 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Good value!

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: Tsan
from St Paul, MN
on 11/25/2007
What's great about it: cheap, tons of inputs
I just purchased this on the T-Day holiday weekend for $109. What a great receiver at that price. It replaced my 7+ year old Pioneer and its MUCH better than my old one. After spending some time tweaking the settings, I got the sound output I was hoping for. For the money, this is a quality piece and I would recommend it.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
1out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 10 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

SOLID INVESTMENT!!!

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: RAY570
from ROSEDALE,MD
on 11/21/2007
What's great about it: GREAT SOUND, FEATURES, PRICE
What's not so great: SLIGHT DIFFICULTY TWEEKING OPTIONS
JUST GOT IT THIS PASSED FRI. IT TOOK ME A FEW DAYS TO FIGURE OUT THE MANUAL & SET-UP. THE SOUND IS GREAT. WHEN COMBINED W/ A NEW SONY 150W SUB TO REPL. AN 8YR OLD AIWA 40W & WERE IN BUSINESS! MY RECOMMENDATION IS A SOLID YES...
I would recommend this to a friend!
-1point
0out of 1found this review helpful.
Review 11 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

This may help

Customer Rating
5.0 out of 5
5.0
Posted by: Bigriver
from Carolina's
on 10/18/2007
What's great about it: Great system after I got it tweaked out
What's not so great: people next door
Had a problem with the Bass at first. Felt that it should push a little harder. I started doing my homework and this is what I figured out.... I've got a powered Yamaha 8' sub "YST-SW215" so there should be bass, no problem. I'm pushing 6 Sony SS-B1000 speakers along with it "Bestbuy has them on sale right now". I used 1 pair for my center speaker couse after looking at a sony center speaker, they were the same speakers just in 1 box minus a tweater and they wanted 90$ for it. Anyway, back to the reciever, if you will go into speaker set up and set all speakers to large and Plus your subwoofer "Plus" is a option" that will give you the BASS you seek!!! Pioneer is awsome and this Budget system rocks after you tweek it out.
I would recommend this to a friend!
+1point
2out of 3found this review helpful.
Review 12 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Good receiver

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: 5StarRyno
from Memphis, IN
on 09/13/2007
This is a good receiver for the price. It has many of the features of the more expensive receivers for the price of a budget system. Pioneer continues to make a high quality product even at the lower prices.
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.
Review 13 for Pioneer 770W 5.1-Ch. A/V Home Theater Receiver

Very solid receiver at a great price

Customer Rating
4.0 out of 5
4.0
Posted by: JPS007
from Concord, NC
on 09/12/2007
I bought this receiver to drive a new Bose sound system. It easily handles the system with no distortion. I am really impressed with all of the inputs and outputs. This is the first receiver that I have purchased with such a complicated number of jacks but it was pretty easy to figure out after reading the manual a couple of times. I really like the automatic surround setup using the microphone although it still needs a little tweaking. Very great sound for the price!
I would recommend this to a friend!
0points
0out of 0found this review helpful.