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Pioneer SC-07: Review

Posted to Audio Components 2009-08-15

The Pioneer SC-07 is an A/V receiver with 140 watts of power. This receiver is built to provide high definition surround sound through seven channels. This receiver has AIR Studios certification and Direct Energy amplification, providing sound with very low distortion without wasting energy. The receiver sports four HDMI inputs and the Faroudja 1080p Video Scaler upscales video of any format. This unit also has a Burr-Brown 8 channel Sampling Rate Converter, taking out the jitter in the audio, and Wolfson digital to analog converters.

The SC-07 is powered by Freescale dual core DSP engines. These take care of the audio processing, including the THX UltrasPlus, Dolby True HD, and the DTS-HD Mater Audio decoding. This Pioneer unit contains the MCACC (Multi Channel Acoustic Calibration) system, which customizes the audio to your room, optimizing performance.

Rating:

4.0 out of 5

Features

The THS Loudness Plus option uses a smart compensation system, which takes into consideration the volume setting and then calibrates the different sound levels. This system enhances the sound at levels you actually listen to. The SC-07 is compatible with MP#, WMA and AAC/MP4 inputs, as well as with FLAAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). The Precision Quartz Lock System (PQLS) reduces jitter when using a compatible Blu-ray disk player. The PQLS system produces cleaner sound.

Performance

The amplifiers on this unit produce great quality sound. The sound is fluid and dynamic and is as good, or better, than anything you'll find in the competition. When tested on a variety of different soundtracks, the sound quality continued to rise to the challenge. The setup is straightforward.

Ergonomics

This is a beautiful model, sleek and sophisticated. It will blend well with any décor and not stand out. The remote Pioneer produced for this unit is small, but good-looking. The buttons are small, hence the writing on the buttons can be difficult to see. The backlighting only lights up the central keys, leaving others in the dark. You can feel like you're fumbling around with this remote.

Summary

The Pioneer SC-07 is both powerful and versatile. It's not the most intuitive unit to operate and the remote has issues, but on the whole, this receiver offers up loads of power and dynamic sound for both movies and music. Lots of extra features that add to the fun and versatility of this unit. This is a high-end unit, but the price is justified by the performance.

Pros

Clean, dynamic sound
Versatile options and features
Powerful output
Small remote buttons
Straightforward setup

Cons

There are no cons for this product