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Pioneer goes solo

Oddball

Oddball

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Pioneer, one of the old and prestigious brands (at least in some parts of their long and rich history) has decided to go solo.

To be seen how that pans out for them and the AV fans, but more competition is generally better, if Pio is willing to put some funds and efforts into its future products.

Pioneer And Premium Audio Company End Licensing Agreement

Pioneer ends AV licensing deal with PAC. Learn what this means for future Pioneer Elite products, existing customer support, and the home audio landscape.
cecritic.com cecritic.com
 
This is old news as we knew there was trouble in paradise since Oct (as reported by Australian website Channelnews). The Pioneer 505 not getting DLBM/DLBC was a clue to how things were going. I've owned so many different Pioneer Elite products over 20 years that while it is sad to see how far they've fallen, it may be for the best for them to go into the sunset as a home AV company. That or start carrying only niche products like Class-D AVRs.
 
EWL5 said:
This is old news as we knew there was trouble in paradise since Oct (as reported by Australian website Channelnews). The Pioneer 505 not getting DLBM/DLBC was a clue to how things were going. I've owned so many different Pioneer Elite products over 20 years that while it is sad to see how far they've fallen, it may be for the best for them to go into the sunset as a home AV company. That or start carrying only niche products like Class-D AVRs.
Click to expand...
Do Pioneer still make the Elite SC Series?
Can't find much info online.
I am very happy with my Class-D, Elite SC-LX86 but am curious to know whether there's going to be anything similar, but updated in the pipeline. Probably not, I guess.
 
EWL5 said:
This is old news as we knew there was trouble in paradise since Oct (as reported by Australian website Channelnews). The Pioneer 505 not getting DLBM/DLBC was a clue to how things were going. I've owned so many different Pioneer Elite products over 20 years that while it is sad to see how far they've fallen, it may be for the best for them to go into the sunset as a home AV company. That or start carrying only niche products like Class-D AVRs.
Click to expand...
Did not see the news before, so was news to me, and did not see that discussed either.

Let's see what the future brings. Not even sure if Onkyo got DLBC - they did announce it for the new firmware. That was a separate pickle and understand that Pio is not happy with the current situation.

Now they have the brand in their own hands, so can make it float, tumble or strive. All up to them.
 
amirm said:
To program my Pioneer AVR I had to use Onkyo control protocol. So pretty sure there is no Pioneer designed AVRs.
Click to expand...
Not the current models I would expect. The way I read it it goes to what they do with their gear, existing or upcoming, in the future?
 
Oddball said:
Did not see the news before, so was news to me, and did not see that discussed either.

Let's see what the future brings. Not even sure if Onkyo got DLBC - they did announce it for the new firmware. That was a separate pickle and understand that Pio is not happy with the current situation.

Now they have the brand in their own hands, so can make it float, tumble or strive. All up to them.
Click to expand...
Here's the reference from Oct:

Vox International Up For Sale, As Consumer Sales Plunge, Pioneer Brand Dropped – channelnews

www.channelnews.com.au www.channelnews.com.au

"ChannelNews understands that Pioneer pulled the license from them because of the problems the Company was facing."
 
Sorry to say but I think Pioneer will go the way of Bell+Howell, Packard Bell, and Nakamichi. Just a once storied brand name that will be snatched up to promote junk products. At one time I had some hope they would continue their SC ICEpower receivers.

Sad. I have always been a fan of Pioneer products. My father's best friend had a Pioneer SX-1250 receiver that got me interested in audio. (Funny, I also caught the Porsche bug after driving his 911SC Targa.) My first real stereo system was a Pioneer SX-450 receiver and a Pioneer turntable I bought at a Pacific Stereo. My first home theater was a Pioneer Elite VSX-09TX and a Pioneer laserdisc player. My first flat screen TV was a 50" Kuro plasma. I still use a Pioneer Elite SC-LX801 receiver today. I also once owned a SPEC separates system.

It was a good run...

Martin
 
Pioneer Electronics made a strategic decision to concentrate their resources on audio for vehicles when they sold their Home Audio division to Onkyo over a decade ago. I doubt Pioneer-branded home audio will be revived in any form relevant to ASR members. I give Pioneer Electronics props for trying to grow their Home Audio business by hiring Andrew Jones to design loudspeakers.
 
We have no idea what they are planning to do. AV brand might just go to dust or they could take advantage of the void in new AVR release and do something exciting. Not sure what that would be but we can't really say that current products are perfect.
 
Oddball said:
Did not see the news before, so was news to me, and did not see that discussed either.

Let's see what the future brings. Not even sure if Onkyo got DLBC - they did announce it for the new firmware. That was a separate pickle and understand that Pio is not happy with the current situation.

Now they have the brand in their own hands, so can make it float, tumble or strive. All up to them.
Click to expand...
Onkyo had DLBC for a year before D+M was able to patch it in.
 
I have a Pioneer LX805 in my bedroom. Works great on the latest firmware. Dirac Live + DLBC out of the box. Purchased on serious discount new from Best Buy for $1500. Compared to my Integra DRX-8.4, it is missing a couple of XLR pre-outs, but I don't need anything more from it. It's a handsome unit that gets the job done.
 
ban25 said:
I have a Pioneer LX805 in my bedroom. Works great on the latest firmware. Dirac Live + DLBC out of the box. Purchased on serious discount new from Best Buy for $1500. Compared to my Integra DRX-8.4, it is missing a couple of XLR pre-outs, but I don't need anything more from it. It's a handsome unit that gets the job done.
Click to expand...
Absolutely true that Onkyo implemented DLBC way before D&M. But wasn't there a period where there was no DLBC as firmware update broke it - which seems to be fixed now?

Also, did not hear any commitment from Onkyo for ART. D&M "officially promised" implementation by end of this year.

Pioneer and Onkyo make great AVRs, so the above is just to get the fact rights. Hope that Pio continues making great AVRs. And would love to see their AVP as well.
 
Maybe they'll go full-on retro, back to their roots:

1752937824936.jpeg


Fukuin. It's got a certain edge to it, doesn't it? :)

1752938002822.png

en.wikipedia.org

Pioneer Corporation - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
I'm sure PAC was glad to offload little more than a 3rd clone for most of their offerings. Pioneer needs to find a niche (and why I specifically called out Class D AVRs) to stand out from a very crowded field.
 
I think to remember reading in the 80s that Pioneer was loudspeaker driver manufacturer with the highest number production in the world, how things can change, hope they will find a sustainable way.
 
thewas said:
I think to remember reading in the 80s that Pioneer was loudspeaker driver manufacturer with the highest number production in the world, how things can change, hope they will find a sustainable way.
Click to expand...
I have heard (read) likewise. They were an immense OEM driver supplier.
As a not-entirely-random example, as a teen and into young adulthood, I had a "Weltron" 2001 "space helmet" portable AM-FM stereo radio/8 track player :rolleyes: The 5-1/4 inch (ish) "fullrange" drivers therein carried the Pioneer logo.

These much more recent (mid to late 1990s) 4-inch "fullrange" drivers (the famous/infamous PartsExpress cat. no. 269-469 "69 cent wonders") were likewise made by Pioneer. They are also surprisingly good sounding and capable little drivers -- especially for 69 cents each! :cool:






This "Lafayette" branded horn tweeter was made by Pioneer, as were several of their other raw drivers in the 1960s and even into the 1970s.


 
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