Pioneer VSX-LX505 AVR Review

[Hart]

My last house was an Eichler copy with a 1,000 sq ft living room and 12' ceilings at the peak. Big room to fill. I had an Aerial Acoustics surround system (very inefficient speakers ) and a JL F113 sub. I had some people over to watch Master and Commander at a high volume and it sounded like cannon balls were shedding my living room. I don't think you can do that with 20 watts.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

They need to put more stickers on those AVRs.
LOL

 

[respice finem]

They need to put more sticker on those AVRs.
LOL

That's probably why they make them so big - to fit the stickers on the front panel
especially some AV processors which are almost empty inside, sometimes, but as big as "integrated" AVRs.

 

[Ajax]

Thanks for your review Amir.

A lot of people enjoy the functionality of AVRs and it makes you think there is a big opportunity in the market for a competent front end (pre) AVR.

I had a Rotel 5 channel pre-pro combination (RSP1066 - RMB1075) in the early 2000s, which I really enjoyed. My view hasn't changed i.e. accept the limitations of trying to cram too much gear into one box and separate the "brains" from the power.

I'm guessing you could manufacture a quality 7.1 pre with decent DACs with 105 SINAD plus DIRAC Live for say US$1k. Combine that with an 8 channel hypex amp (Buckeye) for US $2k .... $3k is a lot of money to most but such a combination would be acceptable for both 2 channel (and surround) music and movies.

 

[Martin]

This unit clearly fails FTC Title 16, Chapter I, Subchapter D, Part 432.3 (e): Rated power shall be obtainable at all frequencies within the rated power band without exceeding the rated maximum percentage of total harmonic distortion after input signals at said frequencies have been continuously applied at full rated power for not less than five (5) minutes at the amplifier's auxiliary input, or if not provided, at the phono input.

Unfortunate because I've been seriously considering the latest Pioneer Elite, Onkyo and Integra units. (They are all the same, just different boxes.)

Martin

 

[Doodski]

so the huge heatsink on the front is for?

That is for the power output transistors that are connected to the speakers. Note: I just got out of bed and mis-spelled transistor.

Video processing?

Is done on a PCB that is closer to the rear of the machine. It cannot be seen in this pic.

 

[MLaranjeiras]

I bought my Pioneer VSX LX 503 in 2019 for US$. 549.00 on Amazon USA. A fair price indeed. The front and rear channels are powered by external amplifiers. It works flawless in moderate volumes. As a preamplifier, for music, it is a tier with my Oppo BDP 105. Once I have a THX theater 20 min walking from my home and for the price I paid, I am very happy with it. Triple price in four years for praticaly the same product is insane.

 

[uwotm8]

Voted for FINE.
Fool protection circuit is a good thing IMO. And 20W is enough for normal listening

 

[Hart]

Thanks for your review Amir.

A lot of people enjoy the functionality of AVRs and it makes you think there is a big opportunity in the market for a competent front end (pre) AVR.

I had a Rotel 5 channel pre-pro combination (RSP1066 - RMB1075) in the early 2000s, which I really enjoyed. My view hasn't changed i.e. accept the limitations of trying to cram too much gear into one box and separate the "brains" from the power.

I'm guessing you could manufacture a quality 7.1 pre with decent DACs with 105 SINAD plus DIRAC Live for say US$1k. Combine that with an 8 channel hypex amp (Buckeye) for US $2k .... $3k is a lot of money to most but such a combination would be acceptable for both 2 channel (and surround) music and movies.

I was wondering the same thing... a really good class D amp with a great front end. Built as one unit because I think the limitations of conventional receivers, amplifier size and heat, would be overcome with class D. Could probably be built in a near Marantz size slimline housing as well. Hold off on the antiquated inputs and any unnecessary bells and whistles. Sign me up, at even 5k it would be a bargain against current offerings.

 

[valerianf]

@amirm "The big issue here is that it doesn't reset without power cycle."
It seems to be the same issue than with the Onkyo RZ50.
We buy a 140W avr and without knowing it we have a real life 40W amp.
What a shame: this is just a good pre-amp.

 

[Rottmannash]

That is for the power output transistors that are connected to the speakers. Note: I just got out of bed and mis-spelled transistor.
View attachment 255632

Is done on a PCB that is closer to the rear of the machine. It cannot be seen in this pic.

Oh, duh-for some reason I thought the amps were in the rear of the AVR. Thanks!

 

[Sera]

Hi,
first of all thanks for the measurements and review. As a recent owner of this AVR with my first HT, I feel conflicted about this unit, but would probably still choose it over the competition. I run 3x Q350s with 2x B&W 706s2 and the power of the amp does not seem to be an issue, yet. For prospective buyers, I would like to leave some thoughts and experiences about this unit:
- The fan only came on during an firmware update. I guess this stresses the system too much and for stability during the update they have the fan on. But did no testing for any fan activity in other scenarios.
- I had an issue, where my sub would not get any signal. The mcacc or how their own calibration is called, set the front speakers to big and then it sent no signal to the sub. Took me way too long to fix this, but this may be attributed to avr jank.
- Dirac Live works really well and is probably the reason people actually buy this avr over say something used. I would recommend it for this, as my room is atrocious and the Dsp has to do more heavy lifting than I would like.
- Features like Spotify etc. are expected but a welcome suprise. Connectivity wise I cannot complain at all.
- The menus are kinda bad, but not terrible.
Overall I am happy when using the device, but hope in real life I will not run into any amp issues.
Cheers!

 

[Chrispy]

Look on the bright side. The avr is looking out for your expectation of longevity, sort of. That's all I can think of. A nanny circuit like that is disclosed in the manual? So I don't freak out when it goes into shut down when it doesn't seem reasonable?

 

[GXAlan]

@amirm "The big issue here is that it doesn't reset without power cycle."
It seems to be the same issue than with the Onkyo RZ50.
We buy a 140W avr and without knowing it we have a real life 40W amp.
What a shame: this is just a good pre-amp.

It makes you wonder… what if you took out the amps, but XLR outputs and sold it for the same price? Shouldn’t it be a pretty nice DIRAC enabled processor with somewhat low R&D cost?

 

[JSmith]

The 701 is a class D power amp, where the 505 is a class AB

Yep, all the SC models are D and the VSX models are AB.

Some more pics from here;




JSmith

 

[Brambo67]

Isn’t this Pioneer exactly like the Onkyo that Amir tested previously, if you look at their inner live;

not much differences to be seen. So also no surprise I guess there are issues measured with the power output. When reading the Onkyo thread you may find in real life the performance to be good. Perhaps the same may apply to its twin brother, or sister for that matter…

 

[Doodski]

When reading the Onkyo thread you may find in real life the performance to be good. Perhaps the same may apply to its twin brother, or sister for that matter…

There is nothing good that can come out of having a nanny circuit in the power amp stage Doesn't matter what brand name is on the front.

 

[Ageve]

They need to put more stickers on those AVRs.
LOL

230 W/ch is very useful information as well.

(6 ohms, 1ch driven, 1 kHz, 10% THD)

 

[gvl]

There is nothing good that can come out of having a nanny circuit in the power amp stage Doesn't matter what brand name is on the front.

Does it really matter if it never kicks in (during normal use)?

 

[Doodski]

Does it really matter if it never kicks in (during normal use)?

Yes, it does. It is a self protecting circuit designed to protect the unit from going up in smoke. The customer is not getting what they are promised. It is against the law in Canada to charge for service/product and not deliver that.