Cingular Go Phone: Pioneer VSX-1020-K Audio/Video Receiver Review

I picked up a 1020 over the weekend. I have been building custom cabinetry and needed a slimmer (and cooler) receiver for our secondary viewing room and the 1020 seemed to fit the bill in large part based upon a pleasant experience with the 919/1019 and the elite 21.

For reference, the 1020 is replacing an Onkyo 1007, which I really enjoyed, but was a bit big for the cabinet and largely unused with a baby's bedroom nearly adjacent to the area. Keep in mind, the Onkyo weighs 52 lbs and draws nearly 11 amps - not a fair fight between the two.

In comparison to the 1019/919 (which powers my second and third zones), the 1020 looks very similar, but Pioneer removed the blue led power button (they did the same with the bdp-320 from the 51fd last year as well). The front panel buttons have been reconfigured slightly, but overall the two look very similar.

I have the 1020 configured as 5.1 plus wides. The speaker setup was pretty easy, but it appears that setting it up as normal plus wides would prevent you from operating Zone 2 despite the manual saying the contrary.

In terms of audio quality, the receiver sounds very good and similar to the 1019/919. That said, when turned louder (say -5db), it appears to lose its legs a bit sooner than the 1019. I heard a bit more distortion in playing music loudly (i was alternating the same speakers and source via speaker switch before I had the two connected). That said, I would think most folks would not be able to tell a difference at normal volume levels, but the power draw cut from last year does seem to manifest itself at loud levels in my amateurish testing. Please do not try to pull every thread in my comparison - just an average guy comparing the two side by side.

Running MCACC was as simple as other pioneer models, but the system did seem to be a bit too generous as to the speaker size of the speakers in my setup (audyssey classified them as small and set the individual speaker crossovers at 100hz). I have been using the wide listening mode and have found it reasonably effective in providing a broader sound array for the wide room. I will need more critical listening time to compare it to Audyssey DSX's wide presence processing mode. Overall, I am pleased with the sound quality of the 1020, but it could benefit by a bit more power. I would caution about tying to drive large or inefficient speakers with this receiver if your listening preferences are very loud.

The remote is an improvement in that it is learning, but a step back in dark room navigation. Yes the keys glow in the dark, but labels are small and difficult to quickly identify. It is miles ahead of Denon's odd remotes, but lacks some of the simple and easy to identify buttons of Onkyo.

The receiver has run cooly, which is an improvement from the space-heater my Onkyo could be.

The receiver does offer a really good listening experience for a very light (and presumably efficient) unit. That said, I do lament a few things: onscreen osd - at least volume/source/audio codec; a slightly ergonomic remote; and assignable speakers to let you customize presence and zone 2.

Overall, I am happy with the unit and pleasantly surprise how cooly it runs.

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Product Description:
Key Features are110 Watts X 7, 7 Channel Configurable Amplifier, Surround Back. Dolby Pro-logic IIz or B Speaker, Dolby True-HD / DTS-HD Master Audio and Advanced MCACC. It has a 9 Band EQ.Auto Crossover Setting, USB to PC Graphs, PQLS - 2 Channel, Auto Level Control - Multi-Channel, Sound Retriever AIR - Multi- channel. It has a Internet radio. iPod Digital USB / USB Memory Audio. Its iPhone Certified, Sirius Satellite Radio, HDMI Repeater (6 In / 1 out), Analog to HDMI Video Conversion, HDMI to HDMI 1080p Scaler, Component Video (2 in / 1 out), Full Color GUI, iControl pioneer AVR iPhone / iTouch "APP" Multi-Zone A/V Pre-out, Preset Remote Control