Pioneer VSX-815, Any thoughts

Hi All,
Just wondering if anybody has had experience w/the Pioneer VSX-815, I've read some good reviews. I'm looking to spend $350, are there other models in that price range better than the Pioneer. I only need a 5.1 system and music is more important than movies to me. Thanks!

Dan

I have the 814, which for all intents and purposes is the same thing. Bought it about two weeks ago at Circuit City and so far so good.

Pros:
-Very good DSP modes (headphone surround is a godsend).

-Plenty of digital and analog inputs and outputs.

-Remote that is easy to program and can probably control most anything else you own.

-Really easy to set up.

-Good power to all channels.

-Preamp outputs for ALL CHANNELS!!! Unheard of for the price, and really nice if you plan of upgrading to outboard amps later on (I do).

-Nice appearance, seems to be built solidly.

Cons (these are minor complaints, mostly):

-Cheesy orange lights near the volume knob and input selector buttons. Bothered me so much I took the thing apart and put electrical tape over all the little bulbs. But for most people this probably wouldn't be an issue.

-Not as much deep bass response to the stereo channels as I'd hoped, although I've heard this is characteristic of most multi-channel A/V receivers as opposed to the two-channel models I'm used to.

-Runs really hot. Kinda scared me at first, but I ran it at some pretty high volume for about an hour the other day and no problems at all. It does have a cooling fan in there, but I wouldn't be stacking any other components on top of it.


Overall, I'm very happy with mine.

Just to let you know if you can find a Circuit City that still has it in stock, the VSXD814 can be had for 199.96. As Caniac said, for all intents and purposes it's the same thing.

I bought the predesessor model a couple of years ago. All seems well so far except that a couple of LED segments on the display have gone bad. Annoying but doesn't affect anything else.