The Best Ever Home Audio

Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K
Editors' Note: Pioneer has announced that this 2009 product will be replaced by the Pioneer VSX-1020 as of April 2010.

The iPod is the most popular audio gadget of the decade, which is why it's incredibly frustrating that it's not easier to use it with your AV receiver. Either you're stuck using a patch cable and getting up from the couch to make playback changes, or you have to shell out for a pricey proprietary iPod dock. That's why we were so excited when we saw the Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K (and its step-down cousins) at CES 2009; just plug your iPod into the front panel USB port using the included iPod cable and you can navigate your music using your TV screen. That's a unique feature in this price range and the VSX-1019AH-K also has a full suite of standard features, such as four HDMI inputs, 1080p analog upconversion, and multiroom functionality. Even better, we were blown away by the sound quality of the VSX-1019AH-K for a $500 receiver, despite our initial worries that it weighs significantly less than last year's VSX-1018AH-K. With no major shortcomings, outstanding sound quality and its unique iPod-friendly USB port, the VSX-1019AH-K is our top midrange AV receiver pick and thus earns the Editors' Choice award.

Editors' note: The review has been updated since publication in June 2009 to indicate that the VSX-1019AH-K has earned the Editors' Choice award.
Design:
It's tough to make an AV receiver stand out from the pack, but the VSX-1019AH-K is likely to catch your eye on a retail shelf. That's mostly because of its glossy black front panel finish, which gives it a high-end feel, although it picks up plenty of fingerprint smudges. There are two large knobs on each side of the unit, one for volume and one for selecting inputs. Toward the bottom is a push-out cover that reveals more inputs, including the USB port for easy iPod connectivity. The LCD screen features bright white lettering and we had no trouble reading it from about 9 feet back. As long you keep the VSX-1019AH-K looking fingerprint-free, we think it's one of the best looking receivers in its price class.
The included remote control is decent, although a bit cluttered. The clicker does a good job of separating functions like the directional pad and playback controls, but the master volume buttons should be more prominent. Some of the buttons also serve dual functions, which can get confusing, but that's pretty standard on AV receiver remotes. As always, you can alleviate many of these problems with a quality universal remote. Even better, the GUI works seamlessly if you plug in an iPod/iPhone to the front panel USB port. The GUI pops up and lets you browse your music collection using the standard iPod categories, such as artist, album, or genre. Movies and photos can also be played back, but only if you use the "iPod control" scheme, where you use the actual iPod for navigation, rather than the GUI. Yes, we would have liked if movies and photos were also accessible via the GUI, but it's not a big deal unless you plan on watching a lot of movies/slideshows on your TV. As nice as the GUI is for functions like iPod navigation and assigning inputs, we really wish it handled more of the functions available on the VSX-1019AH. For example, when we wanted to activate the VSX-1019AH's "sound retriever" mode (which claims to make compressed audio formats sound better), we were forced to navigate menus using the unit's single-line LCD screen. Even then, we couldn't find it and had to spend way too much time digging through the lousy manual to discover that it only worked on particular sources. The good news is that all the basic functionality of the VSX-1019AH is easy to access via the GUI of standard remote buttons, but those looking to use all of the receiver's functions will encounter some headaches.

Setup
We're generally big fans of Pioneer's MCACC (Multi Channel Acoustic Calibration) automatic speaker calibration system because it's easy to use and gives excellent results. The system automatically determines speaker sizes, speaker-to-listener distances, sets the volume levels of all of the speakers and the sub, and calculates the subwoofer crossover point. We also like that all of the measurements are taken from just one microphone position.

Price Range: $499.00 - $512.19