'Tis the season for electronics shopping. Despite the sluggish economy, buyers are coming out (and going online) in droves this week to bring home electronics gear, from the ubiquitous tablets like the Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet and iPad 2, to giant screen flat panel plasma or LED TVs. But the display is only half the equation. Without the BIG SOUND, you can't fully enjoy movies, TV shows or music at home.
Amazon is offering a killer deal on Pioneer's VSX-1021-K A/V receiver. It's a 7.1-channel receiver with five HDMI inputs, support for all the latest audio codecs, 3D video passthrough, plus a little something that was previously unheard of at this price point: Apple Airplay. For a limited time, Amazon has this receiver, which normally sells for $549.99, for $299.99 including free super saver shipping. Here's a link:
We've been tracking this receiver for a while, and the regular selling price on Amazon has hovered around the $399 to $429 mark. And at these prices, Amazon has still been the lowest price provider. For $299.99, it's a no-brainer for anyone trying to put together a high quality, low cost home theater or surround sound system.
The receiver decodes Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, PCM and all the other commonly used codecs. It offers analog upconversion of analog and digital video sources to 1080p HDMI output, as well as passthrough of 3D signals, in case your home theater system has entered the third dimension. If you've only got 5 speakers (instead of 7), then that's not a problem. The built-in MCACC calibration system will detect the connected speakers and will optimize your entire system for you automatically using the included microphone.
But it's the iPod, iPhone, iPad and iTunes support that really sets this receiver apart. You can plug in any iOS device directly to the front USB port and have full access to your tunes, or you can access the Airplay feature to stream your music from iTunes from any network-connected computer. In either case, you can use the receiver's remote and on-screen menus to navigate through your media.
Bottom line: great receiver, great price. And if you're looking for speakers to pair it with, then check out these deals on a 5.1 channel set of Polk, Energy and Mirage speakers. Any of these would make an excellent match for the Pioneer.
