20% of the current threads is about over heating, and people building custom fans for it!

Plus people chasing after the latest firmware (1.04 now).

Doesn't really give me much confidence... but I'm getting a feeling most of AVSForum are tech geeks and not there for the sound.

Wish the Pioneer Elites can be an option in China.

They are all wrapped-up in the features and specs.

The Pioneer receivers are only called Elite in the US. You can get the same thing in other parts of the world banded just 'Pioneer'.

They run hot too and freak out before shutting down. To be fair, any amplification (except for some Class D devices) or hard drive components (like DVRS) need some good breathing space to function well and prevent circuit board component death. Other than mis-use, two of the most common causes of receiver defect are lack of ventilation and not being used for extended periods (a few months or more). The latter goes for many other types of complex electrical gear too.

Not all receivers are going to suffer premature death under such circumstances, but if they aren't well ventilated, problems arising shouldn't be a surprise.

I tried following the Denon 3910 thread, but by page 20 I was burned out, and still hadn't learned anything meaningful. I have no doubt there is a nugget of useful information somewhere in that thread, but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend 3 days of my life trying to find it.

I don't mind spending the time - but clearly if I had your money I could risk not doing the research :)

But yeah it's a pain

it's a question of time invested vs. information gathered. And the quality of that information is also a question. With something like expensive HT gear, I'd rather read reviews from a few trusted AV mags to narrow my search, and then deal with a local dealer. The forum info (avs) only serves to validate or invalidate my final choices. I simply can't rely on it as my primary source of information. Frankly, the process wasn't that much different 10 years ago when online forums for HT gear didn't really exist on the scale we see today.

When they really like a product or a particular feature, they aren't shy about it. Otherwise, lack of enthusiasm or missing details tells the story.

For instance I finally got a look at the S'phile review on the Onkyo 9.8 this weekend. There was nothing overtly bad mentioned, but sound quality wasn't the reason it was praised. Features and price put it on their radar screen, and to some extent the distinction of being "first to market" so to speak. That's all I needed to know. I confirmed it by visiting a dealer who admitted when something better comes down the pike, he'll put it on ebay. Until then, it has all the codecs, and the other options available are slim at best. He wasn't particularly keen on selling me one, unless I insisted. His feeling (based on my current equipment and my purchasing habits) is wait 6-18 months and see what comes down the pike. Anything I buy right now will be over budget or likely to leave me wanting more in less than 2 years.

by sources outside of their experience with product as to how the review is going to pan out. It could be an 'incentive' from the manufacturer or simply a case of printing what it believes it's readers are going to want to read. Whatever the results, no matter how highly a product is recommended, unless they state what equipment they used it with and how they all gelled, and with which music the set-up works optimally with, the review conclusions are of little worth.

Forgive me for referring to audio specifically, but video quality is, in most cases easier to pick-out in store, providing the retailer allows the consumer to try out the displays with a direct feed from an available (preferably) high definition source. Some consumers insist on a demo with SDTV if that's what they use predominantly.

class a/b amps will do that for you. if you don't have at least 4 inches on the top and 2 inches on either side, get something else.