The VSX-1018AH-K from Pioneer is more than an A/V receiver. It’s the command hub of your entertainment center. It has DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD surround decoders, connections for satellite radio, a USB port for your iPod and a Dual-Core 400MIPS Freescale DSP. This one box takes care of three boxes in an old school system, it has the tuner, amplifier, and EQ.  ...read more

The good: Three HDMI inputs; onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding; Sirius and XM-ready; upconverts analog signals to 1080p over HDMI output with decent quality; automatic speaker calibration; control iPod onscreen using USB port.

The bad: Competition offers more HDMI inputs for less money; cluttered remote; old-fashioned text-only onscreen user interface.

The bottom line: The Pioneer VSX-1018AH's solid sound and generous feature package make it a great value in the midrange AV receiver class.  ...read more