I used the music listening tests mostly to evaluate the performance of the receiver overall and the MCACC system specifically. I chose a couple of multi-channel albums mostly because the MCACC works on each speaker individually.

Marillion - Marbles on the Road 

I've grown quite fond of this DVD since Gene shoved it down my throat so long ago. I've since picked up a few of Marillion's studio albums but I guess I'll always have a soft spot for this one as it is still my favorite. I spent a lot of time switching between the different MCACC settings and quickly decided that the Pioneer-only settings were not going to work. I focused on the non-EQ and the EQ settings based on my speaker settings. I mostly noticed the differences in some of the vocals and the top end of the bass guitar. Overall, without the MCACC, the sound was fuller but definitely a bit more reverberant. At times I preferred the MCACC setting but at other times I didn't. It sometimes seemed to recess the soundstage or make some of the instruments sound hollow. I definitely preferred the MCACC off, but I can't say if that is because it sounded more familiar to me or if it was because it was better. I decided to move on.

Blue Man Group - The Complex

You know what's great about this album? Nearly everything. It is a great test piece for evaluating equipment, it is a great surround sound demo, and it is frankly a lot of fun to listen to. The first track, Above, builds slowly introducing the listener to the instruments and sounds they are about to experience. This was a great track to use to flip between the two settings as it allowed plenty of time to listen to one and then the other before a new instrument was added. The difference between the two settings was significant. There was no denying that a sound that took center stage was suddenly missing with the MCACC engaged. The more I listened, the more I became convinced that the MCACC was making the music sound less present. Recessed. Sterile. You come up with an adjective. I won't say that it destroyed the music or really harmed it significantly. I would just have the MCACC engaged for a while and think I was enjoying myself. The minute I realized it was still engaged and switched it off, I found myself saying, "Yea, that's better." So far, the MCACC software isn't a rousing success, but it isn't terribly destructive either.

Morcheeba - Charango 

Morcheeba is one of my new favorite "background music" artists. The slow driving beat mixed with her sensual vocals is the perfect accompaniment to almost any activity. Of course you have to skip over the track "Women have to lose weight" if you don't want to get backhanded. I decided to give the volume button a bit of a workout during this test. I've driven my Denon AVR-3805 pretty hard in the past but I found the Pioneer to have a bit more oomph than I was expecting. Long before I reached reference levels (0dB on the dial) my speakers started to distort. Usually, I have to push the Denon quite a bit harder. The VSX-82TSX had power reserves I wasn't quite expecting.

Listening Tests - Movies

Blade II

I'm sure I could come up with a number of valid reasons for watching this movie for this review but the real reason is because of the DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound track. I wanted to give this multi-channel receiver a chance to do what it was made to do. Surround me with sound in an immersive and convincing way. I wanted to feel like I was in the movie. And did the Pioneer disappoint? Not in the least. I switched the MCACC on and off a few times to see if I noticed much of a difference - and I did... occasionally. It was hard to verify though because sounds in movies are so much more fleeting. On movies the effect was much less pronounced. Regardless, Blade II didn't fail to deliver on the surround effects nor the LFE - and the VSX-82TXS didn't even hiccup. Even when I kicked the wife and kids out and blasted it.

Sin City 

Frank Miller is a god. OK, I said it. The Dark Knight Returns , Ronin , Hard Boiled... The list of credits goes on and on. I was glad to see his Sin City comic get such a faithful translation to the big screen. After some of the drivel that has come from the "mind" of Robert Rodriguez since Desperado, I was a bit worried. And who would have thought Mickey Rourke had a decent performance left in him? I would have lost that bet if someone had asked. Of course, watching Clive Owen try not to have a British accent was a painful experience. Sure there are lots of special effects and LFE, but that is not why I chose this movie. I wanted to see how the Pioneer would handle some of the more subtle sound effects. People breathing, rain, whispers, a softly played piano... Sin City is full of these more delicate sounds. Again, I was impressed with how adroitly and convincingly all these effects were rendered. The VSX-82TXS had the power reserves to handle the explosion and gunfire without losing control of the sound effects that are so important to the atmosphere that Robert Rodriguez used to convey Frank Miller's stylistic art.

Conclusion

There are a number of functionalities not covered by this review. With a receiver at this level, it is easy to get bogged down in the details. What the masses want is a big picture. And the big picture is that the VSX-82TXS is capable receiver with some caveats. Video conversion is a problem so until Pioneer works that out, you may have to limit yourself to using the same input for all your components. The remote is a disaster but I don't hold that against the unit. There seems to be power to spare and enough features to keep you tweaking for years. The amplifier section measures well and should prove capable for most speakers. I really like that the MCACC takes multiple measurements. This should improve significantly the accuracy of the auto calibration.

For the majority of the people out there, setting up the Pioneer VSX-82TXS will be a breeze. The menus are intuitive, the defaults are all very good, and the MCACC can almost set up your speaker sizes and distances perfectly. With the multiple memory slots of the MCACC, you can have it calibrated in a number of different ways and find out what works best for you or you can just let it set your speaker size and distances and be done with it (don't forget to check the sizes and the subwoofer distance). The short version of this story is that the general user can set up this receiver quickly and be perfectly happy with it. The high end user can set it up quickly and tweak it to their hearts content. Within the MCACC, almost every parameter is adjustable. When you are done with that, you can go through each and every DSP and tweak them as well. After that, you still have the iPod and XM functionalities to play with not to mention... and the list goes on. The balance the Pioneer VSX-82TXS strikes between ease of initial set-up and depth of configuration will please the audiophobic and the audiophile alike!