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Pioneer adds two new Elite receivers to its 2012 lineup
Pioneer's 2012 AV receiver lineup is growing by two with the new VSX-42, priced at $450, and the $650 VSX-60. Both feature six HDMI inputs on the back, Ethernet, video scaling, optional Bluetooth ($99) with A2DP, AirPlay, DLNA, Pandora and iOS or Android apps. The VSX-60 sets itself apart with 10 more watts per channel, 7.2 instead of 7.1, optional WiFi and a superior video processor. As if that wasn't enough, the VSX-60 also has an HDMI input up front, is SiriusXM ready and adds a number of video and audio enhancement like Stream Smoother, Advanced Video Adjust and a few others worth reading about in the press release after the jump. With a trend placing the AV receiver at the center of your home theater universe, these Pioneer units have just enough useful features to make us ponder upgrading (still-functional) existing gear.
Pioneer's VSA-AX1AV 7.1ch receiver with 2 x HDMI and iPod support
Pioneer just dropped a couple of 7.1 channel receivers sportin' twin HDMI inputs. The mid-class VSA-AX1AV flaunts Pioneer's not-so-gimmicky Advanced MCACC technology which evaluates the acoustic characteristics of your room (including reverb) and then optimizes your home cinema speakers to approach "studio quality" sound. They also throw in an iPod input on top of generic USB DAP support which allows you to control your beloved iPod via Pioneer's remote while slapping your iPod's information up on the ol' TeeVee. And as we've seen in previous Pioneer receivers, this pup supports lossless WMA9 Pro audio playback in addition to the usual smattering of compressed formats like MP3, WMA, and AAC when you simply have no other choice. Also available is the trimmed-down VSA-1016V receiver which lacks MCACC and iPod support among other notables. Shipping in Japan mid-September with the VSA-AX1AV said to pull ¥118,000 (about $1,025) while the VSA-1016V should garner about ¥92,000 (about $800).[Via Impress]
