Pioneer Elite SC-07 A/V receiver

Pioneer SC-07

Pioneer’s SC-07 is the second son in the firm’s new A/V receiver lineup. As such, it omits the flashy front-panel LCD video display of the flagship SC-09 but retains many of that model’s more notable features for a much lower price.

Among these are a full alphabet soup of surround modes and enhancements, both XM and Sirius satellite radio, and Pioneer’s own Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration System (MCACC) auto-setup/EQ processing. An arguably more important item is the SC-07’s highly efficient 7-channel ICEpower amplifier. This sophisticated variant of Class D topology eliminates most of the bulk, waste heat, and weight — not to mention the increasingly costly copper — of conventional amplifying circuits.