Any thoughts on the VSX 5300 Receiver?

TomBig58

Super Member
I picked it up with remote in a stack with a Technics dual cassette deck, Sony CD player, Technice SL-5 linear tracker. I cleaned up and sold the TT for more than the cost of the stack. It's got decent specs and sounds like it should push some big boy speakers. It sure is a weird bird though with the way it's display is configured. Early AV unit it has rear speaker connections with separate volume and some processing. Haven't played with that part of it yet.

In fact the display was blank when I fired it up but wiggled some ribbon connector to it and it came to life. I never tracked down the problem though so I'm sure a good whack will send it into darkness again. Even with the stamped steel heat sink she's a heavy one.20180719_211249.jpg
 

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Nothing, huh? Well, after playing with it for awhile it's pretty clear this isn't going to replace any of my daily listeners or HT gear but it's kind of fun to play with. The weird display screens remind me of late 80's cheapie sci-fi flicks. With the huge, old school remote you can easily adjust rear speaker volume, tone and processor presets, delay times, etc. I'm basically a 2 ch guy butI think I'm going to put it in the garage and hang some rears from the rafters or something and have some fun with it. Strange it has no sub out but it has a center out that needs a separate amp.

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Sorry to reply to this old thread. I have had a couple of these units. Both of them had the display blank out on it, a wack would bring it back. The problem is bad solder joints where the display solders into the display board. Specifically, the 4V AC which is for the back light.

Another note: if you do try to take off the front, all the cables can be removed (from inside the main unit) by pressing a screw driver on top of the connector and pulling on the ribbon cable.
 
Hey rd. Sorry? it is perfect timing. I'm glad it's not so long that I didn't get an alert because out of the blue the display went blank again a couple of weeks ago. Too cold to spend much time in the garage I've been just powering up and listening to the same radio station when I need some tunes.

I did figure out that the bad connection was at one of the faceplate cable connections but never disassembled far enough to see it, much less repair it. Thanks for the tip. When I tackle the problem I'll post some more pics here for posterity.

I've spent a couple of weekends in Eau Claire with a friend who has relatives there. I remember a quality Texas style BBQ joint and of course the Leinie brewery.
 
The early sruddoung receivers from Pioneer were absolutely terrible. If you're using it for a basic receiver to power up a set of speakers in your garage then chances are its fine. What I did like about those pre-digital Pioneer receivers was the displays on them. I personally have a VSX-D1s and a VSX-9900s and they were quite the receiver back in 1991/1992. I still have them both in mint condition and while they will never replace my 1970's Pioneer gear that they still are used extensively in my other listening room. They don't sound bad but they don't necessarily sound great - just acceptable and that's okay as they're kinda cool lookin'
 
I'm trying to remember if this is the one I helped my long lost Brother get back in early 90's...
It's a good unit..i'd keep it for Stereo use in a backroom or garage...

Depressing... remembering my only brother that I could fully relate to with this Hobby
 
This is really not a surround receiver although it has Dolby I believe for FM only. Too early to be a surround unit, more like an enhanced two channel video receiver. It actually has good specs, pre-outs.....definitely a keeper for my garage.
 
I am working on my sx980..... while its down, I dug out my 5300 and plugged it in....not bad...not great...but good. I even have the remote for it. I've always been a Pioneer fan.
 
The 5300 is still my garage receiver. The display still goes blank sometimes but a good whack usually brings it back. Running a small set of Camber bookshelfs it can rock the neighborhood if I want. My garage is too packed for a larger set of speakers. I discovered recently it has resetting amp protection relays when I was testing a friend's Celestion bookshelfs, one with a blown tweeter and exploded crossover cap. Left channel just clipped out and reset. Nice to know.
 
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