I'm not sure the DCS313 is the ideal system. Its main selling point is powerful 75w per channel output.
Here's the What Hifi review;
With a bulk reminiscent of an old school video recorder, the pioneer dV313 won't be saving any space beneath your television, but bigger doesn't necessarily mean better.
Its size gives the main unit a solid feel, but the staid design offers little in the way of style, with only a single blue standby light giving it any sort of aesthetic appeal. thankfully the slim, sloping satellite speakers and tall subwoofer look more attractive, and Pioneer claims its kit offers a relatively high 75w for each channel, making it supposedly the most powerful system on test.
As with the other models here there's digital decoding for a range of dolby surround formats including prologic II music, and its compatible with just about any disc you care to feed it, including cdr/cdrw, mp3 and picture encoded discs. There's also a standard RDS tuner with 30 presets.
Setting up the system is aided by colour coded cables and a sensible remote that devotes its space to primary functions. Two cursors guide you through the various advanced surround settings, which are easily calibrated by adjusting distance and channel levels from onscreen displays, while less used functions are hidden by a sliding hood. The unit itself has a single RGB scart connection, as well as an optical-digital input and both stereo analogue inputs and outputs.
Although performance levels at this price point are never going to be amazing, we were disappointed by the overall standard of picture quality in this group and the Pioneer is especially guilty. Images appear as if the screen's been smeared with a thin coat of vasaline, leaving the sort of soft focus edges usually associated with artistic photography. Watch any fast motion sequence - we tried a number of fight scenes from the remastered 'Way of the dragon' and there's noticable fizz and undefined lines that are more a product of video imaging than Bruce Lee's legendary dexterity. Theres also a problem with digital noise, which creates a grainy resolution, particularly in shadowy scenes.
Otherwise the colour balance isn't bad, but on the whole the DV313's picture is distinctly average and the sound isn't much better. Although the amplification provides enough power, the system lacks dynamics which, combined with hollow sounding bass leaves even energetic scores sounding dull and indifferent. Similarly, the steering is less than seamless and during the effects laden Behind Enemy Lines we noticed speakers firing in sequence without the smooth integration we normally expect.
But this is an entry level product and it would be harsh to over analyse the specifics considering the minimal cost involved. however even among its contemporaries the pioneer is no more than mediocre.
For.
***
simple setup, powerful sound
Against.
*******
Cumbersome design, soft edges, poor surround sound steering.
Verdict
A beast whose bark is worse than its bite.
3/5