Pioneer upgrades A/V receivers, more with Chromecast, outs wireless speaker

By Kris Wouk April 25, 2017

Pioneer MRX-3 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’ve been following announcements about Chromecast built-in and are feeling left out with your recently purchased Pioneer A/V receiver, you might be in luck. On Tuesday, the company announced that a total of 15 different products are receiving Chromecast built-in via a firmware update. The company also announced that its new MRX-3 Multiroom Wireless Speaker is now available for purchase.

The products getting Chromecast built-in include A/V receivers, home theater systems, and network speaker systems. If you’re wondering whether or not your Pioneer product is supported, there is one easy way to know: only products manufactured in 2016 or later will be getting the firmware update.

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Specific models include the SC-LX901, SC-LX801, SC-LX701, SC-LX501, VSX-LX301, VSX-LX101, FS-EB70, and the SX-S30 models in Pioneer’s Elite line. The Pioneer VSX-1131, VSX-832, VSX-831, VSX-S520, XC-HM86, X-HM76, and new MRX-3 speaker are also getting the firmware upgrade. Pioneer has not said whether other models may see a similar update in the future.

Once the update is applied, you will be able to stream from a wide range of Chromecase-enabled apps and devices. This includes Google Home or other as-yet-unreleased devices that support Google Assistant. When using Google Assistant, you can easily select a streaming service, adjust volume, pause and resume playback, and more using just your voice.

While the company’s new MRX-3 Multiroom Wireless Speaker also features support for Chromecast built-in, it doesn’t stop there. The speaker features FireConnect wireless multiroom audio, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, with support for many internet radio and music streaming services built-in. This is all piped through the speaker’s dual 77mm woofers. A future firmware update will allow two speakers to pair via FireConnect and operate in stereo mode, and will also bring support for DTS Play-Fi.

The MRX-3 is available now via for a price of $350. The firmware update is also available now, though how you go about updating will depend on your hardware. For more information about Chromecast built-in, see its page on the Google website.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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