Receiver and Processor Reviews

I've reviewed a fair number of receivers, and owned a fair number of them myself as well. The unit that I was the most sad to part with was the Pioneer SC-27 a couple years ago. With its Class D amps, it was fast and powerful, but not harsh. The new SC-57 is a 9.1 receiver, with Class D amplification, but Pioneer has built the amplifier modules themselves rather than using ICEPower modules. Was the sound different? Read on . . .

Having both reviewed and owned several Onkyo receiver models over the last few years, I have come to expect an excellent product that is both packed with features and performs extremely well. The Onkyo TX-NR809 network receiver was announced in May of 2011, and right away, it made me salivate. So, here is the review.

Anthem released their highly-anticipated line of surround receivers in late 2010. Right out of the gate, Anthem's three entries into the surround receiver market really turned the audio world on its "ear" by essentially acing some of the most salient qualities for receivers; just some minor little aspects like build quality, sound quality and features. The Anthem MRX 500 is their newest 7.1 receiver, and it's very affordable at $1,499.

Onkyo has been on a roll with their professional line of preamps recently. Starting with their 885 model, and continuing through the 886 and 5507 they have managed to hit a previously weak area in the home theater market. Their new PR-SC5508 surround sound processor (SSP) hits a higher plateau with nine channels. Along with the Onkyo PA-MC5509 nine-channel power amplifier, let's take a look at how nine channels are configured and how the processor and amplifier combination perform.

I've been using a Yamaha receiver in my home theater for well over a decade. The fact that I've been happy with the sound from this receiver for so long though, speaks volumes for the quality Yamaha built into their receivers back then. Although I have reviewed one of their entry-level receivers, I decided it was time to take a look at one of their better, current offerings, the RX-A2000 to see how far they have advanced in the past decade.

The marketplace for receivers is undergoing a rather interesting transformation. In the early days, most of the pieces that went into a receiver were a result of in-house development. This was also a time when the audio components dominated. These days the audio specifications nearly show up as an afterthought behind a laundry list of audio formats. It seems the majority of manufacturers have accepted the reality that keeping in-house solutions competitive with third party solutions is difficult and costly. Pioneer's VSX-1020K is a 7.1 receiver with all the bells and whistles for only $549. It delivers very good performance for that price range. Read our review for the details.