Introduction to Receiver Reviews

While a large HDTV can bring your favorite TV show or movie into your living room, you need a cinematic soundstage to fully bring the theater experience to life in your home. Today’s audio/video receivers are at the heart of any home theater system. The receiver connects all the devices in your home theater including your television, Blu-ray and DVD players, cable and satellite boxes, gaming systems, media servers, and even old legacy devices like CD players. Besides offering all that connectivity, the receiver is really multiple components in one. The receiver is first and foremost a pre-amplifier (or pre-amp) which serves to process and decode everything from two-channel stereo up to 11.2 channels of immersive 3-D surround for formats like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Auro:3D. The receiver is also responsible for routing the video signals from each source device to your television. While some receivers are still able to handle legacy analog video inputs, the trend is to support the latest HDMI formats with support for HDCP2.2 and 4K UHD video codecs.

The receiver is also a multi-channel amplifier capable of powering a wide range of speaker configurations, from stereo and traditional 5.1 and 7.1 surround systems, up to the latest 11 channel systems with multiple pairs of height channels. The receiver has traditionally included a tuner for AM/FM radio, but todays’ receivers can now include such things as an HD Radio tuner, room correction, multi-media connectivity, multi-room and multi-zone connectivity, and control apps for your favorite phone or tablet.

The receiver market has always been feature rich with new products updated and released every year or two. Receivers are available in all price ranges, from budget minded options to feature-laden flagship models that command big bucks. Our reviews and bench tests cover the full range of receivers and offer insight into product design, setup, operation, the features and functionality that matter most, and of course how the receiver performed and sounded in our home theaters. Our receiver reviews will help you decide which receiver is right for your home theater and your budget.

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Receivers

Anthem MRX 500 7.1 A/V Receiver

Jim Clements

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.

Receivers

Yamaha R-S700 Stereo Receiver

Kieran Coghlan

5.1, 7.1, 9.2... even 11.2 and beyond. Yes, I'm talking about the numbers of channels available in multi-channel home theater systems. It seems to be getting out of control, don't you think? Well, Yamaha may have the prescription for your multi-channel nausea: good, affordable, old-fashioned 2-channel stereo, done right. In this review, we take a look at their R-S700 Stereo Receiver. For many folks, two channels is enough.

Receivers

Pioneer VSX-1021K 7.1 A/V Receiver

Stephen Hornbrook

Pioneer has consistently brought innovation and quality to the home theater market. From their famed Kuro plasma displays to its Elite brand AV receivers, Pioneer is always on the mark. Here, we review their VSX-1021K 7.1 A/V receiver. It performed about as well as could be expected at a price point of $549.

Receivers

Onkyo PR-SC5508 9.1 SSP and PA-MC5509 Nine-Channel Power Amplifier

Chris Heinonen

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.

Receivers

Yamaha RX-A2000 7.1 A/V Receiver

Kieran Coghlan

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.

Receivers

Anthem MRX 700 7.1 A/V Receiver

Robert Kozel

Anthem has long been recognized as a leading manufacturer of processors and amplifiers. Anthem's AVM series processors have always offered a tremendous blend of functionality and performance. With the introduction of the Anthem Room Correction (ARC) system, Anthem took things a step further by offering one of the finest room correction systems on the market. While all of this capability and performance was available to those with the budget and space for separates, Anthem did not offer a solution for those looking for an A/V receiver - until now. The Anthem MRX 700 is the subject of this review.

Receivers

Rotel RSX-1550 7.1 A/V Receiver

Piero Gabucci

Almost 50 years at Rotel has culminated in the 15 Series relatively new and was highly anticipated from 2009. The RSX-1550 arrived at my home in mid-2010. Admittedly, I'm a little behind on my review of the Rotel receiver and although this is an apology to the good people at Rotel for their patience, it speaks volumes about the product I've had it in my system for many, many months.

Receivers

Pioneer VSX-1020K 7.1 A/V Receiver

Andrew Yang

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.

Receivers

Pioneer VSX-32 7.1 A/V Receiver

Chris Heinonen

Last year I had the opportunity to review one of Pioneer's Class D receivers, the SC-27, and I came away completely impressed with the performance of that product. While I would love to know how their new version of the SC-27 performs, I also wanted to experience another model of the Elite line and see how well one with a more conventional Class AB amplifier would perform. So, in this review, we take a look at the Pioneer VSX-32, which is a seven-channel receiver.

Receivers

NAD T785 7.1 A/V Receiver

Chris Heinonen

Most stereo and home theater enthusiasts know NAD, and can almost certainly pick out a piece of NAD gear without seeing the label from it's distinctive, slate gray color scheme. While most people probably know NAD more for their CD players and integrated amplifiers, they have a whole line of home theater equipment, from receivers to processors, Blu-ray players and multi-channel amplifiers. Recently, NAD came out with a whole new line of receivers and processors featuring their Modular Design Construction.

Receivers

Sherwood Newcastle R-972 7.1 A/V Receiver with Trinnov Room Optimizer Technology

Robert Kozel

The Sherwood Newcastle R-972 A/V Receiver is the latest high-end receiver in the Sherwood product lineup. The Newcastle brand is Sherwood's premier product line. The R-972 A/V receiver boasts some impressive features including 7 channels of amplification at 100 watts per channel, 4 HDMI 1.3 inputs, on-board decoding of DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD high-resolution audio formats, XM satellite, and a Silicon Optix Reon video processor supporting upscaling to 1080p. In addition to all this functionality, the R-972 is the first product to offer a consumer version of the Trinnov Room Optimizer technology.

Receivers

Yamaha RX-V2065 7.1 A/V Receiver with MusicCast System

Chris Heinonen

One thing that you'll notice if you ever attend CEDIA is that certain types of equipment are far more common than you would expect because of the type of Expo that it is. Since it's geared towards the custom installer market, whole home solutions for audio and video are everywhere, offering a variety of ways to get your media anywhere that you want. One system that proved very interesting to me at the time was the MusicCast system from Yamaha. In this review, we take a look at the RX-V2065 7.1 A/V receiver, along with the MusicCast system.

Receivers

Integra DTR-50.1 7.2 A/V Receiver

Jim Clements

Integra is a major electronics manufacturer which markets and sells their products through custom installation supply chains. Their focus goes beyond sheer performance and encompasses upgradability, system integration and multi-zone capabilities. These are qualities that are widely needed and used within the custom installation industry. The Integra DTR-50.1 Receiver is right in the middle of the lineup of Integra's receiver offerings.

Receivers

Rotel RSX-1560 7.1 A/V Receiver

Brian Alvarez

The RSX-1560 is Rotel's flagship receiver in their new Series 15 audio components. The new cosmetic look of the 15 series is simply stunning and very elegant. More importantly, the 1560 posses two firsts for Rotel receivers. One is the use of Class D amplifiers, specifically Bang & Olufsen ICE power modules. Second, it decodes the latest high resolution movie codecs.

Receivers

Denon AVR-3310CI 7.1 A/V Receiver

John E. Johnson, Jr.

When shopping for a receiver, most consumers either get the bargain of the week at $499 or the macho machine at $2,499. But, what about those receivers in the middle, as in $1,499. Not cheap enough for the bargain hunter, not "impressive" enough for the high end. Maybe you should take a second look. At that middle price, you can still get the hot features, but not break the bank. Here, we review Denon's AVR-3310CI which clocks in at 120 watts x 7 and decodes everything, even that new kid on the block . . . height channels.

Receivers