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 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

Pioneer SC27 7.1 A/V Receiver

Chris Heinonen

Over the past few years, Class D amps have been gaining in popularity for many reasons including their much smaller size, their incredibly high efficiency, and the much smaller amount of heat that they put off compared to a standard Class A, AB, or B amplifier. More and more high end audio companies such as Rotel, Bel Canto and PS Audio have come out with Class D products that offer high performance in a much smaller form factor than was possible with standard amplifier technologies.

Receivers

Marantz AV8003 SSP and MM8003 8-Channel Power Amplifier

Chris Heinonen

The first receiver that I remember having in the house was a classic Marantz model. Unfortunately I was too young back then to realize the quality of that component, or even recognize the name, and at some point that receiver was replaced with a much more generic, mass market model with newer features. I am old enough now to know the impact that the name Marantz has on the A/V community, and just about everyone realizes that it commands respect. Here, we review their new AV8003 A/V processor and MM8003 eight-channel power amplifier.

Receivers

Audiolab 8000AP Preamplifier/Processor

Bill Blackwell

Audiolab is a brand that may be unfamiliar to many consumers in the United States, but in the UK, it has a decades-long reputation for putting out great-sounding, high-value electronics. While the brand (and company) has gone through a few changes over the years, including a flirtation with the ultra high-end, Audiolab has recently brought its mainstream offerings to the US market, including CD players, amplifiers and analog two-channel preamplifiers. While those will all be interesting for the dedicated audiophile, for home theater, the most intriguing piece in the line-up is the audio-only preamplifier/processor, the 8000AP.

Receivers

Anthem AVM50v Audio/Video Processor

Brian Florian

It started way back in 2001 when I reported to you on the exquisite AVM20, which to this day for various reasons still represents to me a watershed. Two years later came the "V2" upgrade for the AVM20 wherein we swapped out the processor board for a more powerful one, opening up the then much enthused about Pro Logic II, upgrading the THX suite to Ultra2, and adding more bass management options.

Receivers

Onkyo TX-SR607 7.1 A/V Receiver

Tyler Stripko

I have to admit, I'm a sucker when it comes to having the latest and greatest toys. As my wife can attest, I'm always looking for excuses that will allow me to spring for that next upgrade. In recent years, Onkyo has been at the forefront of new A/V receiver technology and features, releasing new models at an almost breakneck pace in order to stay one step ahead of the competition. The TX-SR607 continues that technological advance as the first product in the world to sport Dolby Pro Logic IIz.....The bottom line is this: you need to pay quite a bit more money to dramatically improve upon the performance of the TX-SR607.

Receivers