AV Receiver Reviews

Fred Manteghian | Oct 16, 2004 |

A cross between a torque-driven Datsun Z and a rev-happy Mazda RX was the first thing I thought of when I read the model designation of Yamaha's new flagship receiver: RX-Z9. I wasn't far off. This baby is a beast of a receiver with enough horse under the hood to drag you kicking and spitting into a 21st-century home theater beyond reproach. The list of standard features is as long as a dragster's tailpipes, but starting with the 170W to each of seven primary channels (and another 50W for two Presence channels), Yamaha's intentions are quite clear: This is all the receiver you need!

AV Receiver Reviews

Sherwood Newcastle R-865 Receiver

Mark Fleischmann | Aug 19, 2004 | First Published: Aug 01, 2004 |

The most reliable guide to power ratings isn't the specs provided by the manufacturers but the measurements made by our technical editor. He follows the mandates of the Federal Trade Commission in measuring power output and distortion with all channels continuously driven (along with a less-demanding two-channel spec). When objective third-party measurements aren't available, here's a quick-and-dirty means of sorting high-power receivers from the junk: Just feel the weight. Aside from the nefarious inclusion of useless lead weights, more pounds indicate either the presence of a heavier power supply or a heavier, more-sturdy chassis—ideally, both. All things being equal, with conventional amplifiers, you don't need expensive test gear to figure out that a 50-pound model is likely to play louder and cleaner than a 15-pound lightweight, even if both are rated at 100 watts per channel.

AV Receiver Reviews

Pioneer VSX-55TXi Receiver

Mark Fleischmann | Aug 19, 2004 | First Published: Aug 01, 2004 |

This receiver's front panel is black but sets itself apart with a high-gloss finish and Pioneer's traditional (and rather attractive) amber display. It doesn't depend excessively on the jog dial. To the left, above the jog dial, are buttons labeled "music" and "movies," which make it easy to switch between Dolby Pro Logic II's music and movie modes (there's no IIx). To the right are buttons that choose the external line inputs for a universal player, select modes for the room EQ (including off), and bypass the tone controls for direct stereo playback. Touching any button on the remote activates red-orange backlighting.

AV Receiver Reviews

Harman/Kardon AVR 630 Receiver

Mark Fleischmann | Aug 19, 2004 | First Published: Aug 01, 2004 |

If you're shopping for a deal, you might find one on this stylish two-tone receiver. Its list price is not the lowest in this group. Search the Internet, though, and you'll find good deals on the AVR 630 from authorized dealers. (To make sure you buy from an authorized dealer, with a valid warranty, check the "where to buy" page at www.harmankardon.com.) The street-price differential between the AVR 630 and the others in this roundup is many hundreds of dollars. For some, that may prove to be the deciding factor.

AV Receiver Reviews

Denon AVR-3805 Receiver

Mark Fleischmann | Aug 19, 2004 | First Published: Aug 01, 2004 |

This feature-laden receiver conceals its gifts behind a basic black exterior. There's nothing unusual about the plain white fluorescent display, volume and jog dials, or flip-down panel that conceals most of the buttons. Denon's one original touch is a set of navigation controls behind the hinged panel that follow the same layout as those on the remote (up/down/left/right, with the enter button in the center).

AV Receiver Reviews

Value-Packed Receivers

Daniel Kumin | Aug 17, 2004 |

A short stack of Jacksons: four hundred dollars, more or less. Used to be a lot of money. Today, it'll buy one piece of chrome for your Hog, a box of average Cubans, or a decadent dinner for two in New York City. On the other hand, you might use a similar sum to buy an impressively powerful and flexible A/V receiver, setting the foundations for a serious home theater.

AV Receiver Reviews

Yamaha RX-Z9 THX Ultra2 Digital Surround Receiver

David Ranada | May 06, 2004 |

A well-worn adage says that all things come

Home theater has its sweet spots. In the

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It's funny to me that so many people try

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Denon punches their ticket to the universal
When you boil it all down, you realize that

to he who waits. Yamaha's RX-Z9 receiver is so chock-full of features, it must have been waiting a long time.

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AV Receiver Reviews

Onkyo TX-NR901 Digital Surround Receiver Daniel Kumin | Apr 04, 2004 |

It's a Web, Web, Web, Web world out there, so it's no surprise Onkyo's latest A/V receiver, the TX-NR901, joins that company's family of Net-Tune products, which currently include another surround sound receiver and a compact desktop "client" stereo receiver.

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AV Receiver Reviews

Harman Kardon AVR 330 Digital Surround Receiver Daniel Kumin | Mar 02, 2004 |

Photos by Tony Cordoza The model numbers for Harman Kardon's latest line of A/V receivers recall those the company used for receivers it introduced some 20 years ago, and I'm betting that's no accident. Back then, HK scored a solid hit with a compact, simple, affordable stereo receiver called the 330C that was modestly powered but provided consistently good sound.

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AV Receiver Reviews

Yamaha RX-V2400 A/V Receiver Mark Fleischmann | Jan 01, 2004 |

A receiver that listens to the room sounds better. surround sound arena, the slickest compromise between "in a box" basics and "cost no object" indulgences would have to be the $999 A/V receiver. History tells us that Yamaha has a long track record of hitting this target with one best-selling model after another. So the RX-V2400 comes with a distinguished pedigree—and THX Select certification—even without the ground-breaking addition of automatic equalization. There's nothing new in the concept of using equalization to correct flaws in room acoustics. Custom installers have been using carefully tweaked EQ for years. What's new is that the idea has trickled down from custom home theaters to bleeding-edge preamp/processors to the humble receiver.
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AV Receiver Reviews

Open Receivers Daniel Kumin | Nov 17, 2003 |

Long ago, I used to sell audio/video gear for a living (not a very good living, I might add).

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AV Receiver Reviews

Sunfire Ultimate A/V Receiver Chris Lewis | Oct 01, 2003 |

The name says it all. to convince you that the high end is a relatively insignificant factor in the grand scheme of all things audio. Admittedly, if you put the sales figures of one large, mass-market manufacturer next to those of even several high-end manufacturers combined, the former will dwarf the latter every time. But when has audio ever been about sales figures? I certainly don't have space here to elaborate on everything that high-end audio companies do for the middle and lower ends, both tangibly and intangibly. However, one of those benefits is particularly relevant here: the issue of perception. It's hard to overstate the significance of high-end manufacturers getting into the receiver business. Certainly, high-end manufacturers have raised the receiver bar in terms of performance, the quality of internal componentry, and features, but they've also had a tremendous impact on the way that people look at receivers, legitimizing a form that many people consider to be inherently compromised for the sake of convenience and price.
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AV Receiver Reviews Other Source Component Reviews

Denon AVR-2803 A/V Receiver and DVD-2900 Universal Disc Player Chris Lewis | Sep 01, 2003 |

dance. most format wars are somewhat ridiculous. Sure, it's fun to get the blood up every few years, and those of us in the A/V press certainly appreciate the opportunity to ramble on about these conflicts' various aspects and ramifications. Format wars ultimately belong in the software section, though, where the most that a wrong decision will cost you is the $20 or $30 that you spent on a disc, tape, or whatever else. When it comes to hardware, format wars can cost people hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Ultimately, that's no good for either side, let alone the buying public as a whole. Thanks to universal disc players' rapid emergence, the previously contentious (and occasionally ugly) high-resolution-audio war is now software-based, as it should be. This doesn't mean that the DVD-Audio and SACD camps don't still take shots at one another. Now high-resolution-player buyers have the luxury of either ignoring the conflict altogether or simply enjoying it for what it always should've been, secure in the knowledge that big bucks are no longer on the line. With competition between the various and ever-growing assortment of universal-player makers, capitalism survives, but nobody gets burned. The result should be a boom in universal-player buying over the next couple of years.

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AV Receiver Reviews

Sunfire Ultimate Digital Surround Receiver Daniel Kumin | Feb 23, 2003 |

Photos by Tony Cordoza Naming your company's very first A/V receiver "Ultimate" is a pretty bold move, but Sunfire founder Bob Carver has never been the shy and retiring type.

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AV Receiver Reviews

Yamaha RX-Z1 A/V receiver Scott Wilkinson | Feb 19, 2003 |

I've always appreciated the quality of Yamaha receivers; in fact, my very first "serious" stereo receiver was a Yamaha. So it was with eager anticipation that I agreed to review the company's current flagship receiver, the Rx-Z1.

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AV Receiver Reviews

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