AV Receiver Review

AV receivers are designed to simplify your media center, while enhancing the entertainment experience. They are the intermediaries for not only your surround sound system but also your TV set, cable/satellite programming, Blu-ray/DVD player, computer and about any other media device you can think of. They're the intermediaries because they basically act as a central hub. The separate incoming digital A/V signals from all those media sources and reroute them to the corresponding channel. In other words, AV receivers allow you to have everything connected to them and, at the push of a button, are able to switch between devices without unplugging and switching cables. To learn more about them, read our articles on AV receivers.

The Denon AVR-1912, the Yamaha RX-V671 and the Pioneer VSX-1020-K are great examples of an all-around high performance, cost efficient and capable receiver. As with most electronics, there is rarely a perfect device for everyone but for around the same price there are some that are better than others. Those ones will usually be ideal for the majority and are a good place to start.

AV Receiver: What to Look For

As with most electronics purchases, the key to getting the right AV receiver is finding one that fits you. There are a few basic things that you want no matter what but aside from those it's your choice. For that reason we rated the products we reviewed based on how broad and functional they are. We looked for AV receivers around the same price with the most options and capabilities that will therefore cater to the majority of people. They broke down into the following categories.

Performance
One of the most common measurements of audio performance is known as SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) and is a pretty good indicator of the quality of the sound output; theoretically the higher the SNR, the higher the quality of sound. We also looked at frequency response, which should be a nice broad range and THD (total harmonic distortion), which you want to be as low as possible. Although they are not perfectly accurate, these are commonly used to determine the quality of audio and are accurate enough to be a good guideline. We also took into consideration the power output and consumption of the AV receiver for comparing output to cost.

I/O Ports
Here we looked for HDMI ports specifically due to its convenience and popularity. After that we looked for variety to accommodate more complex systems. That includes component, optical, coaxial and composite connections, as well as ports for everything from multiple rooms to radio ports like satellite and good old AM/FM.

Audio Technology
When it comes to supported format technology, you want support for everything; that way no matter what you can get the most out of any audio or video device. If your Blu-ray player supports Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD but your AV receiver doesn't then it does you no good. We rated the products here based on how many of these kinds of technologies they support, because that's what you want - full variety.

Features
This section covers all the little extras like iPod compatibility and 1080p video up-scaling. Since they aren't completely necessary, these are the cherries on top that sweeten the deal. Also included here are the warranty, product dimensions and weight. The longer the warranty the better and an AV receiver that isn't too bulky and heavy doesn't hurt either.

Together these make up the most important things to look for on an AV receiver. At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™