ReceiversReceivers
Onkyo PR-SC5508 9.1 SSP and PA-MC5509 Nine-Channel Power Amplifier
- Written by Chris Heinonen
- Published on 25 August 2011
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.
Yamaha RX-A2000 7.1 A/V Receiver
- Written by Kieran Coghlan
- Published on 27 July 2011
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.
Harman Kardon and Definitive Technology
- Written by Jim Clements
- Published on 14 October 2010
This is a complete 5.1surround sound system. The front end is the new Harman/Kardon BDP1 Blu-Ray player. The Harman/Kardon receiver is also a new model, the AVR 3600. The speaker package is the Definitive Technology ProCinema 800. These products are not typically discounted, so the anticipated system price comes in just under $2,700. This places the system just over the threshold we've established for "Mid Priced" systems which we have defined as systems with a street price between $2,500 and $5,000.
Anthem MRX 700 7.1 A/V Receiver
- Written by Robert Kozel
- Published on 25 July 2011
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.
NAD T785 7.1 A/V Receiver
- Written by Chris Heinonen
- Published on 19 August 2010
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.
Rotel RSX-1550 7.1 A/V Receiver
- Written by Piero Gabucci
- Published on 14 March 2011
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.
Sherwood Newcastle R-972 7.1 A/V Receiver with Trinnov Room Optimizer Technology
- Written by Robert Kozel
- Published on 14 June 2010
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.
Pioneer VSX-1020K 7.1 A/V Receiver
- Written by Andrew Yang
- Published on 30 December 2010
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.
Yamaha RX-V2065 7.1 A/V Receiver with MusicCast System
- Written by Chris Heinonen
- Published on 15 April 2010
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.
Pioneer VSX-32 7.1 A/V Receiver
- Written by Chris Heinonen
- Published on 20 December 2010
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.
Integra DTR-50.1 7.2 A/V Receiver
- Written by Jim Clements
- Published on 05 April 2010
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.
