Tag archive: Receiver

Your TV may be the centerpiece of your living room, but a 50-inch plasma sitting on an upside-down milk crate doesn’t make a home theater. Face it: You’re going to need a few accessories before popping the popcorn. The nuances of selecting the perfect speakers and receiver could fill volumes (we’ve done it) but for all the goodies that don’t have anything to do with home audio, you’ll find them here. Buying a new TV this weekend? Make sure… Read More

There are a number of reasons it may be time to purchase a new audio receiver. Did you buy the receiver you currently own when Bill Clinton was still in the oval office? Did you recently pick up a Blu-ray disc player capable of supporting some cool sounding high-resolution audio formats? Did you just get the green light to build that man cave you've been dreaming about? If you answered yes to any of those questions, picking up a new… Read More

With a back panel riddled with connections, a front panel speckled in all manner of buttons, and an array of different wires needed to get everything all hooked up, a receiver can be an intimidating piece of equipment. Contrary to that feeling in your gut when you open the box, however, setting up your receiver doesn’t have to be palm-sweat inducing. In fact, it’s really not as complex as it seems, especially with all the handy features on… Read More

Consumer electronics outfit Pioneer has unveiled four new A/V receivers aimed at the digital media market, including the first of a planned series of eight devices this year that will support Apple's AirPlay technology. The VSX-1021 AV receive functions as a 7.1 channel home theater receiver that enables users to push tunes from iTunes on their Mac or iOS device directly to the receiver via a wired or wireless home network. “Our… Read More

Series sponsored by Axiom The prospect of putting together a home theater is extremely exciting. For the less than technically inclined, however, the process of purchasing and setting up the components can be equally intimidating. We’ve put together a list of the 10 most commonly made mistakes when assembling a home entertainment system so that you can avoid these pitfalls and enjoy the experience of putting your system together as… Read More

Sony Electronics is jumping on the 3D bandwagon, announcing it's first 3D capable AV receiver in the form of the STR-DN1010. The DN1010 features 1080/24p support, seven HD inputs, and HDMI 1.4 3D passthrough technology so users can push 3D content through to 3D capable displays. “By streamlining connectivity and supporting 3D hardware and software, the STR-DN1010 receiver will provide a simplified approach to 3D home theater… Read More

Think for a minute about all that has changed on the home theater/home entertainment front during the past decade. In 2000, the video source of choice was the VCR and all your music was on compact discs. Televisions were CRT-based monsters incapable of what we now commonly refer to as “high-definition.” DVDs were just catching on, the terms “Blu-ray” and “HD DVD” hadn't even been coined, and you were… Read More

With the dizzying array of inputs, outputs, surround-sound certifications and endless gradations in sound quality available in home A/V receivers, it takes an expert to sort out exactly what you need and don’t need for and given setup. You could, of course, wrestle with every option, price out dozens of different receivers, and compare cost versus quality for every single one, but if your goal is to cover all the bases, future-proof your… Read More

GPS developer TomTom has announced a new high-end in-vehicle GPS receiver in the form of the TomTom Go 920 and Go 920 T. TomTom regards the Go 920s as its "flagship" models, featuring what the company describes as the "most complete" maps of Europe, the U.S., and Canada in its 4 GB of internal memory. The unit also features a 4.2-inch touchscreen display, TomTom Map Share technology enabling users to correct and update… Read More

While audio purists once scoffed at the idea of playing music from a paltry MP3 player on their $10,000 USD home theater systems, times have changed, and both digital audio and digital video are quickly becoming unavoidable standards for every home theater. Sony’s new Elevated Standard (ES) line of receivers are evidence of the inroads that both digital formats have made into the living room. The new receivers, priced from $1700 USD down to… Read More

Electronics maker Onkyo has taken the wraps off a major revision to its home theater product line, unveiling no less than seven new AV receivers and three new home-theater-in-a-box systems designed to appeal to everyone from entry-level home theater fans to high-end aficionados. “This is the strongest line from Onkyo in years,” said Onkyo Marketing Manager Paul Wasek, in a statement. “Our strong relationship with partners… Read More

Sony has announced its first AV receiver optimized for high-definition audio and video sources, in the form of its STR-DG1000 unit targeted for availability in August for about $800. Although Sony's aiming the unit squarely at future Blu-Ray adopters, it has features which would appeal to anyone in the high-def arenas, including dual HDMI active intelligence (which claims to automatically detect the best possible video and audio… Read More

Dual Electronics earlier this week announced the upcoming availability of their first mobile audio receiver to be compatible with select Microsoft PlaysForSure portable audio devices and USB thumb drives via a digital media link adapter. The new XDMR7710 receiver ($249.99) and EAUSB20 digital media link adapter ($99.99) will both be available in July. The XDMR7710, said Dual Electronics, is an AM/FM/CD/MP3/WMA/XM Ready receiver which has a… Read More

Rotel, a manufacturer of high end electronics headquartered in Japan, recently introduced a new sleek looking five-channel surround audio-video receiver which has HDMI capabilities and is priced at just under $1,500. Dubbed the RSX-1057, this surround sound receiver has been out in the market since February. The Rotel RSX-1057?s most interesting feature is its support of the new high definition standard known as High-Definition Multimedia… Read More

Marantz, a home entertainment equipment manufacturer, was out in force at CES 2006 in Las Vegas with a large array of new products. Among the more interesting items on display was the ZR6001SP, an audio networking system which uses powerlines in the home, the 7.1 channel flagship SR9600 A/V receiver, the reference quality DV9600 DVD player and the ST7001 XM/AM/FM tuner. The ZR6001SP audio networking system, which is priced at $1,299 and… Read More