Home Theater Receivers

With so many sources such as TV, DVD, Cable box, Speakers and Video Game Consoles in a home theater, the home theater receiver is the component that is the control center f or the system.

An initial glance at today's home theater receiver will reveal a multitude of buttons and a few inputs on the front and a plethora of inputs on the back.  So what does a receiver actually do?

The receiver has 3 main components:

1.  An AM/FM Tuner, with some of the newer models including HD radio tuner and/or a satellite radio tuner.

2.  A pre-amp, which is responsible for the switching of the signals from all of the source components.  It also completes all of the digital signal processing and post processing.

3.  An amplifier, which takes the Dolby Digital and DTS surround signals and amplifies it in order to power the speakers.

Todays home theater receivers combine all these components into one convenient and powerful unit. 

Receivers can range in price from as low as $100 for budget models (not recommended) to several thousand dollars, but the average home theater user can expect to receive the most value in the $300-$600 price range.

Popular and well respected receiver brands include Onkyo, Yamaha, Sony, Denon and Harmon Kardon.

What to look for when buying a home theater receiver:

Surround Sound decoding - A receiver takes the signal from the source material such as DVD or HDTV and sends the sound to each individual channel for the speakers.  A receiver should be able to decode:

• Dolby Pro-Logic
• Dolby Digital (5.1 at a minimum, but many receivers are also able to decode 6.1 and 7.1 as well).
• DTS Digital Surround
• Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio for the latest in lossless home audio. 

Bass Management - This feature allows you to direct the bass to different speakers depending on your home theater set up.  "Large" or full range speakers are more capable of handling a broader range of bass frequencies.  If you have bookshelf speakers that are not as capable of reproducing the lower bass frequencies you can set your system to "small" and the lower bass frequencies would be routed to the subwoofer. 

DSP modes - Many receivers also include various simulated soundfields to replicate numerous environments such as Stadium, Jazz club, Orchestra hall or Studio.  A nice addition, but many users do not ever use these modes so don't base your decision on DSP modes.

Watts per channel - Many home theater receivers use this as one of the prime measuring sticks of the quality of the receiver.  This is not necessarily the case.  While everything else remaining equal, a receiver with more watts per channel will be able to play louder it is important to note that for a receiver to be twice as loud, you need about 10 times more watts so to double the output of a 50 watt channel you would need 500 watts per channel.

The watts per channel needed is dependant on a number of things such as size of the room and the sensitivity of your speakers which is the measure of how much sound the speaker is able to produce for a given amount of power from the receiver.  As an example, if you have inefficient speakers (86db), you would need a lot of watts per channel to fill a large room, but if your speakers are rated at 91db you would need less then 1/3 the power.

Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) - THD measures the distortion, or excess noise present.  The lower the percentage the better, however any value below 0.1% is generally considered acceptable.  Some would argue that the THD numbers are more important then the wattage numbers, however keep in mind that there are some variations in how manufacturers rate THD. 

Other specs to consider are

• Dynamic Headroom, which is the ability of your receiver to output at significantly higher levels for short periods of time.
• Continuous (RMS) Power, which is the measure of how much power a receiver can continuously output during extended periods of time.
• Signal to Noise ratio, which is the ratio of sound to background noise with the larger number being better. 

Switching - Since the home theater receiver is the control center of your system, it will need to have inputs for all of your audio and video components as well as connections for all of your speakers. 

A receiver will have analog audio inputs as well as digital audio inputs such as digital optical and digital coaxial connections.

Make sure your receiver has enough connections for what your system currently has, but also consider the needs of your future additions as you progress towards your dream system.

As with any piece of your home theater system it is best to audition the receiver yourself.  Keep in mind that it is best to use the same speakers and source equipment that you currently own or even better you can order online from a company with a 30 day or more return policy. That way you can hook the receiver up to your system to minimize differences in sound from different equipment.