if you're shopping for a home theater receiver and you aren't sure which one
to get we have compiled a list of the top five av receivers that you can buy today
that will fill all of your surround sound and maybe even your hi-fi needs so let's jump into it
before we get started the receivers on this list had to meet three criteria they had to sound great
for both music and movies they had to have support for the latest video formats and tech because
if we're going to be spending money we want to be as future proof as possible and finally
they had to be smart receivers connecting to your home's wi-fi or allowing you to
stream directly to them with things like bluetooth and airplay now on with the list
this sub 600 av receiver truly has it all no firmware updates required and while
it's not quite as powerful as some of the other receivers on this list the 5180 watts per channel
is still good enough to drive most mass-market speakers from the likes of klipsch polk audio
and jbl to cinema-like levels but don't think that sound quality is just loud with no finesse
it's not the 5100 is actually pretty refined when paired with speakers with a sensitivity of
89 db or higher with an impedance that doesn't dip below 6 ohms or so it even
sounds incredibly good for 2-channel listening warning this receiver does not have a built-in
phono preamp if you want to enjoy the occasional record and your turntable does not already have a
built-in phono preamp this is not the receiver for you the good news is the 5100 supports 8k
60 and 4k 120 out of the box so those of you with next-gen gaming consoles like
the ps5 or xbox series x can enjoy gaming at higher resolutions and frame rates from day one
the biggest drawback to the nr5100 at least for me is its build quality which isn't quite as good as
denon marantz yamaha or even other onkyo receivers the good news is the 5100s build quality doesn't
affect its performance so if you can overlook its small push-pin style binding posts and
thinner aluminum used throughout the chassis you will have a truly capable receiver with arguably
more features than a lot of other receivers on the market right now but for less money
i love this av receiver first off the nr1711 doesn't look like an av receiver and then it
isn't just another large black box with a bunch of nondescript buttons the 1711 looks
a lot like a marantz integrated receiver meaning you can hide it in plain sight
and because of its size you also don't need specialty av furniture in order to house it
aside from its form factor the 1711 is very refined sounding with a rich full-bodied sound
that is very indicative of the marantz brand it's absolutely terrific in stereo making
this one of the better hi-fi and home theater receivers on the market right now especially
if you have a budget vinyl rig as the built-in phono preamp is actually pretty good the 1711
is a little limited with respect to power rated at only 50 watts per channel in stereo with its
multi-channel power rating likely falling well below 50 watts still you wouldn't necessarily
know it when listening if your speakers are 89 db sensitive or higher i seriously doubt you're
ever going to tax the 1711 despite being the least powerful receiver on this list like the onkyo 5100
the 1711 is ready to take advantage of next-gen video formats like ak-60 and 4k 120 though
you are limited to only one hdmi input being next-gen capable which is kind of a bummer though
not a deal breaker for me if you have both a ps5 and xbox series x and you want to connect them
both that is at the same time to your av receiver at the highest possible quality you may want to
consider other receivers on this list but if you're just looking for a capable receiver that
has some support for next-gen video features then the 1711 is definitely worth your consideration
the x-3700h from denon borders on perfect for me this 9.2 channel av
receiver has the requisite power to drive most any lounge speaker on the market but
if it's 105 watts isn't enough it has full preamp outputs for 11.2 channels meaning
you can add third-party amplifiers to the 3700h for more power and flexibility
those of you with difficult-to-drive speakers like say magnapans that want to expand into home
theater should potentially consider the 3700h but on its own it it sounds fantastic especially when
watching dolby atmos encoded films and the odyssey room correction does a great job in tailoring your
speaker's sound to fit your room providing for a very clear and dynamic presentation and like the
marantz nr1711 the 3700h is ready for next-gen video formats though it is limited to just one
hdmi input that said unlike other receivers on this list if you have older video formats or
players still hanging around your home the 3700h will work with them and in some instances even
upscale their video quality those of you who like vintage console gaming you need to take note
the pioneer is somewhat a baby onkyo rz50 though it lacks a lot of the onkyo and frankly
the denon's expandability with respect to preamp outputs so if you are looking for an av receiver
that is going to potentially allow you to grow your setup by adding say third-party amplifiers
or more channels beyond the 9.2 the elite offers the pioneer may not be for you but if 9.2 channels
gets it done the pioneer is likely all of the av receiver 99 of you watching this are ever going
to need the pioneer has dirac live built in which is rather insane considering its asking price it
sounds utterly fantastic for both music and movies especially at most setups utilizing upward firing
atmos speakers like both the onkyo 5100 and rz50 the pioneer is next gen video capable though not
all of its hdmi inputs are created equal the first three will allow for a 40 gigabits per second
connection whereas the other three are limited to 24 but this isn't a deal breaker for the pioneer
still allows for more connection options than the marantz as well as the costlier denon
the rz50 is arguably the best receiver on the market right now when you consider price and
performance there's little this receiver can't do it is a 9.2 channel receiver with full preamp
outputs for 11.2 channels meaning you can expand its capability and power over time if the internal
120 watts per channel amps aren't enough in our test the onkyo's power rating seems conservative
it drove even difficult to drive speakers like the psb t600 towers with zero issue and the sound
quality is just so good i love this receiver for both two channel listening as well as home
theater it's dolby atmos performance is fantastic and among the best i've heard regardless of price
what's more the rz50 comes with dirac live built in which is arguably the best room correction
software in the game right now and on most other devices that support dirac dirac costs
extra whereas with the rz50 it's included what's more the rz50 is fully ak-60 4k 120 ready out of
the box with all of its hdmi inputs and outputs supporting some form of next-gen capability this
means if you own more than one console and wish to have them connected at the same time or you just
want a game at the highest level possible the rz50 is likely going to be for you it also means that
as more devices aside from gaming consoles come to market you will also be able to connect them
as well the biggest drawback to the rz50 is the fact that of all the receivers on this list it has
proven to be the most difficult to get a hold of in 2021. that said stock is being replenished all
of the time so if the rz50 sounds like it might be the av receiver for you put your order in now so
that when new shipments come in you'll already be on the list and more likely to receive one quickly
but if the thought of waiting for an rz50 to come back in stock isn't your bag i would recommend
shopping for a comparable pioneer elite receiver as we have found the performance between pioneer
and onkyo to be similar if not the same which isn't surprising given that they're under the same
ownership so while the rz50 may be the it receiver for 2021 it may be possible to snag a comparable
pioneer elite receiver now and potentially save a few hundred bucks in the process
so that's it that is my top five av receivers for 2021 but now it's time to find out if christy has
anything to add to the list i mean i have a couple okay but i think before i even get into that
i think we need to address the elephant in the room uh-oh and that is the fact that yamaha is
not represented on this list at all yeah yeah yamaha is not represented on this list and
i think people are going to have some feelings yeah okay look i'm gonna tell you why um i love me
some yamaha receivers i've been a yamaha receiver customer for many many years over the course of my
hifi and home theater journey they're not on the list this year because i think yamaha has a bit of
a problem and that is i think they are a bit spec obsessed at the moment meaning they are building
arguably really great av receivers with phenomenal specs that are proving to measure up to some
truly high-end claims that said they're very much focused on their hardware in their build quality
and i have a bunch of comments about build quality but that not withstanding their software and their
implementation of features in my opinion lately has been nuttier than squirrel turds and the other
problem with yamaha right now is it seems like the full functionality of their receivers is all based
largely on promises or firmware updates to come and so it makes it very very hard
to judge their ultimate real-world performance compared to other receivers that are ready to go
right now so yes yamaha makes some fine sounding receivers and yes they make some very powerful
receivers that have great warranties and again arguably great build quality
but in the real world the things that you're actually going to use the way in which you
use them they are woefully behind and that is why at least for me they are not on this list
i mean because we almost included the yamaha v6a on the list which we really like we still
have it still have it and we still use it from time to time when we're testing home theater
speakers and such like that and just for you know to be completely uh open the reason why
we didn't we actually ultimately took it off the list is because i think for me personally
for a customer to have to go through the hassle of figuring out whether or not the
one that they're looking to buy is the newer model or has the updates that it's supposed to have
it's just it's too much trouble it is and i think you know if you end up
not having one of those new ones and you have to go through the hassle of like returning it or
sending it in for the update and i know there are some people that have let us know and at least in
the comments from their experience of you know they already had bought the v6a like that it's
it they're still waiting on updates yeah and and things like that so that made it really hard to
include it yeah i mean i will i will say i will say i'll go on record and say that if you are
not in next if you're not into next-gen uh video features if you don't need that sort of a thing
you know 1080p or 4k 30 even 4k60 that is enough for you then the v6a whether you have an old one
or a new one with the updated board will serve you just fine but a lot of receivers going back even
four and five years now will serve you just fine this list is if you're in the market right now and
you want the most capable future proof receiver going into 2022 these would be the receivers to
shop for not the v6a at least in our opinion in our opinion yes must must add the asterisk
disclaimer yes um okay so enough about yamaha um now the ones that i would include on the list
while i know technically we haven't reviewed these i would get either the onkyo 6100 or 7100 over the
5100. okay and i the reason i would do this well obviously if you have the budget to go up market
just a little bit like i think the uh the you would spend about 200 more for the 6100 and then
oh gosh i can't remember exactly what the price of the 70-100 that's probably like closer to 400
maybe puts you in in uh direct competition with the pioneer the pioneer or maybe the
it's a little bit below den and the marantz yeah well marantz is 9.99 so i think it's just
above marantz maybe around pioneer but slightly below denon yeah so anyway like i said if you can
if you can increase your budget just a little bit which may mean like saving a little bit longer and
i would skip the 5100 okay because uh the these other two from onkyo they're a little bit more
powerful they both both of them have 100 watts and you don't have to deal with the push pins so
that to me is worth the extra money and from my experience even though we haven't
technically tested these i'm confident that they would be similar enough to the
rz50 that it would be a safe buy i mean it's kind of like when people ask about
a smaller or larger version of a speaker we just reviewed i'm like it's probably it's
going to be pretty similar yeah so just look at the specs that matter to you and then decide if
one of these would be a good good good bet but for me i would be willing to get one
side unseen or in this case you know unheard yeah i think that's i think that's a really smart way
to go and i think that's the way av receivers at least lately are definitely being manufactured and
marketed where it's like you're gonna have your flagship i'm gonna use the rz50 as an example
and then for like a hundred dollars or two hundred dollars less you're obviously going to back off
the power a little bit you may miss one or two features but channels or channels but on the whole
there's going to be more similarity in the line than there is difference and so if you are someone
that's like i don't need 11.2 channels of preamp outputs save the money get the one below and if
you're like i just want to use the built-in amplifiers or i don't need that phono preamp
or i don't need you know extra coaxial or optical digital inputs really look at those things because
those are the types of features that are actually going to save you money when shopping for an av
receiver if you can go without them because the user experience the menus the features
things like dirac live those those features start at much lower price points than say an rz50
and so if those are the things you really want like like Kristi said really kind of look over
the feature list not so much the spec sheet but the feature list and decide what you can do
with and without and then purchase accordingly yeah yeah so any anything else no i mean i
really thought that it was a really solid list i completely agree with everything that was on there
that my own the one the one exception was the 5100 from onkyo i mean obviously if you if your maximum
budget is you know 600 or so that that that receiver costs then it's it's a great it's a great
receiver there's nothing wrong with it i just think that you know for a little bit more money
if you have that in your budget it's it's worth it completely agree i completely agree my the biggest
hang up i have with the 5100 are those push pins and the build quality because even to just review
that particular product i had to go out and buy all new speaker cables for the surround channels
the center channel and whatnot because our cables just didn't fit um and so if you're shopping for
the first time then you know buy you know 14 gauge speaker wire and you'll you'll be fine but if you
already own say 12 gauge speaker wire or thicker may be a problem so just just keep that in mind
all right so that is now our list of the top five av receivers of 2020 top five ish
top five ish av receivers of 2021 what did you guys think let us know down in the comments below
and my question of the day for you is what uh it's what is our question of the day today
okay the question is did your favorites make the list what would be in your top five yeah what
would be in your top five because i can already i i'm imagining there's going to be some of you
that are like uh no nad no rotel wtf yeah oh yeah what where's the anthem and our camp well you know
where are they that's the question i have where are they why are you why aren't you responding to
my emails so yes let's get a conversation started on what would be your favorite receivers of 2021
uh if you like this video please do give it a thumbs up like and subscribe go ahead and ring
that bell so you're notified when new videos come out if you use any of the links of Kristi left for
you down below and she always leaves a few know that that is a great way that you have continued
to show your support for this channel and the work that we do here and we both thank you guys
very much for doing that follow me on instagram at recovering audiophile and that is it for today
it only took you 12. only took me 12 takes to do this sign off you would think after hundreds
of videos this i've got nailed but i i don't so hope you all had a great holiday and let's just uh
wrap it up so remember the only person who has to like the sound of your system is you so happy
listening everybody thank you again for watching we're gonna see you on the next video alright bye