If you're a movie lover, but prefer to enjoy blockbusters from the comfort of your own
home, you may want to invest in an AV receiver. An AV receiver is one of the easiest ways
to bring the movie theater experience right to your living room, and advanced models offer
cutting-edge features including 8K video, Dolby Atmos, and Wi-Fi music streaming. However,
specs on these devices can get pretty complicated, which can make finding the right one for your
home a bit of a challenge. The fifth product on our list is the Sony
STR-DH590! The best budget AV receiver! This is priced at about 350$!
When it comes to AV receivers, reducing your budget invariably means reducing the number
of features. The key is to preserve as many of the features that most people value. The
Sony STR-DH590 manages to do this in a stellar fashion by supporting all of the latest audio
and video formats, including 4K and HDR (HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision). It also comes with
its own acoustic calibration circuitry, which takes the guesswork out of setting up your
speakers to the right levels. For utmost audio fidelity, the DH590 is equipped
with Sony's Pure Direct mode for the cleanest sound the receiver has to offer. It does so
by disabling the DH590's front display panel, eliminating unnecessary component noise from
escaping into the mix of whatever content you're consuming. Keep in mind that engaging
Pure Direct also bypasses several of the receiver's internal equalizers. It's a great feature
for listening to music through analog sources, but if you're a fan of big cinema sound, it's
probably something we'd leave alone when watching a movie.
Number four… Denon AVR-X1700H! The best all-rounder for digital and vinyl heads! It
costs around 700$! It is a modern 7.2 home theater receiver that
also packs a phono input, which simplifies your setup considerably. Don't let its vinyl-friendly
jacks fool you: This receiver is blistering with high-tech features including support
for three 4K-120 HDMI 2.1 inputs, Dolby Atmos and Atmos Heigh Virtualization, DTS Virtual:X,
and upscaling up to 8K resolution. It also includes compatibility with HEOS connections,
AirPlay 2, Alexa voice commands, Bluetooth, and onboard Wi-Fi. The Denon AVR-X1700H also
offers multi-room audio for more complicated setups, supports both ARC and eARC for simplified
connections, and offers digital audio and composite video ports, as well as two line-level
subwoofer outputs for adding extra rumble. At 80 watts per channel, the audio is quite
powerful, and room calibration is top-notch, too. This is an excellent pick if you want
phono support without giving anything up, are looking for a more affordable upgrade
to HDMI 2.1, or want the latest format support for your media.
The third product on this top is the Marantz SR8015! The best well-rounded AV receiver!
It is priced at around 4000$! This is a pricey option, but Marantz made
sure to improve upon past AV receivers by covering otherwise empty bases from prior
models. The SR8015 is equipped with an array of AV technologies to make it fit in any home
theater environment. Starting with all things audio, it's got Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTS:X
Pro, IMAX Enhanced, and Auro 3D, plus the ability to connect a turntable for some vinyl
playback or to stream from the likes of Spotify, Tidal, and Pandora, and via AirPlay 2 devices,
among others. You also get access to Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri, plus the ability
to do multiroom setups through HEOS. It's compatible with hi-res audio files and lossless
formats that go up to 24-bit-192 kHz, and you can stream them to the receiver from a
USB or network storage drive. The 11.2 channel system can run in 7.2.4, or 9.2.2 configurations
when using all the channels. You can also keep some free-to-play music in different
zones, where you get up to two extras. There are 140 watts of output per channel, so Marantz
built the SR8015 to handle just about any speaker arrangement you have in mind. The
Audyssey MultEQ XT32 support, only helps the cause further with its room-correction technology,
to compensate for the acoustics inside.
The second product on our list is the Yamaha RX-4 V A! You can get it at a reasonable price
of 600$! This 5.2-channel unit makes a solid centerpiece
for home theater, gaming, and music listening. With four HDMI 2.1 inputs and an eARC output—along
with optical, coaxial, and analog RCA inputs (but no phono inputs for a turntable)—it’s
compatible with a wide range of gear. The unit supports Dolby and DTS surround sound
decoding, streaming via Wi-Fi, Apple AirPlay 2, and Spotify Connect, and can be voice-controlled
with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. The RX-4 V A comes with Yamaha’s Music Cast
multiroom system (minus the speakers, of course), allowing you to connect with other compatible
Yamaha components wirelessly. A USB port lets you play music from an external storage device.
On the negative side, the RX-4 V A doesn’t support virtualized Dolby Atmos or DTS Virtual:X!
It’s also one of the receivers whose chipset has an HDMI 2.1 bug that makes it unable to
handle 4K-120Hz gaming for Xbox Series X or NVIDIA RTX30. Fortunately, Yamaha is offering
a free HDMI board update program to fix it. Although it supports HDMI 2.1, it doesn’t
support 8K out of the box. However, Yamaha will soon offer a firmware update that will
add 8K capabilities as well as VRR, A L L M, QMS, and QFT, which are HDMI 2.1 features
designed to enhance gaming. Together, this makes it a top-value 4K AV receiver that retails
for $599 but is typically offered under $500, and is future-proofed for when 8K flatscreens
come down to a more approachable price.
And finally, the first product here on our list is the Marantz SR6015! The Best overall
AV receiver on our list! It is priced at around 2200$!
Marantz has a longstanding reputation for high-quality sound, so it’s no surprise
that the 9.2-channel SR6015 offers audiophile quality. It includes a phono input to connect
your turntable without an external preamp and sports separate 110W amplifiers for each
channel. As for HDMI ports, you get a generous seven inputs and three outputs. One of the
inputs is dedicated to 8K video pass-through at 60Hz and 4K at 120Hz. It’s more than
capable if you want to set up a 5.1.4, or 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos system. It also supports
Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization and DTS:X, DTS Virtual:X, and other multichannel sound
formats. It also features built-in HEOS (Home Entertainment Operating System) if you want
to create a multi-room system. Its remote lacks a backlight; otherwise, this is a killer
AVR that delivers everything a true music and movie lover would need, and more, for
around $2,000.