Buying A Home Theater Receiver Where to Start ?
November 30, 2006 by Joe Boyle · Leave a Comment
If you are setting up a new home theater or upgrading your old one for a holidays gift to yourself, then you need to know that the choice of new home theater [Tag-Tec]receiver[/Tag-Tec] is probably the most important home theater component of the entire system.
To use a shipping analogy if the Tv or monitor is the top deck then the receiver is the engine room and control room in
one. That’s right get the choice of home theater receiver wrong and your home theater system is doomed to sink from the very start.
Let me explain further…
The receiver as well as generating the power to your system (amplification) it also carries out several other crucial functions required in your home theater system and acts as sort of junction box or if you prefer and automated control system to all the other home theater components in the a/v setup.
Your receiver handles the processing of the audio/video signals from the DVD player or other source such as an HD or TIVO and then feeds these out via the audio and video outputs to cables to the other components as required from the information encoded on the DVD or source material.
For example:- Tthe audio signal from the DVD is converted to sound by the home theater speakers and the video
(picture signal) is displayed on the tv or monitor or by the home theater projector if you have one.
Whilst this might be an oversimplification for some tech heads?. This basically is how we get a little silver disc (DVD) to
create an action movie in our living room.
Some new and more advanced receivers such as the Sony STR DG 800 features Digital Cinema Sound , Dolby Digital,Dolby Pro Logic II,dts 96/24,dts NEO:6,Dolby Digital EX,Dolby Pro Logic IIX,Dolby Pro Logic and dts-ES so at under $400 this [tag-ice]Sony[/tag-ice] is pretty much as highend as you are likely to want with a comprehensive choice of [Tag-Tec]decoders[/Tag-Tec] .
On a more modest budget you will find receivers like the Yamaha HTR5940BK at $299 which still offers a very good specification which offers Dolby Digital-ES,Dolby Prologic II and[tag-tec] DTS[/tag-tec] 96/24 Compatibility so you won’t need to break the bank with recievers like the[tag-ice]Yamaha[/tag-ice]
With these higher end new spec receivers the digital ouput will be transferred from the receiver via a component video cable or HDMI cable to the various components of your home theater system.
As you can see some receivers will have a whole bundle of features some so advanced you will probably never even work out what they do or even care. My view is if it’s that obsure chances are you don’t need it but you never know ?
Many people are taken in by the massive list of features when buying a receiver they don’t carry out the most important test of all which is the listen and watch test.
If that sound technical don’t panic what I am saying is you don’t buy a receiver for it’s specification you buy it for how it
makes Lord of The Rings look and sound or maybe your more into To Fast to Furious ? Do not buy a receiver because the specification says it has 95 different presets or what ever ….
In case you are wondering both the Yamaha and Sony models you see won’t leave you feeling like you have been sold down the river. Click on those images to get the full details.
I am of the view that DVD and movie producers have spent many millions of dollars creating superb soundtracks so why would you want to try and ‘enhance these’ using digital sound processing (DSP) and a bunch of other gymicks?
I never turn mine on..
But What Should You be Looking For In Your Home Theater Receiver ?
When choosing to buy a home theater receiver or upgrading you will find with just a few exceptions there are 4 options. OK there are probably a few more including lucas THX but in the mainstream it’s four. Who’s splitting hairs ?
These are basic stereo, home theater 5.1 , 6.1 and 7.1 which relates to the number of audio channels your receiver outputs too.
Stereo
This is just a basic left and right and is still best for hifi audio in my book if I am honest I think using your home theater system for audio is normally a bad idea. If you can afford it run your hifi system for listening to music through a different system. My reasoning is what is required for home theater is not what is required for audio.
I sat through a number of my favorite CD’s through my home theater system and quite frankly hated them this was such audio classics as Mary Black , Alison Krauss and Radiohead what these tracks need is precison not hard earth shattering base which is the norm for home cinema. In the end I relented and brought a seperate amplifier and speakers for audio.
I am interested on your views on this one and will write about this some day soon maybe even take a vote on it ?
Receivers for Home Theater 5.1 0- 7.1
As a basic starting point for home theater you should be looking for at very least Dolby Prologic II (which is pretty much the miniumum ) or ideally Dolby Digital and more often than not DTS surround sound will also be included.
Some home cinema people claim that DTS offers a sharper sound but I find it is pretty much six of one and half a dozen of the other how about you ?
Home Theater 5.1 Sound Proccesing
Both Dolby Digital and DTs use 5 discrete audio channels consisting of two front and center channel and two rear channels. Plus they use a extra channel which creates the bass (low frequency) effects. Hence this is known as 5.1.
This channel is often known as the bass channel and can sometimes be boosted by the use of a subwoofer which can either be either an active subwoofer or powered subwoofer which has it’s own built in amplification circuitry or unpowered or passive subwoofer (uses the amplification output of the receiver).
I personally recommend an active subwoofer and look for a fast acting one or instead of crash , boom , bang you will get a mixed kind of thump.
Home Theater Receivers With 6.1 and 7.1
The more advanced or powerful step-up receivers may additionally include Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES processors which creates further background effects or fill in effects to the main sound track.
A receiver is know as a 6.1 or even now 7.1 it has the same basic system and proccesing abilities of the standard 5.1 processor with dolby digital or DTS. But then is equipped with additional channels (1 in the case of 6.1 and 2 in the case of 7.1) to play back the additional background surround channels (fill in) when watching DVD’s which are encoded with Dolby Digital EX or DTS- ES information.
These additional channels further enhance the viewer experience and bring authenticicity to a sound which is produced in the
state of the art home theater of today to that of a top notch movie theater at a fraction of the cost.
With the gradual but ever accelerating growth of HD DVD and Blu Ray there is increasing justification if buying today to purchase 7.1 receiver as for a couple of hundred extra dollars this will eventually become the new minimum standard.
Tags: amplification, Blu Ray, Dolby Digital EX, dts ES, HD DVD, holidays gift, hometheater, receiver
