Receiver & Amplifier Reviews

Boston Acoustics has been perfecting the art of speaker design for 26 years, so I guess they're ready to try something new. For 2005, the company set their sights on the fiercely competitive A/V-receiver market and released a classically handsome,...

3 expert reviews

That lead and the rest of the review had to be delayed because by the time it was ready to run, the Ultimate II version was announced. It adds Pro Logic IIx and video upconversion, from composite to S-video to composite. Otherwise, as far as I can...

3 expert reviews

The first thing that you notice about the Planet Audio PA2500D is that it is a substantial power amplifier. The unit weighs...

2 expert reviews

The amplifier market has a lot of good things going on these days. In addition to incredible technological advancements,...

2 expert reviews

Most human beings have 10 fingers and 10 toes. Therefore the number 10 is a big deal to us. We use a base-10 number system, bestow honors in top-10 lists, and think in multiples of 10. So it's inevitable that makers of surround receivers have fixated...

4 expert reviews

Many consumer-electronics pundits may deny it, but sound matters in a high-end home theater. How much? I would hazard to say that the sonic character of a home theater is even more important than its picture quality. To give you an example, let me...

3 expert reviews

Now a division of Lenbrook Industries, NAD continues the tradition of high value with its line of home theater products. I spent a couple of pleasant months with this year's flagship receiver, the T 773, where it saw extensive duty, first in my...

4 expert reviews

Unpacking the 2800E reveals an unusual looking power amplifier. The amplifier is finished in either a chrome plate or bright...

2 expert reviews

Creating a short list of the better audio-video receivers (AVR) requires gathering a great deal of information and specifications. (TPV has your back here.) But it also involves knowing a little something about your own nature. Is yours a cutting-edge,...

3 expert reviews

While specialist manufacturers can still make a good case that their separates maintain an edge in sound quality, the gap separating them from the best receivers is not nearly as big as it was in the early days of the still-young home theater market....

3 expert reviews

After making and refining tube amps for several years, Stronczer began to explore the possibility of making a solid-state model. After examining and discarding conventional solid-state designs, Stronzer learned about a new circuit: the Tripath...

3 expert reviews

This receiver's front panel is black but sets itself apart with a high-gloss finish and Pioneer's traditional (and rather attractive) amber display. It doesn't depend excessively on the jog dial. To the left, above the jog dial, are buttons labeled...

2 expert reviews

For $3,400 you can acquire a beautiful, 68-pound music machine decked out in a rosewood-looking base, chrome top and front plates, and accents to complement the big-ass tranny covers. Like the Diavolo, it's a zero-feedback design but does not offer an...

2 expert reviews

Cosmetically identical to the original Dreadnaught, the II includes sonic upgrades, an upgraded power supply providing a small increase in maximum available power, and options that include the ability to equip the amplifier to drive as many as 10...

2 expert reviews

When the dust settles, Lexicon's CX-7 won't simply be known as the LX-7's little brother. It has plenty of power, plenty of design and build quality, and plenty of swagger to forge its own identity in the amplifier arena. I expect it will grab a...

4 expert reviews

The Parasound Halo C 2 is a 7.5-channel controller offering coonventional 7.1-channels output needed for the latest soundtrack formats, plus four user programmable auxiliary channels. Two of the auxiliary channels are intended as subwoofer outputs (one...

4 expert reviews

The Denon AVR-5800 offers the home-theater buff an impressive package. It has an excellent power-amp section, all the current processing modes one would likely need, and a good user interface that includes the AKTIS RC-8000 LCD touchscreen remote...

4 expert reviews

There's no doubt that having a high-end manufacturer produce receivers does a lot of good for the genre. But when a high-end manufacturer makes a receiver that truly lives up to the standards that people have for these companies, it does a lot more....

3 expert reviews

You can't please everybody, especially in the home theater world. Lexicon came close in 2000 with the release of the MC-12, an end-all pre/pro that carried on the company's tradition of performance but also addressed the few issues that people had with...

3 expert reviews

André takes a slow, methodical approach to audio design, making sure to get it right before a product is released to the public; as a result, YBA products remain available a long time. (The Integré integrated amplifier, which I reviewed in the June...

3 expert reviews

Reach for the Sky The first feature of the Outlaw 950 pre-pro that you'll appreciate is its understated front panel. I normally cringe when confronted with the 101 similarly sized buttons crammed onto typical mass-market receivers, "secret" drop-down...

3 expert reviews

While it may always get second billing in the parade of human emotions, don't forget about anticipation's potent influence. This is the force that has been linked to Parasound's Halo C1 pre/pro ever since its trade-show debut a few years back, and it...

3 expert reviews

NVIDIA are worried. If anything their obviously desperate paper launch of the GeForce 9800 GTX+ should be proof of that. And they are right to be worried. Even the cheap HD 4850 is sniffing at the tail of the more expensive 9800GTX and even if NVIDIA...

4 expert reviews

Fortunately, the AV8 and P7 won't cost you a million bucks. The retail price of the combo is $9500 ($5000 for the AV8, $4500 for the P7). So, Arcam spent a lot of money. The question is did they get what they paid for? And more importantly, will you,...

4 expert reviews

As soon as the two-channel demo began, I could tell that the AVR 8000 retains the AVR 7000's warm, approachable sound. I particularly liked what I heard from the AVR 8000's top end. It was mellow and smooth but still full-bodied and dynamic when I...

2 expert reviews