Receivers & Amplifiers

Back when Jimmy Carter was president (or was it Ford?), my first audio system featured a Pioneer SX-434 receiver. Even then, manufacturers had figured out that SX sells. My old receiver was rated at 15 watts per channel and weighed 18 pounds. Today,...

3 expert reviews

Price: $15,800/pr. Channels/Power: Monoblock; 400-Watts per channel into 8 ohms/650-Watts into 4 ohms Inputs: Single-ended and balanced Theta's Dreadnaught amplifier represented something of a sea change in multichannel power amplifiers. Although a...

2 expert reviews

Half-rack audio compressor/limiter shows a master designer's touch

2 expert reviews

PS audio began in 1975 as two guys' effort to create affordable high-fidelity audio equipment. Paul McGowan and Stan Warren (the P&S) parted ways after a couple of years with Paul continuing PS and Stan going on to Superphon. After a good run Paul sold...

3 expert reviews

Flexibility and value from a Scottish benchmark. Imagine what it would be like if shopping for a new car involved the same number of decisions we must make when buying a home theater system. First, we would pick an engine, then we'd need a chassis to...

2 expert reviews

Power amps get little respect in the home theater world. They're the heavy, black (or silver) boxes that sit somewhere in the dark, serving your speakers with a generous supply of power. And they're not even all that popular in the home theater...

2 expert reviews

The feature set of the Denon is so rich, in fact, and its operation so flexible (or complicated, depending on your point of view), that it takes a 191 page manual--all in English--to explain it all!

2 expert reviews

Though it's a relatively small company, UK-based Arcam has long been known to place heavy emphasis on R&D. When I visited the factory a few years ago, I was shown some of the impressive development work then in progress. This effort, said by Arcam to...

3 expert reviews

Cutting Edge rates this amplifier at 1,000 watts into one ohm. The amplifier can be bridged with a second CE1000M to achieve...

2 expert 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

Close your eyes and count to 80. 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...

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

The Dreadnaught (reviewed in our Oct-ober 2000 issue) was the first power amplifier from Theta Digital, a company previously known for its D/A converters, CD and DVD transports, and surround processors. But it wasn't to be the last.

2 expert reviews

No matter the dollar amount involved, it happens to everyone: You get locked on to something new, you watch the glowing reviews and awards pile up, and you consider pulling the trigger when either financial reality or conservatism kicks in. You...

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