(Jul 06, 2009)
John P. Falcone
Senior Editor
If you opted for separate speakers and components, your AV receiver will serve as the hub of your entire home-theater system. Today, even entry-level receivers come with a host of features and perform surprisingly well. But sorting through all of your options can be a daunting task, so we've tried to help out by selecting our favorites, all of which deliver a good balance of features, performance, ease of use, and value in their respective classes.
One quick buying tip--if you're looking to buy a receiver with many HDMI inputs, consider buying a step-down model and pairing it up with an inexpensive HDMI switcher. You'll save money, get more HDMI inputs overall, and the switcher can easily integrate with your home theater if you have a quality universal remote.
Denon AVR-3808CI
The Denon AVR-3808CI AV receiver is absolutely packed with functionality and sounds great, but you'll need to be an AV geek to unlock all its potential.
Price: $969.00 - $1,248.00 (check prices)
Review date: Nov 29, 2007
Excellent
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Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K
The Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K delivers an excellent feature set and outstanding sound quality for its price, making it our top midrange AV receiver pick so far.
Price: $449.99 - $509.99 (check prices)
Review date: Jun 16, 2009
Excellent
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Onkyo TX-SR607
If you can overlook its poor analog video conversion, the Onkyo TX-SR607 offers up a ton of HDMI connectivity and excellent sound quality for a midrange AV receiver.
Price: $439.95 - $499.99 (check prices)
Review date: Apr 30, 2009
Very good
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Denon AVR-1909
The Denon AVR-1909 sounds great and is fully featured, but isn't the easiest receiver to set up and use.
Price: $435.50 - $649.00 (check prices)
Review date: Jan 20, 2009
Very good
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Yamaha RX-V665BL
Yamaha's RX-V665BL includes more features than its predecessor, but it doesn't sound as good, has poor video upconversion quality, and doesn't let you assign digital-audio inputs.
Price: $369.95 - $549.97 (check prices)
Review date: Apr 24, 2009
Good
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Yamaha HTR-6250BL
The Yamaha HTR-6250BL works well as part of the Yamaha YHT-791 home theater system, but it doesn't fare as well when compared to other standalone AV receivers.
Price: $342.49 - $429.99 (check prices)
Review date: Jun 30, 2009
Good
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