Receivers Today:

    Well audio video receivers today are more complicated, they have built in computer, work as a sound processor. They Handle more than Two Channel of audio (not a simple Stereo). Actually they handle 6 Audio Channels as a mean of sound processor and they can amplify 5 separate audio channels and thats in a particular 5.1 system.

What is a 5.1 AV Receiver ?

    It is a system that can process audio for 6 channels, and amplify only 5 Channels and it is the same for a 7.1 system, it can process audio for 8 channels and amplify only 7 Channels.

Is surround easy ?

    It is not easy and not simple for sure, a surround amplifier / receiver in a 5.1 system, has 5 separate amplifiers in one case sharing one power supply. i.e a 5.1 surround amplifier is five amplifiers in 1. And it handles 6 channels of audio totally separated, as each audio channel contains its own (Audio Data or signal).

Discrete Power Surround Amplifier Receivers:

    They are the best in their class, they offer totally independant amplification and power for each channel

What is a Receiver or AMPLIFIER ?

    An audio/video receiver is a surround amplifier and it has the capability to route audio to different channels and also route an input video signal (DVD) to a desired output (TV Monitor, or a FLAT High Resolution Display )

    Yesterday Receivers had only Stereo “ 2 Channel “ of audio and you can connect 2 Video sources to that Receiver/Amplifier, and all what it makes, is just pass the video signal to your TV set from your VCR, or from your Video Camera as an Example.

Example for the simple AV Receiver is : Technics SA-GX170

Technics SA-GX170  Simple Control Panel :

    As you can see the Technics SA-GX170 has an input at front that supports a video composite signal and two channel Stereo ( Left - Right ) standard. And it supports very basic control for audio, just Bass, Treble, Balance. Though this Amplifier Receiver did sound very good achieving a well recognized Flat Frequency Amplification. So its amp. was capable of reproducing a good audio Spectrum. While an add-on Graphic Equalizer like the SA-GE90 was a good choice with it.

    Yamaha is a well known company for producing such type of amplifiers, they offer high fidelity equipment. Also yamaha produces models that carry out the latest specifications and support Dolby Laboratories formats too.

At the top of the new line, the RX-V863 and RX-V663 support the newest Blu-ray HD audio surround sound formats, such as the “lossy” Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio formats and “lossless” Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats. The RX-V863 enhances analog video and upscales 480i or 480p content to full HD (1080p) and has 1080p-compatible HDMI 1.3 with 3 HDMI inputs and 1 output.

    To understand more about the new audio formats, like the DTS-HD and Dolby True  HD please simply click on the audio formats link.

Yamaha RX-V663