“It was London Audio’s Rick Ho who commented to me, in a phone conversation, what a good value and innovative receiver the RX-V1400 is. Its main claim to fame is automatic self-calibrating of all main functions for 7 channels of audio. This system is called “Yamaha Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer for Automatic Speaker Setup”, otherwise acronymed as YPAO…”

“Harman-Kardon is a longtime audio brand, largely associated with higher end products, and, like everybody else in the audio/video business, has ventured into home theatre. This receiver, in their Digital Path group, is an elegant device with lots of inputs, and component, SVideo, and composite RCA outputs. Its analog audio inputs include CD, DVD, Video 1, 2, 3, and 4, with a Tape output in addition to the main output pair. These are mirrored on the video side with 3 sets of component inputs, and S and composite inputs to match every audio input…”

“This DVD/CD receiver feeds only two speakers with its 50 watts rms, but adds SRS TrueSurround two-speaker enhancement for quasi-surround sound, something I’ll comment on below. It plays DVDs, of course, and, naturally CDs (it also plays CD-Rs and variants, MP-3, JPEG, and WMA discs), and can be the centrepiece of a reasonably priced home theatre system…”

“A company that still beats the drum for plasma while others cut and run, as our temporary prime minster would say, Pioneer has certainly made its statement in the quality of picture offered, and the progressive improvement since the introduction of these big screen flat panels. Price points have dropped at retail, though not quite so quickly as those of the competing technologies, for example, LCD, which has made a big charge in its various iterations by the different manufacturers, most recently Sharp, with its Aquos series. The Pioneer Elite PRO-1140HD TV/monitor is therefore a statement product in quality, if not in price, from Pioneer Elite…”

“To many the very idea of a high-end home theatre in a box may seem like an oxymoron, but that’s exactly what renowned British loudspeaker maker KEF has set out to do with the Instant Theatre. At first glance it looks dangerously like a “lifestyle” product, and I suppose that in the minds of marketers and retailers it most certainly is, but it’s important to remember that we’re dealing with a company that has produced more than its fair share of high-end, and highly regarded, loudspeakers since its founding in 1961…”

“Niro Nakamichi is the son of the founder of Nakamichi Corporation, and he has started his own company to make high end audio and video components. The first wave, a couple of years ago, were very large, stylish audio preamplifiers and amplifiers that were very expensive. Now, under his Niro brand he’s introduced some…”

“This new receiver is striking right out of the box because it abandons the traditional and conservative NAD style that has changed little over the years, 30 in all. According to a white paper issued by the company, “Because the L70 is a DVD receiver, some people might be tempted to try to squeeze it into the rather crowded `Home-Theatre-in-a- Box’ category…”

“A look at the back panel of the Ultimate receiver immediately tells you that this is a serious piece of audio/video gear; I’ve never seen a space so crammed with inputs and outputs. To run briefly through its main features, the 200-wpc unit offers 7 channels of amplification, Dolby Digital EX and Pro Logic II, DTS ES and NEO 6, capped with Bob Carver’s proprietary Sonic Holography in a new DSP-based version. The digital signal processing supports rates up to 96 kHz…”

“This is yet another complex A/V receiver that tries to make operation simple while introducing new features and maintaining those that have become standard. It’s a 7-channel design, with 110 wpc all around (8 0hms), with the new DTS 96/24, ES, and NEO:6 formats added to Dolby Digital EX and Pro Logic II. Though there are 7 Cinema and 10 music sound field programs, there are no THX ones, which is a blessing…”

“According to the manual, the VSX-49TX is “the first receiver in the world to be THX Ultra2 certified”. Among the new technologies embodied in this are “ASA (Advanced Speaker Array [in case you thought it might be something for a headache]), which can process any 5.1 channel source for 7.1 channel playback (THX Ultra2 Cinema and THX MusicMode), or 6.1 channel playback (THX Surround EX)…”

“Here’s a system designed and assembled in Canada, though the origins of the components lie far to the east. Since being bought by Lenbrook Industries, NAD has done all product development at its international headquarters in Pickering, Ontario, while PSB loudspeakers are designed by founder Paul Barton and his team in the same facility…”

“Things get complicated. Especially home theater receivers. I recently gave up in frustration on an HT receiver review because I simply could not make it work! And I’m the guy who takes pride in never having to read the manual…hey, I’m a reviewer, I know how these things work, trust me.

“The newest additions to the small and cute TEAC Reference Series, the DV-H550 and AG-H550 bring compactness to full-featured home theatre. The former plays DVD, CD, CD-R/RW, Video CD, and MP3 discs, and has 96/24 stereo DACs, as well as outputting Dolby Digital and DTS. It uses 10-bit, 27 MHz video DACs, and has a digital picture zoom function, and has composite, S, and component video outputs…”

“Yamaha’s statement receiver, the RX-V1 has in it just about everything you could imagine for a home theatre system, and a few more things you might never have thought about at all. As such, it is a very complex component that should be installed and set up by a professional. Once that is done, and the parameters relating to room size and shape with respect to multichannel operation are optimized, it is quite simple to operate….”

“There are now Dolby Digital/DTS receivers at almost all price points above about $700, and the Marantz SR-7000, while not the least expensive, appears to be one of the most attractive in its mix of features and user convenience. Its look is substantial without being massive like the Yamaha RX-V1, and it does not ring the DSP chimes, but provides features for practical use, including “multiple DC triggers for custom installations”, according to the Marantz brochure….”

“According to Phil Bryant of Denon Canada, the AVR-3300 is Denon’s most successful receiver under $2,000 in recent years and has constantly oversold in Canada and the United States since October. It sits third from the top in Denon’s line; above it are the AVR-4800 which is similar but with THX(ex) certification at $3,400, and the mammoth AVR-5700 at $4,800…”

“Receivers with Dolby Digital decoding have come down in price below $1000 recently, and the new AG-D9320 almost gets to the $500 threshold. Rated at 130 watts per channel in stereo and 100 x 5, it claims “high instantaneous current capability.” The AG-D9320 contains massive capacitors within the all-discrete amplifier circuits…”

” If the reviews in this issue are any indication, the CD/receiver is the hottest new category in electronics, at least for stereo systems (in home theatre it seems to be multidisc DVD players). The NAD L40 comes without speakers, so I thought a good coupling would be with the wonderful Paradigm Reference Studio 40, though Paul Barton, designer for NAD sibling company PSB might not agree…”

“The T770 is a complete A/V receiver with an unusually full complement of features. Though the brochure barely mentions it, and the manual ignores specs altogether, power output is rated at 80 watts each for the front channels, and 70 for surrounds (the brochure also says 70 x 5, but why quibble?)…”

“Over the past few years Linn has become increasingly system-oriented, this trend accelerated by their strong move into high end home theatre. It was inevitable, therefore, that they would introduce an entry-level high end audio system, and here it is. Very cleverly, the product designers at the Glasgow company have combined a CD player based on the Mimik with an integrated amplifier based on the Magik I, and redesigned the Kann speakers to go with this new component…”