A thermometer and a scale will tell you which is the best receiver. (1 Viewer)

[Mark All]

Weight? Heat? Both are nonsense in a low end receiver. You've got to look at the manufacturer's claimed power output rating to determine which low end receiver is better.

A cool way to test a reciever is to hook up a length of bare-ended speaker wire and then short it out. Whichever receiver goes into protect mode and starts back up the quickest should win the prize. Be sure to ask for a demo of the protect mode when shopping at the big box stores.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Well.... I have actually recommended using weight as a criteria. But only after all the recievers match on:

- watts per channel @ X ohms and Y THD all channels driven
- number of inputs
- number of digital inputs
- other features match like binding posts, dimming front panel, pre-outputs, video switching, etc.
- quality/use-ability of the remote

Only after you have narrowed the choice down to several units on these points do you choose the heavier receiver. The theory being that you are selecting a unit with a larger transformer and better heat disapation because of the larger mass.

So the idea that "heavier is better" is not totally silly, but it should not be the first criteria.

(But salesmen ... dont want to educate John Q Public. They just want to give customers 1 simple thing to look for. Hence the 'feel the weight' pitch.)

 

[CurtisC]

I can tell you that I recently owned a very heavy avr almost 60lbs,it sounded worse on music than a flyweight Pioneer.The build was outstanding and the sound was horrific.This is no criteria for choosing avrs,sound to your ears is the criteria,imo.