Top AV Receivers for 2021 (1 Viewer)

[Westly T]

The XMC-2 or the RMC-1L (with upgraded surround channels vs the XMC-2) provide amazing sound. They will likely sound better to most than the Anthem, definitely better than Marantz. Denon and Yamaha will fall under those even on the flagship models. I’ve never actually heard the Anthem so that’s just based on what I’ve heard from others, they should be close though. The trade off with Emotiva will be speed in switching inputs, delays in locking onto digital signals when they change, waiting on it to boot up if you don’t keep video active, and the need to “reboot” it on occasion/glitches. Emo had a number of issues when it came out, most of which have been addressed. I still see delays where the first seconds of a movie intro or song get muted while it’s locking onto the signal. Upgrades are offered on the Emo stuff, so when you need 8K they should offer an upgrade board.

I seriously considered the Marantz 7xxx series as my experience with their ability to switch inputs, lock onto the digital signal, and over all great functionality as well as being glitch free is a big perk. I’m not overly thrilled with a receiver that boots an OS and the things that come with it, but in the end it was sound quality vs price. The RMC-1 / 1L uses the AKM 4490’s in a mono, fully balanced configuration dedicating one stereo chip to each channel, so it is a truly balanced configuration. To me there is a clear superiority in the sound quality to any other surround setup I’ve heard.

The Emotiva RMC-1L has a promotion for $500 off with the trade in of any surround receiver/pre with HDMI - working or not in October. Also Emo also uses Dirac versus Audyssey, and while it’s a more involved process, to me it provides results that are hugely better sounding than Audyssey. I’ve never been at all happy with the results of Audyssey and have even just turned it off. Lastly I like that Emotiva is a US company, and I’ve had good experiences working with support to date. They were professional, knowledgeable, and straight forward. I had no problem getting through to them, but their business hours are limited for those on the west coast. This said, if perfect execution and quick response switching inputs, locking signals, and never having to reboot or boot up are a priority, the Marantz will still sound great - I was really on the fence and the promo really helped me go for the RMC-1L vs the AV7706 or AV8805A. I’d also love to hear the Anthem but how is support in the US? I’m also curious about Rotel, I hear very little about them and can’t even find one in my area.

 

[JohnRice]

The XMC-2 or the RMC-1L (with upgraded surround channels vs the XMC-2) provide amazing sound. They will likely sound better to most than the Anthem, definitely better than Marantz. Denon and Yamaha will fall under those even on the flagship models. I’ve never actually heard the Anthem so that’s just based on what I’ve heard from others, they should be close though. The trade off with Emotiva will be speed in switching inputs, delays in locking onto digital signals when they change, waiting on it to boot up if you don’t keep video active, and the need to “reboot” it on occasion/glitches. Emo had a number of issues when it came out, most of which have been addressed. I still see delays where the first seconds of a movie intro or song get muted while it’s locking onto the signal. Upgrades are offered on the Emo stuff, so when you need 8K they should offer an upgrade board.

I seriously considered the Marantz 7xxx series as my experience with their ability to switch inputs, lock onto the digital signal, and over all great functionality as well as being glitch free is a big perk. I’m not overly thrilled with a receiver that boots an OS and the things that come with it, but in the end it was sound quality vs price. The RMC-1 / 1L uses the AKM 4490’s in a mono, fully balanced configuration dedicating one stereo chip to each channel, so it is a truly balanced configuration. To me there is a clear superiority in the sound quality to any other surround setup I’ve heard.

The Emotiva RMC-1L has a promotion for $500 off with the trade in of any surround receiver/pre with HDMI - working or not in October. Also Emo also uses Dirac versus Audyssey, and while it’s a more involved process, to me it provides results that are hugely better sounding than Audyssey. I’ve never been at all happy with the results of Audyssey and have even just turned it off. Lastly I like that Emotiva is a US company, and I’ve had good experiences working with support to date. They were professional, knowledgeable, and straight forward. I had no problem getting through to them, but their business hours are limited for those on the west coast. This said, if perfect execution and quick response switching inputs, locking signals, and never having to reboot or boot up are a priority, the Marantz will still sound great - I was really on the fence and the promo really helped me go for the RMC-1L vs the AV7706 or AV8805A. I’d also love to hear the Anthem but how is support in the US? I’m also curious about Rotel, I hear very little about them and can’t even find one in my area.

I would LOVE to be able to try an Emotiva processor. Unfortunately, their bumpy track record regarding processors makes me hesitant. I have an Emotiva era Sherbourn PT-7030, which is an outstanding sounding, no-frills processor, but it was always glitchy. Source switching was annoyingly slow, having the same long delay locking on to audio as you mentioned with the current models. Sometimes it would just lock up and I'd have to turn it off/on to get it going again. I guess I could get $500 for it from them on an RMC-1L. I'm just not in the market for that right now. Still, if I was and the choice was between that and the Monolith, I'd probably go with the Emotiva.

 

[Westly T]

I believe the Monolith HTP-1 was designed by Trinnov, I think it is much faster at switching and locking on, don’t think it has on screen, and has very good sound. I’d love to hear it! I’d think it would have less bugs, but getting support seems like it might be an issue. Having a complex unit designed by a different company than the one selling it doesn’t seem like a great situation. I know getting parts & support for the Monolith headphones I have seems non-existent past a warranty return. I also highly doubt they will offer any upgrades for the future, this is why I didn’t go down that route. I’m also concerned with parts quality, I feel like Emotiva has improved stuff like the crappy cap’s they had when they were made in China. I’m hoping they have something to prove now and with the switch to US manufacturing have also improved parts quality over early stuff. I guess time will tell how they hold up… Small manufacturers have a very hard time making HDMI and digital compatibility work great out of the gate. The early adopters are the test, they simply can’t test it with a wide enough group of equipment like the big boys. If you look at Schiit Audio, they clearly say why they don’t touch HDMI or make processors - it’s quite the can of worms. Outlaw didn’t have the best go at it either…

 

[Yee-Ming]

Reading this thread makes me feel such a dinosaur... I'm still using a Marantz SR8002...

No, that's not a typo...

 

[Dave Upton]

Reading this thread makes me feel such a dinosaur... I'm still using a Marantz SR8002...

No, that's not a typo...

That just means you got your money's worth! I think next year will be a good time to upgrade once HDMI 2.1 support is fully baked and 8K compatibility isn't hit or miss. The next generation of products should be closer to what we'd expect.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'm still using a Pioneer SC-05...

 

[Dave Upton]

I'm still using a Pioneer SC-05...

Are you already using a UHD display? If not, then likely no pressing need to upgrade until you are going 4K/HDR and considering atmos.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I did pick up a cheap Roku 4k TV, but I'm not really all that in a hurry, receiver-wise, just enjoying the upgraded view, regardless. I just thought it was cool I could use the TV remote to control the receiver's volume (and same with the Fire Stick 4k remote), via HDMI shenanigans.

 

[3dbinCanada]

As a Yamaha fanboy (4 Yamaha AVRs in service), it hurts for me to say this but Yamaha is at a place where Onkyo was in the sense that Yamaha is not meeting specs in the HDMI department. They are also very giltchy at the moment as well. Why is the RX-A1080 still listed?

 

[Robert Crawford]

As a Yamaha fanboy (4 Yamaha AVRs in service), it hurts for me to say this but Yamaha is at a place where Onkyo was in the sense that Yamaha is not meeting specs in the HDMI department. They are also very giltchy at the moment as well. Why is the RX-A1080 still listed?

Next year, I plan to replace my Yamaha 3060 in my main HT.

 

[3dbinCanada]

Next year, I plan to replace my Yamaha 3060 in my main HT.

Not me. I just got it 2 years ago used and it does everything I need it to do. Maybe once 8K makes some real inroads, I may at that point consider modernizing.

 

[Dave Upton]

As a Yamaha fanboy (4 Yamaha AVRs in service), it hurts for me to say this but Yamaha is at a place where Onkyo was in the sense that Yamaha is not meeting specs in the HDMI department. They are also very giltchy at the moment as well. Why is the RX-A1080 still listed?

The article was written quite some time ago. We are going to be issuing a 2022 revised version in the near future

 

[Kaskade1309]

Reading this thread makes me feel such a dinosaur... I'm still using a Marantz SR8002...

No, that's not a typo...

That just means you got your money's worth! I think next year will be a good time to upgrade once HDMI 2.1 support is fully baked and 8K compatibility isn't hit or miss. The next generation of products should be closer to what we'd expect.

I'm still using a Pioneer SC-05...

I think I got you all beat...

I'm still running an Onkyo 605....

The HDMI OUT just failed, so we're looking to replace it, but I don't like what's out there now based on features (see my thread I started about it).

 

[Patrick Sun]

I was lucky that my 3-4 year old 4K BD player (Sony 800M, not M2) had HDMI outputs for video and audio (at the time, I had no idea why that would be, but years later, 4k video would require a beefier HDMI design presence in receivers), so I connected the video to my 4k TV, and the audio to my old SC-05 receiver, which allows me to watch in 4k and listen in whatever audio that can still be decoded by my ancient receiver.

 

[JohnRice]

I was lucky that my 3-4 year old 4K BD player (Sony 800M, not M2) had HDMI outputs for video and audio (at the time, I had no idea why that would be, but years later, 4k video would require a beefier HDMI design presence in receivers), so I connected the video to my 4k TV, and the audio to my old SC-05 receiver, which allows me to watch in 4k and listen in whatever audio that can still be decoded by my ancient receiver.

Every 4K player I’m aware of has dual hdmi outputs for exactly that reason. Even my “cheap” Philips has them.

 

[Edwin-S]

What do you guys do with all of your old receivers when you upgrade? I gave my old Onkyo to one of my sisters when I bought my 3060 but I still have my old Yamaha A1 sitting in a spare bedroom. The thing cost a fortune when I bought it and I probably couldn't give it away. The idea of sending a perfectly working AV receiver that cost like 4 grand Canadian to the recycling depot makes me want to cry.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I feel like Rip van Winkle waking up to a bewildering new A/V receiver landscape given all of the new advances in A/V presentation options these days.

I'm kinda glad I don't have more than 1-2 4k HDMI devices to deal with, so I can continue to nurse this ancient receiver for a few more years...

I have no idea where my old Sony DB-930 or Outlaw 950 pre-pro are anymore. I'm guessing I tossed them or gave them away a decade ago.

 

[DavidJ]

What do you guys do with all of your old receivers when you upgrade? I gave my old Onkyo to one of my sisters when I bought my 3060 but I still have my old Yamaha A1 sitting in a spare bedroom. The thing cost a fortune when I bought it and I probably couldn't give it away. The idea of sending a perfectly working AV receiver that cost like 4 grand Canadian to the recycling depot makes me want to cry.

That’s a great question, Edwin. I’ve wondered the same thing.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

What do you guys do with all of your old receivers when you upgrade? I gave my old Onkyo to one of my sisters when I bought my 3060 but I still have my old Yamaha A1 sitting in a spare bedroom. The thing cost a fortune when I bought it and I probably couldn't give it away. The idea of sending a perfectly working AV receiver that cost like 4 grand Canadian to the recycling depot makes me want to cry.

I can’t speak for anyone else but for the receivers I’ve had in my lifetime, replacements have always been driven by complete failure rather than chasing the newest standard.

I can tell based on how my receiver has been behaving lately that the HDMI board in it is on borrowed time. I’ll probably wait until it fails completely to replace it.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

What do you guys do with all of your old receivers when you upgrade? I gave my old Onkyo to one of my sisters when I bought my 3060 but I still have my old Yamaha A1 sitting in a spare bedroom. The thing cost a fortune when I bought it and I probably couldn't give it away. The idea of sending a perfectly working AV receiver that cost like 4 grand Canadian to the recycling depot makes me want to cry.

I've ever only owned 1 AVR... and that only cost me (a deeply discounted) ~$350 back near the end of the HD format war when I finally needed to adopt HDMI... and I actually literally only ever used that Yamaha AVR as a prepro -- the amp section has never even been tested at all.

The B&K surround amp (and Vandersteen front/main speakers) I used w/ that AVR outlasted all the prepros combined (including that AVR) in my main system over the last 20-plus years until this year... even though I actually originally bought it (few years) used for something like $600-700 (roughly 1/2 the original price, if new). And while that amp might die any day now, it (along w/ the Vandies) still serves 2ndary duty for now w/ my previous prepro (a decent emotiva umc-200... also bought used/refurbed a handful years ago). And the lone AVR had also still been used in my home office until very recently... primarily to drive some power hungry headphones (surprisingly well) -- haven't decided exactly what to do next w/ it, but maybe it'll finally get used fully as AVR when that old amp dies or someone else in the family wants it for a modest personal system...

IF you otherwise still love the quality of your expensive, old (flagship?) AVR, maybe consider using it primarily for a music listening system (that doesn't need 4K support, etc) in a different room/space perhaps? That's probably what I'd consider if I were in your shoes...

_Man_