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Home Audio<br />
A/V Receivers<br />
Still piping your hi-def through a last-gen receiver? You just made<br />
Ray Dolby cry. These systems pump sound to seven speakers and<br />
a sub while sending glorious video to your TV. —MATHEW HONAN<br />
EDITORS’<br />
PICK<br />
Denon AVR-4308CI<br />
$2,499 • usa.denon.com<br />
Want to stream over Wi-Fi? Done. XM-ready? Table stakes. Two HDMI outputs for<br />
multiple hi-def screens? iPod integration? USB ports? XM-HD? Lossless HD DVD<br />
and Blu-ray playback? HD radio? Ethernet? Bam! You got 'em all. And this receiver is<br />
<strong>sm</strong>art, too. It auto-calibrates your room from up to eight different positions to optimize<br />
speaker location, giving you great surround effects as well as vivid dialog that<br />
doesn’t miss a whisper. The picture is fluid and crisp, without a hint of digital artifacts.<br />
WIRED More menu options than a Burger King drive-through. Four audio and two<br />
video zones. Comes with two slick multifunction remotes in case you lose one.<br />
TIRED Complicated setup; night class at DeVry required to understand manual.<br />
Not Sirius-ready. No iTunes support in the iPod age? Tsk, tsk.<br />
Onkyo TX-NR905<br />
$2,099 • onkyousa.com<br />
We nearly got a hernia lugging this 54-pound doorstop upstairs. But once inside, it<br />
was well worth the truss belt; the TX-NR905 is all muscle, no flab. This system does<br />
more than handle next-gen movie players—it’s also designed to bridge the gap to PC<br />
and Internet media via Ethernet. The picture is gorgeous. And the sound? Well, with<br />
140 watts per channel and THX Ultra2 certification, your neighbors will hate you—<br />
not that you’ll hear their bitching over your block-leveling stereo.<br />
WIRED Plays tunes and video from PC or Xbox 360. Upconverts video to 1080p.<br />
Four HDMI inputs. HD radio. Supports multiple zones.<br />
TIRED Massive at 7.6 x 17.1 x 18.1 inches. Ghastly remote has more tiny buttons<br />
than the Tailor of Gloucester. Onscreen navigation menus would have been nice.<br />
Pioneer Elite VSX-91TXH<br />
$1,000 • pioneerelectronics.com<br />
Pioneer maxed out the features-to-dollars ratio on this receiver with an alphabet<br />
soup of digital yumminess: Neural-THX will crank your XM or HD radio in surround<br />
glory, Dolby True HD lets you play back next-gen discs without losing quality, and<br />
WMA9 Pro support lets you blast audio from your computer in surround sound.<br />
Calibration is a breeze: Use the included mic to sync your surround speakers from<br />
the exact point in the room where you plan on sliding into a Häagen-Dazs coma. Did<br />
we mention that pass-throughs and other surround effects are top-shelf? Word.<br />
WIRED Dialog enhancement boosts center channel during movies. LCD display<br />
on remote. Both XM and Sirius support for hardcore satellite junkies.<br />
TIRED Some pixelation visible on DVD playback. Only two HDMI inputs.<br />
Yamaha RX-V861<br />
$1,000 • yamaha.com<br />
Yamaha has been in the music business since 1887, but this digital receiver is the<br />
essence of modern. It will upscale your video to 1080i or 720p, while a compressed<br />
music enhancer is said to make your MP3s and WMA files sound richer (though<br />
we couldn’t tell much of a difference). We especially dug the Silent Cinema mode,<br />
which turns your headphones into a private surround-sound theater. Calibrating<br />
this sucker was a snap, taking all of about three minutes to complete.<br />
WIRED Two audio zones. Virtual Cinema mode pulls good facsimile of surround<br />
sound on two speaker setups. XM-ready. Optional iPod dock.<br />
TIRED No Dolby True HD, which means that Blu-ray or HD DVD player you<br />
shelled out for won’t live up to its full potential. Only 105 watts per channel.<br />
WIRED TEST<br />
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