If you want to get as close as possible to the movie-theater experience at home and want the most flexibility in speaker selection and setup, you need an AV receiver at the heart of your AV system.

Today’s soundbars offer a level of audio performance that would have been unimaginable 10 years ago, but they still have limitations in performance and flexibility: The speaker drivers have to be relatively small to fit inside a soundbar, you’re usually limited to one subwoofer, and soundbars typically offer only a couple of connection options, to name a few.

An AV receiver combines source switching, audio (and sometimes video) processing, speaker amplification, and volume control in one box. Think of it as the traffic cop of your audio-video system, routing video from your sources to your display and sending audio to your speakers. Plug your source components—your media streamer, gaming console, cable or satellite receiver, or disc player—into its inputs and then connect its outputs to your display and speakers, and the AV receiver will direct all of the AV signals to the right places and in the right formats.

An AV receiver can also serve as a music hub for your home, since many of them can connect to a home network and stream audio around the house via platforms such as Apple’s AirPlay 2, Google’s Chromecast, or proprietary systems like Denon’s Heos and Yamaha’s MusicCast, which are designed to compete with the likes of Sonos.

Many receivers include built-in support for music streaming services such as Sirius XM, Spotify Connect, and Tidal, along with the ability to connect directly to internet radio stations and local DLNA media servers. And if you prefer a more traditional approach, some receivers allow you to distribute audio sources (and sometimes video, too) to a second zone via wired connections.

If your current AV receiver works with all your AV components and has all the features you desire, you don’t need to upgrade, as you likely wouldn’t hear improved sound quality with a newer model unless you were to upgrade to one with better room correction. But if you’ve purchased a new 4K HDR TV and 4K HDR source devices—or, more recently, an 8K-capable TV or one that supports updated HDMI 2.1 features—an older AV receiver may lack the ability to pass through those higher-quality signals, and a really old receiver may lack HDMI connections altogether. All of our current recommendations support 4K HDR displays and sources, and our top pick and upgrade pick support 8K or 4K at a 120 Hz refresh rate.

Many new AV receivers also support the Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive audio formats. These sound formats are designed to add an overhead element to the typical ear-level surround sound available for decades. To enjoy Dolby Atmos or DTS:X sound to its fullest, you need to add height speakers or buy special Atmos-enabled speakers (you can read more about that topic in our guide to the best surround-sound speaker system), and you need an AV receiver that can decode these formats and provide power to more speakers.

AV receivers run the price gamut from a couple hundred dollars to well into four-figure territory. Our focus here is on receivers that strike a good balance of performance, features, and value, so all of our picks are priced around $1,700 and below.

The serious audio or home theater enthusiast may choose to spend more money for more power (which may be important if your speakers have low sensitivity and are difficult to drive), more amplified channels, more setup and customization options, and better build quality, but above $1,700, you’ll find diminishing performance returns on your investment.

Even under that $1,700 price cap, we found a variety of AV receivers that range widely in price and cover different performance needs. We didn’t set a lot of minimum spec requirements to limit what models we considered, but there are certain key specs that you should keep in mind when you begin your receiver search, to determine whether you need a budget, midpriced, or higher-end model:

How many channels of speaker amplification do you need?

A basic home theater setup is referred to as having 5.1 channels of audio. The “5” in this case indicates the number of amplified channels: two front left and right speakers, one center speaker for dialogue and on-screen sound effects, and two surround-sound speakers located behind or to the side of the main listening position.

The “.1” stands for the subwoofer, which usually has its own amplifier built in so your receiver won’t need to provide it with power. Many mid- and higher-priced receivers are labeled as “.2” instead of “.1,” which means they have two subwoofer outputs that you may or may not be able to set up and adjust independently. Our upgrade pick has four independent subwoofer outputs, so Denon markets it as a 9.4-channel receiver.

Most receivers priced around $400 or less are 5.1-channel designs. Moving up to a 7.1-channel receiver gives you the option to add an extra pair of surround speakers in the rear of the room, to power a second audio zone, or to build a basic Dolby Atmos/DTS:X system with two overhead speakers—provided that the receiver has Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding (most newer 7.1-channel models do). Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks include overhead or “height” effects to make the audio experience even more immersive. The more height speakers you add, the more convincing the effect—but that requires more amp channels, which necessitates a more expensive AV receiver.

With Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, the channel counting gets a little more complicated. You might, for example, see designations like “5.1.2” or “5.2.4.” The first numeral here refers to the number of conventional ear-level speakers that need to be amplified, the second refers to the number of subwoofer outputs, and the third number refers to the number of overhead channels. Since the subwoofer is typically self-powered, to figure out how many amplified channels a receiver has, you simply add the first and third numerals: A 5.1.2-channel receiver, for example, has seven amplified channels and might also be referred to as a 7.1-channel receiver.

How many sources do you plan to connect?

Your receiver needs to be able to connect all the HDMI source devices you have, which could include, for instance, a media streaming device, a cable or satellite box, a disc player, and a gaming console. Five HDMI ports is probably the right number for most people, as it gives you inputs for every source you’re likely to use in your home theater, with the option to add one or two more.

You should also consider how many non-HDMI-equipped sources you want to connect and make sure the receiver has enough digital or analog inputs to accept them. If you have a turntable that lacks a phono preamp, you may want a receiver with a phono input.

Which HDMI 2.1 features do you need?

HDMI 2.1 is the newest version of the digital connection that all modern video-based components use. The connector remains the same, but version 2.1 adds many new features, including support for 8K resolution by way of an increase in the maximum bandwidth from 18 gigabits per second to theoretically as high as 48 Gbps, though all of the currently available HDMI 2.1–equipped receivers max out at 40 Gbps.

Other noteworthy enhancements include automatic low-latency mode (which allows devices to automatically detect and switch to the best mode for gaming), eARC (which allows for higher-quality lossless audio over the HDMI Audio Return Channel instead of only compressed formats), variable refresh rate, and quick media switching.

An AV receiver’s specs can list various features of the HDMI 2.1 standard even if the receiver supports only one or two of them, which certainly creates confusion for shoppers. Many current AV receivers and TVs support eARC, most support automatic low-latency mode, and even at the $600 level many models support variable refresh rate. Make sure to read the fine print to pick a receiver that supports the HDMI 2.1 features you need.

What type of streaming audio support do you want?

Even music fans with extensive physical music collections stream likely some of their music from the internet, so a receiver needs a way of supporting streaming audio apps like Amazon Music and Spotify.

With a budget receiver priced at $400 or less, you’re likely to get only Bluetooth support. As you move up in price, you can expect a receiver to be able to connect to a home network (check for a wired or wireless network connection, if you have a preference) and to have built-in support for services like Spotify (so you don’t have to cast the audio from your phone), as well as built-in streaming protocols such as Apple AirPlay 2 and Google Chromecast.

If you already own Wi-Fi speakers that use a certain platform (such as AirPlay), you may want to look for a receiver that features the same streaming technology so that all the devices work well together.

What level of room correction are you willing to pay for?

Room-correction systems make the biggest impact on how a receiver sounds to most listeners. People rarely have perfect listening rooms, and speakers (especially subwoofers) often end up in spots where they are unobtrusive instead of where they sound the best.

Room correction helps to improve the overall sound quality by using microphones and built-in software to estimate how your room and speaker placement are distorting the sound and to attempt to compensate for those distortions.

Lots of receivers offer basic room correction, but at the more affordable end of the spectrum, the processing can do more harm than good—dulling the sound without really fixing the most egregious problems with bass frequencies. But when you invest in a more advanced room-correction technology such as Audyssey MultEQ XT32 or Dirac (both of which are available on AV receivers of various brands), you get the ability to customize the type of corrections and account for multiple subwoofers, and these systems do a better job of tuning the sound without making it seem overly processed.

In the price ranges we covered with our testing, we were unable to tell most receivers apart when their room correction was not enabled. We found that the type of room correction employed had the biggest impact on sound quality, providing big benefits for some receivers and only smaller improvements for others.

The better room-correction systems are those that prompt you to place the calibration microphone at numerous locations at and around the main listening area. This process gives the system a more complete snapshot of your room’s acoustics. The very best room-correction systems also allow you to place limits on what the system is and isn’t allowed to “correct.”

For our latest round of testing, we started by installing and calibrating each of the receivers individually, as if performing a standalone review of each model—taking extensive notes on the setup process and our initial listening impressions along the way.

With each receiver, we spent at least a day on testing with and without room correction and enjoying a variety of content, including movies, TV shows, and YouTube videos, as well as some action-oriented video games, at volume levels ranging from casual to extreme.

The second phase of our testing involved setting the receivers up two at a time in the same room, relying on a scaled-down 3.1-channel speaker system consisting of RSL’s CG3 bookshelf speakers, CG23 center speaker, and Speedwoofer 10S MKII subwoofer (one of our favorite subwoofers).

Admittedly, eliminating the surround speakers during our head-to-head testing may have given a slightly unfair advantage to receivers with weaker power supplies that might struggle to drive multiple speakers simultaneously, but it made direct comparisons more manageable and allowed us to focus more on pure sound quality, as well as on the quantifiable and repeatable benefits of one room-correction system over another.

In our head-to-head round, we tested each receiver with and without its room correction engaged.

Our pick

The AVR-X1700H is a great-sounding, easy-to-use, 7.1-channel receiver that has all the needed features to satisfy movie fans, music lovers, and gamers alike.

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The Denon AVR-X1700H is a great all-purpose 7.1-channel receiver that includes all the latest features and some nice installation flexibility but is still priced well below $1,000. Even if you have only a 5.1-channel speaker system right now, it’s nice to have the two extra amp channels to add more speakers or a second audio zone down the road.

This receiver sounds very good, thanks to its Audyssey MultEQ XT room correction. During our listening tests, we were unable to tell most of the receivers apart with their room correction disabled. The quality of the room correction had the biggest impact on the sound, and MultEQ XT was a clear winner over alternatives from Onkyo, Pioneer, and Yamaha in receivers at or near this model’s price—especially when we used the optional $20 MultEQ Editor mobile app (for iOS and Android) to tweak the room correction.

After we ran the Audyssey room correction, the bass from the AVR-X1700H was much better controlled than that of its competitors, and the upper frequencies weren’t flatted or deadened the way they were with Onkyo’s AccuEQ or Pioneer’s MCACC room-tuning software.

It has enough inputs for all of your source devices. Three of the AVR-X1700H’s six HDMI inputs support the most important features of the HDMI 2.1 spec, including 4K 120 Hz passthrough, quick media switching, quick frame transport, variable refresh rate, and automatic low-latency mode.

This makes it a great choice for gamers who want their system to have full compatibility with all the latest advanced gaming features found on the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 game consoles.

The AVR-X1700H is much easier to install and operate than similarly priced competitors. This is due largely to its well-thought-out rear panel and its excellent setup wizard. The speaker connections on the back are, as on most Denon receivers these days, arranged side by side rather than stacked on top of one another, which makes physical setup less frustrating, especially if you’re using bare-wire speaker connections.

We also like that the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas for the AVR-X1700H have little plastic clips at the top of the chassis that keep them locked in place and out of the way. If you’ve ever owned an AV receiver with wireless capabilities, you know how easily such antennas can break, so this is a nice touch that we’d like to see extended all the way up the Denon line.

As for the software setup, the on-screen interface does a great job of walking you through the process of connecting speakers, adding source devices, renaming source devices, configuring your home network, and so forth, in a way that’s comprehensive without being insulting. It’s also a snap to exit out of the wizard and configure things at your own pace, in the order you prefer. That’s handy because you’ll find quite a bit to configure with the AVR-X1700H.

It’s loaded with all the music streaming platforms and services you’re likely to subscribe to. The built-in Heos multiroom streaming platform integrates a number of music streaming services into one app, including Amazon Music, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody, SiriusXM, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tidal, and TuneIn. True, a couple of key music services—namely Apple Music and Qobuz—are missing, but the receiver also supports Bluetooth and AirPlay 2, allowing you to easily stream those services from your phone.

Another noteworthy feature that we wouldn’t have necessarily expected from a receiver at this price is Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization, which mimics the effect of overhead speakers surprisingly well even if all your speakers are at ear level.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Considering the AVR-X1700H’s price, it’s surprising how few concerns we have regarding this receiver.

Our biggest beef is the remote control. Though the remote is well designed (with neither too many buttons nor too few, and some nice use of tactile contrast to guide you toward the controls you need the most), we often found that we had to aim it right at the front of the receiver for it to register commands, even from as close as 6 feet away.

Also, we wish Denon did a better job of alerting buyers to the fact that the Audyssey room-correction system can incorporate the optional $20 MultEQ Editor mobile app—but if you want to use it, you need to have the app running before you begin the room-correction measurement process.

There’s a lot to unpack in that sentence, so let’s walk through it step by step. When you fire the receiver up for the first time, you see a setup wizard that explains how to connect speakers, source devices, and the like. At the end, it takes you through the process of connecting a microphone to the face of the receiver and stepping through a number of measurements using the remote and the on-screen interface. But going this route doesn’t give you access to a number of worthwhile benefits of the MultEQ Editor app, including the ability to limit the frequencies that the room correction addresses.

If you run Audyssey through the receiver’s interface and decide afterward that you want to upgrade to use the app, you have to reconnect the mic and place it at all eight measurement positions and listen to the test tones again.

It would be nice if Denon built a sort of choose-your-own-adventure branching path into the setup wizard, perhaps by asking you to press Continue if you want basic room correction or scanning a QR code if you want to use the MultEQ Editor app for more in-depth tuning.

The receiver needs good ventilation. Because the AVR-X1700H relies on less-efficient Class AB amplifier technology (which is typical of AV receivers), it can run quite warm during extended use, especially at higher listening levels, so make sure to give it plenty of room to breathe.

Upgrade pick

With better room correction, more amplified channels, and a host of advanced features, the Denon AVR-X3800H is a great pick for the home cinema enthusiast who wants a step-up option—but it’s also a big step up in price.

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We recommend the Denon AVR-X3800H for anyone who wants to add extra speakers to create more immersive, cinematic sound, or who wants even better room correction (and thus better sound quality) than the offers. This receiver takes everything we like about the AVR-X1700H in terms of performance, features, and user-friendliness and improves upon all of those aspects—as it should, since it costs roughly $1,000 more.

The AVR-X3800H offers nine channels of speaker amplification. That allows you to set up a surround-sound system with five ear-level speakers and four overhead speakers. Alternatively, you could reserve two of those channels for a separate stereo audio zone in another room.

If you’re willing to add an outboard stereo amp, the AVR-X3800H has preamp outputs that allow you to expand the total speaker count to 11.

You also get four independent subwoofer outputs that you can configure in different ways. In Standard mode, all of your subwoofers are monophonic and receive the same low-frequency information, even if they’re configured differently in terms of level, delay, and the like. In Directional mode, each subwoofer receives low-frequency sounds from the main speaker nearest to it, along with the .1 (or LFE) channel from the surround soundtrack being decoded.

In our testing, Standard mode delivered better performance with more consistent bass response from seat to seat, which is the main reason you would want so many subwoofers to begin with. Contrary to conventional wisdom, adding more subs isn’t about being able to crank up the bass to the point of rattling your fillings as well as your rafters; it’s about evenly distributing the low frequencies around the room so that any one subwoofer has to exert less effort and everyone in the audience has a similar experience with regard to bass.

If you watch movies alone or aren’t especially concerned about the listening experience of anyone else in the room, having four subs is probably overkill. But if you watch movies with large groups of people, this is a pretty meaningful feature that we don’t see on cheaper AV receivers.

The onboard room correction is great, and you can upgrade to Dirac Live. Dirac Live is a more advanced form of room correction that X3800H owners can purchase in a limited- or full-bandwidth form. The upgrade costs between $260 and $350, depending on which version you choose.

Honestly, though, unless you know a good bit about room acoustics, we’re not convinced that Dirac Live can give you substantially better results than what you can get from the Audyssey MultEQ XT32 room correction that’s already built into the AVR-X3800H. In our testing, MultEQ XT32 proved to be a significant upgrade over the MultEQ XT room correction in our top pick, the AVR-X1700H, producing even more controlled bass, less seat-to-seat variation in the sound, and decidedly improved dialogue clarity.

In our voice-intelligibility stress test—the Mines of Moria sequences from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring on UHD Blu-ray—the AVR-X3800H provided a big leap in clarity over the AVR-X1700H. If you’re a room-correction aficionado, a glance at the Audyssey charts below explains why: You can see how much smoother the midrange (100 to 1,000 Hz) response was when we applied the MultEQ XT32 room correction, in comparison with the midtier MultEQ XT room correction in the AVR-X1700H. That’s the range where most vocals reside.

The AVR-X3800H has more power than our more affordable picks. How much of that extra power you actually need depends on the size of your room and the efficiency of your speakers (that is, how loudly they play when powered by a 2.83-volt input), but with our test system in a 12-by-15-foot room with 8-foot ceilings, we were able to play the AVR-X3800H louder than we could comfortably listen to.

All six of the AVR-X3800H’s HDMI inputs support 8K video at 60 Hz (compressed and uncompressed), as well as 4K at up to 120 Hz, along with HDMI 2.1 features such as auto low-latency mode, variable refresh rate, quick media switching, and auto lip sync (when the receiver is connected to displays that support that feature), so it’s a great choice for gaming. It also has the same assortment of music-streaming features as the AVR-X1700H.

For such a feature-packed AV receiver, the AVR-X3800H was surprisingly easy for us to install and configure, again due to Denon’s excellent setup wizard. But we did run into a few hiccups during the setup process. For instance, when going through the guided setup, we reached a screen that asked us to choose a time zone, but a list of time zones wasn’t available. We saw no option to skip this screen, so we had to exit the wizard altogether and start over from scratch.

We couldn’t upgrade the receiver’s firmware without jumping through some hoops. At 99% into the upgrade process, an error would flash on the front-panel display asking us to check the network, unplug the receiver, and then reconnect the power. Through online research, we learned that, to get around this hitch, you have to unplug the HDMI cable running between the receiver and display, turn the AVR-X3800H off and on, and allow the firmware to update before reconnecting the HDMI cable.

One final thing to consider is that, like the AVR-X1700H, the AVR-X3800H runs quite warm, so it’s a good idea to install this receiver in a spot with adequate ventilation and to avoid stacking anything on top of it or crowding it from either side.

Budget pick

Simple to set up and use but lacking in features, the Denon AVR-S570BT is a solid choice if you just want to put together a good 5.1-channel speaker system.

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If you want to assemble a basic 5.1-channel surround-sound system and you don’t have much (or any) experience setting one up, we recommend the Denon AVR-S570BT. It’s also an affordable choice for anyone who already has a 5.1 system in place but needs to upgrade their receiver because it doesn’t support 4K, HDR, or features of the new HDMI 2.1 spec designed for modern gaming consoles.

It’s particularly easy to set up, even if you don’t have much experience. This is true in part because the AVR-S570BT doesn’t have a lot of features. But it's also true because the intuitive on-screen prompts and well-labeled back panel help you get everything running correctly even if you’re a rookie.

It has the features you need for a modern 5.1-channel system. This AV receiver supports high-quality Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks (but not the overhead speakers of Dolby Atmos and DTS:X), and it offers four HDMI 2.1–compliant inputs that support 8K video at 60 Hz and 4K video at 120 Hz, along with auto low-latency mode, variable refresh rate, and quick frame transport, but not quick media switching.

You also get a front-panel USB port, plus three digital audio inputs and a pair of analog inputs around back. The receiver has Bluetooth support for streaming audio, as well as a handy setup wizard that walks you through the process of setting up a complete surround-sound system.

Compared with our previous pick in this category, the now-discontinued Denon AVR-S540BT, the new AVR-S570BT also features upgraded speaker connections—with proper binding posts instead of spring-loaded connectors. Denon has removed the composite analog video inputs and outputs, but you’re highly unlikely to need those at this point.

This receiver lacks Wi-Fi support and integrated music streaming options. As a result, you have to use Bluetooth to stream music, so you must keep your phone or other source device close to the receiver—or you can add an inexpensive Wi-Fi streaming device.

You probably noticed that all of our current picks come from Denon. That’s because our hands-on testing has shown that the brand’s lineup consistently offers the best bang for the buck in performance and features, and that it does a better job of simplifying the potentially complicated process of setting up a home theater system.

The company also offers a number of AV receivers at prices below, between, and above those of our picks. In selecting which specific models to recommend, we looked for the best mix of features, performance, and price, keeping in mind the needs of most people. But you may have specific needs that make one of the company’s other models a better pick for you.

Take, for example, the AVR-X2800H: It costs $500 more than the AVR-X1700H yet doesn’t offer much by way of upgrades except for a little more power, a somewhat more robust power supply, and a second HDMI output. The AVR-X4800H, meanwhile, generally sells for $600 more the AVR-X3800H, but the only meaningful differences are 25 watts of extra rated power per channel (although the power supply is rated for only 50 watts of additional power overall) and an additional HDMI input.

Denon’s sibling company Marantz also has its own line of AV receivers, and we’re constantly getting questions from readers asking whether they should get a Denon or Marantz receiver. It’s somewhat telling that these brands are the only two that most curious parties mention when asking for advice, but the truth is that Marantz’s receivers—especially its new Cinema Series—are a bit more luxury-oriented and as such don’t represent as good a value for most people.

The Cinema 60, for example, is comparable in many respects to the Denon AVR-X1700H on paper—at least in terms of channel count, room-correction capabilities, HDMI inputs, and the like—yet it sells for the same price as the AVR-X3800H. The Cinema 50, on the other hand, is a really close match for the AVR-X3800H but costs $800 more.

Much of Yamaha’s lineup is unchanged since our last major update to this guide, and our previous top pick, the Yamaha RX-V6A, remains current. However, its price has been jumping up and down a lot, and we're not thrilled with how Yamaha handled the HDMI 2.1 issues that plagued all of the first-generation 8K-compatible receivers. The company now offers free HDMI board replacements for anyone with an afflicted receiver—including the RX-A2A, RX-V4A, RX-V6A, and TSR-700—but it took a long time to do so, and the company was not as transparent or communicative about the delays as we would’ve liked.

Yamaha is also falling behind Denon in features for the price, and the company’s entry-level, Bluetooth-only receiver, the Yamaha RX-V385, isn’t as easy to set up or use as our budget pick, the Denon AVR-S570BT.

We also tested midpriced receivers from sibling brands Onkyo and Pioneer. Both the Onkyo TX-NR5100 and the Pioneer VSX-935 had some concerning issues. For one thing, both models proved far too complicated to install and configure, especially compared with similar offerings from Denon. Also, Onkyo’s AccuEQ and Pioneer’s MCACC room correction systems did more harm to the sound than good.

This article was edited by Adrienne Maxwell and Grant Clauser.