5 Best Whole House Audio System in 2022

Table of Content

• SAMSUNG SWA-8500S 2.0 Speaker System
• Whole-House Audio
• Looking forhome theater receivers?
• Marantz NR1200 AV Receiver

How do you know if the product is the best and of the best quality? The following article will give you some tips to help you choose the best home theater receivers for your needs. Our expert support reps are available toll-free Monday-Friday, 8am-6pm and via email to ensure your installation is a success. If you are building or renovating a house, take advantage of our FREE "Upload Your Plans" service to receive a complete whole-house audio plan that you and/or your builder can use as a guide. Sound quality tests include analysis of dynamic expression, overall power, timbre, and tonality; speaker-to-speaker transitions of sound effects; and general soundstage quality. That’s a complicated question, depending on a myriad of factors like format support, connection standards, hardware components, processing technology, and a lot more.

Companies such as Denon and Yamaha offer a number of AV receivers at prices below, between, and above those we included in this guide. 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 models we didn’t select a better pick for you.

SAMSUNG SWA-8500S 2.0 Speaker System

The Yamaha R-N303BL offers a lot of the same features as the lower-end RS line of receivers, but folds in some extra functionality that might be worth the noticeably higher price tag. The dual stereo speaker outputs will drive 100W of power at 8 ohms, just like the lower end model. And all the line-level analog RCA inputs are here (though there is the addition of a phono input for a vinyl-friendly system).

When considering how to power an entire home for multi-zone audio, using whole-home audio amps is all but a necessity. Still, you’ll need to really understand how each component in your system works. For example, many AV receivers cannot send digital audio sources to Zone 2 or Zone 3 outputs.

Whole-House Audio

The Yamaha is great with movies but doesn't sound as good with music streaming. Still, as the Onkyo offers balanced performance across both, it's my current favorite. The best receivers should have a good sound quality and should be easy to install. The receiver should also have a good range so that it can be used in different areas of the house. The best receiver for whole house audio is the Denon AVRS940H. It has a lot of features that make it the perfect choice for any home theater. One of its most notable features is the Audyssey MultEQ XT room acoustic measurement system.

A lightweight, slim-line design is easy to place on any flat surface, and the array of different colors is sure to match any decor. The wireless subwoofers of this theatre pack ensure the room-filling sound by using Injection Molded Graphite for a great listening experience. To make this setup more space-saving, the satellite speakers have a mounting hole on the back for easy mounting. Finally, the Yamaha RX-V385 is the company’s entry-level Bluetooth-only model; the comparably priced Denon AVR-S540BT is easier to set up and use. But it does have a couple of advantages that put it on more equal footing with Yamaha’s room correction.

Looking forhome theater receivers?

But it does represent a big step up in price over our other picks. Home theater receivers, or surround sound receivers, are designed to “surround” the viewer with the audio from a TV show or movie. Surround sound receivers are generally more expensive than stereo receivers because they have to power more speakers, in some cases up to 11, and two subwoofers. Surround sound receivers can also be used to play back stereo audio, but audiophiles find fault with the sound quality of the music using surround sound receivers. But, if you do want some modern functionality, there’s Bluetooth connectivity available for playing music from your phone, tablet, or computer. The Bluetooth protocol isn’t the main focus here, so don’t expect modern codecs like aptX or anything.

Keep in mind that iPod compatibility only works with Apple devices running iOS, and it won’t work with any Android devices. A 5.1 receiver surround format works well for smaller speaker setups that don’t need pinpoint accuracy. We review each of these options to see how well they utilize the speakers provided. Be aware that all K-compatible receivers were prone to a bug preventing them from displaying variable refresh rate video, and from the Xbox Series X in particular.

What is the difference between a stereo receiver and an AV receiver?

This appears to be a problem with all of the early “8K-compatible” receivers, not just Yamaha’s. The fix requires registered owners of the RX-V6A to send in their receivers for a hardware update . If you’re a PlayStation 5 owner or a PC gamer, you should be able to route 4K 120 Hz signals without the upgrade. When testing each receiver, we considered its sonic performance and its ease of setup and everyday use. Dennis Burger has been reviewing AV equipment for going on two decades now for publications ranging from Robb Report Home Entertainment to Home Theater magazine and HomeTheaterReview.com.

(The ".1" is your subwoofer, which has its own amp.) It's okay to have unused channels on your receiver since they let you grow your system down the road. Some receivers even let you use extra channels to power speakers in another room. The AVR-X3700H offers nine channels of amplification, so you could set up a system with five ear-level speakers, two independently measured subwoofers, and four overhead speakers. You can also reserve two of those channels for a separate stereo zone in another room.

Of course, it’s expensive at $6,500, easily the highest price tag on our list. You’ll have to pay to get this much support and connection options, and not everyone will need it. But it’s ready to coordinate your home theater for the long haul and will deal with anything you throw at it, making it an easy recommendation for the best high-end option for massive-sized setups.

We’ve concluded that the AVR-S960H doesn’t offer enough advantages over the AVR-S750H to justify the increased price, though. Although Denon’s Heos wireless system is technically capable of supporting wireless surround-sound speakers, as evidenced by the company’s Heos Bar and Heos AVR, the AVR-X3700H doesn’t support such connectivity. Although Denon’s Heos wireless system is technically capable of supporting wireless surround-sound speakers, as evidenced by the company’s Heos Bar and Heos AVR, the AVR-S750H doesn’t support such connectivity. During our blind listening tests, we found that we were unable to tell most of these receivers apart when their room correction was disabled. The quality of the room correction had the biggest impact on the sound, and the RX-V6A’s YPAO room-correction system helped it deliver better results than what we heard from anything else near its price. After we ran the room correction, the RX-V6A’s sound was more open, more detailed, and more dynamic than that of anything else under $1,000, which really makes a difference when you’re listening to music.