20 Best Vintage Stereo Receivers (2022 Updated)

The good: audio quality is great, been enjoying it very much. The unit is very small for an AV receiver, but still with lots of I/O options. Definite upgrade from my older Onkyo device and I’m generally very happy with it.

The decent: the on-screen user interface could be from 1980s (poor even comparison to my old Onkyo from 11+ years ago) but despite looking crummy the setup for WiFi, airplay, spotify and microphone calibration was all very smooth and painless.

The front display has some poor design choices – volume level is displayed in tiny 7-segments in the corner that are hard to read from a distance and the main display is taken up by audio type (dolby digital, pro logic, DTS etc) and I can’t find any options to customise it.

It’s limited to 5. 1 and it’s only 4k (not 8k) compatible so low on future-proofing, but neither of those limitations bother me much. Airplay is convenient but note that it’s audio only, so no way to mirror screen using the AVR.

The poor: At one point the unit stopped receiving audio via ARC from my Samsung TV (only ARC compatible, not eARC) and I had to power cycle both devices at the plug to make them reconnect successfully again.

Suspect this may be an HDMI-CEC compatibility issue between devices or potentially an issue caused by the “Eco mode” on the Marantz which I’ve since disabled. As a result I’m keeping an eye on it and have a TOSLink optical cable ready in case it turns out to be a recurring issue, but that loses the lipsync functionality and I’d rather not resort to it.

Years ago, I replaced my stereo speakers with a soundbar, to run my TV and HiFi through. When this went wrong I went to replace it and was advised about alternative replacement ideas – this unit won! (thanks Tim, in Exeter).

I am still getting to grips with it and there are compatibility issues with older tech (my mobile won’t bluetooth to it), but the quality of sound is superb. Married with my old B&W speakers and with a new central speaker, it gives a sound so much better than my old (quite expensive) Polk soundbar.

The bluetooth isn’t a problem as I can achieve the same thing through WiFi using the HEOS app. The ability to stream music and to listen to digital radio through the one unit is a massive jump forward for me (particularly as I live in a digital radio ‘coldspot’ and can now pick up many more stations).

Be advised – if you are new to this kind of setup, it can take a little while to download/install and get used to using everything. Overall I am very happy that I made the jump to this ‘newer’ tech and think that it will lead to me buying further speakers for other parts of the house.

I bought this AVR as wanted something more slimline. Having the Arcam SA20 G class amplifier and Arcam CDS50, Sony Ps5 and Sony 4k player I needed an 8K 4K 120Hz AVR. The Arcam SA20 powers the fronts, the speakers comprise of KEF Q950’s, Q650C, Q350’s, KUBE 12b, Q50a’s.

The sound combination for music with the Marantz is epic, love the warm sound it produces. For movies the combination works wonderfully, don’t be put off by the size or output of the Marantz. It is more than loud enough for a medium to large sized room.

I was looking at spending a lot more for either the SR8015 or Arcam AVR20. I am very very impressed with the NR1711, Atmos and surround formats are excellent. I don’t think I will be needing anything more as the sound is amazing in all forms in this set up.

We decided to treat ourselves to a throwback stereo, which we neither had in the past. With a fairly limited marketplace on the high street, we came to Richer and found what we were looking for. After a month or so we received our new equipment, and excitedly went to richer for the cabling for the speakers.

Assembling wasn’t that difficult, but not being familiar with modern sound equipment the cabling was a problem, firstly coming to terms with its construction. After getting it all together, the next hurdle is getting familiar with the remote controls.

It isn’t clear which does what, indeed there seems a bit of overlap- but no indication where. To be honest, Cambridge clearly make good sound equipment, but the information they give regarding its use is poor.

The markings are opaque to the novice, and the duplication of controllers is it seems unnecessary, unless I am wrong, but the information is not there in the pack to inform. Locating our equipment is also less than straightforward, the cables are too big for our internal doors, another item that has enlarged in the years intervening.

These I hope are teething troubles, the sound is good, and the set-up can be evolved to our wishes, it seems much less straightforward than in days of yore, but I feel certain the cambridge website will help when I look at it, And the people on the end of the phone were very patient and helpful to me, but the lack of a speaker cable is not something I had expected.

This has been a little bit of a rant, but the equipment is what we wanted, the sound is good and Richer have been very good with us.

Bought as a replacement for my old Cambridge A4. It’s not bad as an entry level amp. Compared to the A4 the bass is nowhere as low and rich, consequently an additional sub-bass will be required. The sound quality controls are just bass, treble and balance and are nice and simple.

I chose this as it has an integrated Bluetooth adapter which certainly makes things convenient though the quality of that is a little bandwidth restricted so sounds a tad muffled. Finally, the remote can be a little slow to respond to a firm touch.

This is a good starting point and is good value for money. I was a little disappointed as I thought I would have equivalent bass quality as my old A4 and expected the Bluetooth adapter to be better quality too.

That said, I’m getting used to it and it’s ok for the money.

Here is the body of the review: The Cambridge Audio AXR85 is quality. The 85 watts easily powers hungry wattage speakers and adds clarity, warmth and intensity to music. I had a budget amp with many of the same features and more watts per channel.

Although the AXR85 was definitely more expensive it is absolutely worth the price upgrade. What separates this entry level audiophile is quality components, highs that are detailed and transparent with full sounding mids and punchy bass levels.

Music is played more as the artist intended. The presence and sound stage bring music to life. I hear things in music I never noticed before because of the accurate reproduction sound on all levels of highs, mids and lows.

I thought my B&Ws sounded great, until I hooked up them up to the AXR85. Now the B&Ws sound amazing! It is not just the watts but everything that goes into making this amp. There are also outstanding features like Bluetooth, a Phono input, 5-way binding posts (2 sets A/B), RCAs to add other components like a CD player and lastly a digital small screen (for information or settings).

Don’t let the plain image of this amp fool you. By all means, it enhances music to a new level I didn’t realize existed. There is no going back, I will be buying more Cambridge Audio devices in the future.

I am glad I pulled the trigger and got this refurbished amplifier. Works and looks brand new. Thank you Cambridge Audio!.

My listening habits are mostly streaming music or podcasts with some CD playing and DVD watching. When I found this receiver and realized I could still use my tower speakers and connect a simple CD/DVD player I was delighted.

Very simple to set up. One minor criticism- I did have some issues connecting the speakers (the clip connects are just okay, Yamaha should upgrade these). Even after stripping down the speaker wire, connection A just didn’t want to give me sound and yes I checked my connections repeatedly.

Speaker connection B worked just fine but getting the wiring into these clips was no picnic. That said- I LOVE THIS RECEIVER! The Bluetooth has great range. It connects to your device quickly. I am happily listening to Spotify and podcasts and enjoying the tower speaker sound.

One tip- you really don’t need to set up the AM/FM antenna- almost all radio stations are streaming now. So use an app like TuneIn Radio or find your radio station’s app if they have one (or go to their website on a connected device and click Listen Live) you are good to go.

I am using an Apple iphone 13 and Ipad Pro as sources. This product is likely not going to make a super picky audiophile delighted but I am not one of those. You can downsize a full stereo system easily.

This R-S202 is sold out everywhere and I was lucky to find it on QVC.

It fills my needs for a garage/patio stereo. Sounds a little thin thru my mini speakers I purchased with it but will be changing them out shortly. EQ setting are on the remote it. Plays thru a usb flash drive with no issues and reads text.

I can’t verify if it will play random tracks through different folders on the flash drive. When set on random it only plays a few seconds then changes tracks. FM quality appears good 50+ miles from stations, Amp is a little noisy.

Mic inputs are cool I plugged my acoustic guitar into one of the two jacks and it sounds great. you could play home gigs on this thing! Speaker wire is ultra micro thin gauge, The speaker jacks are of cheap quality.

I have not tested Bluetooth the manual said it’s 2. 0? I wish it transmitted Bluetooth.

Sound quality and general function good, clean assembly with good power supply. They misspelled BROWSE on the LCD display. This appears to have been designed by pasting together a receiver and a power amplifier.

There is a MECHANICAL knob to switch between functions. So, if you think of this as a receiver connected to one input of a power amplifier that has 4 inputs, you’ll understand it. When the knob is set to AUX, DVD, or CD then only the LOWER knobs make any difference.

So to change the volume of your DVD input you use the big knob in the middle. Don’t try the remote control, it has no useful effect in this mode. When the knob is set to MP3/SD then the upper knobs and LCD work as expected.

The remote control will now work with the radio, SD, or USB drive. So, plus marks for decent quality parts. Minus point for just pasting two items together with a mechanical ABCD switch. They could have done a better job of integrating the parts so they work together with one remote control.

Oh, POWER OFF on the remote just turns off the radio/SD/USB section. It leaves the backlight of the display on and the power amplifier is still on.

First one received started smoking within a minute of turning it on. Was purchased online, but was able to return it in-store. Rolled the dice, figuring it was just a bad one since no other reviews anywhere online mentioned that happening, and ordered another one.

This one works GREAT. Plenty of output for my outdoor Yamaha speakers! Nice features. Bluetooth is a plus, but range is MAYBE 10′. Radio is nice, too, but no presets so it will scan ALL the stations and you have to skip from one to another like disc tracks.

Banana plug speaker inputs as well as bass and treble knobs are a plus!. It’s kind of fun for my kids to use to use the mic inputs as well! Knobs/buttons don’t feel cheap. Nicely priced for the features and output.

If this one also turned out to be defective, I was going to shell out another $50 on a new Sony STRDH190 2-channel amp for my needs of solely audio use for the garage/patio. I am very happy with this unit though!! Would be cool if it had another set of speaker inputs (A/B zone).

The discrete power amplifier section provides a very musical sound. Direct mode eliminates the grungy sound of tone controls. As expected with refurbished items, there is always a problem of one sort or another.

The wrong remote control was included with the receiver. The one year warranty covers sending me the correct remote control. The refurbished Pioneer SX-10ae receiver is well worth the purchase price.

Superb heavy duty, heavy weight, Bluetooth Streaming Receiver. Stream music from Phone, Tablet, PC or Mac. Pioneer quality build, clean precise sound, along with pumping bass! all delivered at up to 100 Watts of power, there’s plenty of oomph! 2x 100 Watt, Bluetooth Streaming, 4 Line-Inputs, Tape- and Subwoofer-Outputs, Speaker A/B, FM-Radio with 40 Memory locations.

Basically. , easy to set up for use. Important to take time and read instructions carefully. , in other words do not rush the procedure. As the old saying goes ‘more haste less speed’. Having over 50 years of experience with purchasing and installing home entertainment equipment does help in getting good results.

In this particular instance I purchased this item is to enhance the sound system linked to my computer, especially to enjoy music programs on Utube, as well as just to listen to music from radio stations both AM and FM while busy doing housework.

Dave De Verteuil.

I needed an amplifier for a whole house sound system (Logitech Squeezebox) that would be on standby and ready to play whenever I wanted audio, be it Internet radio or music from my computer. My 20 year-old Pioneer system worked fine but it used quite a bit of power even when quiescent, meaning that it was a potential fire hazard and was costly to run 24/7.

The Sony STRDH130 seemed to do what was needed in terms of its overall performance and especially the standby mode feature that shuts it down from being a 200W device to a miserly 0. 3W, when there is zero signal input to the receiver for 30 minutes.

This, I naively thought, would mean that it would wake up whenever a signal was detected, but that’s not the case, you have to switch it back on using a button on the receiver or its remote control. Anyone like me, using the receiver as an amplifier for another piece of equipment, is going be disappointed that they have to turn it on as well as the source of the sound (DVD player, TV etc.

). In my case, in which the WiFi Squeezebox controller is normally in another room, it is especially annoying. The remote control is, incidentally, an infra-red type, which means you have to be at least in the same room as the receiver to make it work.

I run my whole-house sound in 2-zones and I needed the 2-pairs of speaker option. The left and right pairs, known as A &B can be switched, to A only, B only or A & B together. One really good benefit over my old amplifier is that the sound level does not change noticeably when switching between running 2 pairs of speakers or just one.

One really bad thing is that there is no button on the remote control for this function. The European version of this product displays RDS data, in which data sent along with the radio signal and that contains station ID, song, genre, weather and traffic alerts is displayed on receivers.

A very similar technology called RBDS was introduced in 1992 in the US and is in most car radios now, so there is no reason why Sony should not have also incorporated it into the North American version of this product.

The Sony uses “soft” buttons for controlling a lot of functions and at first use it’s necessary to set-up preferences for such things as bass, treble, station memory and names. I was concerned that power outages would result in amnesia and that I would have to reset all of these after such an event.

I asked a question of previous purchasers at Amazon (who certainly paid more than I did at Walmart) and got an unhelpful “don’t know” and an unqualified “Yes”. In fact the answer is probably “No”, at least after a 3–hour trial power-down; the receiver did not loose its memory for all the things I had entered.

Depending on the technology Sony used, super-caps — to keep memory powered for some time, or flash — to store memorized data indefinitely — it could be that a long power outage might result in memory loss.

I don’t know yet but I’ll update this review next time there is a puff of wind and my power goes out for 3-days. No, I live in the US, but sometimes my electricity provider makes it feel like a 3rd world country.

From a performance point of view, the power output, distortion, radio signal strength, is good but not any different from the 20 year old system it replaced in my home.

Our home rests on the highest elevation within our city. A summer lightning strike fried two televisions, two telephones, and the stereo receiver without damaging anything else. The GFCI’s and two electrical breakers kicked off which were easily reset.

The receiver lost FM reception above 94. 5 and all AM reception. The Sony STR-DH130 was a perfect replacement for an existing sound system.

I am 50 and have had many stereos over the years. Usually as I got older or moved, I sold or gave away my old stereos never thinking that some day it would of value or even that they would EVER go out of style.

But, as people my age have learned, everything goes out of style lol. My last stereo receiver(Sony) was purchased at JC Pennys 22 years ago. Its has only 230 watts of power but it cranks! Lately it has been making a POP noise then it goes into protect mode and shuts off.

So I went shopping only to discover my style of receiver is expensive to purchase now. I only paid $149 back then and that was a lot for me back then. I searched Ebay and found my new Sony receiver for $124.

It has 135Wx2 what ever that means. I feel that its a descent component, but not as good as my last. It is a bit smaller and does not fit my the scale of my dual cassette, and turn table, it does not crank with power (although does not distort the speakers either.

just does not seem to get very loud), there is no extra base button(just base/treble)Feels like I need to buy an equalizer to get the same sound definition as my old one,the volume knob is a lot smaller scale which does not feel or look old school to me.

Just need stereo for my shop, no 5. 1 or greater Dolby, HDMI, etc. Receiver does have VCR inputs but these inputs can be used without the video for another audio source which I did for my XM receiver.

With the audio output of the VCR connections I was able to still use my audio feed to a room in my shop. So this Sony replaced my old receiver with failing FM quite nicely. I also like the Bass Boost button–helps in my wide open shop with speakers up on edge of loft.

100 watts per channel lets me “rock out”. So. I am quite pleased with this stereo receiver!.

I’ve been impressed with Sony products for years. I had a box stereo that was wearing out and wanted to upgrade to the Tuner that I purchased. When I hooked it up and played it my wife was in the kitchen (and doesn’t have a sharp ear anyway) said.

“So what’s the difference??” Later she came into the living room and was able to hear the clarity and bass difference from our old unit, and she said “Oh, that is a lot nicer.

NOT 5.1 SURROUND! Just a Stereo…disregard the 5.1 reviews. Great Stereo though!

Don’t let the look’s fool you , like me. This Onkyo Stereo Receiver lacks the tone quality. The Bass controls does not go up to 10 dB , and the Treble only goes up to 6dB. So your not getting the full tone control plus their is no Loudness control.

So this Receiver lacks sound quality. And I was using this with my beautiful sounding Polk Speakers and My Polk Sub Still It’s a piece of junk. The older Onkyo Stereo Receiver are much better from the 90’s.

Just hooked the unit up to my Klipsch R-15 speakers and Yamaha subwoofer. So far my impressions are that this unit is made extremely well and is very user friendly. Not too many bells and whistles, just enough for a basic hi-fi setup which I like.

Phono input, subwoofer output and Bluetooth connectivity were musts for me. Bluetooth connects very quickly! Equalizer and balance works fine. My only complaint like other people is that the unit isn’t the most powerful.

I wouldn’t recommend using this with anything other than bookshelf speakers. And it’s not that it won’t get loud, it does, I just don’t like how close I got to the maximum volume. But if you’re looking for a well built, pure sounding unit for a living room this will serve you well.

Can’t wait to listen to my record collection through this system. Ultimately satisfied with my decision.

I have my receiver connected to a pair of Klipsch La Scala speakers (the 41 year old models having the original stickers on the back). When I run FM stero the sound is very crisp. The station could be better, but we do the best we can with our am/fm amplifier.

Being in the boondocks doesn’t help. My TV, Samsung C630 has a very convenient analog audio out which happens to fit a specialized 3. 5mm adapter that goes from the TV to the L and R AUX inputs on the receiver.

Then came the sound. The satellite radio and CD are both incredible. With these speakers, I’m sitting at 35% output for a concert feel. I can crank it down to 20% and the only thing that tapers off is the volume.

Quality remains high! I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to find this receiver. I can listen to Directv satellite radio through the TV and I can also listen to the CD player in the same manner.

PROS – Great sound & nice build. Weighs more than similar priced receivers so you know they didn’t skimp on the power transformer. – Controls on unit allow volume control, input selection and preset radio selections.

CONS – Need to use remote for setup, balance, treble/bass, and other functions. – Control labeling on unit is gray on black and tough to read in subdued light. – This item CAN NOT be returned to a Wal-Mart store even though service desk assured me that it could.

– THE BIGGEST PROBLEM IS WITH THE FM TUNER. This unit replaced a 15 year old Sherwood (a similarly priced but now obsolete model) that died. It is connected to the same outdoor antenna but pulls in fewer stations.

The missing stations can be received only if you use the remote to allow for mono reception. The older unit switched automatically to mono on a weak FM stereo station, allowing reception without use of the remote.

This means that even though you can use the preset buttons on the unit, ya still need the blasted remote to switch between stereo & mono. If switching between FM stations is a high on your priorities this may be a deal changer! BOTTOM LINE: This seems to be a well built, quality, unit capable of delivering excellent sound.

As such, it’s a great bang for the buck. Just be aware that it only provides 2 channel stereo and is not suitable for surround sound, multi-channel applications. It works very well for me.

This receiver is advertised as 200 watts. But, it is really only 100 watts per channel for a total of 200 watts. I have this receiver connected to the same speakers as my previous receiver (different brand) and the bass tone is much less.

If you have the treble and bass equal the sound is tinny. I have the bass all the way up and the treble low so the sound is acceptable but not good. Also, now I have to adjust my antenna almost daily to get reception.

I would return it BUT, I did not realize this did not come from Walmart, but from a third seller; I can not return it to Walmart and it would be too much of a hassle to repack and ship back to the seller AT MY COST.

So, you get what you pay for, clean audio and nice visual presentation. My only real gripe, the UI is a little slow. It takes a while to load chromecast apps and spotify playback. Something to note, when you run the auto audio calibration, you may not get any action from your powered sub, that’s because the auto eq doesn’t think you need one.

Go into sound settings and look for “double bass”. Turn that on and your sub will be used again.

Granted this unit is expensive it definitely is an upgrade to my 20yr old head unit. I currently use the unit to power my outdoor speakers. My old unit would get rather warm when pushing it to 75% capacity.

This unit I had to actually set the max volume to 65% or my entire neighborhood would hear me. Also at 65% the unit remains very cool. And its only half the height of my old unit. Glad I made this purchase.

Again definitely more expensive but worth it for a 2 speaker setup.

It’s obviously a smaller powered 2 channel receiver, but I needed it for the small space because my larger receiver was overheating. This thing stays extremely cool. It also has plenty of power for a one bedroom apt.

It works completely as designed. Happy with my purchase.

Once we decided to finally replace our wonderful but aging 1980 Kenwood receiver, we were faced with a serious dilemma: what to replace it with? There are plenty of expensive high-end stereo receivers out there, but are they *really* worth it? Maybe if cost were no object, I wouldn’t care, but most of us have to do other things with our money, like eat or have a roof over their heads.

Most of the searches put this receiver at the top of the list, which annoyed me. Mostly because I had (spoiler: past tense) a long-standing issue with Sony dating back to the 1980s. My spouse convinced me to finally put it to rest and order this receiver.

Boy, am I glad that we did. First off, it sounds just as good as our Kenwood, and takes up about 40% of the space. It has a real phono input, and three aux inputs, one of which is perfect for a tape deck.

I would’ve preferred two tape inputs for dubbing, but en external box works just as well. The look is very clean, and there aren’t a lot of unnecessary frills. I do have one or two nitpicks, though. The biggest is the connection for the FM antenna, which looks more like s fan connector on a motherboard than a real set of screw terminals or a coax connection.

I’m STILL trying to figure out how I’m going to patch in a better antenna. Also, I miss having AM. Yeah, I know, but there are still a few really good AM stations out there, and it’d be nice to have the option to listen to them.

HD FM would also be nice, but again I’m nitpicking. Overall, I’ve not seen a better value out there. We’ve had plenty of gear over the years from every manufacturer, and I’d put this Sony receiver up against any of them.

Once I got over my snit with Sony, ir became obvious stat hey still care about good stereo music.

The previous reviews are much more technical than this will be I’m sure. However…if you’re looking for a very clean, fairly powerful, beautiful sounding modern receiver with a retro feel and sound, then this is for you.

This replaced an early 70’s Harmon that finally gave up one channel (still getting g it repaired eventually) and I chose this one to run my turntables. I’m currently running a Pioneer PL15D with a Technics tone arm, Dual head, and Shure cartridge and with the built in preamp for turntables, this thing is as clean as it’s ever been.

Doesn’t matter if I’m running vintage 70’s rock or new production grunge vinyl…it all is clean as can be. This receiver has all the modern fun things like Bluetooth and usb but with the sound and warmth of a vintage receiver.

Dare I say it almost sounds tubish? It’s got that much warmth. You do have to crank it a bit to get it loud but it handles it just fine. Read the review about the board and certain features being found on more expensive receivers.

Absolutely spot on. I’m currently running a pair of Fisher 15” towers and a pair of 12” Fisher towers off it and it does very well with them (both sets are OG 8 ohm setups with the white woofers made in Japan).

Honestly, this is the best bang for your buck. I was thinking “eh, it’s cheap…I’ll run it until I find a vintage marantz or something”. Nope. Not even looking at this point. There’s simply no need. It’s the best of both worlds as far as modern and vintage tone go.

Just buy it. You’ll love it. Now, it is fairly niche though…if you’re not wanting a 2 channel old school style receiver and instead wanting some Dolby 15. 9. 2. 1 or whatever super duper surround sound with built in prostate massager, this isn’t it.

This is more retro than anything. If you’re wanting to use it for it’s intended use, you’ll be more than happy with it. I can really see this being amazing with some JBL bookshelf or smaller tower speakers in a den or office too.

It would sound incredible.

I had an old Sony receiver that was amazing. It crapped out on me after 35 years. I’ve been trying to get it fixed for the last six months. I would’ve paid anywhere from $200 to $300 to get it fixed but nobody would fix it locally.

So I stuffed it in the garage and decided to buy a new unit. I bought this BASIC unit right before Christmas so that when family VISITED over the holidays, I would have something to play music from my phone.

Although this unit is basic the sound it pushes out is crisp and I’m very pleased with it. Other features that I like is the ability to connect two pair of speakers to the unit, and of course the ability to connect a Bluetooth device to it without having to use the aux with a RCA jack.

I also like the simple operations but that comes with some cons because I don’t have the pro logic or cinema options for a center speaker or two rear speakers. However, this unit will hold me over until supplies for receivers are back to normal.

And for the price of 170, I think it was worth the investment. I really don’t have anything bad to say about the unit because the value for what I got is worth it. I will say though, had there been other options to fulfill all of my needs, I probably would not have purchased this unit but rather invested in a unit that cost twice as much.

Great value for the money is all I can say.

Years ago my wife let me purchase a very high end set of planar speakers, and matching quality preamp/amp equipment in the 14′ X 20′ living room. Recently she gave me (at my request) an equally impressive and expensive pair of Walsh driven speaker for back in my 11.

5′ X 14. 5′ office. I thought a name brand Asian-brand 50 watt amplifier would be perfect, but the speakers just weren’t as striking as I thought they would be. After hearing many good things about Cambridge Audio, and being urged by may people to try one out, I bought this 85 watt unit (still not a bigger room and no need for digital inputs because of a first-rate CD player with its own DAC).

As the title says – the sound is breathtaking. It matches the “main” stereo with its $1,500 electronics in terms of warmth, width yet vital center staged sound, detail, intricacies of usually slightly masked background instruments instruments, palpable “power in reserve feeling”, and overall 3-D sound (width, depth and even height).

It’s like the Cambridge was built for the Walsh driving units. Just to check, I brought into my office my front bookshelf Cambridge Soundworks satellite speakers from my home theater system (I still love them even though they’re no longer for sale) and then two of my (no longer sold) Mirage Omnisat speakers from my second home theater (same sentiment).

Each and every pair of speaker were, quite simply, driven to a sound they had never achieved before when being driven by typical name-brand multi-channel receivers. The Cambridge Audio power reserves and (to use a Henry Kloss phrase, which is high praise in just the use of his name) “voicing” (or a total lack thereof) gave each speaker abilities to produce details that they had never before accomplished.

Even so, as much as it brought out the remarkable sounds that it eked out of each system, this Cambridge Audio amplifier also managed to show the strengths and weaknesses of each speaker system. The (now defunct) Cambridge Soundworks speakers are clearly meant to have a neutral somewhat “British” clarity of sound just like the Cambridge Audio amplifier which makes them excellent for dramas and the like in a home theater – yet they had their “excitement limitations.

The (also now non-produced) Omnisats are spectacular in action movies and likewise, with the Cambridge Audio being reviewed, they were exciting in music – but they were/are trying to put out so much information that in the long run clarity is lost.

The Walsh speakers handled everything with the aplomb that $2,000 speakers should possess. The wonderful thing was, though, was that this was the first time in two years that I heard these speakers do that, and also the first time that I heard those other speakers sound so darn near close.

I very much like to buy my stereos and cameras and cars (hobbies that frequently go together) with the same belief: their is a price point and a product that produces such an ideal that more is unnecessary but less is unsatisfactory.

That theory and belief and ideal is carried out in the Cambridge Audio AXR series. If I was in my main living room I might need the 100 watt unit. If I were younger and my ears and my ego were more “golden” I might need a different Cambridge Audio series.

As it is, though, for a “budget” series, this is the top of the line. different series.

I’m very much a novice with my equipment, and perhaps it’s wrong that I paid less for my amplifier than my turntable, but I think that the value for money that the AXR85 offers is extremely good. I find the Bluetooth connectivity very helpful, easy to pair and it stops arguments about who controls the internet radio (the answer is me as I’m the only one who’s paired to it ;-)) Even without running in, the amp is sounding warm and has enough tone to make me realise it can only get better.

Decent treble and bass controls that make a difference are v important. My criteria was simple: a built in phono stage (and CA are known for making excellent Phono Stages), bluetooth and, well, that was about it.

I’m not fussy, really. This more than delivers on that. I personally can’t hear the difference between this and something twice its price, but I do know that it blows my old amp out of the water. My only criticisms (hence the 4 stars) is that I’d like Internet Radio rather than FM/AM, as the stations I listen to aren’t available on anything but DAB/internet, and I’ve noticed that it likes to turn off sometimes whilst playing Bluetooth from one particular source.

I just need to check if it’s the source at fault (suspect so). Overall, very happy with it and recommend it as a superb piece for an entry level setup.

Nice ampli, clean designe and simple options. At this price you cant expect more gadjets anyway but the minimum is there and they perform well as expexted. The 3 stars goes for the lack of base. The base is there as long as you crank up the volume, The ampli reduce the base electronically every time you turn up the volume a little more.

You start to notice half way and at 3/4 half the base is gone. I’m not a technician but this is usually due to a too small power supply. Base require more power so small power supply cannot provides enough power to provide the base require at hi-volume.

Perfect for the day to day TV but not movies. If the base is not on your list, go for it otherwise, a good product. I returned it.

Good Basic Stereo good value for the money. This Stereo is a good basic unit and if you want two Channel sound this is the way to go. On sale this is a very good deal. works as it should and nice that i can dim the LED on the front.

Nice touch. The remote is Ok. but could be better. Remote would be better if it was wider and not so long also would be 10X better if it was back-lit. about the only small flaw. I Also looked at the basic Sony Unit as well.

But Sony cuts too many corners when it comes to there power supply’s on there cheaper amps and because of that there cheap amps make a lot of noise. Yamaha Did not cut any corners here and it shows it’s a Basic unit and that’s it but what is here is good.

I use this unit in my small home office where I work 3 to 4 days per week. It provides the perfect blend of power, convenience, and functionality. I have it connected via my home ethernet network and it performs beautifully.

The YPAO feature worked great in achieving excellent sound in my small office. I have it connected to a pair of vintage JBL L20T speakers and a Polk subwoofer. I mainly stream music from my Mac over my home network and listen to FM news radio.

This is an excellent unit and I highly recommend it for those who desire a no-muss, no-fuss, easy-to-set-up unit that delivers excellent, high-fidelity sound.

The unit performs very well but there are some issues. #1 You have to manually set up wifi using your remote control that comes with the unit. Don’t try to follow the instructions for MusicCast if you are going to use an Android phone.

#2 Make sure when the unit connects to wi-fi or wired connection that it performs all firmware updates before proceeding. I found I could not use the MusicCast app to set up the unit because it needed firmware updates before it would connect.

WPS does seem to work for this. #3 once all the firmware is updated – and this might take multiple rounds, keep checking – THEN you can connect to the MusicCast app. #4 your phone if Android MUST be connected to a 2.

4GHz WiFi network and not a 5GHz. MusicCast app absolutely will not work when connected to 5GHz using an Android phone. Of course this may all change once Android updates its own software in the future.

Once I figured all this out, the unit works perfectly.

This receiver was purchased to replace a 24 year old Yamaha receiver. Pros: Nice simple appearance, good features for the price, easy to set up, felt well built. I had it hooked up, connected to my wifi (through IOS share) and playing via AirPlay very quickly.

Cons: the sound quality was disappointing. It sounded “leaner” than my old receiver that was rated at 80W vs this at 100W. Also it had a higher noise floor which I could hear at low volume levels. I may still recommend this if you have a basic audio system and you don’t want to spend any more.

This receiver is less than average; in fact, it is terrible; poor. I hooked it up and at first I thought it didn’t work. I did everything I know to do (which is a LOT) to make sure everything was connected properly but I got NO SOUND.

After more than an hour, I decided to turn it past “20” on the volume control; still nothing. I turned it past “30” — nothing. I was going to turn it as high as it could go and when it got to “40”, I finally heard a whimper of sound.

What? A brand new receiver has to be turned up to 40 just to hear a whimper of sound? My old Aiwa component receiver, which a busted up cassette deck would be very sufficient at level 10; if I turned it to 20, the neighbors could hear it.

I bought this new receiver to bring all of my equipment into “the modern era” and to conserve space (the Aiwa system was a little bit too big). This stinking thing works like it was made in the 1920’s or something.

VERY POOR SOUND QUALITY. DO NOT BUY THIS THING. IT HAS HORRIBLE SOUND. An amp is suppose to amplify the sound; this one does not.

I bought this for the Garage , my stress free Zone. This receiver has been relocated to the Sun Room because of the clear sound and the sharp looks. It looks a little retro but has the modern updated features.

I would recommend spending the extra money and getting higher quality speakers. I have both B&W but also a pair of inexpensive Insignias for outside. THEY BOTH SOUND GREAT. This receiver is NOT Bluetooth compatible.

The price on this Unit can not be found for less as of this date. I will be purchasing another for the garage. CD, DVD TAPE AND VCR AV JACKS in rear. also speakers hook up with “spring loaded retainers” for a better term.

It comes with am and Fm antenna. Good buy. I hope this helps you decide. I am over 55 years old.

I bought this unit and hooked it up to four 8 ohm speakers. It worked well for several months. It didn’t sound bad for a cheap receiver. After several month, it failed to power-up. It was well past the return period but I contacted Sherwood customer support and they suggested I return it and they would repair it.

I sent it back and to my surpise, they sent me a new (possibly re-furbished unit) unfortunately it failed after a couple of months. I considered sending it back but I realized with the cost of shipping, I might be thowing good money away.

I decided to suck it up and buy a decent receiver instead.

Good sound, but was not impressed that to stream music from my phone directly to the receiver from Spotify requires a Premium subscription. The same with at least 1 other App. Also, Best Buy and Onkyo websites state ” 100W RMS per channel at 8 Ohms, 20Hz–20kHz, 0.

08% THD, 2 channels driven “. Yet while going through the Setup a second time I fell upon a function ” Select your speaker impedance ” with 2 choices – 4 Ohms or 6 Ohms. In preparation to buying this TX-8270 (which I received today), I purchased a decent pair of 8 Ohms 130W RMS floor standing speakers for $1000.

Most 2. 0 channel amps have a 4 or 6 Ohms switch at the back. Since this one doesn’t I assumed I needed 8 Ohms speakers. Now I find out this 2. 0 receiver is capable of pushing higher than 100W RMS into 6 Ohms speakers.

Very, very disappointed and might be returning this TX-8270.

” I haven’t yet hooked up this receiver, so I cannot comment on ‘sound quality,’ or ‘ease of use. ‘ As to ‘good value,’ only time will tell. ” > read on I did hook up this receiver 4 days ago (Jan. 6th), figured out how the ‘reset’ function is accessed, and since then it has been working well.

The receiver is not easy to set up (lots of steps), but there are quite a few unique features that I appreciate. If your system includes a TV (video), setup is a little easier as instructions will be displayed on the TV if hooked up.

Once you know your way around the features, the item is easy to use.

I was searching for an inexpensive receiver and this Sony seemed t fit the bill. Setting it up should have been simple but that didn’t turn out the case. I headed this review “Curious ommisions” because the speaker terminals are really out of date spring loaded.

I had to remove the banana plugs frm my perfectly good speaker cables and then strip off the insulation to expose the bare wire that turned out to be too thick to fit in the the spring loaded speaker connections.

I made several attempts to get the wire thin enough to fit in to te sockets, but in the end I purchased some thin guage wire that wold ftn. I can’t imagine why Sony thought this was a good idea. Another thing was the aerial.

Instead of a connection that one could connect to an outside aerial on the roof, there is a very small socket in to whick one has to plug in a short length of very thin wire. That’s it, no other alternative.

Finally, after too long trying to fit the speaker cables, I got it up and working. It’s adequate. I didn’t expect too much from such an inexpensive piece of kit. It’s satisfactory, nothing more.

Brilliant product with very impressive audio quality. Just one thing has materialised since I bought this specific unit: The front panel buttons seem to double-bounce and occasionally will jump past the expected value (when tuning the receiver, selecting speaker set, or adjusting bass/treble), but.

I purchased a remote elsewhere, and commands via the remote are flawless. I may dismantle and investigate the front panel buttons later, but for now, using the remote is great, and I just sit back and enjoy the audio quality.

The stereo plays and sounds good. It was damaged when it arrived, looked like the box had been kicked around by the shipper. I decided to plug it in and just check if it still worked and “WOW” it does and seems to be no worse for the abuse.

the front top right corner is pushed in about a half inch. But it does work ok.

This is a solid, basic receiver – may not have enough bells and whistles for some, but perfectly met my needs. Because I already owned a Sony DM port, I can run an iPod through it, which was my main objective, and can also run a CD player.

The tuner is adequate, though like most receiver tuners, won’t pick up much of a signal without a good antenna. It has A/B speaker outputs and plenty of power to drive sound through two sets of Polk ceiling speakers, also a primary objective of mine.

In all, it was exactly what I needed and seems to have Sony’s typically high quality.

From a technical standpoint, the sound, flexibility and use are all excellent. The Remote3 app should be an embarrassment to Onkyo. As well, using the regular remote to change alpha numeric labels and such is really, really annoying and the ability to do this should have been made available on the unit’s web page.

Of course you mostly only have to do this once, or infrequently. Still. Really impressed with my vendor and that the unit arrived a little ahead of schedule; thanks! Very happy I bought this.

Very good receiver. I use this as the 2. 1 stereo system with my tv in basement. I am old schools stereo person so I like to listen CDs and network music. Works great with my iPhone. Overall very happy with purchase.

The only one minor thing is that network settings and moving between station is not super fast. But enough fast for me so I am good.

The Onkyo arrived much earlier than expected which was great. The sound I was looking for came. too. Having lost some of my hearing I needed the Onkyo to improve the sound quality of our TV. Both the music and speech sound much better so I pleased with the purchase.