Home Cinema Receivers - (Named Receivers because they have a radio tuner built-in) are the brains and muscle of your home cinema system. They provide processing, switching and amplification. Just about every other component in your home cinema system will be somehow connected to your receiver. Sometimes the
receiver is just called an amplifier because it provides several channels of amplification to the
speakers, but amplification is just one job performed by the
receiver.
Receivers replace the following components:
- Preamplifier - For switching, connecting and volume control.
- Decoder - For digital to analogue conversion and surround formats.
- Amplifier - Provides power to the speakers.
Processors in your receiver will decode surround sound formats and will convert digital audio signals to analogue. There are many surround formats and it's necessary to know which formats your receiver can decode. Most receivers today can decode the popular important formats like Dolby Digital and DTS and are backward-compatible to older surround formats like Dolby Pro Logic.
Decoding surround formats requires that you use your
DVD player's digital output. A single cable (toslink or digital coax) will run from the
DVD player to the receiver's digital input, carrying a stream of 1s and 0s for your receiver to decode.
One of the most important jobs of the
receiver is switching and volume control. The
receiver is responsible for switching between all the different components you have connected and can regulate volume from the amplifiers.
It's important to know how many inputs and outputs you'll require when buying a
receiver and whether or not it can handle the formats your other components require.