Receivers

Photos by Tony Cordoza As much as we'd all like to own a flagship model receiver, they aren't for everybody. Though well equipped and high powered, they tend to be massive and extremely expensive. If you set your sights just a little bit lower - especially when it comes to power - you can get an awful lot of receiver for substantially less money.

Photos by Tony Cordoza Anyone interested in an ultra easy-to-set-up home theater system usually has only one recourse: a system-in-a-box, comprising a combination DVD player and A/V receiver, five satellite speakers, and an optimistically designated "subwoofer." The weakest links in most of these systems are generally the speakers.

Dreaming of a preamp/processor to anchor a high-performance home theater, you'd probably imagine some pretty sophisticated hardware. It would have 6.1-channel Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES Discrete decoding, of course, along with outputs for either one or two back surround speakers.

The two-tiered THX certification system for A/V components reminds me of canned black olives: the smallest ones you can buy are labeled "large," and they range upward from there to "jumbo," "colossal," and, I suppose, "gargantuan." Similarly, the lowest THX rating, THX Select, is awarded to very good midprice gear, while THX Ultra2 (an upgrade of plain ol