Featured Gear

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.

Homepage photo, remotes, and back panels by Tony Cordoza Sure, when it comes to A/V receivers, the $4,000 flagships get most of the attention in our fantasy lives, and the $399 loss-leaders get most of the play in the Sunday-paper circulars.

Opening photo, remotes, and back panels by JaymeThornton.com

Photos by Tony Cordoza Television is here to stay, but the days of the tube are numbered. Admittedly, cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), the devices that create the entertaining, enlightening, and sometimes mind-numbing images in nearly every American living room, will likely remain for many years in direct-view sets with screens that measure 40 inches or less (diagonal).

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.