Does the quality of sound depend on the reciever mostly?

zipzappy · 10-03-2009, 12:06 AM

hey guys, i was just wondering, i know there are many factors that will effect the quality of sounds in your HTS, like cable quality/speaker quality, but which factor will have the most influence on your system, does the receiver have to do anything with it? what are the major/minor factors? thanks in advanced

ebackhus · 10-03-2009, 01:13 AM

While you are right that wiring and speakers do contribute greatly to audio uality another major factor are the parts in the receiver. A quality DSP is very important when dealing with digital audio. With analog the absolute best is tube-based, but those are all but gone.

yustr · 10-05-2009, 07:00 AM

My opinion: sound quality is 70% speaker and room, 20% source, 9% receiver. Notice that leaves <1% for cables, connectors, power strips, etc. Why so little for the reciever? All modern receivers do a very good job of decoding and amplifying. Sure some are better than others but not so much better that it really matters. The main differences are functionality, convenience, power output (directly related to the needs of your speakers and room). Now change the source from poor quality cable service to Blu-ray and you'll notice a difference. IMHO by far the biggest factor is the quality speakers; add to that how the speakers interact with the room. Don't get me wrong, driving great speakers with cheap gear might sound worse than the same gear driving much lesser speakers. (Great speakers will make the limitations of the gear more noticable.) But feed almost any of todays receivers with clean source material and they can drive almost any speaker.

10-03-2009, 12:06 AM	#1 (permalink)
zipzappy Registered User Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 215 OS: XP	Does the quality of sound depend on the reciever mostly? hey guys, i was just wondering, i know there are many factors that will effect the quality of sounds in your HTS, like cable quality/speaker quality, but which factor will have the most influence on your system, does the receiver have to do anything with it? what are the major/minor factors? thanks in advanced

10-03-2009, 01:13 AM	#2 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,223 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	Re: Does the quality of sound depend on the reciever mostly? While you are right that wiring and speakers do contribute greatly to audio uality another major factor are the parts in the receiver. A quality DSP is very important when dealing with digital audio. With analog the absolute best is tube-based, but those are all but gone. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

10-05-2009, 07:00 AM	#3 (permalink)
yustr Asst. Manager, The Conversation Pit Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Connecticut shore Posts: 6,034 OS: XP Pro My System	Re: Does the quality of sound depend on the reciever mostly? My opinion: sound quality is 70% speaker and room, 20% source, 9% receiver. Notice that leaves <1% for cables, connectors, power strips, etc. Why so little for the reciever? All modern receivers do a very good job of decoding and amplifying. Sure some are better than others but not so much better that it really matters. The main differences are functionality, convenience, power output (directly related to the needs of your speakers and room). Now change the source from poor quality cable service to Blu-ray and you'll notice a difference. IMHO by far the biggest factor is the quality speakers; add to that how the speakers interact with the room. Don't get me wrong, driving great speakers with cheap gear might sound worse than the same gear driving much lesser speakers. (Great speakers will make the limitations of the gear more noticable.) But feed almost any of todays receivers with clean source material and they can drive almost any speaker. __________________ If there are lawyers or politicians involved, logic may be a very poor tool for reaching a conclusion.