What Is The Difference Between An AV Receiver And A Stereo Receiver?
An AV Receiver is designed for home theatre systems, handling both audio and video signals, including surround sound formats. It acts as a central hub, switching and amplifying audio and video from various sources and routing them to speakers and a display.
A Stereo Receiver, on the other hand, is primarily focused on audio, typically offering two-channel (left and right) amplification for music listening, with limited video capabilities.
The biggest difference between the two is an Audio Video Receiver or AVR is made for connecting multiple speakers, whereas a Stereo Receiver is made for connecting a pair of speakers.
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Understanding the Audio Features of an AV Receiver
AVRs use multiple speakers to produce more than just stereo (Left/Right) sound. Left/Right Stereo sound is considered as the first two speakers or channels in a 5.1 system.
An AVR adds a third channel for a centre speaker which is for dialogue only. This channel is a very important one, as this one speaker produces 85 – 90% of the voice content for the entire movie, sitcom or sporting event you will be watching.
The AVR also adds a fourth and fifth channel for surround sound speakers. If the content you are watching has surround information encoded within the AV Signal, it will provide surround sound (wind noises, helicopter blades beating, trees rustling, crowds of people cheering, etc) for your surround speakers.
Finally, the AVR provides a (.1) signal for LFE (low frequency bass) that is sent to a subwoofer. The subwoofer provides all of the deep bass impact sounds when explosions and effects are occurring on the movie you are watching.
A 5.1 System Consists Of
- Left Speaker Front
- Centre Speaker Front
- Right Speaker Front
- Left Surround
- Right Surround
- Subwoofer
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Exploring the Video Features of an AV Receiver
Think of your AVR like a train station and your source components (Blu-Ray Player, Apple TV, Set Top Box, Games Console, etc) as the trains. The trains are connected to the train station with tracks, which in this instance are the HDMI cables. Audio/Video signals within the cables are like passengers on the train.
The AVR can accept passengers (AV Signals) from multiple starting points (Source Components). The destination for all of these AV Signals is your TV or Projector. Thus, the AVR is your switch point that routes the AV Signals from the source components to the TV or Projector.
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Thanks for reading this article, if you have any more questions about Receivers whether it be Stereo or AV, please feel free to contact the staff at Audio Trends, who have excessive knowledge in this field.