The receiver is a multi-channel amplifier for decoding audio streams and digital video signals. Main application: for sound amplification, decoding in home theater systems. The receiver survived its technological birth in the late twenties of the twentieth century, when broadcasting reached its peak of development.
What is a receiver and how did it look during its development? The radio receiver and amplifier combined into one unit is called “receiver”, which means “receiver”. It is very popular among music lovers, eagerly listening to live performances of their favorite artists, and looking forward to the release of new singles.
During the development of home speakers, he found a new application. First, the simplest processors began to add to it, allowing you to work with an audio signal, adding a volume effect, and later encoding a video signal. This greatly improved the quality of the broadcast. The development of multi-channel audio track recording began. This was required for the fast-growing film industry, demanding more and more high-quality sound.
What is a receiver and its operating principles? Getting the echo effect, the viewer first hears the sound coming from the screen, and after a certain time (delay) it is already enveloped by the sound from the sides and back of the cinema. The receiver does all this work.
One of the developers of the novelty was the Dolby laboratory. Having completely changed the principles of recording audio tracks, starting to record sound in the form of a mathematical matrix, encoding it on two stereo tracks for four channels (and subsequently five and eight). For the correct distribution of sound data, decoders began to be built into the receiver, and its modified model was called the AV receiver. The receiver for video transmission processes, digitizing information in a single stream, packs and compresses for transmission.
What is a receiver and how does it differ from a conventional sound amplifier? A conventional amplifier has only two gain channels, while an AV receiver has more than two. It is supposed to connect the loudspeakers of the central, right and left channels, left and right surround channels. This is what the 5.1 receiver system looks like.
The 7.1 receiver already has two channels of left and right surroundings. The number one in the abbreviation indicates a low-frequency channel. The signal is fed to the subwoofer, but the receiver does not amplify this channel, since the signal goes to the output by a linear level.
How to choose a receiver and not get into trouble? First of all, it is necessary to determine the desired power for amplification. But this question is rather individual, it is not subject to consideration. As the saying goes: "No matter how much you take, it's still not enough." The most important aspect that you should pay attention to is the sound amplification transformer. It is best to buy a receiver with a toroidal transformer. It has, as a rule, a large output power in comparison with the traditional solution and with the same dimensions. He does not get so hot at work.
There are discrete and integrated circuits for building the receiver. The discrete circuit consists of transistors, and the integrated circuit is built on microcircuits. The integrated circuit is used by budget models and receivers in a fashionable, ultra-thin solution. Recently, digital receivers are in demand, featuring high power, an intuitive interface, and easy setup directly from the control panel. When choosing, great attention should be paid to the speaker connection terminals. It is desirable that they be screw, which will significantly improve the sound quality.
The AV receiver has a standard set of AV inputs and outputs. It supports analog audio, digital audio, S-video, SCART, HDMI, component video, composite video. The XLR connector is used only on expensive models.
There are also specialized receivers for professional sound processing, but it makes no sense to describe them in an article about what a receiver is. They are not affordable for ordinary people and are not needed due to specialized and redundant functionality.