Receivers

A/V receivers and stereo receivers were separate rows. A stereo receiver is two channels, a radio, and a volume knob. An A/V receiver adds surround decoding and enough speaker posts for a center, surrounds, and a subwoofer output.

The HDMI or component jacks on an A/V receiver of this era are what let one cable run to the television while the receiver switches the sources. Older sets in the same catalog still switched on composite or S-video. The ohm rating on the back panel has to cover the speakers. Running extra pairs in parallel drops the impedance further. A receiver that shuts down when the volume rises is often protecting itself from a speaker wire strand that bridges two posts, or from a 4-ohm load it was not built for. Stereo receivers on the other row skip the surround formats. They are the right machine for two speakers and a turntable or a CD player, and a poor one if you wanted five channels.