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Looking for a Receiver to Accommodate Old and New Gear

Al Griffin  |  Sep 10, 2015

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Q I’m planning to replace my 20-year-old receiver and would like to hook up older components including a laserdisc player, cassette deck, VCR, and turntable. I like Yamaha and Denon receivers, but I’m confused about the connection options. My newer gear consists of a Samsung HDTV, Oppo Blu-ray player, Roku 3 media streamer, and Verizon Fios HD set-top box. —Dan White / via e-mail

A Analog AV inputs can still be found on new receivers, but their number has dropped substantially over the past few years. There are plenty of HDMI inputs for digital sources like Blu-ray players and Roku boxes, but analog connections can number as low as two on budget (under-$500) models.

If you spend more ($500 and up), you’ll find models with a phono input for connecting your turntable, along with multiple composite and component video inputs for connecting older components like your laserdisc player. They should also provide analog-to-HDMI video conversion so you can output composite and component video signals digitally over HDMI (in some cases scaled up to 4K resolution). As for S-video inputs, those started to disappear from receivers around the same time analog AV connections became rarified.

My recommendation is to buy at least a mid-level receiver with sufficient analog AV inputs to accommodate your handful of legacy sources. Both Yamaha and Denon offer a few such models in the $500-to-$600 price range.

COMMENTS
Tangential's picture
Submitted by Tangential on September 11, 2015 - 4:38am

In terms of the VCR you can also use a scart to HDMI converter. I used to have my VCR up to my receiver with Phono leads but recently upgraded from a 32" TV to an Optoma projector which only has HDMI inputs and would be taking a single HDMI from the receiver. It doesn't improve quality really but has allowed me to have it up to the projector.

Puffer Belly's picture
Submitted by Puffer Belly on September 12, 2015 - 3:41pm

You could always keep the receiver you have to hook up your old equipment and connect its tape out to the A/V input on your new receiver. Then the old receiver is basically a phono preamp and A/V signal switcher. You will probably also find that your old receiver has a better AM and/or FM receiver than your new one. You could also power the old receiver from a power-switched outlet on the back of your new receiver. Then both turn on and off together.

Puffer Belly's picture
Submitted by Puffer Belly on September 12, 2015 - 3:43pm

You would have to use tape out for the audio and a video out for the composite video.

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