4 things I wish I knew before buying a receiver

Receivers are great to have around if you need to upgrade your audio. I mean, I have five of them myself, although they aren’t all plugged in at the moment. The point is, I’m a big fan of what receivers bring to the table, but I learned quite a bit about them after buying them. If I could go back in time and learn a bit more, there’s plenty I would research. It’s not like I didn’t do my research before buying something, but there was still a lot more I could have done.

In the end, it largely worked out, and I made my purchase work perfectly for me. In fact, I might’ve lucked into a few things. I have a list of things I wish I knew before pulling the trigger, and maybe they can help point you in the right direction when the time comes for you to buy a receiver. If they don’t, well, I hope it all works out for you.

You need a way to manage your wires

There are a lot of wires

Receivers are excellent for plugging in all your devices without loading up your TV’s HDMI ports. I have my 4K Blu-ray player, Nintendo Switch 2, Apple TV 4K, and Xbox Series X all plugged into mine. On top of those cables, I also have seven different speakers plugged in, coming from the front surrounds, my back surrounds, and my ceiling. To be frank, it’s a lot of wires.

There are some ways to hide this, like picking up a ghost wire, but most people will struggle with this part. I eventually grew tired of it and bought the ghost wire, but I wish this were something I knew about beforehand because I ended up having to rewire everything from my receiver to my speakers. If you can spring for it, getting some speaker stands that let you funnel the wire directly through the stands is nice. I didn’t get those until much later, and, believe it or not, I had to rewire my speakers again.

Be wary of how much space is being taken up

You need to clear out a lot of space

The receiver is one thing, and while you might think you have space for that, you can also know how much space you need for your speakers. It helps to know exactly what your plan is for your system. You have your pick of simple stereo, or you can branch out and go for a 5.1 or 7.1 setup. If you want surround sound, you need to map out some space in your area, and that can be difficult in a living room.

I have my couch just about on the wall, so a 5.1 system works for me, but there’s no way I could get a 7.1 setup there without making major compromises. I’d be disappointed if I had plans to go for a 7.1 system, but that wasn’t something I planned on doing. Another important element to consider is where your subwoofer is going to go. Subwoofers are quite large, and you might have to experiment with placement to get the best sound, and that means tucking it into the corner might not be its best location.

Save money and shop deals

Buying new isn’t always the best

Receivers aren’t cheap, especially if you value having ports and modern features such as Dolby Atmos. Unfortunately, that describes me, so I couldn’t afford to scour the used market and hope something popped up that interested me. However, that doesn’t stop anybody from waiting for sales to come around, like Black Friday, to save some cash. Even websites like Accessories4less are worth checking out instead of Amazon and the like if you like saving money.

However, secondary receivers, like ones for a spare bedroom or a record player, don’t necessarily need to have cutting-edge features. My record player just benefits from a Phono jack and a stereo setup, so there’s no reason to drop hundreds of dollars on a receiver when a used $50 one would work, for example. I picked up a $15 7.1 Yamaha receiver from Goodwill that doesn’t have 4K support or Atmos, but since I’m only using a pair of bookshelf speakers with it, that’s just fine. It also gives me some room to grow if I want to in the future.

Room correction software is important

An important step to consider

Many modern receivers come with room correction software that helps you audio sound the best it can. For my Denon receiver, it’s called Audyssey. My receiver also came with a microphone that you plug into the receiver and drag around the room as the sound system plays audio from the speakers to make sure everything sounds good. This is important because it’ll adjust the sound levels automatically through your receiver, so everyone gets the best sound they can, depending on where they’re sitting.

Sure, this step can be skipped, but I think that’d be a big mistake. It’s also something you might unknowingly skip if you buy a used receiver that doesn’t come with a microphone. Any time you change your setup, you should grab that mic again and test things. If you spend a lot of money on your audio, there’s no reason not to get the most out of it.