What will we see in 2013?

[ZoetMB]

Anyone care to speculate on what we'll see in 2013 from the receiver/pre-pro manufacturers?

Anything truly new or better? Or the usual minor functional changes just so they can market that they have a new model?

Personally, I'd like to see:
- receivers that once again place an emphasis on music quality. Many manufacturers claim this, but I haven't heard it.
- LED displays in receivers, which in addition to being able to use color, layout and fonts to better define what the receiver is doing, could be easily updatable for new functionality.
- better overall UI, clearer definition of controls and configuration
- perhaps more modularity
- better power supplies
- 3rd octave EQ
- pass-thru video option even when the receiver is active

What I think we're going to get:
- More receivers with 4K pass-thru
- More elimination of legacy inputs/outputs
- Better integration of portable devices
- More web content that we don't need or want
- Not much else.

Of course, there's a difference between what we'd like to see and what the manufacturers will give us. Feel free to comment on either.

[MarlinFan]

Good idea for a thread.

Anywho, I agree. We're going to keep getting more and more junk features (NFC, really?) that detract from a quality audio experience.

What I'd like to see:

0) Bigger amps!
1) NO MORE *&^%$ spring clips.
2) Better faceplate designs (Halllooo Denon, your 2012 design looked CHEAP).
3) Here's a crazy thought. Show me a quality receiver that uses an Apple IOS interface. That way, I have options. I can install WHATEVER SERVICES I WANT. Don't wan't Spotify? don't install it! Right now, it's called using an iPod dock with an older Onkyo 608, but integration is a pain. Someone can come up with a butt-kicking, elegant and clean design that packs a punch.

/rant off

[Blu Balls]

More emphasis on music and sound quality rather than video processing, 3D, and all the bells and whistles that I never use. More power is always a good thing too!

[daysgoby]

better design, better design and better design.
I think so far only Harman Kardon is bringing some sleaaaak design to the table.. I like Marantz too but waay too expensive (the higher end models...) I have NR 1403 and it's alrite..

I keep reading about Denon and Onkyo so it would've been nice to consider
them but design kills me... ugly as hell... and please sell some different colours other than black.

I'm more of a cinephile than audiophile with limited budget plus likes clean and nice looking things.. haha I was in the market for decent receiver with entry level budget with good design and ended up wtih Marantz nr 1403.. so I would like to see better designed items in the future.. and also wifi technology have been around for a long long time now, don't add that to higher end models and act like it's brand new technology.. integrate some of these useful stuff faster...

[pacman9270]

Thanks ZoetMB! Couldn't have said it better.

[repete66211]

Good post. I agree on the sound quality comment, but what I'd like to see go away once and for all is the secondary surround "modes". I'm not talking about DTS & Dolby matrixing, but rather the "Cinema", "Arena", "Sports", etc. sound effects that are never used and do nothing more than further confuse an already complicated device. If we want more people adopting A/V the manufacturers need to keep it simple.

[MarlinFan]

[QUOTE=daysgoby;6922379]better design, better design and better design.
I think so far only Harman Kardon is bringing some sleaaaak design to the table.. I like Marantz too but waay too expensive (the higher end models...) I have NR 1403 and it's alrite..

I keep reading about Denon and Onkyo so it would've been nice to consider
them but design kills me... ugly as hell... and please sell some different colours other than black.

/QUOTE]

Love the look on the new HK AVR-1700 as well, but that's about it. Documentation on it is piss-poor, call in sales AND tech support is atrocious, and it suffers from a few bad design choices (no HDMI pass thru, its vtuner implementation forces you to log in to its web site to select your stations, among others).

Good to know I am not alone in complaining about some of the butt-ugly designs out there..

Onkyo has released color variants for some of its overseas models in the past. I've seen titanium, gold, and metallic champagne.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by daysgoby

better design, better design and better design.
I think so far only Harman Kardon is bringing some sleaaaak design to the table.. I like Marantz too but waay too expensive (the higher end models...) I have NR 1403 and it's alrite..

I keep reading about Denon and Onkyo so it would've been nice to consider
them but design kills me... ugly as hell... and please sell some different colours other than black.

I'm more of a cinephile than audiophile with limited budget plus likes clean and nice looking things.. haha I was in the market for decent receiver with entry level budget with good design and ended up wtih Marantz nr 1403.. so I would like to see better designed items in the future.. and also wifi technology have been around for a long long time now, don't add that to higher end models and act like it's brand new technology.. integrate some of these useful stuff faster...

WiFi is still drastically changing though, we're looking at 802.11ac starting to roll into consumer households with a fairly nice throughput that's competitive with gigabit ethernet. And then there's 802.11ad/WiGig which is making good progress and itself looks to be a fairly useful technology directly for the receivers.

[sonic_debauchery]

I agree with all of the posts on here so far.

I think if pioneer would get audysseys xt32 with subeq ht, they would gain a ton of market share. It would have the combination of a good looking receiver with excellent calibration (mcaac is antiquated) IMHO

[Talon884]

More emphasis on 2 channel sound and better quality build, everything looks so cheaply made these days

[Silo5]

I would like to see receivers with Audyssey XT32/SUB EQ HT for under $600.

[daysgoby]

different colors only available for overseas models doesn't help when I'm stuck in N.American market..

All I know about wifi is that they are putting them in small digital cameras now.. would be nice if manufacturers start putting them in the receiver line ups and not just the hi end models. Same goes for USB connection. (for ipod,ipad etc etc..)

guess in the end what i would like to see are better designs, more choices in terms of color and faster implementations of some really basic stuffs like wifi and usb even in the entry level products..

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by repete66211

Good post. I agree on the sound quality comment, but what I'd like to see go away once and for all is the secondary surround "modes". I'm not talking about DTS & Dolby matrixing, but rather the "Cinema", "Arena", "Sports", etc. sound effects that are never used and do nothing more than further confuse an already complicated device. If we want more people adopting A/V the manufacturers need to keep it simple.

I agree. I personally almost never use those modes. One of the problems with those modes is that there's not a clear understanding of what they actually mean. And many of them really sound terrible. I also think their inclusion is inconsistent because at the same time the manufacturers are eliminating legacy connections, they still keep these modes. If they're pushing everyone to only use HDMI and you get DTS-HD Master Audio or Dolby True HD from Blu-ray or Dolby Digital from TV, then why would anyone use these modes at all, except to spread 5.1 to 7.1 or 9.1? And that could be a simple control. Some of these controls seem to do the opposite of how they're described.

There are other modes my receiver has like Automatic Surround and Optimal Surround and I can't really figure out what those are doing either - they're not well documented. It seems to me that if the receiver is automatically picking out some surround mode, it should tell you which one it picked and let you override the selection. And what the hell is Optimal Surround? And I'm an ex-recording engineer. I can only imagine what the average non-technical person thinks when confronted with all these modes. IMO, this is one of the reasons why receivers don't sell well and people stick with their TV audio or perhaps with a soundbar.

But if the makers think those modes are important, I don't mind if they keep them, but I think there are far better ways of integrating them into the UI to make them more understandable.

Also, I think the receiver manufacturers need to have better subwoofer controls. In my receiver, if you're not listening to 5.1 material, I don't believe you can make use of the subwoofer. I'd like to make use of the subwoofer even when I'm listening to 2-channel analog audio. Certainly it can't be that big a deal to send <80Hz (or whatever) signals to the subwoofer regardless of the source.

[jtu128]

When are the new models usually announced?

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by jtu128

When are the new models usually announced?

Some should be announced this coming week at the Consumer Electronics Show, but others won't be announced until later in the year. Even though most manufacturers still attend and attendance seems to rise every year, the CES show is less important than it used to be because the original primary purpose of the show was to demonstrate new models to independent retailers. Since they largely don't exist anymore (except perhaps for esoteric audio), the manufacturers don't necessarily show everything at the show and many keep a few surprises in reserve for announcement later in the year when there's less "clutter".

[timcat4843]

I want to see Onkyo and Denon offer receivers with four subwoofer outputs.

Audyssey MultEQ XT32 with Sub EQ HT providing individual control of the four subs,
then creating filters for each sub separately.

[04rex]

Anything from Anthem??

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

Also, I think the receiver manufacturers need to have better subwoofer controls. In my receiver, if you're not listening to 5.1 material, I don't believe you can make use of the subwoofer. I'd like to make use of the subwoofer even when I'm listening to 2-channel analog audio. Certainly it can't be that big a deal to send <80Hz (or whatever) signals to the subwoofer regardless of the source.

That would be a very handy feature. It would also be nice to have the option of playing a mono track through your front speakers.