With technology as expensive as it is today, it’s important to cut costs where you can. Used electronics aren’t always the best because you have no idea what type of wear and tear somebody has put on the device, since it’s not always visible. It’s for that reason I don’t typically recommend picking up a used TV, because these screens don’t last forever. Other electronics are typically easier to trust, and an audio receiver is one of those things.
Receivers are a situation where it either works or it doesn’t, so I don’t worry too much about how many years it’s been in service. It also helps to know that my dad has one that has lasted decades, while TVs aren’t like that. I picked up a receiver from a Goodwill auction for $15, mainly because I was the only bidder and the bidding started at $15. I didn’t take into account shipping costs, so the shipping ended up being more than the receiver, but that didn’t matter when it got here.
I opened up that receiver, plugged it into my Fire TV in my spare room, and plugged in a pair of bookshelf speakers. The difference between TV speakers and actual bookshelves, even the cheap pair of JBLs I have, is just a massive shift. It might shock you to know that you can piece together a setup like this for under $100 if you shop around enough.
Dolby sound engineering
Trivia challenge
From noise reduction to immersive audio — how well do you really know the science behind Dolby sound?
HistoryTechnologyFormatsCinemaInnovation
In what year did Ray Dolby found Dolby Laboratories?
Correct! Ray Dolby founded Dolby Laboratories in 1965 in London, England. The company initially focused on professional recording studio equipment before expanding into consumer and cinema audio.
Not quite. Dolby Laboratories was founded in 1965 by Ray Dolby in London. He had previously worked at Ampex and developed his noise reduction ideas while studying at Cambridge University.
What was the primary purpose of the original Dolby A noise reduction system introduced in 1965?
Correct! Dolby A was designed to reduce the audible tape hiss that plagued professional studio recordings. It worked by encoding audio during recording and decoding it on playback, effectively masking the noise floor of magnetic tape.
Not quite. Dolby A was a noise reduction system aimed squarely at reducing tape hiss in professional studio environments. It used a compander approach — compressing audio on the way in and expanding it on the way out — to suppress background noise.
Which 1975 film was the first to be released with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack?
Correct! Lisztomania (1975), directed by Ken Russell, was the first film released with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack. This marked a major turning point in bringing high-quality stereo audio to cinema audiences.
Not quite. The first film with a Dolby-encoded stereo optical soundtrack was actually Lisztomania in 1975. While Star Wars (1977) and A Star Is Born (1976) were landmark Dolby films, Lisztomania holds the historical first.
Dolby Digital is also known by which technical designation used in industry documentation?
Correct! Dolby Digital is technically designated AC-3, which stands for Audio Codec 3. It was developed in the early 1990s and became the standard audio format for DVD video, digital broadcast, and cinema releases.
Not quite. Dolby Digital’s technical designation is AC-3. The AC stands for Audio Codec, and it was the third generation of Dolby’s perceptual audio coding technology, succeeding AC-1 and AC-2.
What audio object-based feature distinguishes Dolby Atmos from earlier surround sound formats like Dolby 7.1?
Correct! Dolby Atmos uses audio objects — individual sounds with positional metadata — rather than fixed channel assignments. This allows a renderer to place sounds anywhere in three-dimensional space and adapt the mix to any speaker configuration, from a home soundbar to a 64-speaker cinema.
Not quite. The key innovation in Dolby Atmos is object-based audio. Instead of assigning sounds to fixed channels, each sound element carries metadata describing its position, allowing the system to dynamically render it for whatever speaker layout is available.
Dolby Vision is a proprietary HDR format that competes directly with which open HDR standard commonly found on televisions and streaming services?
Correct! Dolby Vision competes most directly with HDR10 and its dynamic metadata extension HDR10+. While HDR10 is an open, royalty-free standard, Dolby Vision requires licensing and supports dynamic metadata for scene-by-scene brightness optimisation, often delivering superior results.
Not quite. Dolby Vision’s main competitors are HDR10 and HDR10+. HDR10 is the baseline open standard, while HDR10+ adds dynamic metadata — a feature Dolby Vision pioneered. Dolby Vision supports up to 12-bit color depth and 10,000 nits peak brightness in its specification.
What does Dolby MAT stand for, and what is its primary function in modern audio delivery?
Correct! Dolby MAT (Metadata-enhanced Audio Transport) is a lossless bitstream container that carries Dolby TrueHD audio along with Dolby Atmos object metadata over HDMI connections. It is what allows modern AV receivers and soundbars to receive full lossless Atmos signals from Blu-ray players and streaming devices.
Not quite. Dolby MAT stands for Metadata-enhanced Audio Transport. It is a lossless container format that wraps Dolby TrueHD audio and Dolby Atmos object metadata, enabling high-fidelity Atmos delivery over HDMI. Without MAT, devices can only receive a lossy Dolby Digital Plus version of an Atmos stream.
Which legendary rock concert film from 1978 is widely celebrated as a showcase for Dolby Stereo’s capabilities in cinema?
Correct! The Last Waltz (1978), Martin Scorsese’s documentary about The Band’s farewell concert, is frequently cited as a landmark demonstration of Dolby Stereo in cinemas. The film’s rich multi-track recording benefited enormously from the format’s improved dynamic range and channel separation.
Not quite. The Last Waltz (1978) is the celebrated Dolby Stereo showcase. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film captured The Band’s final concert with exceptional audio quality that highlighted what Dolby Stereo could achieve over conventional mono and optical formats of the era.
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Old receivers offer excellent bang for their buck
Don’t sleep on these
It might sound weird picking up an old receiver, but let me tell you that it’s the door to something far greater than what a soundbar offers. Not only can it be a much cheaper entry point into the wider world of superior audio, but it also blows away a soundbar. The main reason for this is that you can get true separation between the speakers, something a soundbar isn’t able to do.
The specific receiver I picked up is a Yamaha RX-V571, which is 15 years old. This age doesn’t stop it from playing audio, but it has some limitations that my main Denon receiver doesn’t have. The Yamaha receiver has HDMI ports, but they are all 1080p ports, so I don’t get any value from plugging in my PS5. In fact, I’m actively holding back my PS5 by using those HDMI ports, so it’s a good thing my TV has enough ports, and I don’t have to plug anything into the receiver. Another bummer is that I don’t get Dolby Atmos from this receiver since it predates the format. I knew these limitations when I bought the receiver, and since I only plan to use a stereo sound system with it, that’s not a big deal.
If I want to build out surround sound in my spare room in the future, the receiver allows that since it’s a 7.1 receiver. I don’t plan to do that anytime soon, but it’s nice to know that the option exists. If you need an inexpensive way to upgrade your TV audio, a receiver is a good way forward, especially if you get a cheap used one. For a stereo setup, fancy audio formats don’t matter.
A timeless piece of equipment
As long as you take care of it
It’s weird to say, but some older pieces of equipment have a lot more longevity than what we get today. Today’s technology has a lot more points of failure, and that could help explain why my ancient refrigerator from the mid-1900s is still kicking today while modern refrigerators get replaced much more often. Although this Yamaha receiver is 15 years old, it still performs like it’s fresh off the store shelf. The only thing that dates it is its lack of modern features, but if you don’t need those, it works perfectly fine for hooking up speakers and listening.
I wouldn’t recommend picking up a receiver this old for home theater use if you’re looking for the fancy bells and whistles. I can put up with not having Dolby Atmos in a spare bedroom, but in my living room that’s wired for Atmos, it’d be a bummer to not use those height speakers at all. It’s important to know what audio formats your receiver can and can’t handle before using it in a main setup. Fortunately, this is also easy to find, but it’s not so easy when it’s a used receiver that doesn’t have a product page handy in the store.
Another piece of good news is that even if your receiver does fail, spending $15 on it is a lot easier to handle than spending $500. When I thrift things, I don’t expect anything I pick up to be a powerhouse. I picked up a receiver just because I thought it’d go well in a spare room. I don’t think I would’ve thrifted a receiver that I wanted to be the focal point of my living room, although this receiver has more than proven its worth in the months since I’ve gotten it.
