The Best Stereo Receivers of 2024

Best Overall

Yamaha R-S202BL Stereo Receiver

$186 at Amazon $200 at Walmart $184 at Best Buy

Yamaha provides consumers with an excellent middle ground for stereo receivers—with enough power to drive your speaker setup and enough features to give you options—and the R-S202BL earns our top spot here because it does this all well. The best thing about the 202BL is that you get a 100W/channel stereo receiver with just enough features to feel premium at a very non-premium price without any of the flashiness that can drive the cost of your receiver way up.

To be clear, this unit is a true stereo receiver, not offering anything like surround sound outputs or HDMI pass-through. It is an amp that will power up to two pairs of passive speakers at 8 ohms for up to 100W handling. It's a good fit for a record player setup and a basic TV entertainment setup. There are 4 RCA-level inputs and 1 RCA output to extend your system to a separate receiver if you need more channels. It also has a radio receiver on board to allow for 40 stations of AM/FM tuning.

Plus, Yamaha has included two interesting wildcard features: Bluetooth connectivity for easily connecting to your wireless-enabled devices and an eco-mode that aims to save power while playing media for longer hours. Finally, while not exactly compact, the look of the unit manages to tread a fine line between substantial and sleek. In short, the thing will look pretty classy in your setup.

Best Budget

Sony STR-DH190 Stereo Receiver

$198 at Amazon $198 at Walmart $200 at Best Buy

Sony’s STR-DH190 is about as barebones as you can get for a true stereo receiver and amplifier. With the requisite giant knobs on the front and the LED, text-based display, you aren’t getting anything that looks particularly futuristic. The 100W of RMS handling is also very basic, powering most speaker setups with enough volume to enjoy TV shows and music. Along with four audio inputs via RCA, there’s an additional RCA phono-specific input for connecting a record player. This feature, paired with the stereo outputs, makes this an ideal choice for record lovers. 

But, if you want some modern functionality, Bluetooth connectivity is available for playing music from your phone, tablet, or computer. The Bluetooth protocol isn’t the main focus here, so don’t expect modern codecs like aptX or anything. Instead, you’re getting a middle-of-the-road receiver that will power your speaker setup, all for a great price.

Your trade-offs come in the lack of a subwoofer, surround-sound support, and the fact that it’s about 15 pounds and pretty bulky. You must look elsewhere if you want something sleeker, louder, or more versatile. But from a features-to-price standpoint, this is a good option.

Best Control and Connectivity

Marantz NR1200 AV Receiver

$504 at Amazon

Marantz is an audio brand that always provides solid performance, but in recent years they have tried to bring that classic AV handling into the modern market with the Denon smart-connected HEOS app. The NR1200 stereo receiver comes with built-in HEOS capabilities. If you have other HEOS-enabled Marantz speakers, you can set up a whole-home audio system similar to Sonos. This app also allows you to connect to all the requisite streaming services, and it even unlocks voice control through Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. The NR1200 is an intuitive, modern-feeling unit.

But it isn’t just the modern features at play that make this receiver worthwhile. The 75W of power handling for each channel means you can push a significant amount of power to your passive speaker setup. And because there are subwoofer and zone outputs, it will work as a surround-sound system and just a stereo setup.

There are optical ins and outs for digital audio support and HDMI inputs to use this unit as a fully controllable receiver for your whole entertainment system. And, of course, if you want to use it as a traditional stereo amp, it’ll do that well, too.

It isn’t cheap, but the versatility might make it a good bet if your specific AV needs allow you to take advantage of all the options here.

Best Low Profile

Cambridge Audio AXA35

$399 at Amazon

Cambridge Audio has earned quite the rep for its consumer audio offering. Rather than loading up their speakers and receivers with flashy extras, they stay laser-focused on high-quality audio and impeccable design.

The AXA35 isn’t the most potent receiver and certainly doesn’t offer the I/O spread of more expensive units. But it provides 35W-per-channel of truly balanced sound, a moving magnet phono input that is extra friendly for record players, and some tone-shaping controls to give an impressive audio response. In short, it’s everything you’ll need to let your stereo speakers shine. 

Of course, we’re giving it the nod here because it sits at an ultra-thin 3.3 inches tall, and at just over 12 pounds, it’s one of the sleekest units out there that still offer sizable power. The silver-gray design and stark white display give it a much more futuristic look than the tired, plain black used in most receiver systems.

At first glance, the price point might seem steep for only a few inputs and only 35W per channel of sound, but because of how well Cambridge Audio has handled that sound and because this thing looks so good, it’s worth the price for those who need something sleek and pro.