What is a home theater receiver and what does it do?

" A home theater receiver serves as the central point of a home theater or home audio system and performs the following functions: • Switching for all of your home theater system's audio and video components • Surround sound decoding • Signal processing for simulated soundfields and bass management • Amplifies the audio signals to drive the loudspeakers and controls the playback volume • Serves as an AM/FM radio tuner The receiver is both the "smarts" and the "power" behind a home theater system. It takes the audio signals from all of your source components (e.g., DVD-Video player, CD player, VCR, tape deck, turntable), performs any needed decoding and post-processing, amplifies the signal to power your home theater's array of loudspeakers, and controls the playback volume. For video signal, the receiver performs the necessary switching and outputs it to your TV. With all this functionality, a receiver is one of the more complex and expensive components in a home theater or home ...  more