Audio Components

The Harman Kardon Allure isn’t a low-profile smart speaker that blends into the background in your living room. It is by far the largest and most unique looking smart speaker we tested.

If you are considering buying a Google Home but want better audio performance and a few unique design features, the Sony LF-S50G is a good option.

The Stanton T.55 USB is a good-looking USB turntable that has a metallic black tabletop with a gray outer edge and gray controls.

The Crosley T300A Bluetooth-enabled USB turntable produced outstanding results in our listening and conversion tests. The silver case is stylish and felt more durable than those of other plastic-body turntables we tested.

The Stanton T.92 is similar to the Stanton T.55 USB unit in look, but it is slightly more expensive – and for good reason.

Editor’s Note: This product has been removed from our side-by-side comparison because it is no longer available.

The Numark TT250 USB is a great-looking direct drive turntable. The dark matte gray tabletop sitting on the black bottom half looks sleek. The turntable is sturdy as well. Nothing feels flimsy or made out of cheap plastic. The tone arm and counterweight are all metal. The platter is metal.

The TEAC TN100 vinyl converter turntable is a good low-cost option for converting your record collection to MP3. The matte black wood cabinet looks great and helps reduce vibration and resonance compared with some of the plastic turntables we tested, such as the Stanton T.55.

The Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A670 is a powerful AV receiver designed to be the hub of your home theater. It has one of the best power outputs in this price range and can easily power any size home theater speakers.

The Sony STR-DN1080 is a 7.2-channel home theater receiver with excellent power handling and exceptional connectivity.

The Pioneer VSX-LX102 AV receiver earns our Top Ten Reviews Bronze Award.

The Marantz NR1508 is a 5.2-channel AV receiver with a power output of 50 watts per channel when paired with 8-ohm speakers, which is underpowered compared to similarly priced models.

Onkyo has been in the audio component market for over 70 years, so it’s a pretty good bet that its products are well designed and produce high-quality audio.

The Harman Kardon AVR 1710S is a thoroughly modern, though not future-proof, AV receiver. It comes in a sleek and slim chassis and can power up to seven speakers and two subwoofers.

Most AV receivers are bigger and heavier than a cinder block, which means they take up a significant part of your entertainment center’s shelf space.

The NAD T 748 v2 is a home theater receiver with good power output and the most popular audio decoders for surround sound. However, it has few features beyond that.

The Yamaha RX-V483 is the most affordable AV receiver we reviewed, and you get a lot of power for the price.

The Klipsch Reference 110SW subwoofer was only slightly outperformed by the best models we tested. The 10-inch copper spun woofer did well in both our movie and music listening tests, and it looks great too.

The JBL Arena Sub 100P is a 10-inch powered subwoofer with a compact and good-looking cabinet design.