Tips for better home audio

• More watts usually help — More power doesn’t just mean louder. A receiver with a stronger amplifier can deliver sound with greater dynamic impact and clarity, at any volume level.
• Power protection for cleaner sound — Interference from your home’s electrical appliances, phone lines, computers, and cable connections can affect your system’s performance for the worse. A power conditioner not only protects your system from harmful power surges, it also filters out all of this interference to give you cleaner, crisper sound, as well as a sharper picture on your TV.
• Get high-resolution decoding — Many new receivers are capable of decoding the latest high-resolution surround sound formats available on Blu-ray discs and players. These surround formats, including Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD™ Master Audio, provide sound that's much more detailed and precise than the sound from regular DVDs — adding excitement and taking you even closer to the experience of being in a movie theater.
• Use direct mode — Sending music signals through unnecessary circuitry can add unwanted noise and distortion to the sound of your favorite recordings. That's why some receivers offer a "Pure" or "Direct" mode. These modes give you the option of switching off unused or unneeded portions of your receiver's circuitry in order to minimize electronic interference and provide the cleanest possible signal path.