Each guide starts from a constraint you already have — a budget, an impedance, a channel count, a spec line that does not mean what it appears to mean — and works out what the published specifications actually say about it. Each one states its sample, shows its arithmetic, and links every figure to the manufacturer source it came from.
Grouped by what you are shopping for.
Speakers
By price
Bookshelf speakers Under $500
3 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
Bookshelf speakers From $500 to $1,000
5 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
Bookshelf speakers Over $1,000
3 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
Floorstanding speakers Under $800
3 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
Floorstanding speakers From $800 to $1,600
5 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
Floorstanding speakers Over $1,600
3 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
Not published yet: budget (1 model), mid (2 models), high (1 model). A band needs at least three models with a manufacturer-published list price before it becomes a page, so these wait until the catalogue is deeper rather than going out padded.
By measured sensitivity
Bookshelf Speakers Ranked by Comparable Sensitivity
Bookshelf speakers whose published figures use three different measurement conventions, put on one basis.
Floorstanding Speakers Ranked by Comparable Sensitivity
Floorstanding speakers, measured four different ways, converted to a single comparable figure.
Two Speakers, Both “87 dB”, Three Decibels Apart
Converting the published sensitivity of 26 loudspeakers to a common basis reverses the printed order on 22 of 300 possible comparisons.
AV receivers and amplifiers
By price
AV receivers Under $1,500
3 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
AV receivers From $1,500 to $3,000
4 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
AV receivers Over $3,000
4 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
By upgrade path
AV Receivers Ranked by Main-Zone Pre-out Channels
Which of sixteen receivers can hand a channel to an external amplifier, and which can never do it at any price.
The Receiver Spec That Decides Whether You Can Ever Upgrade
Two of fifteen current AV receivers cannot pass a single main-zone channel to an external amplifier, ever, and one of them costs more than a model that can.
Which AV Receivers Actually Publish a 4-Ohm Rating
Three receivers out of fifteen commit to a 4-ohm load, while fourteen of the eighteen speakers that publish a minimum impedance drop below 4 ohms.
Subwoofers
Subwoofers Ranked by Published Low-Frequency Extension
Eleven subwoofers, and only one of them publishes how loud it plays. What can be compared is how low each is published to reach, and only between the nine quoted to the same tolerance.
Subwoofers Under $700
3 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
Subwoofers From $700 to $1,200
4 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
Subwoofers Over $1,200
3 models in this band, each with the manufacturer’s own figures, what they favour and what to check.
Projectors
Home Theatre Projectors Ranked by Published Brightness
Seven projectors whose brightness is published on three different standards, and two from one brand whose contrast figures sit 667 times apart.
Not published yet: budget (1 model), mid (2 models), high (1 model). A band needs at least three models with a manufacturer-published list price before it becomes a page, so these wait until the catalogue is deeper rather than going out padded.
Televisions
Nothing here yet, and the reason is worth stating. The major television manufacturers build their specification pages so that the figures load after the page does, which puts them out of reach of the automated reader we use to transcribe specs. Until we can read a manufacturer’s own published figure for a set, we will not publish a television guide assembled from retailer listings.