The Best Receivers for a Turntable and a TV

A turntable needs a phono input — 40-ish dB of extra gain and the inverse RIAA curve. A television needs HDMI, or at least ARC. Those two requirements used to live in different product categories, and the reason this page exists is that they still mostly do: of the ten receivers in our registry with HDMI, six have a phono input and four do not, and the four that do not are the four cheapest.

Who has both, and who is missing which half

The bottom four rows are the warning. All of them are current models, all of them are sold as the affordable way into Atmos, and all of them will leave a turntable owner buying a separate phono stage. Denon is explicit about it on the AVR-S570BT, noting that its dearer siblings both have one; our phono-preamp guide covers what you would have to add.

The spine of the ranking: moving coil

Every AV receiver in the table is moving-magnet only. Our registry holds three moving-coil cartridges, and their published outputs are 0.4 mV, 0.35 mV and 0.3 mV— roughly a tenth of a moving-magnet cartridge’s. Feed one of those into an MM input and you get a signal 20-ish dB below what the stage was designed for, which is not a subtle shortfall. So if you own or want a moving-coil cartridge, the table above has exactly one row in it.

1. Onkyo TX-8470 — the stereo receiver that grew HDMI

This is a two-channel hi-fi receiver with four HDMI inputs bolted on, which is an unusual and very useful shape. The phono stage is the best-documented on this site at any price: MM or MC on a switch, a dedicated isolated board, 76 dB signal-to-noise with a 5 mV MM input and 60 dB with a 0.5 mV MC input, and published maximum input levels. Power is 110 W per channel stated on the FTC form — 8 Ω, both channels driven, 20 Hz to 20 kHz, no more than 0.08% THD — which is the strict version of the test and the only kind of power figure worth quoting.

What you give up is surround sound. There is no Atmos, no centre channel and no surround decoding; the HDMI inputs are there so a television, a console and a streamer can share one pair of good speakers. Onkyo also declines to publish a damping factor, and the only 4 Ω figure it prints is a 210 W burst at 1 kHz and 10% THD, which is not a rating. If stereo is acceptable, nothing else here is close on the record-playing half of the job.

2. Denon AVR-X1800H — the best-documented phono stage in surround

Four phono specifications where everyone else prints one: 2.5 mV sensitivity, RIAA deviation ±1 dB across 20 Hz – 20 kHz, signal-to-noise 74 dB, distortion 0.03% at 1 kHz and 3 V. RIAA deviation is the figure that matters most and the one almost nobody publishes — sensitivity says a phono stage exists, the deviation figure says whether records come out the right shape. It also brings Audyssey MultEQ XT, which is the best room correction in this group and the main reason to buy a receiver at all.

The limitation to know about is the pre-outs: 2.2 only, front left and right plus two subwoofer outputs, not a full 7.2 set. We cover that trade in detail on our pre-outs roundup, and the head-to-head against the Yamaha is on its own page.

3. Marantz Cinema 70s — the slim one, with full pre-outs

Marantz publishes the RIAA deviation figure too (±1 dB) along with 2.5 mV sensitivity, and it is the only receiver in this group with a complete 7.2 pre-out set, which is what you want if a power amplifier is in your future. The cost is printed plainly in its own manual: 50 W + 50 W into 8 Ω across the full band, against the Denon’s 80 W and the Yamaha’s 100 W. The slim chassis is paid for in watts.

4. Yamaha RX-V6A — most HDMI, least said about the phono stage

Seven HDMI inputs, more than anything else here, and 100 W per channel at 0.06% THD across the full band — the strongest power figure in the group, at a tighter distortion limit than Denon’s. For the television half of the job it is the best box in the table. For the turntable half, Yamaha publishes a phono input sensitivity of 3.5 mV / 47 kΩ and then stops: no RIAA deviation, no phono signal-to-noise, no phono distortion. The 3.5 mV figure is actually the friendliest match for a hot moving-magnet cartridge in the group, which is worth something — it just is not evidence about quality.

5. Onkyo TX-NR6100 — buy it for the HDMI disclosure

100 W per channel on the FTC form, THX certified, and the clearest HDMI 2.1 documentation of any maker in our registry: Onkyo enumerates exactly which terminals carry VRR, ALLM, QFT, DSC, QMS and eARC, where its rivals print a feature list and leave you guessing. Its phono input is 3.5 mV / 47 kΩ with nothing else published. It also lists no main-channel pre-outs at all, and it is the only maker here publishing an idle power figure (65 W, on and not playing), which is a hundred times its standby number and worth knowing if it lives in a cabinet.

6. Denon AVR-S670H — the cheapest way in, with a caveat to read

5.2 channels, 75 W across the full band, 2.5 mV phono input with no further phono specifications, Audyssey MultEQ one tier below the X1800H’s XT. It is here because it is the least expensive receiver on this site with a phono input, which is a real qualification.

The caveat is a source conflict Denon has not resolved: Denon’s own product-page title says “with Dolby Atmos”, and Denon’s own info sheet for the same model lists no Atmos and no DTS:X — only Dolby TrueHD, Digital, Digital Plus and Pro Logic II, under a “Dolby Audio” logo. We trust the spec table over the page title and we are telling you to verify it before buying if height channels are the reason you are buying.

How we would choose

Records are the priority and stereo is fine: the Onkyo TX-8470, and it is not a close call — especially if a moving-coil cartridge is anywhere in your plans. Surround sound matters and records matter: the Denon AVR-X1800H, because of the four phono specifications and Audyssey MultEQ XT. A power amplifier later: the Marantz, for the full pre-outs, if you can live with 50 W now. Mostly television with occasional records: the Yamaha RX-V6A, on power and HDMI count, accepting that its phono stage is undocumented.

And if you would rather have a better phono stage than HDMI, our integrated amplifier roundup ranks six amplifiers on exactly that — none of which has HDMI, which is the trade this whole page is about. Our home-theater-versus-hi-fi comparison is the wider version of the same argument.