A receiver system suitable for a local area network contains an analog pre-filter (207 or 619), an analog-to-digital converter (210), a digital equalizer (212), and a decoder (605). A symbol-information-carrying input analog signal (y.sub.k), or a first intermediate analog signal generated from the input analog signal, is filtered by filtering circuitry in the pre-filter to produce a filtered analog signal (Z.sub.s) with reduced intersymbol interference. The filtering circuitry operates according to a transfer function such as (b.sub.1s+1)/(a.sub.2s.sup.2+a.sub.1s+1) or (1-V.sub.c)+V.sub.cPF(s) where V.sub.c is adaptively varied. The analog-to-digital converter provides analog-to-digital signal conversion. The equalizer provides digital signal equalization to produce an equalized digital signal (a'.sub.k) as a stream of equalized digital values. The decoder converts the equalized digital values, or intermediate digital values generated from the equalized digital values, into a stream of symbols.