Price Paid:  $400.00 from Crutchfield

Summary:
I thought that my receiver was starting to go bad and had some $ to spend so I started my search (it turns out that the receiver concern was unfounded - oh well, that's another story).

What's important to me? Value, reliability, low distortion specs, phono input if possible. My initial instinct was to go again with Onkyo but gave Denon and Yamaha a second look, particularly on the Crutchfield site. What also intrigued me was the RX-V659's auto-calibration feature ("YPAO") which is becoming much more common in value receivers.

I am very happy with my choice. I spent a little more than I would have liked but no regrets. I could have spent less on other sites that aren't factory authorized (warranty not honored by Yamaha) but decided not to risk that. You might feel otherwise and want to save some $.

The RX-659's sound is nice and clean (.06 THD spec). Its warranty is for two years; a little better than the standard one year. It does have a phono input. The YPAO calibration feature is worth the extra money alone. It worked flawlessly. I could definitely tell the difference in the setup, particularly for home theater - EXCELLENT balance throughout.

Its setup menu is displayed on whatever video monitor is connected. The menu is a little clumsy but the TV display helps. There's a FM tuner preset auto-assign feature that quickly gets the stations set up. This model has component video connections but I understand the newest 661 model has HDMI - not important for me personally.

Strengths:
. Sonic performance.
. Feature set.
. YPAO calibration with included microphone. EXCELLENT!
. Phono input.

Weaknesses:
. Setup menu is awkward but they all probably are. Hopefully you'll only have to navigate through it once.

Similar Products Used:
Onkyo TXDS484,
Sherwood RD-6108

Price Paid:  $289.00 from electronic superstor

Summary:
This receiver replaced my old Technics SA1040. It is my second Yamaha in the house and was bought for a basement 2 channel system with Paradigm Studio 20"s. For the price it made no sense to buy a 2-channel receiver and I couldn't be happier. Sound is typical Yamaha - clean and smooth with lots of power. There are far more features than I or most others probably need or want but like I said for the money there is nothing better. The potential for upgrade is huge and yamaha reliability as well as Electronic Superstores price and service made it a great buy for me.

Strengths:
Strong power, many features, Yamaha reliability and quality sound.

Weaknesses:
All those features require some time in the manual and I didn't even use most of them.

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood, Denon, Technics, Sony, Paradigm, Velodyne.