Price Paid:  $0.00 from gift

Summary:
Very impressive ampifier with great tone and balance, rock rap country anything sounds good on this unit, 80x2 from yamaha and their top-art design ensures a full powerfull 80 watts. Built like a yamaha and heavy, tuner is great as well, and the variable loudness is a really nice feature that most leave out, also has a phono input, good thing for us vinyl people.

Strengths:
power
clarity
metal faceplate
smooth sound
great bass response
high damping factor of 240

Weaknesses:
no light on volume or input knob
no pre-outs for sub or main out's

Similar Products Used:
SONY
HK
YAMAHA
TECHNICS
AKAI
JVC
PIONEER
KENWOOD
DENON
ONKYO

Price Paid:  $350.00 from Sound Advice

Summary:
Yamaha really raised the bar for high quality, reasonably priced receivers with its RV series years ago. First-rate components, tough construction, great tuner, reliable power amp, sleek (for its time) remote, and best of all, great warm tone. Ideal for everyone from the entry level casual listener in an apartment to the audio enthusiast with a decent rig and quality speakers, this Yamaha, while not the most powerful, has plenty of clean power and full bass with great tonality that can be heard and felt. None of that plastic, transparent or stale tone of lesser units bearing better known brand names in the price range. A quality, reliable audio unit that provides years of pleasant listening entertaiment. Much better suited to the complete home theater experience than some of its competition, it excels at both music and movies, with easy to use controls/features and good flexibility.

Strengths:
Sound quality, durability, ease of use, price

Weaknesses:
No DTS, no digital componentry/hookups

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Harmon Kardon, JVC, other Yamahas

Price Paid:  $400.00

Summary:
Sounds great as part of a complete Yamaha component system.
Crystal clear sound from CDs with the whole spectrum of audio frequencies being easily distinguishable.

Response seems to be slightly weighted towards the bottom end but that is to my liking. The high frequencies still cut through clearly.

The amplifier really packs a punch. I like my music loud (I used to be a rock musician) but have never had the volume knob above 6.

I am using this amp/receiver with non Yamaha speakers so the match may not be as Yamaha intended but to me it's perfect.

Receiver is able to lock on to the weaker stations with relative ease.

Remote is user friendly. Operation of volume using remote is smooth. (No digital steps.) Remote controls other Yamaha components.

Cannot find a single fault.

Strengths:
Excellent sound quality. Rich bass and clear middle and high tones. Good build. Receiver locks on to frequency easily.

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Akai, Aiwa

Summary:
Great receiver to pick up used if you only need stereo. It's got A/B speakers, which I use for TV/music, and the tuner is excellent, unlike most receivers made nowadays. Crisp, clean sound from TV output makes voices easier to understand than with my old JVC amp. I think you'd have to spend a lot more money to match the performance of this with another unit, although I've read good things about Harmon Kardon's HK3270, if you want a new stereo-only receiver.

Strengths:
Great sound, modest price, very good tuner, lots of inputs and outputs, remote is pretty good, unit looks sleek and minimal.

Weaknesses:
Well, the remote could be a little better.

Similar Products Used:
Sony receivers