All the raving reviews

Terrible service/shipping & telephone service. Chose Supreme Video due to past experience. Receiver arrived UPS in very flimsy box, little popcorn. Yamaha boxed receiver inside appeared suspicious, original staples pushed through, tape cut then re-taped. Inside everything was bagged up. Receiver never turned on, and at week three am still waiting for refund after returning. Supreme Video was planning to file claim against UPS and couldn't ship me a replacement unit until claim was settled. Then requested refund over 10 days ago - money still not refunded. I will hessitate to buy over the internet again (I am not a dealer or plant either). Beware.

Poor shipping, damaged receiver never turned on. But from initial attempts to wire, the back speaker wire hook-ups are primative at best & flimsy. I had a much cheaper Pioneer with much nicer snap connects.

Also enormous problems getting money refunded. Customer service at Supreme Video below the poorest I've ever experienced. Plan on going to local dealers making below listed price offeres.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer

Build Quality, Flexibility, Features, Upgradable, Powerful Sound

Remote

This receiver is a great value. DD, DTS, 6 channel input, and plenty of digital inputs at a great price.

Similar Products Used:

None - Used a Sony Pro-Logic before

Solid scale to HT for something this affordable.

Remote. Doesn't do stereo well and that was enough to stop me from buying.

Good budget price (which to be fair gives it a benign rating I guess) but I'm personally disappointed. Good HT punch but in stereo mode everything breaks down. Music is harsh and brittle and separation is poor. If you want your movies loud this is adequate but stay away otherwise. Pay more and get the higher-end Yamahas instead.

Similar Products Used:

NAD T770.

Power, Clarity, 6-channel inputs for external processor (DVD Audio coming soon), excellent DSP's.

No center channel available for stereo music sources (CD's) except in movie DSP's.
Inability to electronically switch between rear speaker surround and "B" speaker connections.
Lack of midrange/1kHz EQ knob to compliment Bass and Treble adjusments.
Poor bass management.

See "Amplifier" reviews for 200 more on this unit...

Great unit! Meets all my requirements for excellent sound, ease of set-up and use, inputs/outputs and flexibility for future expansion. Power is sufficient, even with lower impedance speakers in a 18' x 24' family room with carpet and vaulted ceilings. DD sounds incredible on DVD! CD's in stereo actually sound better on my old Carver HR-772 with rear speakers wired to B outputs. Attenuation for rears was achieved with a Niles Audio speaker attenuation box (basically huge pots with a single detent adjustment knob for both channels). Big room=more speakers. With the Yamaha in DISCO DSP mode, nearly the same effect is achieved when the Room Size=4 or 5, Liveliness=1, and Delay=min. However, human vocals and acoustic instruments are noticably colored, which to me is distortion. I rarely listen to music in my "sweetspot" any longer with the option of the DVD experience. When I do, I miss the 4-speaker stereo setup of days past. Effect OFF sounds more natural, yet not nearly as room filling as DISCO. Guess I will have to buy a speaker-level switch.

Bass management lacks with this unit. The crossover is too high (90 hz) for large mains, and I don't know quite how to solve that problem. Maybe run mains full-range and reduce the faceplate "Bass" EQ and lower sub crossover frequency while raising sub gain. For now I am running mains "Small" and LFE "SW". Any suggestions?

My older Infinity Reference 6 towers are bright with the Yamaha, and the midrange is exagerated at higher volumes. No doubt a characteristic of the speaker. The Niles speaker box is now wired to the midrange of each Infinity to alleviate this problem. As you may have guessed, I am considering new mains/rears to match the new Paradigm LCR450 in the center channel. Note: the LCR450 is identical to the CC450 and looks a hell of a lot better.

Will someone tell me exactly what 20 bit 48khz means in respect to th Yamaha processor? Is it a handicap considering other units on the market have 24+ bit and 48+khz processors? Can we humans REALLY hear the difference? Will it ever affect the interface with newer components in the system e.g. future DVD Audio players or recorders?

All things considered the Yamaha RXV995 is an excellent buy, even considering I paid $1000+tax 2 hours from my home. All dealers in Houston were back-ordered for weeks; I had the money burning a hole in my pocket and wanted it NOW with full factory warranty. Highly recommended.

System:
Yamaha RXV995
Toshiba SD2109
Infinity Ref 6 (main)
Boston Acoustics CR6 (rear)
Paradigm LCR450 (center)
Velodyne F1500 (sub)

Coming soon (comments welcome):
Paradigm Studio 80 (main)
Yamaha 5-disc CD Player
Upgrade DVD - Note: The Toshiba DVD seems excessively pixellated on my older Zenith 27" TV set without S-video inputs. Anyone else have this problem?

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None-First A/V receiver

OK, let's put this cross-talk issue to rest. Yes, if you crank the volume knob to 12 o'clock, you will hear the FM signal faintly on another source setting. However, as soon as you initiate a signal from that source, the cross-talk disapears! Careful that you use a source signal that has a long passage of silence or fades in softly and keep your quick hand on the volume knob for this test.

Solid construction, many I/O's, Yamaha reliability, easy to use

Sound is harsh and loses definition at loud volumes.

I have auditioned this unit looking to replace my Yamaha 559 with a digital reciever. I was very pleased with my other Yamaha so I expected this receiver to be outstanding. I like the ease of use since I have a spouse and kids that use the equipment. It has many I/O's, more than I need. I like the A/B main speaker option and the front AV input jacks.
The main drawback on this unit is the harshness and loss of clarity and definition at high volumes (10 O'clock or higher). I compared this side to side with the Denon AVR 3300 and much to my surprise (and dismay, since I am partial to Yamaha) I found that the clarity and definition on the Denon is superior to the Yamaha. Since I listen to music more than I watch DVD I will have to go with the better sound of the Denon. I admit this with a certain amount of disappointment since I believe that Yamaha makes a quality product. But dollar for dollar I believe that the Denon has won this time.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR3300, Yamaha V559

AMAZING

NONE, Except the remote needs updating.

This is the best unit for four main reasons.
1. SOUND CLARITY
2. COMPATIBILITY
3. QUALITY
4. ALL DIGITAL INPUTS AND S-VIDEOS

ABSOLUTELY THE BEST....
UNLESS you want to spend anothet $1000 for the DSP-1

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 1120

Great clean sound, with lots of features, at a great price.

No component switching, TINY bit of blead through from
tuner to some modes, like CD. Doesn't have 7.1 analog in's & outs, only 5.1.

On paper, I prefered the Denon model's numbers and features. However, when it came down to actually listening, I thought the Yamaha's sound was hands down better. Technically, Denon has better amps, but to me the sound was somewhat muffled. Both receivers were dyanmic and capable of shaking the house, but the highs were just way more defined with the Yamaha. Scenes like in Terminator 2, when Arnold shoots the frozen T1000, really come through clean... you could hear every little piece of frozen metal tinkling like so many pin drops. Crystal Clear is the best way to describe it. Some people say Denon is better with music... I disagree on that count too. The Denon "5 channel stereo" dsp is very nice, but the overall sound is still muffled to my ears. Plus, at the time of purchase (February, '99) Denon didn't have any "true" dts receivers, and dts was important to me.

I use this system with a Sony dvps7700 dvd player, and the Energy Take5 + ES-8 speaker system. If you use small sattelites, Denon receivers can be problematic, since the crossover frequency for Denon's bass management is 80 Hz (often 6dB down or more). Most sattelite speakers have already droped off a lot by 80 Hz. The Yamaha's crossover frequency for the small speaker setting is 90 Hz. Not a big difference, but every little bit counts.

I've recently bought Saving Private Ryan in DTS audio, and it is simply amazing. The best sound I've ever heard from any dts disc. The Yamaha really cranks with this disc.

I did discover one time, that if I switch to CD mode on the 995, with no imput, and crank the volume to about the 12:00 position, I can hear a TINY bit of bleed-through from the Tuner. But, this is normal for receivers. It is why those with the bucks buy seperate components.

The yammy 995 is a great receiver... I love, and have no regrets. However, if I had my 'druthers' I'd want it to have 7.1 channel analog inputs and outputs, for true upgradeability, and component video switching. It doesn't, and the new AVR3300 by Denon does, for the same price. I still prefer the sound of Yamaha, but they need to add some features.

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I've owned a Yamaha RX-V395, and extensivly demoed a Denon ARV2700, AVR3200, and Yamaha RX-V 595.

More power than what the wattage says. Hypothetically that is...

No DTS.

This is a great receiver with a budget in mind. Yamaha products are good all around no matter how much you spend. This receiver is good in all aspects and provides enough power for most speakers despite the 75watt/5channel rating.

Similar Products Used:

None at the moment.

Plenty of S-video inputs
Some useful DSP modes

Sub crossover not definable
Almost worthless remote control

Overall a great reciever, probably the best purchase I have made for my system. Great sound at a very reasonable price.