I’ve owned this receiver for 20 years. It has been an amazing friend. The RV905 has plenty of connections for everything you own, two sockets to plug in your turntable and another device, and best of all, buttons and knobs on top of a kickass remote, instead of the strictly-digital receivers of today! My right front channel was going out - needed to crank the sound a bit to get it to play the last 4 years - so I’ve replaced it with a CNET-recommended Onkyo. I hate it! The instructions stink, the setup is not logical, and you must run output from the receiver to the TV to set it up! It does a ton of stuff, but you have to ploughing through a menu to change anything. My advice, fix your Yamaha 905 before “upgrading” to a new receiver.

Never found one

I have owned this receiver for about 10 years and it performs flawlessly. The original remote still works, though the labels have mostly worn out. As far as I am concerned, Dolby Digital is quite sufficient for the majority of surround sound needs. DTS, is not a big issue and most people who buy 7 channel receivers only use 5. I am able to hook up my XBOX, cd player, cable box and vcr/dvd combo. Cinema DSP modes work very well.
One knock is the lack of digital inputs as 2. Most receivers at this price range had 3 or four. My cd player and dvd player only have coaxial inputs, so my dvd gets it. Not the worst situation though. The overall sound is very good. Not exaggerated, or understated. Yamaha puts it well as "Natural Sound"

Powerful and crisp in all supported formats.

Lost the remote so my remote control capabilities are weakly limited.

Excellent quality audio in all supported modes/formats. This amplifier/receiver has been connected to a Creative Live 5.1 Digital PC Sound Card for most of its life and has never failed me. Superior audio quality with crisp bass and solid treble is most evident using HDMI / Fiber Optical and still sounds excellent with regular RCA jack connectors. This unit drives my dual super-blue car subs in Pioneer Home Floor speakers perfect. I've blown several woofers with this AMP, so watch out once you get to the -20db range and beyond. Excellent AMP overall with virually zero maintenance required.

Customer Service

Not Applicable to this review.

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Nothing similar.

Can be cranked and will not blow! This receiver kicks ass!

I need more bass in my speakers!

All I can say about this receiver is that it kicks ass. It has great sound, excellent bass, and can be cranked without the distortion. It runs my Energy towers and subs perfectly, shakes the entire house. Thanks Yamaha for makig a great performer at an unbeatable price!!

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Sony, Denon, Yamaha

All around great: lots of inputs, great DD and stereo sound, no hiss, easy set up, lots of power, etc.

Selector wheel-based remote is non-intuitive

I've used this for well over a year and I am VERY happy. Earlier I had used a Technics, but I couldn't stand the hiss during prologic and DD movies. The Yamaha has no hiss and all the strengths I listed above.

The only drawback is the remote. I just don't like it and refuse to use it except when absolutely necessary. The problem is the wheel: I just never could remember the order of components on the wheel, so I inevitably rotated it the wrong direction to find the component I wanted. Anyway, I think Yamaha realized their mistake because the newer models (like the HTR-5150) have a different remote.

But enough about that. I truly love this receiver. I got it for $399 in Dec. 1998, and I have absolutely no desire to upgrade -- which is more than I can say for a lot of the other components in my system.

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Technics SA-AX 720

Cranks without any distortion

none

Of course you really do get what you pay for. I tried a Kenwood (supposedly) 100 watts a channel. I don't even remember the model. It sucked!! That is the only word I can think of. I am sure Kenwood has some better models, but I don't like them. Anyway, this Yamaha sounds great and has lots of power. I also upgraded my cables and speaker wire. This does make a big difference. My main speakers are 6 ohm so that helps to deliver even more power. Great!

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Yamaha RVX-390, Kenwood Yuck!!, Technics Yuck!!

I just recently purchased the RV905 from Onecall.com. So far I really love it, especially the design and the excellent sound quality. I have it connected to my Pioneer 414 DVD player, and a pair of bookshelf NHT Superones speakers. I don't know if it's the speakers or the receiver, but it sure does sound good.
My only complaint is the remote. It's really poorly designed. It's hard to handle because of its cylindrical-like shape; it feels like you're squeezing toothpaste. They should definitely make it a little flatter instead of rounder. But I guess the receiver is what you care more about, so I will give it a 5 star anyways.

I.ve owned my R-V 905 since Feb. and am very happy with it for both music and home theater applications.I'm driving an old set of Ohm Walsh 2's as my front speakers and a set of Celestion DL-4's in the rear and this receiver has no problems.It replaced a Luxman RX-101 with an outboard Pro-Logic processer amp.The sound of the Yamaha is much better in the home theater modes both in Pro-Logic and DD modes with both VHS and DVD.The DSP modes for music work well I use the rock concert and concert hall modes extensively with my vinyl,analog tapes and cd's.As far as the remote goes it's not the worst thing I've seen but I did replace it with a One for all cinema 7.Over all a good unit thatis definitely a good value.

Power, DD,

My only complaint really, is that there is no little light on the volumn knob. It's annoying when you turn the volumn up using the remote and you don't know where the the volumn indicator is pointing, usually because the room is dark and you can't see that far away. Also no onscreen programming like they have now with the new htr series. I really don't like the 4.1 surround option they have if you don't have a center. But I'm a poor college student that really doesn't have the money or space for a speaker that is only used for movies.

Kick ass receiver. I use mine on the weekends in my dormroom while we are drinking and the music gets sooooo loud. But, it never breaks up and distorts. DD is just fantasic, just like the movie theater experience, but my room is really small, so I can't really space out all four speakers like you are supposed too. 70 watts is probably really 100-110 watts, who knows. It sounds LOUD and CLEAN, so I really don't care. I have had the volumn knob to 3/4 of the whole way, and there was no distortion. Then the Greg our RA, the Homecoming King, the coolest guy, asked us nicely to turn it down. All in all, go with Yamaha, you won't regret it!!

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Sony, JVC, Kenwood

EVERYTHING

THIS IS A GREAT PRODUCT. MUCH BETTER THAN A SONY RECEIVER THAT IS PRICED ABOUT THE SAME. YAMAHA ALWAYS MAKES VERY GOOD PRODUCTS. VERY SOLID HOME THEATRE RECEIVER.

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STRD-315