Build,Power, 5ch stereo, connections, DSP's

no R-C amp(but has R-C output),no big deal

This receiver is worth every penny! I finally upgrade my aging Prologic system after several attemps. I started out with a JVC 888bk receiver(JVC should stand for Junk Value Components)which was a crying shame. I then got an Onkyo 777 , was not impressed. I then decided on a Sony str935 when it first came out since I already had other sony product. I went through two receivers in one week; the first one kept on going into PROTECTION mode, the second one was fine but the remote was a pain in the butt so no more sony for me, as far as receivers go.

I then decided to take a break and research this further. After countless magazines purchases and store visits, I decided on the Yamaha rvx-1000. BINGO! This was it, most, if not all of the features that I needed.

So for soooo good! Clean power, great sound and even the tuner;( which no one really rates but, believe it or not I still do listen to FM radio)I'm pulling in stations that even my seperate tuner couldn't find!.

Do your own researh, I know there's better out there, for much more money I would think, but all you have to do is see what I see and hear what I hear and you'll know also that you've made the best choice.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 3801,Onkyo 787,Sony 444ES

Clean Power, Very listenable DSP Modes, Digital input capacity

no amp for 6th channel-----if that is a weakness

My Onkyo took a Lightning hit which blew holes in several of the boards and left soot all over the top of the chassis. This sucked. I went out and searched for her replacement. I listened to the new Onkyo stuff 787, Marantz, Sony--Just my opinion here but I think they continue to go down hill, and Harmon Kardon.......They all sounded good to me with the exception of the Sony. In my opinion, the Yamaha was the best of them. I brought it home and in a shear size comparison with the Onkyo, it is less then half the size and weight. I have Magnepans as the front 2 speakers. I was kinda worried that the Yamaha would not be up to the task. IT blew my socks off!!My maggies played louder AND cleaner then they ever have. The surround mode are very clean and precise. Hell, I can't find a weakness for this sucker. A lot of people seem to complain about the remote. I like it. The macro capability works well, so does the learning ability. I now have to upgrade my rear and center to really make a difference in DTS and Dolby Digital.
I rated it 5 stars for both because I think it deserves it.

Chett

Similar Products Used:

HK AVR-20,Onkyo TX-SV919THX, Loads of other high end receivers

Crisp, clear, loud sound. Good choices in DSP programs. Looks good, solid construction. Useful remote.

No real weaknesses.

The Yamaha RX-V1000 is the first receiver that I have ever owned, but not the first that I have looked at buying. I at first was considering Sony, because I have always had pretty decent luck with them (except for some of their crappy cordless phones), and they by far make some of the best TV sets I’ve seen. Actually, my current 32 inch TV is made by Sony. Anyway, on with the point of the review.

After looking at specifications for listening to both Sony and Yamaha receivers, I determined that I opted for the way the Yamaha sounded, clear, accurate, and warm sounding. I also liked the plain and simple look of the Yamaha, as well as their famous DSP programming. Although I have only owned this unit for about two weeks now, I have used it quite a bit, and am very happy with my purchase.

I’ll start my review by listing my current system for reference:
Yamaha RX-V1000 Receiver
Yamaha DVD-C996 DVD Player (which I will also review here, due to it not being on the list)
Sony KV-32V40 TV
Celestion F1 Surrounds
Celestion F2 Mains
Celestion Fcentre Center
Acoustic Research Interconnects

The Receiver:
This receiver delivers more power than I will ever need in my current setup. Reproduction of CDs is excellent, being able to distinguish between all different instruments, voices, etc. The choices in DSP fields is phenomenal, especially the 6ch Stereo mode, excellent for TV and CDs. Many of the features of the different sound fields are also adjustable for your own setup or room, including delays, room size, liveness, and levels. Adjustments for speaker sizes, leveling, and on-screen menus makes it easy to set up. It also includes more than enough inputs, digital, coaxial, or composite, for audio and video. It also does video switching, which allows you to connect all your AV equipment to the receiver, instead of the TV. Yamaha also thought of the future by coming up with 6.1 digital inputs, which who knows if it will ever be used. This unit provides a pre-amp output for a rear center channel, if so desired, although that would require an external amplifier (higher end models include an onboard amp). I was a little disappointed in the speaker terminal connections, but the clever design of these things keeps the wires from shorting together (some kind of gold plated ones would have been better, and more rugged), so I guess that is a plus. I also thought that the connections should all be gold plated as well. The metal door on the front looks nice, and also hides the more unused buttons and dials, making the frontal display more simple looking. The display could be a little more lively, but it still looks pretty nice. The display is also a little hard to read when sitting on the couch, but then again, it probably wasn’t designed to be looked at that much (an onscreen display is also useful, and easier to read, but requires you to run the video from the receiver to your TV). I watched my first movie on a DVD last night, and the Dolby Digital was very impressive sounding. The channels were very well separated, and the dialogue was clear at every point in the movie. Haven’t been able to try a DTS soundtrack though. Overall, my opinion with this receiver is excellent.

The Remote for the Receiver:
What kept me from buying an earlier model of Yamaha’s receivers was partly due to the silver, flipping door remotes that they used to have. I thought that the door would be the first thing to break on those fancy looking things. Anyway, now they have gone to a more traditional looking remote, with a small 5 character back-lit LCD display. It’s helpful in knowing what status the remote is in, e.g., what it is controlling, or if it is learning a command or a macro. One disadvantage is that the rest of the keypad (or any of it, for that matter) is back-lit. Why make the display back-lit, but not any buttons? Anyway, some of the frequently used buttons glow in the dark, which I guess is okay. Why does it have a System Power button, and a Standby button? Couldn’t this have been just one button? My reason for asking is that you cannot make just one macro to turn everything on, and use the same one to turn everything off! Kind of annoying. I liked the way they used switches to make double use of the buttons, kind of like using a scientific calculator with the “second” button. I have since taken the batteries out of my TV remote, because my new Yamaha remote has learned all the function buttons of my TV’s remote. Nice! ‘A’ and ‘B’ input selectors allow you to control say, your TV (like channels), while listening to the output of your CD player, without switching between hearing the TV when changing channels, and your CD player. Overall, I give the remote a 4.5.

The DVD Player:
What can I say, but flawless. I read the reviews for some other Yamaha DVD players on this web site after buying this DVD player, and I got a little concerned, because I had not yet played a DVD in mine until last night. The reviews talked about skipping problems, glitches, or even recognizing DVDs. I have not experienced any of these problems (maybe these have been fixed since then, as this is supposed to be the replacement for the 900). Although I have only watched one movie (Gone in 60 Seconds), I thought the video and audio was the best I have ever seen. Very clear detail in the audio portion, and the video got even better after I got my S-Video cables in the mail from accessories4less.com. There was only one point in the movie where I noticed the player switching chapters, just a half second pause. The menu display is easy to setup, only you need to know a little bit about the differences between the digital audio outputs to know how to set it up in your system. I was told by the sales person that this player, when in the random mode, would only play randomly on one disk at a time, and then go on to another one. I also read this as a problem with previous models. I got the ‘bad boy’ home, put 5 CDs in it, and pushed random, low and behold, the thing was going all over the place, disk 3 track 4, disk 5 track 2, disk 1 track 10…however, I do not yet know what it will do if it encounters a DVD in one of the disk locations. Impressive, you would think someone that can come up with DSP such as Yamaha, they could figure out a way to do an acceptable random play mode…finally! Not only that, but the time between switching tracks on different disks is only about 2-4 seconds. One disadvantage: No power button to turn it off by on the remote, basically, it requires you to connect the power cord to the back of a unit that has switched outlets, only make sure the disk is in the stopped mode before turning the power off, if you are about to move the unit (the laser head needs to be locked to prevent damage). PlayXchange, pretty cool, if you use it very often (allows you to change 4 of the disks, while a fifth one is playing). When you stop a movie in the middle (sometimes on accident) it remembers where you were (as long as you don’t press stop twice), so you can do something without burning an image into your screen, or so you can adjust some menu settings. It also has 5 FF and rewind speeds, the first speed with sound. Many other features included.

The DVD Player Remote:
This remote in my opinion is just okay. It doesn’t compare at all to the above mentioned remote for the receiver. The buttons are not very comfortable, nor can you tell the difference between the buttons by touch (they are all shaped the same, except the play and stop buttons). This is okay by me, because my receiver remote can control this unit as well. One nice thing they did is make the background around the play, stop, FF, rewind, pause, and chapter buttons a silver color, so that in the dark, they are easy to spot.

I am very happy with both of these purchases, although I could have bought the receiver for a better price. I paid $449 for the DVD player, and $999 for the RX-V1000.

Lots of soundfields to choose from, learning remote, rich sound, lots of optical digital inputs, lots of regular inputs, binding posts, good looks.

This is not really a weakness, but when you select a source on the tuner, you need to update the source on the remote to be able to control it with the remote. Sometimes annoying. You can only adjust the level of the center and surround speakers. Onkyo lets you adjust all speakers individually

Setup:
Yamaha RXV1000 AV reciever
Sony DVP S560D DVD player connected with Monster Cable
Fiber Optic Digital Optical DVD cord
Sony CDP C615 5 Disc Carousel CD player connected w/
Monster Cable Fiber Optic Digital Optical CD/MD player cord
Sony WEGA KV-27FV16 Flat Screen TV (Non HDTV/digital)Conneceted to DVD with standard S-Video Connector
Sony SLV-679HF VCR connected to the tuner with standard phono plugs
Speakers:
Mains: Boston CR-9's
Rears: Boston CR-7's
Front Center: Boston Micro 90C
Sub: KLH 8" 80 watt powered sub.

I would have to say, that even with the weak KLH sub, this system sounds awesome. The Yamaha makes the KLH sub act like a more expensive and powerful sub. The bass is tight and rich sounding considering the low power and quality. I upgraded from an old Sony 4 channel surround AV reciever, yes it was not even Pro Logic. When I got the Yamaha out of the box and set it up, I could not believe how much better it sounded than my old Sony that had an EQ attached to it. The Yamaha blew it away in every respect, and I don't even miss the fact I don't have an Equalizer attached to the Yamaha. The sound is phenominal. Music sounds great in the 6 channel stereo mode. All types of music, from Enya and Sarah McLaughlin to Led Zeppelin to Limp Bizkit and Marylin Manson. I don't care much for the other music soundfields, they sound fine, but I like the 6 channel stereo option the best.

Then I played a DVD with the Yamaha set to auto select the type of input and decoding to use (automatically selects Dolby Digital or DTS). This is a great amp for movies. The decoder has never missed a beat. The sound is great. The matrix is truely awesome. The hunt for Red October came alive in my living room. I thought I was on board the submarine! I normally stick with the 70 mm sci-fi and adventure decoders. They sound great even with regular dialouge movies such as so I married an axe murderer. I would have to say, the Yamaha is a great AV tuner, and I highly recommend it. I use the same soundfields for the VCR, and the prologic works great at decoding my VCR movies. Similar high quality sound, even though the source is not digital.

The remote is awesome, I have my cable box, TV, CD player, VCR, and DVD player mapped to the remote. It has great learning ability and can learn any IR remotes signals. Plenty of buttons to customize for each source so you can get exactly the buttons you want from your old remote onto the new one. The only trouble is remembering what buttons are what from the old remote.

As you can tell, I have mostly been a Sony man, but considering the high price of a similar sony ES reciever (300 dollars more), and busy look of them, I decided to go with the Yamaha. I have not been dissapointed.

I am by no means qualified to be an audiophile, but this reciever has the sound, quality, and functions for the vast majority of consumers. If you are not ready to drop almost a 1,000 on a new tuner, I would highly recommend the RXV-700 from yamaha (around 700). The same power, minus the rear center channel, a learning remote, and a few soundfields you would most likely never use.

Happy Listening

Similar Products Used:

Listened to similarly priced Onkyo and HK recievers in the stores. Also listened to a few sony ES av tuners.

Build quality,6.1,quiet preformer, all of the inputs on the rear(flexibility) all around sound.

very minor to me: rear speaker terminals don't except spades,Amp needed to drive rear center channel,no volume level adjustment for left and right mains.

First my equipment consist of:
Yamaha RX-v1000
CEC/parasound-cd3100 cd player
adcom GDA-700 digital to analog converter
pioneer Dv-434 progressive scan dvd player
Sony Kp53hs10
Onkyo power amplifier for rear center channel
LXI vcr(only used for porn )
ps2
dreamcast
2 cable boxes
speakers consist of Acoustic research p315ho each with a built in 15inch sub powered by a 500 watt sunfire amp (mains)
Acoustic research Pcs25(center channel)
sound dynamics RTS-3 (rears)
Acoustic research c225ps (rear center channel)
audioquest and monster cables through out.

This reciever rocks It's quiet as hell I can turn the volume up with no source material and I get no noise from my speakers, the build quality is top notch, dvd's sound crystal clear. my main speakers have input jacks so I used the sub out with a y adapter from the back of the reciever.the bass output is awsome.my speakers go as low as 20hz. explosions shake the walls and floors and rattle window paynes, and the light nuances in the sound that come off the dvd come across excellent. The 6.1 sound field was great with dvd's that expolit it like gladiator.
Music is also a joy to listen to and I'm happy to say this reciever isn't bright sounding. The onkyo Tsdx747 had a very bright sound. now the speaker conectors don't except spades. I had to reterminate the audio quest cables I got from ebay. Also It took me a little time to tweak the speaker levels because the main levels couldn't be adjusted all they offer is a -10decible cut. all in all this reciever is excellent and one of the best in the price range.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo Tsdx747

Very clean power, strong specs in class, tons of features and conectivity, strong well organized remote (even though looks a little confusing initially).

First unit I brought home was defective, but replacement has been 100%.

WOW, what a great product. When you start really looking at the fine print detail specs, this unit is definitely superior to most, if not all, of it's compition. Solid clean power source (.04 distortion), drives my subs well, has excellent conectivity to about any device you like, Dig Coax, Digital, RCA and S-Video for everything! even the front panel supports all but Dig Coax.

Although some complain of difficult setup, I had no problems at all, and I don't consider myself to be an expert, but I did take my time and follow the detail owners manual. My first unit was defective, but a quick exchange at the local store solved that problem. Remote is advanced, but well organized and is capable of easily learning all your other components commands.

One note, beware if you buy this online. You can save money, but Yamaha limits its warranty to Authorized Dealers, and most online discounters have restrictive return policies. If you buy online, make sure you are comfortable and familiar with your online merchants return polices!

For the money, this is definetly one of the best currently on the market. I have no regrets at all. I also purchased 5 Boston Acoustic speakers at the same time. Have been extremely please with these as well. (Front and subs VR965's, center VR910, and rears Micro90x).

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo

Good build quality, Remote that works, Good movie sound, Lots of bells and wistles, Decodes 6 channel stuff

Remote not backlit, Lots of bells and wistles, dependant on external amp for rear channel

My brother is a movie nut. He is an artist and sculpts for Mcfarlane Toy company so he has an eye for detail. When it comes to music it's a little different story. He wanted a receiver that could really belt out some sound and also had the latest goodies; mainly to keep up with changing formats. He looked to me for advice and I recommended a few receivers in his price range. He decided on the Yamaha and I too feel he made a good decision based on his needs (movie sound being the priority). After we brought the unit home and I hooked it up we popped in Gladiator. My first impression was "ouch". The highs were really pronounced. I own a Marantz SR7000 so the difference was apparent. He also commented that the sound was a little harsh. I actually turned the treble down a couple of notches and the problem was reduced. A week later, I went back to his place. My other, younger, brother had a techno DVD (Underworld) and we popped it in and cranked it up. To my surprise the highs weren't so pronounced as the first day we listened. We all enjoyed the DVD (a must buy for techno/electronica fans). I had to check out the Gladiator disk again to see if the receiver sounded better and after hitting play it did. I was skeptical about electronic burn in but this confirmed that there must be something to it, because the amps had definitely mellowed. Still, I find my Marantz to be more musically appealing, but the Yamaha does pretty good as well.

If you like DSPs this unit has 'em. I was surprised that they sounded better than older models (RXV995 and 795a) I had previously tested and owned. They didn't sound as gimmicky as they used to and were fun to mess with. If hitting buttons is your thing, this receiver will be for you. For me, the fun ended after a few minutes, however.

The remote is good but needs to be backlit. If the remote is really important to you I would recommend you check out the Marantz SR8000.

Another flaw: I couldn't get the receiver to remember past level settings. For example, we put the cd player on 6-channel stereo with the center and surround level set really low. The DVD settings had the levels set flat all the way around. When I came back to the dvd after listening to some cds, the levels setting carried over from the cd and 6-channel stereo settings. I've been spoiled I suppose with the Marantz's performance in this regard, it remembers source settings and levels.

Overall, this is an impressive piece of gear but not perfect. If you want a great movie machine this may be the receiver for you. Also if you have laid back speakers, this receiver will probably be the way to go. If you have neutral or possibly "hot" speakers look at Denon or Marantz to give you a better sound. If you listen to music, and have a more "audiophile" ear, as much or more than watch movies and you can't afford a dedicated music system give Marantz and Denon priorty over the Yamaha. I still think that this unit deserves the highest rating for what is intended for and is also a good value. For me and my taste in music, the Marantz makes me happier. Also, the Yamaha has proven to be great for aggressive music and if metal, techno, rap, and other similar music genres are your preference, then this receiver may be for you.


Rating:

Music: 3
Movies: 5
Value: 5
Power: 5
Asthetics: 4
Build quality: 5
Remote: 4
Future proofing: 5
Overall: 4.5

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 995, 795a, Denon 3300, Marantz 7000

Great look, strong sound, easy and fun to use

input selects, they should have had the old v995 scrolls, remote buttons need to be better designed

I love this rec. It satifies my every need. Must have some sort of high end speakers for this model.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha v995

Previously stated

Previously stated

I stand by my criticism of this receiver for its poor remote and difficult speaker-to-distance settings. As for Brad, well his statement that "I haven't heard this model yet" speaks for itself. (By the way I've been in the electronics field for over 15 years so you don't have to tell me what a mSec is.) However, I'd be curious to know how many people have tried adjusting these DSP settings.

The remote is your link to the controls of any new receiver and therefore is used quite a bit. It should be intuitive and easy to use. This remote certainly is not. Most people here seem to have reconciled that they will get an after market remote to make up for the Yamaha's defficiencies. I don't know how one can then call this a GREAT value (4-stars) or FAR BETTER THAN IMAGINED value (5-stars) if they have to spend even more money?

If I were just evaluating the sound then I would certainly be giving this receiver a 4 star rating in both categories.

Similar Products Used:

ditto

Very Good Stereo Reproduction
Lots of inputs
DTS-ES
Dolby Digital EX
Matrix 6.1

Complex remote.
No Speaker-to-listener distance setting.

I think reviewers aren't paying enough attention to the remotes of these receivers. In my mind it should be given very high consideration in the buying process. I guess I was spoiled by the SONY remotes I used which were excellent, intuitive and easy to use. The Yamaha remote buttons for the volume escpecially should be right where your thumb is when you grab it. But because its so far down on the bottom I sometimes have to use two hands, one to hold it and the other to make adjustments.

The lack of a speaker-to-listener distance setting is also a problem in my opinion. Yamaha has no direct provision for this except in their DSP settings which are complex and expressed in msec instead of distances. Yamaha customer service confirmed to me that they do not provide these settings. In my opinion both the SONY receivers sounded much better in Home Theater applications, but not in stereo / audio only inputs. I think the ability to make these distance settings on the SONY products may be part of the reason.

Take one home and use the remote a lot, compare it to a SONY and see for yourself. If the SONY didn't get so hot I'd have bought one of theirs in a heart beat.

Because of the remote and other concerns I mentioned above their is no way I can give this a 3-star (fair rating) for value.

Similar Products Used:

SONY STR-DE945
SONY STR-V444ES