Dolby Digital 5.1 & DTS. No hiss on speakers at high volumes.

The Remote, sometimes confussing & no volume indicator on display.

Wow!what can I say, just outstanding for it's price range. This amplifier is it's money worth. Good sound and quality. It almost blown me away when I played "Gladiator" in DTS and the "The Matrix" in Dolby Digital. Sound reproduction intended just as sound Engineer wanted. I would recommend it to every entry level A/V beginner. Another great product from Yamaha. Need some good speakers to enjoy this amplifier to it's fullest potensial

Clean Sound, excellent power to all channels, excellent overall performance

None yet

I originally purchased a Sony STR-DE345 which supposedly a 100 Watt receiver. It hissed and had very poor amplification and control to the rear speakers.

I took the Sony back and moved up to the 70 Watt Yamaha. What a difference! The Yamaha sounds infinitely better on all channels and has absolutely no hiss. The volume and power to all speakers particulary the rear is outstanding. It smokes the Sony.

I am elated with the Yamaha and would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for value and high quality in a receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DE345

This receiver is awesome! The low and high ranges have very pure quality. The mid-ranges are more than sufficient.

The remote takes a little getting learning.

I would recommend this to anyone. That says everything.
But one thing to remember, you can have the best receiver on the planet but you must have good speakers and cable to make the best sound possible.

Similar Products Used:

Sony

Features, build quality, dsp

Crammed remote

Outstanding product for the price, crammmed with dsp features but sound quality does'nt suffer as result. As good (if not better) than more expensive Yamaha receivers, ie rxv 795a. 10 ot of 10 on this one Yamaha.

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sony str 545

clean sound, Yamaha power, DSP modes

lack of S-video inputs

This was a great receiver for adding DD/DTS to home theater last winter. Yamaha has plenty of surround modes and the sound is terrific. They make a terrific receiver for the money. But... I recently upgraded my Satellite receiver to one that has a digital audio out. The one drawback of this receiver is that it only has 2 S-Video inputs and 3 digital audio inputs. And they are not adressable. The DVD takes up one set and the remaining connections are not on the same channel. I've ended up in a situation where I either can have digital surround but only RCA carrying the video (Sat in) or a S-Video picture but analog surround (VCR in). In hindsight, I should have bought the next model up. It appears that Yamaha has fixed this on the 2001 models.

BTW, thanks to everybody for the Sears price match tip. It was great to get the receiver cheap and not have to wait a week for it to show up.

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replaced old Sony STR-AV910

great sound for so little money

none

for the money cant be beat.new formats are coming out so fast so buing cheap receivers with great sound especilly for movies is a must.upgrading is much cheaper.for the moment this receiver is great.

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denon onkyo

great sound for so little money

none

for the money cant be beat.new formats are coming out so fast so buing cheap receivers with great sound especilly for movies is a must.upgrading is much cheaper.for the moment this receiver is great.

Similar Products Used:

denon onkyo

Crystal clear sounds, lots of base power, Dolby Digital, DTS, DSP, 6 analog inputs, Coaxial and Optical inputs, and price.

none

Great amount of base power compared to my crappy 5 year old 400 watt pioneer VSX-454 receiver. I swear this Yamaha 70watt per channel receiver has way more power then its rated at. It blows my Pioneer 100watt per channel receiver away. I have the RX-V496 hooked up to my Sound Blaster Live 5.1 computer sound card. I use a Digital Coaxial RCA male to 1/8" male minijack connected to my S/PDIF out on my sound card. The DVD sounds that come from my JBL-S38 and paradigm center speakers blow me away, and lets not forget about the mind blowing 3D game sounds I get from games like Sodier of Fortune, Mech Warrior 4 and No One Lives Forever.
I have to give Creative labs some props for making an incredible crystal clear sounding computer sound card. CREATIVE/YAMAHA excellent work.

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Pioneer VSX-454 = Trash, and Kenwood.

Sounds, about to reproduce ground and wall shaking base. Decodes Dolby Digital and DTS like a dream. Absolutely fabulous on classical music espcially piano style music.

lack of LED for the volume dial.

To start off all I can say is WOW. My set up consist of Toshiba SD9000(which i use for DVD and CD), Tannoy Mercury MC, Tannoy Mecury M1 front and rears, Yamaha SW80 sub woofer, monster cables all around, and monster interconnects.

Having previously owned the RX-V493 I was quite happy with the system and enjoyed the music component more than anything else. Thus my speakers and and sub woofer was tuned for my old reciever. Decided to upgrade to the RX-V496 and plugged it all in. (couldnt be simpler) Dropped my fave DVD in, Toy Story 2. Sat back to watch. Nearly fell off my sofa when the whole room started to shake with bass. The sound was incredible. The power and clarity of the system had me running to my reciever turning everything down for the fear of my neighbours banging on my door. I ended up having to detune my subwoofer and speaker placing just as not to annoy the neighbours.

The sound on this thing is unbelievable. The clarity and reproduction of GOOOD clean bass is second to none. This is genuine bass you can feeel NOT hear, the way good bass should be. It decoded dobly digital and DTS with ease and had me staring wide eyed at the screen wondering IF there really was some one behind me.. or something happening behind me.

This system is pure bang for your dollars. Nothing comes close. I have heard onkyo systems, denon and a few sony in the same price range or above. This system easily puts some of its more expensive rivals to shame. IT IS THAT GOOD.

For those who love music, you cant go wrong with this system. I love Dance music and I love classical (strange mix i know but hey when im in the mood i like it). Two totally different styles yet so easily handled by the baby yamaha. Dance is my favourite. With this sytem you can TRUELY reproduce those club sounds and club base, and DOES it make you want to dance. For those purist who love clean sounds, stick a good yanni or kenny g cd in and listen to this baby. It is soo good that if you closed your eyes you almost believe they are live in front of you. For an average sized living room or apartment, nothing comes close to rocking your room than this system.

for those who like big numbers (eg 100w blah blah) forget it dont buy this system it wont impress you. For those TRUE movie buffs and music purist this is for you. This system doesnt sound 70 watts. It sounds HUGE. Take a listen, and you will know why every one raves about this system. Dont forget crap speakers and cd players wont do it justice.

Similar Products Used:

yamaha RX-V493

Sound fields are perfect, remote is easy to use after a little practice, clarity at high levels, all the optical-digital inputs, front A/V inputs, reciever is not too bulky, DTS capability, best product one could buy for the price.

No S-video on the front A/V connections

I couldn't be more satisfied with this product, this is definately a keeper. I was just watching a DVD(on a Sony DVP-560) last night in DTS mode, that was the first time that I had used that feature, I was quite impressed with the dynamics the reciever delivered to me. Every sound field I use, and I am definately appreciating the fact that if I have my VCR set at pro-logic, I can set my v-aux to 70 MM Pro-logic, cd player to disco, and DVD player to enhanced digital, and it remembers all of the settings, I don't have to change the settings for anything. I couldn't be any happier with any other component for the price that I paid. If you haven't heard this product, get somewhere to do a thourough listening to. BRAVO to Yamaha.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V690, RX-V493