Superior sound to similar priced units (sony in particular)

I just tested the audio, but the remote does look kinda bad. Then again, check out any reviews on this site for receivers and you'll notice that ALL receiver remotes stink in this price range.

I was fully prepared to buy the Sony DB830 and the sales person at Home Entertainment (affiliated with Tweeter up in the northeast) urged me not to get it. In fact, he said take them both home and return the one you don't like.

So I bought both and the Sony DVD player (330 I think?) took them both home and hooked the Sony up.

The Sony sounded OK in prologic mode. A little hissy and grainy sounding.

Put in a CD and the Sony sounded WORSE THAN A BOOMBOX! Trust me, that thing was CRAP! I was fiddling around with the EQ and I realized that it wasn't doing much. Sure I was boosting the pathetic bass as much as I could and I was cutting down on the digital distortion sounding treble, but it still sounded terrible! I didn't even try to use it on Dolby Digital. Maybe that was premature, but if it sounded that bad on music I wasn't going to keep it.

So I hooked up the Yamaha. Wow did it sound a lot better. Obviously it's still a compromise. I think if you have anything BESIDES separates, you're compromising. But this was head and shoulders above the the Sony. Good bass, maybe a little lacking in the midrange. You think the treble is bad on this one (it might be a little thin sounding) check out the sony! I then tried it with the DVD and it sounded great. Don't worry about it being under 100 watts/channel. This thing can pump out enough (BTW, it takes 4x the amount of wattage to double volume; something to think about).

All I can compare it to is guitar amps, because that's what I know. There are a ton of lower priced solid state amps that have all these effects and toys that IN THEORY sound like a good idea, but the thing still sounds terrible. So everyone gets a Marshall. Sure it's more expensive and it doesn't have any bells and whistles, but it's a tube amp and it sounds gorgeous. And isn't that what LISTENING is all about?

So I'll conclude by not so much recommending the Yamaha as blasting the Sony. Who CARES about bells and whistles if the thing sounds like crap? I'll take guillotine speaker posts and no pre-amp outs for every channel ANYDAY over crappy sound.

All of you that are buying this online without listening to how it sounds with your speakers in your room are making a terrible mistake. I implore you to NOT buy online or mail order at some bargain dealer or WORSE at an unauthorized dealer. Small stores that focus on customer service are failing due to the mass selling of electronics. Actually everything. Call it the "wal-marting" of America. Spend the extra few bucks and support customer service. I paid probably about $100 more than the cheapest I've seen on this review board and it was the best money I've ever spent.

Similar Products Used:

Sony STR-DB830

Very good sound from DVDs...coupled with Energy's System 5 speaker system. I've listened to both movies and various concerts on DVD and standard VHS tape....excellent. The Yamaha is unlikely to be up to the standard of my audio only amp (Studer-Revox) but for Dolby 5.1 and DTS I'm impressed. I haven't used it for "stereo" only (eg CDs/tapes/records) so I can't really comment on its performance with those mediums...other reviewers have complained about lack of stereo function to all speakers but I'm not sure what that situation refers to.
Unit was very easy to set up & install DVD, VHS etc... Good instructions for selecting speaker controls and setting surround sound balance.

Didn't appreciate the back panel hook-ups. As others have said, posts would have been appreciated. The remote, although, multi-functional leaves something to be desired. I haven't decided to use it as my "DVD remote" yet since that unit's remote allows for multi-angle switching etc. and I haven't gone through the manual to see if the Yamaha remote will allow this function. Bit of a nuisance but is not detrimental to unit's performance (after all, thats what counts!)

There were no other contenders in the market for sound & feature value - about $650 CDN, including a digital video out cable.

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First audio-video system.

Great deal for the price.

Could use a few more inputs, and on screen programing would be nice.

Just purchased this reciever two weeks ago and couldn't be happier. This is my first "real" reciever and the sound is loads better than what I've been used to. I have the bass and treble set flat and the sound is terific. Bass snaps tightly and I feel that the highs sound great (not bright at all). Will be upgrading my speakers to Energy's soon and then I will be able to talk about home theater ability.

great DD/DTS decoding s-video switching CHEAP!!$375 open box

decent sound quality,terrible center & surround speaker connections,no volume indicator no digital cd input

Does Yamaha really think everone is going to use all these surround modes. I know I will never use most of these, but it would be nice if this had 5CH STEREO, but no it has to have jazz,club, and other junk. Don't get me wrong Yamaha makes a geat unit and this is well worth the $375 I paid and at 70x5 it has pretty good power and great decoding, but the sound quality is just not there, but I guess for $375 what do you expect. All in all I would recommend this for anything less than $400. I returned mine because I wanted to step up in sound quality with Onkyo, of course at more money, but it has the 5CH STEREO that is very nice and binding posts for all speakers.HOW MUCH DOES THIS REALLY COST A MANUFACTURER TO USE,ALL BINDING POSTS,an extra dollar,probably not even that.I mean I had to use different cables because of it. My old pro-logic receiver even had it(sonyES).Really though this is a very nice receiver would not have returned it if I had not had such a great deal on the Onkyo.

Similar Products Used:

sony,onkyo,yamaha,denon

Incredible Sound, Incredible Value

Silver Remote, Speaker Connections

Having just purchased the 595a, I must say that I am impressed.

My entire system consists of:

4 NHT SuperZeroes
1 NHT SuperCenter
1 NHT SubOne SubWoofer
JVC 5-disc CD changers
JVC DVD Player
JVC HiFi VCR
JVC 32" TV

Notice a trend? Yes, I love JVC products, but the Yamaha receiver, equally priced with the top of the lne JVC, simply blows it away. At less power than the JVC, it still produces stronger and clearer sounds. It works well with all of my equipment, and I've found that switching from music to movies doesn't require much tweaking (If any) from my Sub-woofer. The reason is that intelligent design and flexibility Yamaha built into the speaker set-up.

Make sure you read the manual and set up your speakers before you give a listen. I didn't and the sound was harsh and unappealing. I can assure you, I was cursing up a storm. But after I got over my "We don't need no stinkin' manual phase", I read up on the proper set up, adjusted the speakers, and then was properly blown away as I popped in Rush's 2112 CD for a go around.

Let this be a lesson to you - read the manual :)

The remote - yes, everyone complains about it - and it is a little cheesy, especially with it's silver coating (egad - black, please!) but I have to admit, it does the job it was designed to do, and works reasonably well as a universal remote (except that it doesn't have a setting for my JVC DVD and it can't switch CDs on my 5-disc changer) Aside from that, the remote...functions.

Yes, the speaker connections confuse me. Why would you put the mains on posts and the surround and center on clips? I don't think room was an issue, but who knows? Perhaps the 595B will have posts all around.

Finally, a plus on simplicity. Yamaha gives you enough sound-effect settings to make your movies, TV and audio listening a boost, without going overboard. I'm finding that I normally use the 'No effects' setting for most of my viewing/listening pleasure, but it's nice to watch a little football in the TV Sports setting and get the true sense, minus the weather, that you're actually at the stadium.

Bottom line - at the price (I paid US $390 online for mine) there is simply no better value. I look forward to years of enjoyment with this setup.

Clean sound. Dolby digital and DTS decoding.

No indicator for volume setting.

I have owned the RX-V595a for one week now. Before this, I had the RX-V480. I first heard the 595a at a Bose dealer for their demo. The DTS sample DVD blew me away and I knew I had to buy it. I was not disappointed and have been renting DVD's almost everyday. Dolby Digital and DTS sound truly amazing, be it movies or musical concerts. And the stereo mode is great too. There is enough power to shake your house if that is what you want and clean sound to hear detailed musical passages. My bass and treble settings are at the center as I did with my old receiver. There was one very nice surprise for me. I used to have my powered subwoofer connected parallel to my main speakers because my old receiver had no sub out. When playing different CD's and DVD's, I had to almost always get up from my seat to adjust the subwoofer output to adjust the sound to my taste. With the 595a, I can now do this through the receiver via remote control. To other guys this may be old stuff, but to me it's really cool. One gripe, it has no volume indicator. For those who want a great sounding receiver below $500 with DTS and Dolby Digital decoding, this is the best choice. Five stars overall.

Similar Products Used:

RX-V480

great for movies

no s-video input for DSS

Great sound on both movies and music(better on movies). Not the best remote in the world but it controls all my equipment. Doesn't have a s-video input for DSS. Only has two optical ins and no out. Not a problem for me as I can hook up all my equipment.

DTS Output. Simple setup. And clean manual for instructions.

Agreed with the rest, the remote control is a bit lousy.
Volume Control dosn't have any light on it.

Overall this is a great recevier that I had so far. With the kind of pricing US$450 compared with the rest shoulder to shoulder, I won't regard. Same power output that really shake my home. Even with my little centre speaker, I can hear clearly without any hitch.

System: Pioneer 525DVD
Sherwood Speaker System

Similar Products Used:

Denon AV1600, HK65AVR

I have owned the 595a for about 3 mos now and have really put it through some serious tests, I have put DD dts on those amps and it has never faltered and this is at very high levels, these amps are great for this price.

the remote is not backlit and its a real pain if you have to turn that rotery dial in the dark because you cant see what selection your trying to select its a nice idea by yamaha making a remote that fits easily in your hand but they left out some important areas in this remote.

For the money this reciever is first rate it has enough options to keep you satisfied for awhile like the 6th channel input for upgrading in the future to whatever comes out after dvd audio. The dsp modes are far better than most recievers out their although I personally listen to it straight analog 2 ch you will find out what this thing really sounds like this way yamaha recievers are known to be a little bit bright but I like a little bit more on my top end anyway im using paradigm 7semk3s for fronts cc350 for center atoms bringing up the surrounds and this reciever drives them very clean imaging is dead on dynamics are very high try the ever so famous matrix dvd or dragon heart on dts very smooth amps in my opinion this reciever has the most bang for the buck hands down 5stars all around affordability and pure performance in one package I think thats what were all looking for well at least the average working person.

Surround sound hook up not the best (clips rather than posts), special effects gimicky rather than usable.

I bought this unit some time ago now (around 2 years ago) as a replacment for my previous Yamaha that didnt support Dolby Digitial 5.1 or DTS. Since then my system has been through a variety of upgrades but more on this later.

Firstly the units accompanying bits. The manual is an excellent accompaniment and should serve as a model for others. Explains everything in as much detail as you could want but is still easy to find what you need quickly.

Then there is the remote control. This is not a control you are going to confuse with any other you have ever seen. It is silver and has a wheel on the top for selecting the unit you want to control. This is a rather clumsy implementation but it does seem to work. I use it, in fact, to run my amp, TV, video, DVD and CD players. It used to also run my Nokia 9600 satelitte receiver but I have since upgraded that to a Humax 5400 and for some reason the Yammy control wants nothing to do with it.

Now for the Box itself. It reasonably heavy and seemingly well made enough to have survived life in my house for 2 years. THe binding posts for the main speakers are nice - the clips for the centre and surround are not. Controls are logical (although I have never figured out how to switch mute off without the remote).

This unit is at the heart of my system (isnt it always). In my case I have a complex setup which I will try to explain.

Denon 3000 DVD (Coax connection), Sony DVD on the computer (used for DTS - such things didnt exist when I bought the Denon - also through the Coax - I manually swap cables), Marantz 6000 OSE CD player (Analogue connection using mogami's), Sony 32 inch wide screen TV (S-video and RCA monitor out), Rotel 1080 Power amplifier (mogami's from the main out), Sharp 6 head video recorder (RCA connections in and out, Humax 5400 digital satelitte receiver (Optical cable in for sound and RCA cable for picture). Further, there is the second RCA video out connected to the 14 inch JVC TV in the bedroom and the tape outs to the old Aiwa integrated stereo also in the bedroom.

Fortunately I do not have too many DTS DVD's currently so the swapping of the Coax is not too big a problem.

The DVD, Satelitte and Video also direct connect via scart to the TV. This means that I can watch one thing in the living room whilst my wife watches another in the bedroom.

AS for the performance it does cope with the major standards (5.1 and DTS) - it is the only unit I have used that does so I have nothing to compare it with. 70 wats of "power" at 8 ohms is sufficient for most speakers and 115 at 4 ohms is, usually, a lot.

The stereo reporduction is not too bad, but not as good as my old surround sound Yamaha (492?) that was not digital. I now know that this is down to the amplification rather than the built in pre-amp, which, as far as I can tell, is the same unit as in the A1 and indeed the whole Yamaha range.

Initially I was running with a Denon 3000 DVD and a Klipsch quintet setup with the Klipsch KSF 10 sub woofer. This was fine but too small for my room. I then added a pair of Klipsch KSB 3.1 monitors at the front and things got much better.

Recently I bought a pair of Heresy 2's (Klipsch again) and a Dali centre speaker consigning the Qunitet to a cupboard and the 3.1's to the rear.

This was the undoing of the Yammy. Whatever I did it couldnt drive the Heresy's (straight connection at 4 and 8 ohms from speaker A, doubled connection from speaker a and B at both 4 and 8 ohms, full dynamic range, reduced dynamic range - nothing worked). Eventually I went out and bought a Rotel 1080 power amplifier and use the Yammy as a preamp (main outs are there - as are outs for every channel for that matter).

Now I have sound in abundance. The centre is running at plus 6 db and the surrounds at plus 8 direct from the Yamaha whilst the mains are running from the delicious Rotel with 200 Watts per channel.

Amazingly there is almost no flavouring of the music from the Yamaha. It plays back stereo totally transparently (as long as all effects are off) without my having to sacrifice the surround sound combination that I wanted.

Currently it seems that I will be holding on to the Yamaha for a good number of years to come. For its initial investment that makes it a steal and probably one of the best buys I have made in a long time.

Is it the best surround sound out there? - no - I heard an A1 and it blew its socks off (at a vastly larger investment of course). Would I recommend it? Depending on what you want - yes. You can always are a power amp should the need arise in the future (try doing that with a Sony). Does it rock the house? Well it has its moments - probably mostly in pure stereo mode with that Rotel and everything else off.

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None