GOOD POWER, LOW DISTORTION, VERY GOOD UNIVERSAL REMOTE, PLENTY OF OPTIONS AND EFFECTS

ANTENNA COULD BE A LOT BETTER FOR THE MONEY SPENT

OVERALL A GREAT RECEIVER, GREAT FOR MUSIC AND MOVIES.

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sound and effects

remote seems crap and its already faulty, I am taking it back for replacement I hope?

I think the system looks great and sounds great. However I am still playing with the diffrent settings. I am very upset with the remote, its already faulty. But I have looked into many systems for the same price and the yamaha come up very good.
Still only the remote to moan about, lets see how long the next one lasts. My wife also said that the remote must have come from a cracker. (well it is Christmas).........

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POWERFUL SMOOTH AND CLEAN

REMOTE

I'VE BEEN SHOPPING FOR AN AMP FOR WEEKS. EVEN OFFERED TO BUT MY BOSSE'S OLD YAMAHA! GREAT MOVE HE BOUGHT ME THE 795A AS A BONUS! COULDNT BELIEVE IT! THE AMP MAKES MY KLIPSCH G4S COME ALIVE. THE SOUND IS SO MUCH SMOOTHER THAN ANYTHING ELSE IVE HEARD. I GIVE IT 5!

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NONE

Value DSP modes

Remote, lack of DSS s-video input

I have had the unit for 4 days. I would have bought the 995 had I known that the 795a did
not have an s-video input for a DSS system. A friend has the 795 so I knew that the 795a
would sound good. Salesmen at 2 locations assured me that the 795a had 4 s-video inputs.
The Yamaha site is incredibly poor because it says that the 795a has 2 s-video inputs. The
reality is that the 795a has 3 s-video inputs, one for dvd, one for a vcr, and one for a
camcorder on the front. Since I have not yet purchased a dvd, I connected the dss s-video
output to the dvd s-video input. It works fine but I haven't figured out a way to use the
Yamaha remote to control the dss, so I am using the dss remote. If anyone knows how to
get around this, please let me know.
When I initially powered up I felt that the 795a was too bright and harsh. I adjusted the
speakers with a Radio Shack sound meter and decreased the treble slightly and the sound
improved immensely. The Yamaha sounds much better on movies than the B&K
AVP1000 does, both playing prologic soundtracks. I am using a B&K AV6000 6 channel
amp rather than the Yamaha amp, the B&K amp is rated at 105 watts/channel but Stereo
Review says it will actually crank out 175 watts/channel. Other components include AR9
Lsi mains, AR205VC center, Polk F/X bipole/dipole rears, RCA DSS, JVC 3500 SVHS
and Sony CD. Considering that the Yamaha was 550 delivered from Uncles Stereo and
the B&K AVP retailed at 1000, I think the Yamaha is a tremendous value. I have noticed
one minor glitch. When switching from DSS to VCR, I sometimes lose sound, and
vice-versa. So far the sound has returned when I return to the original setting. Has anyone
else noticed this? I rate the receiver 4 speakers for the lack of a DSS s-video input and 5
speakers for value.

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The Dolby Digital and Dolby Prologic modes. Great Sound and well defined effects.

The remote!
The brigth highs in 2-channel stereo.

This is a great receiver for Homecinema use. It sounds great and has the punch to really suprise you with the effects in movies. The DSP-modes can also be usefull, especially in Dolby Pro Logic.

I find the 2-channel highs to bright when listening to CD:s, and this is not to pleasant when you turn the volume up. BUT the receiver really makes the music to come alive! The stereo sound is also well defined.

When I bought this receiver I mostly compared with the Sony str-db930 (also HK AVR300, Pioneer 808) but the Sony really felt dead in the stereo mode and it wasn't funny to listen to the music.

This is a good receiver and I can really recomend it, and if it not were for the highs it would have received 5 stars.

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Sony str-db930

The sound!, Like the style of remote (much better than Onkyo and Denon's), a lot of receiver for the money.

No digital output, no assignable digital inputs, only three digital inputs

Just upgraded from a JVC 8000 model, there is no comparison with sound coming out of this machine.
Maybe the speaker/receiver combination did not match on the JVC setup?
My current setup:
Yamaha 795a
Yamaha MD 793
Yamaha CDC 575
Apex DVD (for my R2 movies)
Pioneer DV525 DVD
Philips CDR775
Front speakers: AR 328PS
Rear speakers: AR 318PS
Center: AR 225PS
Also music sounds different, so clean and direct.
DSP's are awesome compared to JVC's (most people will say there is nothing to compare to), before that, I never really liked any DSP's as they were only disturbing original sound.
A little sad that you can not assign the digital inputs and that there is no digital output. Was nice (JVC has it all)to record directly to a MD or CD without the need to reconnect and go direct. Because of this only I'll be looking for a good price on a 995 or the new 1000.
If you don't need digital output and wanta HT receiver, this is the one to go for.
You can see all details and download specs and/or manual from Yamaha's website; www.Yamaha.com

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Sound, Easy to use

remote

I bought this to replace my old Kenwood. I was turned on to Yamaha by a friend and a local shop here in town. The shop was selling these for $750 and I was able to locate one on eBay (user id: blackeaglecorp) for $399 opening bid and swooped in on it.

I have some crummy old speakers so I thought I would not notice any difference in sould. WRONG! This thing made even my old half blown speakers sound good! I have a nice pair of Polk Audio fronts coming and I cant wait to hear them at home! This receiver with its' 85 watts of power is much louded and cleaner than my old Kenwood which was supposed to have 100 watts per channel.

Auto detect input works smoothly with dvd's with dolby digital but I recently rented the Bone Collector and the Yamaha didn't recognize that the disk had DTS. It may be a setting on my DVD player or something but I cant be sure.

Anyway, I am very pleased with this purchase and hope to have for a long time. Yamaha makes some of the best audio equipment out there for people who are budget minded like myself and want to get into high quality sound.

I wish the remote was a little easier to manage and had my dvd code included but oh well, I plan on getting a learning remote down the road anyway.

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Power, capacity, reputation

Display, remote

Over the past 18 months that I have been dabbling with the
purchase of home theatre equipment, I read a great deal regarding different systems, specs, interpretations and reviews. Much of this served to only add more confusion to the purchase decision, and I concluded that the few receivers in the same category all bear advantages. Since the receiver is the centre of the HT universe, it is imperative to make the right selection that suits your needs and tastes. Unquestionably, the Yamaha 795a is a unit that bears a superior degree of quality, performance, flexibility and reliability, and would be an ideal cornerstone of most home theatre set-ups.

I found that speaker systems interact differently with various receivers to produce differing sounds and tones, not to mention the ability to shape the sounds using the myriad of controls and dsp's available. In the end, it is imperative that the purchaser listen to the speakers with the receiver before they buy. Several have said the Yamaha 795a sounds "bright". This is if fact not a criticism, since "bright" actually mimics reality more than "warm"; it is merely a point of preference. Each has advantages in different situations, and I found the 795a can be adjusted to sound either with my speaker setup.

I found displays of most receivers to be somewhat difficult to read from any distance, and personally don't care for amber lights. Regardless, cosmetically the 795 offers a stylish front panel, and is easy to use.

Much is written about the remote. It is unnecessarily complicated, leading to confusion and frustration, and the print is exceedingly difficult to read in the best of light. If it were backlit, I would appreciate the controller a little more. At least it is sleek.

As a final note, ensure you use quality cable and the superior formats/connectors wherever possible, to get the most out of your serious investment.

Happy hunting.

Dolby Digital, DTS, Tuner, DSP effects, main out

Amplifier

I was surprised by how much better the tuner section was than my old H&K seperate. The main reason for upgrading to the 795a was the output jacks for additional amplification. I own a pair of speakers that are 4 ohms and the Yamaha just could not drive the speakers. However, my old Adcom does a superb job of delivering the power. The two units are happily mated.
My other consideration for a HT receiver was Denon. Denon I believe has a better amplification section, but is more costly.
The low price on this unit is now down to $450. This receiver is a great value for the money, just keep in mind that the speakers should be 8 ohms.

Crisp clean sound for both movies and cd audio.Dolby digital & DTS. Auto switching of sound modes i.e. Pro-logic, Dolby Digital and DTS.

Remote control buttons and colours, no S-Video for cable, very limited remote codes for DVD players (My Akai DVD is not supported).

What can I say. For it's price (even in measly SA rands) this is the best amp available in the mid end market. (Apologies to Sony fans. After hearing the Yamaha I never got round to auditioning the Sony DB925 or DB930. I stopped at the Yamaha.)

Equipment listened to before buying Yamaha
Denon AVR-3300 (beautiful but sells for $1150 here), then a Kenwood KRFV8020 (not impressed with sound - sounds like my prologic amp), Technics (impressed but still not quality sound just loud), JVC RX884 (nearly there but not exceptional sound yet).

The first thing the Yamaha salesman did was play the amp with an opera cd. What no DVD movie !! After half a minute I was grinning from ear to ear.Perfect staging in stereo mode. I had to get up to check whether the center speaker was indeed off. Movies blew my mind away. Clear quality sound with no boominess from the bass. Here was sound I could listen to the whole day with no listener fatigue. The setup was Yamaha 795a, Yamaha YST-SW160, KEF Cresta 3 for front, KEF Cresta 2 for surrounds and KEF Cresta C for center. I ended up buying the whole setup as is.

For me buying the 795a wasn't about bells and whistles and good looks (the front panel looks like something from the 80s). It was about sound that moved me.

The back panel is well layed out and the only problem I had was when I hooked up my Philips VCR. With my Philips amp IN from the VCR went to VCR IN on the amp. Not so with the Yamaha. It was the opposite. Spent half an hour looking through manual as I wasn't getting any picture or sound from the DVD and VCR until I tried swopping the leads around. One think lacking with the inputs is that you can't reassign an input to a different source. Also the sore point of there being no S-Video IN for cable. I could have done without S-Video OUT for the VCR. After the VCR glitch hooking up the rest was simple. Cable, DVD, TV and speakers (nice banana plugs) all hooked up seamlessly.

The remote control is a no-brainer to program for your other equipment, if there is a code for it. An extensive list is supplied but the DVD list is meagre (about 10 DVD codes listed). An the ones Yamaha list are the only ones that will work with the remote. Buttons are very small and don't feel very solid. Forget about reading the labels with just the light coming from your TV screen. I tend to like the rotary button for selecting the source.

The front panel buttons don't feel as solid as I would have wanted them to be. A nice thing is that just about everything available on the remote can be found on the front panel. The display is not too bad as well but from a distance it can be hard to see the selected source and what modes are currently set for the DSP. Switched on it won't win many prizes for looks as it looks very outdated.

Out of the box with no twiddles and tweaks the Yamaha plays sound that should appeal to most people. After setting the speaker sizes I tried playing with the DSP settings but found them a bit tedious to set up. It would have been nice if Yamaha included something similiar to the Kenwood where you measure the distance from the seating position to the speakers and enter it into the amp to get the correct delays. Trying to set up delays using milliseconds does not appeal to me. The manual also does not specify what a small room and large room means to Yamaha. I left everything standard and still get exceptional sound. Even watching movies on VHS in prologic mode amazed me. I have started retrieving my old VHS movies and re-watching them purely to experience the excellent sound I get now.

The KEF speakers really bring out the best in this amp but I once hooked up my Philips speakers and was also impressed with the sound. The salesman claimed that the amp can drive speakers rated 10w - 100w. My old Philips speakers are the type you normally get with mini combo systems so are not very effecient or exceptional speakers. I have to admit that they produced far more bass and clarity when hooked up to the Yamaha than I ever expected them to be able to do.

This amp would suit people who are finicky about sound quality but not to the point of being fanantical. If you want an amp with a good soundstage for cd music and still be able to kick with movies then the Yamaha is it.

For me it fell short of 5 stars based on looks, the remote control, no S-video for cable and the short DVD remote list. None of these detract from the sound and I would give it 5 stars for sound.

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