Yes yamaha did something right with this one. Now, yamaha and most others use lightweight plastic crap, rate power ratings @1khz instead of full bandwidth and do not sound as good with music. I mated this with some klipsch fortes and an old magnavox cdb-650 and was really surprised it sounds as good as most of the nad stuff i have been using and as good as many separates too. Love the orange display, love the power, love how it puts music first.

Very dynamic, clean, involving, musical sound signature in my opinion. Most likely due to high quality parts and a great design layout
Not up to current home theater abilities but great for music.

Upgraded from a jvc rx-dv3. I thought that the JVC sounded pretty good. but it's a whole different story with this yamaha unit. very clear crisp sound. and that's with using some very cheap rca cords and speaker wire. can't imagine what it's going to sound like once i get some better cables. my jvc was rated at 100 watts per channel, but the yamaha is alot more powerful. so someone was lying. haven't gone past about 1/3 volume and already the house is shaking. and still great clear sound. i couldn't be happier. and it has a tape 2/monitor out which is nice. that way i can use my kenwood GE-7030 14 band graphic equalizer. price was right too, at $100. i sold just my JVC receiver for more then that. also love the amber/orange lighting. bright enough in the day and dark enough in total darkness. perfect mix. alot better then the blinding blue of the jvc even in night-time mode. all in all it's great.

Excellent Built. Attention to details. Flexible. Great sounding mids and overall clarity and good dinamics.

Sound a little thin in plain stereo mode with music. Remote could be confusing.

Excellent built quality (look at the aluminum faceplate.). Attention to details (Amber lighted display, easy on the eyes, compared to those cheesy bright blue displays of some other brands). Well located heat dissipators and well organized internally with a lot of space for cooling. Sound very dinamic with movies and also very powerful (I cannot go past 1/3 of the volume without fearing speaker damage). Cristal clean highs and mids, also good bass but I use a 12" sub for that anyway. In stereo mode it sound a little on the thin side and the remote is somewhat confusing with most buttons being of the same size and no backlighting. Overall rating is VERY GOOD to EXCELLENT definetely recommended.

Clarity and Surround

None so far except remote is kind of ugly.

There are so many options here. the dozen or so surround modes sound great. such clarity and depth. Plenty of channels, inputs, and outputs. Picked this one up on ebay for 225 with a pioneer cd changer. highly recommend it!

Similar Products Used:

Luxman & JM Lab Daline 3.1's

I don't have a limitless budget, but when I do something with my money, I like to make sure I get quality. I'm quite pleased with the 990 I purchased. I probably stretch its use a bit.
The unit is intended as a home system. It does work great for that. I really appreciate the I/O flexibility the unit offers.

I volunteer my time and resources to community events, including some events in an outdoor ampitheater. I have been pleased that my system works quite well as a broadcasting system for those events. It offers plenty of flexibility for recording, mic inputs (via a portable mixer board), and audio input.

At a recent event, I ran the sound using someone else's equipment with some moderately high end speakers. I wasn't taking chances, so I set up my system (with B&W 601's) as a backup. I was impressed that the sound from my 990 system pumped out plenty of volume for the outdoor ampitheater, and the sound was clearer than on the other system (probably significantly related to the older mixer/amplifier in their system). It's not the intended use, but the flexibility is nice for me, and saves on the budget (instead of buying two separate systems).

When I first thought about quality sound I always thought Denon. So after listening to a couple of different types of recievers(Sony ES,Harmon Kardon, Onyko, Maranantz) I decided on a Denon AVR-2600. The DDSC-A circuit that it implimented at the time was incredible. One of the biggest problems with pro logic recievers is that the movie dialog "bleeds" from the center channel which a DDSC-A circuit kinda fixes. This was also a couple of years ago. I had never thought about Yamaha as a viable receiver. Untill that fatefull day when I walked into Good Guys and just on a whim wanted to hear the difference between Dolby Pro Logic, and Dolby Digital. I listened to the RX-V990 with the DDP-2 processor,woah. Walking out shaking my head and wondering where I would find the money to upgrade made me a Yamaha believer (maybe in that bank across the street!). Wait I'm an anally retentive persons and must weight all my options before I act. So I did. I went out and listened to other Dolby Digital recievers and then came back to the Yamaha. Before I go any farther my system at home is a complete package I have Klipsch 3.5's in the front and center(which in my opinion are some of the best speakers because of the horn tweeters and powerfull presence they give),an Energy ES-12 powered sub(mind numbing bass, and I mean now!) Boston Acoustic Bipoler rears(great rears if like your surrond sound diffused), and a panisonic A-110 DVD player to boot. I had always thought that this system had sounded incredible but when I unplugged my Denon AVR-2600 and plugged in my RX-V990; holy jesus, mother of god take me home the world is mine!!! First off in just plain pro logic I noticed big differences. For example my center channel sound was much brighter and cleaner and it didn't leak into my fronts. Even with DDSC-A the Denon did do this from time to time. The rear speakers once the phase and delay were set right had much more presence and diffused well (on one of the comments on this page someone mentions he returned this reciever because of "leakage" but probably forgot to phase his speakers and set up the right ammount of delay for his rears). Next thing Dolby Digital is incredible and as as audiophile I don't think I could live with out it(thank you DVD). My Klipsch's needs alot of juice to power and the 990 handles them great. So if you have sensitive speakers don't crank it. One of the best surprizes was the DSP modes. Denon's never did much for me, and I love the 70mm Cinema settings not to mention the Dolby Digital enhanced. As far as I know Yamaha is the only reciever maker with DSP's in the Pro Logic and Dolby Digital modes. It adds a nice flavor to movies, and after awhile you start to notice some movies will sound better with the enhancements and others won't. But at least with the Yamaha you have a choice. One thing to note though for music: I thought the Denon 5 channel DSP mode sounded better than any of the Yamaha's DSP's, and would have to say that the Denon AVR-2600 is better overall for music but does not compare in the Home theater department. One last thing is I have noticed better bass responce from the 990 that might be from a cleaner signal out, but I can't confirm that. So all in all I am pleased with my purchase, and would recomend to anyone a Yamaha reciever. You get more reciever than the ammount you spend would indicate. I'm now a Yamaha Believer!

Great Features and simple to use. The specialty settings work very well and there is a good distinction between them. The sound is outstanding and after 5 years, it still sounds fantastic, despite the lack of digital output.

No digital output, and the remote is pretty imposing if you don't like big remotes. Since all the remote buttons are the same size, you've really got to love multiple remote controls (which I do).

After 5 years, the sound is awesome. While I wish it had digital sound output like DTS or 5.1, I find that the 70MM setting does a great job and I don't feel like I'm lacking when watching a DVD movie like The Matrix.

At this point, I'll upgrade to a digital receiver only if I decide to move this system to another room in my house and I upgrade the entire home theater system. As it stands now, I still get the compliments on the great sound, just like I did 5 years ago. I don't know if I would spend $700 on a receiver again though. It seems like technology has advanced to the point where the $6,000 theatre I put together in 1996 can now cost about $3500-$4000 with better quality.

Great Features and simple to use. The specialty settings work very well and there is a good distinction between them. The sound is outstanding and after 5 years, it still sounds fantastic, despite the lack of digital output.

No digital output, and the remote is pretty imposing if you don't like big remotes. Since all the remote buttons are the same size, you've really got to love multiple remote controls (which I do).

After 5 years, the sound is awesome. While I wish it had digital sound output like DTS or 5.1, I find that the 70MM setting does a great job and I don't feel like I'm lacking when watching a DVD movie like The Matrix.

At this point, I'll upgrade to a digital receiver only if I decide to move this system to another room in my house and I upgrade the entire home theater system. As it stands now, I still get the compliments on the great sound, just like I did 5 years ago. I don't know if I would spend $700 on a receiver again though. It seems like technology has advanced to the point where the $6,000 theatre I put together in 1996 can now cost about $3500-$4000 with better quality.

Quality, number of inputs, video switching, onscreen display

25X2 surround

Let me say this is a great amp. It replaced my Carver HTR 880 so that I could get DD/DTS. (with a ext decoder) My Carver seemed a bit more musical but had no room for the future of DD/DTS. I am very plaesed with this Amp. It powers my system without fail. It has brought me very clean sound with powerful bass and bright highs. I think it is the father of the RXV-995. It has everything you could need, Digital ready. The Pro Logic Enhanced is a nice addition. The Yamah DSP modes are nice but bearly used for me. All in all a good purchase. Enjoy.

My system:
Yamaha RXV-990
Technics SH-AC500D decoder
Panasonic DVD CV35U
Apex AD 600A
Yamaha EQ GE-60
Paradigm Mini Monitors
B.I.C. V52CLR center
B.I.C. DV52 Digital surrounds
Cambridge 8" subwoofer

Sony KV-27S46
JVC HiFi VCR

Similar Products Used:

Marantz, JVC, Teac, Carver

Excellent receiver! very good surround sound for movies, and easily upgradeable;its connected to Paradigm Mk9se fronts,CC-300 Center ADP 100 rears and a Def. Tech. Powerfield 15 sub. The movement across the front is very good. I was a little concerned about the mere 20 or 25 watts to rears (hope to upgrade my system in future), but the power is more than adequate for any movie I've watched. I use it more for music; Jazz, Blues, 70's Rock mostly. I have absolutely no complaints. Now, check this out - I got it new for $669+ tax about 6 months ago. I couldn't be happier with the features/quality for that money. Oh yeah; others have commented about the DSP modes. I don't often use them, but they're all great when I'm in the mood. For those of you that are inclined in the same musical direction as I, try listening to the CD "A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan" in the stadium DSP mode.