I bought this amp sight unseen/unheard used for a third of it's original MSRP (I got lucky :-)... $625.00 shipped!) to upgrade from a Yamaha RX-V995 receiver (a very nice sounding amp in it's own right). WOW! What an upgrade! I read the reviews and the reviewers commonly said they couldn't imagine the amp sounding significantly better. I agree wholeheartedly! They also said this receiver's strong suit is it sounds equally good with music or movies. I also agree! I adjusted the speaker levels etc. manually and it was a breeze. I didn't get the mic in the deal (owner lost it) so I couldn't use the YPAO auto setup, but I prefer to tweak things manually anyway. The only downside to this amp is that it doesn't upconvert analog signals to HDMI, and it does run a bit hot. Other than that, it's a dream amp. I am using Von Schweikert VR-2 mains, ACI LV rears, with a Mirage sub (no center... don't have room for it nor do I need it). Someday I will upgrade the sub and that'll be it. Yamaha has done it again! VERY VERY highly recommended product!!!

* High sound quality for film and music alike * Excellent OSD/GUI (the best I've ever seen) * i-Link connection for clean digital tranfer for audio * HDMI connection for clean digital transfer of both audio and video * Great remote * Advanced YPAO helps system set-up * Topp-class design and build

* Slightly negative results from the YPAO equalizer. * Can't store individual speakerchannel levels for each input. * No transfer of SACD with HDMI * Runs rather hot.

I bought this receiver as a replacement for Sony STR-DA5000 and Harman/Kardon DRP-2005, for which neither was very pleasing. Connected to my Kef speakersystem KHT 2005.2 (consisting of five small satellites and a dedicated subwoofer) I started the set-up using Yamaha's excellent automatic YPAO set-up and OSD/GUI on-screen. The only negative thing here was the equalizer which didn't really bring any improvements. I simply ignored this setting. Connection was made with the Yamaha DVD-S2500 using a high-quality i-Link cable for all audio. The sound produced was full of life and extremely dynamic and punchy. For film, the RX-V4600 grabs your attention from the get-go and never distract from the on-screen action. In other words, the sound is very engaging and easy on the ear, with plent of detail. What amazed me the most however, was the control and depth that the LFE-channel/subwoofer suddenly produced. Without having made any changes to the subwoofer's own controls whatsoever (volume, etc) the bass became more forcefull than with any other receiver I've tested. A nice surprice, to be sure. The feeling of 3-D is razor-sharp and all-round envelopment is of a very high class, making my speakersystem bloom to it's fullest potential. For music, much of the impression from film is intact. There is a nice addition of inner-detail to voices and acoustic instruments that I had never noticed before. The subwoofer, which handles all bass frequenzies from 80Hz and up, was not as powerful as with film though. And since I always listen to music in 5-channel stereo I lacked the feature of having different, individual speakerchannel levels for each input. I would have liked to have separate settings for dvd-input, cd-input etc. I don't remember the previous receivers from Sony and Harman/Kardon ever made my speakersystem sound this good... And the Yamaha is in the same pricerange. I guess it's all in the processing, which Yamaha has always been great at. To sum-up: the Yamaha RX-V4600 is a very nice entry-level high-end receiver with powerfull processing and great amplification and to top things off it's user friendly with a great remote and OSD/GUI.

Very versatile. Tons of excellent sound fields for stereo recordings. YPAO is excellent. Works well with low impedance speakers. Extremely powerful remote. I have never had a Yamaha product fail.

Runs hot, I therefore use 2 SilenX fans. Remote scares wife. Got Harmony 880 to compensate. Multi-Channel mode bypasses all decoders, bass management, and tone controls. Nerdy manual.

Very high quality product. Delivers what it promises. YPAO works much better than other reviewers attest. It does help select sub crossover point.

Similar Products Used:

Various Yamaha, Denon receivers.