Yamaha RX-V1800BL 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was forced to upgrade to the Yamaha RXV 1800 earlier than planned as my older Yamaha model gave up the ghost. I was very pleased with the previous model which I had for over 10 years. This past November I had acquired the Samsung 52 LNTF and the Toshiba HD A35 player, with plans to upgrade the amplifier sometime this year. These are all HDMI 1.3a enabled devices, supporting true 1080p
First the amplifier is impressive in size. It is not your father's amp. It is feature rich and is intimidating for those who are technically challenged.
Since most of my components are HDMI enabled, it was good to run less cables from these to the unit. (My wife was very pleased with, this.) This is the beauty of HDMI cables, one cable carries the stereo audio and the three primary colors. This is the first gain to be realized from the system, the reduction of wires needed. The unit has 4 HDMI inputs already pre-programmed. By this, I mean each input has been configured for a particular device. There is one for 1080p DVD players (Blu Ray or Toshiba HD), one for regular DVD players, one for cable box/satellite set top box etc. Meaning you cannot criss cross the inputs with the devices and expect it to work. I discovered this the hard way.
Connecting the wires is less intimidating than originally thought. I used screw in banana plugs that made connection to the speakers a breeze. It does require one to have enough free wire to allow for slack when the unit is positioned.
There is a cool feature "YAPAO" that is used to set the sound levels for the speaker based on the listening position. The test showed me that one of my main left front speaker was out of phase (that is the rec wire from the speaker was connected to the black input port on the unit.) The trick is to be able to locate the supplied microphone in the right location to conduct the test.
The entire wiring with assistance from my wife took about an hour. Plan everything ahead and read the set up instructions. You cannot afford to short circuit such a monster of a unit.
I am still struggling with the multi-room zone controls. They are not simple. All I really want to do is to share the audio from the main zone to my bedroom which is zone 2. My previous model had an A/B switch that was easy enough to use. Just turn in on and the sound was distributed to my bedroom. I am still researching the multi-zone set up.
The remote control is not user-friendly either. It is overloaded and lacks in ease of use or human-tech friendliness. Others have recommended using the Harmony to control all other units. I struggled with the set up and was able to get it to control the TV, the DVD player and the CD player. For the life of me I cannot figure out how to get it to control the Cable set-top box.
The sound settings and offerings are too numerous to mention. Most of this you will only master over time.
Once I had it connected, I listened to some cds, watched a HD sourced movie, and HD sourced TV. I use Comcast and it have some nice HD on Demand features, especially the Gallery Player photos. The sound is awesome. It really makes a huge difference to the entertainment experience. It is hard to imagine how much you miss when you do not know what you are missing. I thought my previous sound experience was very good, the unit moved it up about two more levels.
Setting up the physical connections is not a challenge, less wires to deal with, but the programming and use of the remote will set you back many hours just trying to figure it out.
Am I pleased with my investment, very much so. So if you plan on purchasing this unit, realize it is no walk in the park, you do pay for what you get.

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The Yamaha RX-V1800 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver offers excellent levels of sound and video quality for total home theater enjoyment.It provides 910 Watts of total power, pushing 130 Watts to each of its 7 channels.With features including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoders, the latest HDMI 1.3a specification support, video upscaling to 1080p, iPod compatibility, YPAO Auto Setup with Quick Start and multi-zone custom installation support, it will become the cornerstone of your home theater experience.

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Onkyo TX-SR608 7.2-Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)Unlike a lot of CEs, Onkyo may have indavertantly cannibalized its own model lineup by pushing so much featureset into an entry level receiver that it might deter buyers from their higher end models. I recently did a thorough comparison of the Pioneer VSX-1020 and Denon AVR-791 and the Onkyo nudged out the Pioneer due to its beefier amp section and OSD capabilities. That said, I must caution users that its value is marred by what appears to be a bug with its ability to pass through HDMI video signals unmolested, even in "Through" modes. This bug manifests itself in two ways: 1. 24 bit sources (like cable hdtv) are upconverted to 30 bit when output on a display; AND 2. for some inexplicable reason, 1080p 24fps sources stutter intermittently as if a frame is dropped. The latter might be more noticeable to plasma owners whereas 120hz and 240hz LCDs might compensate for the frame stuttering with their interpolation software (ie the soap opera effect).
With that caveat, the Onkyo is a terrific performer offering strong power (power consumption is up from the 607 to a very grown up 756 watts), terrific flexibility (four speaker terminals can be assigned to wide, height or zone 2). The Denon is limited to merely 7 speaker terminals and the Pioneer has only a pair of assignable terminals. The Audyssey auto-callibration (2EQ) is a notch behind Denon, but the inclusion of Audyssey DSX (for wide arrangements) is a feature that the Denon does not offer. While it lacks the USB terminal for Ipod playback of the Pioneer and the Denon, it does offer a computer input which might resolve the HDMI handshake nightmare many face with htpcs.
Onkyo rather smartly included a fan atop of the receiver, which is silent and all but eliminates the historical Onkyo toaster oven effect.
I really enjoy this receiver, but found the HDMI video molestation issues to quite problematic and what mar an otherwise incredible buy. Hopefully Onkyo can issue a firmware update.

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Sure, we call it an "entry-level" A/V receiver. But when you witness the full potential of the TX-SR608, you'll know the level you're entering is far beyond the ordinary. For a start, you get six of the latest HDMI 1.4 inputs for simple hook-up of all your high-def sources. HDMI 1.4 also brings compatibility with the new 3D video format, as well as an Audio Return Channel from your display back to the receiver. Complementing HDMI on the input front, you have an analog RGB video input for connecting your PC, and a Universal Port for Onkyo peripherals. All video sources, regardless of resolution, can be upscaled to big and beautiful 1080p via HDMI and Faroudja DCDi Cinema. Audio processing incorporates quality Burr-Brown DACs, lossless Dolby and DTS codecs, and the expanded surround formats of Audyssey DSX and Dolby Pro Logic IIz. Three-stage inverted Darlington circuitry and jitter cleaning technology work to ensure extremely precise and faithful amplification. In recognition of the TX-SR608's outstanding A/V prowess, it has been awarded THX Select2 Plus Certification.

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Yamaha RX-V665BL 630 Watt 7-Channel Home Theater Receiver Review

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(More customer reviews)I chose the Yamaha V665 after careful comparison with other units, and was very impressed with ease of setup and features. The sound quality is excellent, and while I had initial concerns with power output, at 90 watts it demonstrates more useable power than my previous NAD unit at 100 watts. I particularly like the four "Scene" buttons which allow linked input sources and sound fields and switch the unit on with one action. Contrary to other reviews on Amazon you can easily assign whatever input you wish together with a preferred sound field and assign it to any of these buttons. On the downside, you cannot assign different tone adjustments to these four "Scenes" which means I have to manually attenuate the bass to listen to spoken radio broadcasts which tend to create disturbing bass reverberations at times.
However the one big disappointment, which because of its nature I only discovered too late to return the unit (and I would not have purchased this unit had I known beforehand) is evident when a TV input from some (possibly all?) cable boxes is connected to the unit and passed through using the receiver as a switching unit (one of the key features of any modern receiver after all). In this mode the signal is subject to frequent dropouts of sound and video. Some days these dropouts are hardly evident and only for a fraction of a second, other days they are frequent and last long enough to leave the screen blank for a second or two or to delete entire words on the audio track. This happens with every possible connection I have tried, whether HDMI or component video (I have also tried monster cables to no avail). I have since seen other reviews reporting this same problem on other Yamaha units. My cable box is Time Warner but there are similar reports with Verizon Fios, so the problem seems endemic. Updating the current Yamaha firmware seems to have no effect.
There are always so many variables that it is difficult to track down the source of the problem, and I would hate to criticize Yamaha unfairly, but as the problem apparently occurs throughout the Yamaha product range, it would seem wise to hesitate on purchasing Yamaha until this problem is resolved.

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Yamaha RX-V665BL 630 Watt 7-Channel Home Theater Receiver

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Sony STR-DG810 6.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver Review

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(More customer reviews)I got this for it's HDMI switching capability. It does this well and that's a welcome accomplishment for $300 at this point in time. There is now 1 cable! from the HD DVD player to the recvr and 1 cable! from the satellite recvr and 1 cable to the plasma monitor. That's pretty exciting in my book. The prior reviewer seemed to expect it to do analog to digital conversion of video signals. That's far from realistic at this price point, but it seems like the 910 may do that. For me this receiver replaces an older Sony ES (high end) with better amplication. One knows the 810 is a step down just from its reduced weight. But in my simple home theater context I'm very happy with this recvr's capability. Of course, I've only had it a week. It has a nice blend of features, and even at this level its manual is a bit daunting re the features to be learned. For my wife, it's handy that it allows you to rename inputs. So, instead of SAT appearing on the display I changed it to DIRECTV, and I changed VIDEO2 to EMPTY. Radio stations can be preset and named too. Regardless of which input you switch to, it remembers your last sound settings for it -- that's helpful. When you insert headphones for late night tv watching, it senses that, turns off the speakers and optimizes the sound fields for 2 channel listening. Very nice. I hope it gives me many years of service.

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