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Yamaha has always excelled at creating wonderfully accurate, smooth audio equipment for many decades. This is no doubt due to their unique standing as the world's ONLY musical instrument maker (from beginner to concert/performance-level) who also makes audio equipment & speakers. Their century of musical craftsmanship shines thru in their ultra-modern electronics as well, in construction, sound quality & user interface. This Yamaha receiver is solid, beautiful, very flexible, smart and very smooth & musical. No listening fatigue...sounds exquisite at all volume levels and in all tonal registers. It deserves great input eqpt as it will reveal the poor sonic quality of other components. The many soundfields, enhancements and surround decoders are very natural and add to your enjoyment. The YPAO automated room adjustments are very smooth & smart and based on a digital multiband parametric EQ that yields better, faster results than the competitors' schemes. A plethora of up-to-date I/O including HDMI 1.3a, iPod, BlueTooth, HD, XM & Sirius radio will handle just about everything you can throw at it. Video upconversion on ALL inputs from480i to 720p or 1080p is amazing and very well done. And unlike most modern AVRs, it still includes a quality Phono input & pre-amp so you can still listen to your beloved vinyl records. Finally, the large front-panel display, the detailed Onscreen Display, well-designed knobs for Input & Mode selection, and a reasonably well-laidout remote control facilitate quick learning & control of the user interface. I LOVE this receiver!Read full review
Looked up and down at different brands, and the lower model Yamaha as well. I got this model in the end for the double sub outputs, more watts, and more HDMI inputs. It sounds awesome! I love how the volume using the remote very slowly increases. This was a huge problem with my previous receiver (top of the line Onkyo). The Onkyo was too loud at the very first increment, the Yamaha has pleanty of room to find the right volume. I ended up not even using the HDMI inputs. I use the tv instead, and use the tv digital audio out instead. I read reviews about the Yamaha having trouble switching between HDMI inputs with a delay of sorts. I experimented a bit with it and noticed it, but it wasn't very long or much of a problem, besides, I don't use it for video in anyway. The remote is a little bland as far as layout. Not ergonomic at all. All the buttons are about the same size with no special layout. The sub output volume is a little low. The Onkyo sub out was blasting, and I'm having a hard time reaching the same levels proportional to the L/C/R channels even with it maxed out! It does deliver, don't get me wrong, it's just the Onkyo sub couldn't even be turned up half way. I'm upgrading the current sub system in my house to fix the issue. I'm a real fanatic when it comes to bass. I'm sure a good Velodyde sub, and you'd have no problem whatsoever. The receiver pushes very clean sound, has plenty of ins and outs, and was priced at a very decent price for such a good receiver. Given a higher budget I'm sure I would have gone with an even better unit such as a preamp with separate amps, but for a single unit, this one was is great.Read full review
Very happy with this receiver. Sound is CRYSTAL clear. Interface is very easy to use though display is not state of the art. I love the optical and HDMI inputs (though I would not mind seeing 5 rather than 3 HDMI inputs). The only thing limiting the quality of sound you receive is the quality of the speakers you pair with this device. Like the upscaling feature though this device is not compatible with 3d upscaling. Power is fine for my fairly large living room and it does have a zone 2 option which I plan on using in the kitchen. I am not sure that you can find a finer receiver at this price point. You do have to make a few sacrifices to the 5,0000 dollar models (number of HDMI inputs, interactive display, total power and 3D upscaling), but this model easily out performs all the models I considered that were twice the price. If you want BANG FOR THE BUCK, this is the model to choose. Figure out your intentions for this device and understand its limitations - if they are a match, I guarantee you will LOVE this product.Read full review
I am a retired, formerly registered professional electrical and mechanical engineer. This receiver replaces an Onkyo 5.1 receiver that turned belly up. After several weeks of research over the internet, including reviews and test reports, the Yamaha receiver was chosen because it was packed with features for the actual purchase price of slightly over 60% of the $1000 MSRP, and 66% of common retail, $900. The rating of this review is based on the quality of sound and features provided per dollar paid - the same value set you use. Paying over $600-$700 was not in my decision matrix. For this price range, the audio performance and features are both excellent. The unit is basically a 7.1 version with a second, parallel, sub-woofer output. Hence, the 7.2 designation. The following features are worth noting: Minuses: There are only 3 HDMI inputs, so a third party switch is needed to expand this limit. 4 HD inputs are in keeping with this price range. Support for a second zone (room) is limited to two channel stereo. I do not use this feature. Pluses: There are 21 sound simulation selections in seven groupings (3-classical theaters, 3-night clubs, 4-entertainment, etc.) - plus two more selections specifically for enhanced listening (full surround sound) with headphones. The tuner includes HD radio reception along with standard AM and FM stereo. Audio and video inputs include standard L/R, digital coaxial, and digital optical audio inputs, plus composite, S-video, and component video inputs. XM and Sirius radio reception is also provided. There is enough power to scramble your brains in a 25 x 25 x 10 foot room, and automatic speaker balancing is provided via included microphone; manual override and tweaking is also provided Four quick-selector, Scene switches for DVD viewing, DVD listening, radio, and TV viewing are provided. With 19 Scene templates that can be programmed to the switches, this is a nice, convenient feature. The remote control is decent and reasonably intuitive. There are programmable features too numerous to list. You can tailor the sound and speakers to your preferences. An HDTV is several months away. So, this review is all about audio, not video. Reviews and test reports by independent labs suggest average, expected performance for this price range. One Lab reported an improved TV image by feeding a 1080P, Blue Ray source directly to the TV compared to routing it through the receiver. Other reviews haven't "knocked" the video performance as they have done with the current Onkyos and several other brands/models in this price range. So, I take this on faith as a good sign fot the moment. Enjoy!Read full review
I upgraded from a Yamaha RX-V995, which is a great receiver , but doesn't have the HDMI inputs and outputs or 7.1 surround or HD radio etc. The RX-V863 has all this and more. It was easy to set up, and sounds great. The clarity of each channel is amazing.I really haven't seen or heard any weaknesses in this receiver. The only capability I wish it had, is a way to hook up a signal processor to it. I have a BBE sonic maximizer I would love to use with it. However, this is minor and does not detract from the excellence of this receiver.
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