Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

So I buy this receiver after upgrading my TV 1080P Plasma(Samsung FPT-5084) and getting a 7.1 system installed into my ceiling. I originally had the Onkyo SRX-674 but was disappointed that its upconversion was really just a de-interlacer. Converting 480i to 480p. Also it ddnt have dolby true-hd decoding nor did it have dts-hd decoding. but I digress. So I looked at my options. I was looking to upgrade this 2 week old receiver FAST... I looked at the Onkyo TX-SR875 as an option but the $1399 price tag was a bit much. Lo and behold I look to the left and I see this receiver RX-V1800. I examined the options and almost everything was very comparable. 2 things to note this Receiver upscales to 1080P is it great - no, good - no, decent - yes. It also doesnt have the fancy THX certification But for a retail of $200 less I could deal with it. Also I was able to negotiate the deal down on this to $880 + tax (SOLD) - No brainer at that point. 4 HDMI 1.3a inputs 1 output... unprecedented at this price range and this is a repeater not pass through). I paired this with my Xbox (w/hd-dvd add-on) and my PS 3 (Bluray) and all I can say is WOW. Attach the microphone and have it auto calibrate your speakers and you are good to go! This receiver rocks! Halo 3 wouldnt have been the same without it!

So the bad... The receiver is somewhat complicated to work. The OSD (On screen display) and manual are not intuitive or really helpful. It took me a couple hours to get the receiver to recognize the proper audio output from my PS3... Probably Sony's fault!

Summary:
If you understand what I am talking about- you know what you are gonna get and you want these specs for the next gen in home entertainment. If you just need a receiver this would be a waste of your money (an extreme waste of your money).

This is a great home theatre receiver that is as future proof as you can get right now. Multiple HDMI inputs, outstanding sound qaulity, upconverts the quality of your inputs if you are still using things like a VCR. The automatic speaker calibration program is nice. If you are true high end tech expert, you will probably want to tweak the values (which this allows you to do), if you more of a person who wants a great home theatre experience without the hassle of fine tuning every aspect, this receiver is for you. Yamaha quality is outstanding. I finally upgraded my last Yamaha receiver after 11 years...and it still runs fine. The listening modes of the receiver are neat, you will probably be able to figure out a few of them you like and will not use the rest. But with 20+ to choose from, you have options. This receiver has Yamaha's ability to use extra front presence or extra rear surround speakers which do enhance the quality of the sound on movies. The only drawback to this receiver is that it does so many things, that you can almost become overwhelmed reading through the book. This receiver is a steal if you can get for under $1000 from an authorized Yamaha dealer (all of the places Amazon uses to sell this are authorized). If you call on the phone the stores Amazon sells this product through, you can probably get a better price. Yamaha doesn't have near as many issues with quality or non-functionality that some of the other competitors have.

I bought this receiver a few weeks ago after purchasing a new Blu-Ray player and realizing I was out of HDMI connections on my television.

I had been leaning towards Onkyo's newer line of units as they are getting very good reviews. One thing I've always found about Onkyo is that their AVRs are a bit of work to set up, with difficult or non-existent OSDs and lack of documentation on some setup items.

I ended up picking this RXV1800 for a number of reasons. It has support for all of the new digital formats, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA. While not a big deal today, down the road the ability to decode and process these signals will get more important.

Another reason for selecting this unit is that it has 4 HDMI inputs and 1 output. Nearly all AVRs under $1K have at most 3 inputs and one output. Even the $1500 Denon units don't have more than 2 or 3 inputs. If you have a Blu-Ray or HD DVD player, video game system, Tivo or digital sat/cable box, and HD camcorder, you are already at four inputs. This unit has the most HDMI inputs of any good receiver on the market for this price range.

Third reason I selected the RXV1800 is setup. While some are writing reviews claiming that the manual is bad or the setup is complicated, I have to differ. This unit offers an on screen display and an "auto" setup mode that is more or less idiot proof. Connect your speakers, plug in the included microphone and hit "auto" and it sets the levels, EQ, delays, etc, for all of your speakers. If you want to do more sophisticated setup you still get to use the on screen display for this and the manual is actually in well written English not the Japanese translated pseudo-english that is common with these types of electronics. I have looked up a variety of things in the manual, such as how to relabel my input names, how to display a video source with a different audio source (playing games on the TV while listening to radio, etc) and they have all turned out to be easy to do.

About the only negative thing about this unit is the remote. While it does the basics (and is even a learning remote) it's a real clunker and you should strongly consider getting something like a Harmony 880, etc, all in one remote to handle the functions of your AV system.

I almost sent this back due to deceptive advertising. You will notice that the page for this reciever lists a feature that calls this a "Network" reciever. Not true for this model. The models above in price to this unit do have this feature whereas, you can plug USB devices directly into the unit. This model does not have that feature. The picture that is shown, is for the 3800 not the 1800. I decided to keep the unit though, as I got a great price. (719.99) and that feature in all honesty would have gotten little use from me. I just hate the fact that someone else may have looked at the advertising and made a decision based on this, then would have had to go through an arduous return policy. Other than that its a good unit. I think the complexity of the remote is not as bad as some here have complained. One other word of caution. This reciever lists a capability called presence speakers. I am using this, but do your research. They cannot be used at the same time as your rear surrounds if you have them. My opinion? If you have a small room such as mine, the presence speakers are awesome, as I dont have the room to do a full 7.1 system. But if you do have a large room, just know that you will be able to use one or the other, presence speakers or rear surround not both. You can have both hooked up, but only one will play at a time.

Basically, this receiver does everything you need for a mid-priced A/V system. It sounds great, has plenty of HDMI inputs, plenty of reserve power, and best of all, does a great job of upconverting non-digital sources, such as my PlayStation 2 and Nintendo WII up to the HDMI output.

The DSP modes are actually useful, especially for TV sports that are mostly 2-channel. Finally, the auto-setup system did a superb job of configuring and tweaking the 1800 to my living room.

I've always considered Yamaha and Denon to be at the top of the "Consumer Level" electronics category. The 1800 continues that trend nicely!

With 4 HDMI inputs, sound decoding for DTS Master Audio and Dolby True HD, and an amazing amount of extras, plus a menu that allows you to adjust most everything, this is the best receiver I have ever owned. It also upconverts anything to 1080p, and does a nice job of it too. It's stunning on my rack, hooks up easily, and settings on the menu are very easy. The sound quality that comes from this is superb! I Highly recommend this receiver, it's one well built unit and a bargain at the price compared to other manufacturers. Onkyo has lower prices but after investigating and researching, they have heat problems and other issues. Yamaha has been making excellent receivers for many years. I still have my 1982 receiver in the bedroom, and it still works perfectly. You won't need an upgrade for a long time.

I replaced a 9 year old Pioneer Elite receiver with the Yamaha. Setup was very easy. The manual is a bit challenging but you have to remember it does a lot; it's a good balance between a manual written for a novice and a guru.
I paired this with a new set of Apirion speakers and subwoofer. I used the Yamaha autosetup to get things started and did have to tweak the surround and subwoofer settings a bit which was fairly easy in the manual setup mode. The only word to describe it is "Wow".

I have a cable box, vcr, cd jukebox, and a dvd player plugged in with this receiver outputting the video to a high def. television via HDMI. I'm only using 2 of the 4 HDMI inputs (the cable box and the dvd). Having 2 extras gives you plenty of time to expand your home theater system.

Shop around though, I found a coupon code that got me this for $768 from 6ave Electronics. I would have been happy at $1100; I'm thrilled at that price.

JUST GOT MY YAMAHA 1800 AMP LAST MON 19/5/08 SAME DAY HOOKED AMP TO PANA BLUE RAY PLAYER BD30 & SANYO Z 5 PROJECTOR WITH 120" SCREEN & PARADIGM ULTRA CUBE 10 SUBWOOFER (1500WATTS) THE PICTURE & SOUND WAS UNBELIVABLE (MUCH BETTER THAN LOCAL MULTIPLEXES).I WATCHED AVP2/RESIDENT EVIL 3/ DIE HARD 4/ ETC ON BLU RAY DISC & THEY ALL WERE AMAZING WATCHING ON THESE SYSTEMS.THE PICTURE/SOUND QUALITY ON MY EARLIER DVD PIONEER 696A/YAMAHA 1400 WAS VERY GOOD BUT WITH THIS NEW PLAYER & AMP THE PICTURE/SOUND IS MUCH BETTER (AWESOME).
ONE IMP. POINT ABOUT YAMAHA AMP.IS THAT YOU CAN HOOK 2 MORE SPEAKERS IN BETWEEN THE FRONTS & CENTRE (PRESENCE SPEAKERS) IN ADDITION TO THE 7/8 SPEAKERS. THE SOUND WITH THE ADDITIONAL PRESENCE SPEAKERS IMPROVES A LOT.
ONLY YAMAHA AMPS HAVE THIS ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS OPTION WHICH IS WHY I OPTED FOR THIS AMP.
I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMEND THIS AMP. & GIVE IT 6 ******'S IF POSSIBLE & WITH A GOOD COMBINATION OF AMP/PROJ/TV/POWERFUL SUB WITH THIS PLAYER ONE WOULDNT VENTURE TO GO TO MULTIPLEXES TO WATCH MOVIES.
UDAY BHATIA. MUMBAI (INDIA)

I recently replaced my old surround set up with a Polk 5.1 configuration, using RTI-A7 fronts, RTI-A3 rears, a CSI-A6 center and a PSW505 sub. I had been running these through a Yamaha RX-V659, which is a very nice receiver, but I wanted something with a bit more high-current ability to drive the new speakers. I also wanted a receiver with HDMI inputs that handle both audio and video for the best possible sound and picture for HD A/V sources. I did a lot of research on a number of different products from Denon, Onkyo, HK, Pioneer and the like, but I ended up settling on this one. I had been planning to replace the old unit a few months down the road, but when I stumbled into one of these brand-new-in-box at a large electronics superstore for an almost surreal $599, I took the plunge.
Pulling it out of the box, the build quality is exceptional; the RX-V1800 weighs a good 40 lbs. It's a pretty big piece of equipment, measuring 17" W x 17" D x 7" H. Make sure you have space for this. Everything feels very solid, and Yamaha claims its ToP-ART design technique creates virtually no additional signal distortion to incoming/outgoing signals.
Looking at the back of this thing may cause headaches for some. For an amateur audiophile like me, it's fantastic. The RX-V1800 has every connection type you can think of, highlighted by 4 HDMI inputs/1 output and 4 optical inputs/2 outputs. It has multichannel analog inputs for SACD/DVD-A. There's an iPod jack for the optional Yamaha YDS-11SL iPod Dock, which I also purchased. In addition, there's a port for XM connection (I do not have XM so I can't comment on it). There are still plenty of component inputs and analog inputs for those with older devices that do not support digital connections. The speaker terminals are made of metal; they are well-built and feel solid. The vertical layout of the terminals can make it difficult to use traditional wiring, and for many banana cables will be an easier way to go. You can wire a total of 9 speakers + sub using this receiver, which is basically standard 7.1 with 2 additional "presence" speakers added to the left and right fronts (only 7 can play simultaneously, however.)
Just to clarify - this receiver is NOT network ready. There is no ethernet port, and there isn't a USB port for connecting external hard drives, etc. For me, this isn't an issue - I have that functionality with the PS3 - but for some, it may be a requirement and hopefully this will eliminate some of the confusion due to the misleading product description on this page.
The different settings are too numerous to list, and I haven't had the item long enough to finish reading the entire manual (which is just as monstrous as this receiver). But of the most importance to potential buyers is the RX-V1800's ability to decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, along with any older encoding method you can think of. It can handle incoming decoded high-resolution PCM. It also supports HDMI 1.3a and can pass full 1080p. This is perfect for next-gen AV, as it can decode/handle any advanced multichannel format there is, including Blu-ray, HD-DVD, SACD, DVD-A, etc. This is perfect for me: I can run my PS3 through a single HDMI cable to the receiver out to the TV in full 1080p video, with Linear PCM/TrueHD multichannel audio humming through my Polks when I play Blu-rays.
There are a host of sound field settings available on the RX-V1800, some of which emulate concert halls, arenas, and clubs, others which are specifically tailored to TV/Movies/Video Games. These are marginally useful. I typically only use these programs with jazz and classical CDs - the Concert Hall and Jazz Club sound field programs are numerous and quite nice, adding surround ambience to stereo discs, which I like. My favorite settings however are Straight for AV and especially Pure Direct for Audio only signals. This shuts down all other processes (including the display) except the amplifier and sends the signal direct to the speakers with no additional processing. This setting really makes SACDs and DVD-As shine.
In terms of power, the RX-V1800 is a beast. It can pump out 130W x 7 RMS, which is as much power as most normal people will ever need. It seems (at least to me) to have a fuller sound than the RX-V659 did, which I attribute to the additional reserve power this unit has under most conditions. As such it's perfectly equipped to run multizone, configured with either one (7.1), two (5.1 in zone 1, stereo in zone 2) or three different zones (3.1 in zone 1, stereo in zones 2 & 3). I really like the fact that the different zones are powered by separate amps.
The remote control is standard Yamaha - in other words a mess. And this is coming from a someone who has owned (and liked) Yamaha components in the past. Setup itself is not very difficult (setting levels, speaker distance, etc.) but I still haven't figured out how to control the finer points via remote. I haven't used the second "zone" remote, so I won't comment on that.
I also haven't thoroughly tested out this receiver's video upconversion, but it seems OK not great. DVDs played through the PS3 connected via HDMI to the RX-V1800 to my Samsung LN46A550 46" 1080p LCD HDTV appear to be of similar quality as compared to connecting the PS3 via HDMI straight into my TV (the TV also has a decent upconverter). EDIT: 1/9/09 - after carefully examining the manual, the upscaling only works if you hook the incoming device up with component, S-video or analog connections. HDMI passes signal as-is. After hooking up my Yamaha DVD-S1800 upscaling universal DVD/DVD-A/SACD player with component video in to the RX-V1800, I can safely tell you the upscaling to 1080p is very, very good.
Look and feel is actually quite nice (this is sometimes a problem for Yamaha as their products tend to be built for function above form), with a black brushed aluminum front and ample ventilation grilling on top. A metal faceplate hides many of the on-deck controls when closed, giving the item a smooth and uncluttered profile.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this receiver thus far, especially playing SACDs and Blu-rays in lossless 5.1 multichannel sound. It's really let my Polks show off their large dynamic range in a new way.
Overall this receiver is excellent. It offers just about any features you could possibly want, and it was an unbelievable value for me considering the deal I stumbled into. I know I'm not taking full advantage of all of this receiver's capabilities, but I consider that a good thing. As with the speakers, I plan on keeping this receiver for the foreseeable future, as it's somewhat future-proofed and can be scaled to any size room (or rooms) I would ever need. I don't have space for 7.1 right now, but when I do I feel pretty good about bringing this receiver along with me. Recommended, especially if you can get it for below list. If not, you can get much of the same functionality with slightly less output from a Yamaha RX-V863 for a lot less.