Customer Reviews

Yamaha RX-V465BL 525 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I've had the RX-v465 for over a month now, so i've had plenty of time to get comfortable with the receiver. I purchased this b/c it seemed like the best value. My major goals were to find a receiver that had HDMI vid and audio pass-thru and had good quality cd music output - and the rx-v465 delivered!

PROS:
I used the mic to auto-calibrate the sound quality - very easy (do this before using it). CDs (analog) sound great and digital audio sounds even better. The sound settings are great: it has several sound enhancer settings for a full/modern sound and even a 'direct' mode where the receiver uses the minimum electronics to provide a pure (almost vinyl) sound. These settings are easy to access once you get comfortable with the remote.

It has plenty of inputs for all of your older (rca) and newer (HDMI) devices. For TV, I run my comcast dvr box via an hdmi cable to the receiver, then run an hdmi from the receiver to the tv. For dvd, i run hdmi to the receiver. Only one cable (an hdmi) is needed from the receiver to the TV (sony bravia 52v5100). Video quality and dolby digital audio quality is excellent. It even allows you to view TV without turning on the receiver (downside in this mode is you can't listen to the sound system). Also, my cable remote can control the receiver volume when watching tv when the pass-thru mode is set (control-on).

CONS:
1. There is an annoying time delay (up to 3 seconds) when switching from HD to non-HD channels and when pulling up the dvr menu/list and cable guide. The receiver is thinking /switching digital modes and makes clicking sounds as it switches resulting in sound but no vid. This issue took me some time to get used to and will be a deal-breaker for most people.
2. Longer delay / thinking when the receiver is turned on and the hdmi input is set. Same clicking and no vid as it finds the right mode for the data that is coming in.
3. Remote is annoying, not built well, but whatever, its not a deal breaker.

OVERALL, i'm happy with this receiver at the price i paid when compared to other available receivers with similar features/functions.

This receiver does everything I want it to, and then after carefully reading the manual, I realized it does a few other things that I was pleased about.

The best surprise was discovering this receiver has a HDMI pass-through capability. In a lot of cases when we watch TV, we are fine with the TV speakers. Don't really want to fire up the whole system just to watch the weather. I was intending to run the HDMI from the cable set top box directly to the TV and then running a digital optical from the set top box to the receiver. With the pass -through, I can just run an HDMI from set top box to receiver. The down side with the pass-through is you have to remember to switch to the HDMI input needed for pass-through before turning off the receiver.

Here is some clarification on Straight and Direct modes. From reading the manual, I thought the subwoofer would not be employed. I have a subwoofer hooked up to LFE, Bass Management set to SWFR, and front speakers set to Small. Using two channel Dolby sources, I found that in both Straight and Direct modes, the subwoofer was used. Straight is like having no DSP. Direct is like having no DSP and no tone processing. But the Bass Management seems to still be in play; at least with digital sources. I don't have any analog sources, so I can't comment on analog sources. This clarification is important to me because I have tiny front speakers not really capable of reproducing stereo music faithfully on their own. (see correction below)
-- Begin Update 1/9/2010 --
When you use two channel Dolby matrix encoded sources, what is stated above is true. Straight and Direct utilize the subwoofer. I have since realized with two channel PCM digital sources, Straight uses the subwoofer, Direct will not use the subwoofer. So if you want to listen to say a CD using a digital connection and you have small front speakers, use Straight or one of the Stereo modes. You will get full range sound with your subwoofer.
-- End Update 1/9/2010 --
-- Begin Update 12/10/2009 --
It appears that when you use Dolby TrueHD and the DTS-HD Master Audio, the Cinema DSP modes are not available. If you try to select a Cinema DSP mode, it will go to Straight. This is generally not a big deal, as most with a full 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup will want to use Straight. I myself have a 2.1 speaker setup so was counting on Virtual Cinema DSP. Virtual Cinema DSP is not available in Straight. This is not a big deal to me because the Virtual Cinema DSP ended up being a bust anyways (see below).
-- End Update 12/10/2009 --

One of the reason I picked this receiver is the virtual surround feature (called Virtual Cinema DSP). I have to say I cannot hear the virtual surround effects. I switch between Straight (which has no virtual surround) to one of the Cinema DSP modes and cannot tell the difference. Oh well, I still am very happy with the receiver. I've only owned it a few days, so maybe I need to listen to more sources.

Don't get your hopes to high on the YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Acoustic Optimizer). This is a tool where you hook up a supplied microphone and have it kick off an automatic calibration process. I found that some things YPAO set was correct, but other settings it decided on was a bit flawed. It determined my speaker set up correctly. It determined the size of my front speakers correctly. It decided on the correct subwoofer setting. The distance settings were accurate to less than half a foot! Those are critical to get right. But the Bass Management cross over setting and subwoofer level I was not statisfied. It set the cross over to 160 Hz. This does not make sense when the frequency response of my subwoofer is 20 - 150 Hz and the frequency response of my fronts are 57 - 30,000 Hz. I decided to set the cross over to 100 Hz, the cross over setting recommended by the manufacture of my front speakers. Setting the subwoofer level ended up being a very long process of listing to many different music sources and movie sources. YPAO is not going to get you out of this effort if you want a nicely balance system.

Another feature I was pleasantly surpriced about is the Scene feature. It has ended up proving to be quite handy, especially for the rest of my family. With the Scene, you can program an input, processing, and can turn on another external device. What is great about Scene, is it not only switches to an input and processing, it will turn the unit on if it is off when you push one of the four scene buttons. So I tell my wife, "If you want to hear the cable tv through the stereo, just push the "TV" button." When she does this, the receiver turns on. The HDMI pass-through turns off. Audio amplification comes out the receiver. Audio to the TV via the HDMI out on the receiver is stopped (so no sound comes out the tv speakers). The right input is selected, and the right sound processing is selected. All from pushing one button.

Keep in mind, this receiver will not send analog video sources out the HDMI. So, for example, if you want to hook up your camera to the front composite video input, it will not go out the HDMI output. It will go out the composite video output. You need the next receiver up, RX-V565, to do that.

I am so happy with this receiver and I think the price is very fair. I can't really justify paying for a more expensive receiver because this one does everthing, and then some more, of what I want.

-- Begin Update 12/16/2009 --
Another thing I wanted to point out is the amp rating. It is not considered a full bandwidth amp. Most amps in this price range are not full bandwidth. Amps that are not rated full bandwidth will have problems in the low frequencies. I am not concerned about this because I have my Bass Management configured to put all the bass through the subwoofer. The subwoofer is powering the bass. You should be aware of this if you use full range speakers and you want the bass to come out these speakers. If I had full range speakers, I would still set them to "Small" and let the subwoofer handle the bass.
-- End Update 12/16/2009 --

When I set out to buy a receiver, I almost instantly settled on the Yamaha brand because of its excellent reputation and the fact I could sync up my lap top to it to play music through the bluetooth device (Yamaha YBA-10WH Bluetooth Wireless Audio Receiver for Select Yamaha Home Theater Receivers). My media center is also fully enclosed so I didn't want a unit that would run hot. I wasn't terribly concerned with format decoding or watts because I was using a DVD player that did all the decoding and I wasn't using overwhelming speakers (Harman Kardon HKTS-18 5.1 Channel Speaker System).

My problem - the unit refuses to cooperate with my HD DVR cable box that was provided to me courtesy of Time Warner. It is a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HDC. There is some problem with the HDMI "handshake" between the two units where the audio does not come through and the video will sometimes briefly cut out. This problem would still exist when I would turn off the Yamaha to allow the signal to simply "pass through".

Yamaha said its Time Warner's fault and TW said its Yamaha's fault. I ultimately gave up trying to figure it out and didn't feel like going throguh an exchange. Instead, I hooked up the HDMI cable to the TV and bought an optical cord for the audio to get sent from my TV to the receiver. While I don't mind since I like to watch sports with music in the background, this problem shouldn't exist!

Everything else on the receiver works very well and the features are outstanding. The receiver after hours of use only gets warm. Well worth the price. Would be a 5 star product if this problem didn't exist and Yamaha was more accomodating to try and help me out.

I'm puzzled by the other review - am using it to drive 5 fairly inefficient speakers and it will play quite loudly and without thermal shutdown. Who knows? In any case, it came as a surprise to me that such a modest unit could pump out such clean, robust sound on high-end speakers (Martin-Logan) without apparent strain. That is has the new audio codecs is why I bought it. My only niggling complaint is that there's no panel display showing that it's decoding Dolby True HD or DTS Master Audio; but the improvement in sound is evident, so that's what really counts.

In my opinion this is quite a bargain for those happy with a 5.1 setup and who don't want to jump to the 7.1 scheme(and I'm sure many wives are happy about that too - the WAF).

I first purchased the RX-V365 for my living room. Being a complete newbie to HD audio, I thought this would be enough. Originally I had all my devices (HDMI) connected to my 37" Samsung TV with a single TOSLINK from the TV back to the receiver. It took about 3 weeks before I realized what was going on: the TV only outputs 2-channel PCM via the TOSLINK when using HDMI. I had to go to Samsung's website and thumb through several FAQ's before I stumbled upon that little bit of info.

After a bit of rewiring the devices to send either TOSLINK or COAX audio to the receiver, I was now finally getting better performance. 1st problem solved. However, I was still underwhelmed with the decoders available, especially with Blu-Ray (which can output Dolby True-HD, DTS-HD, etc.) After further research, Dolby True-HD and DTS-HD can only be sent through an HDMI cable (no TOSLINK or COAX.) Since the RX-V365 does not pass audio through HDMI, I decided to return the RX-V365 and get the RX-V465 instead. 2nd problem solved.

Best decision I have made in quite some time. If you have a 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 setup and a Blu-Ray player, this receiver is the best "bang for the buck."

My setup:

Samsung 37" LCD
Yamaha RX-V465
Samsung Blu-Ray player
Comcast HD-DVR (Motorola)
Xbox 360 (HDMI version)
Polk Audio 5.1 speaker setup

I was searching for a new HDMI 5.1 receiver to replace my old Sony (pre hdmi) receiver. Found this unit on Amazon and checked out all available web sites for reviews.This receiver had all the features I wanted for 5.1 use,105 watts/ch,lossless audio decoding for blu-ray discs,and the price was great compared to other brands.The manual was good but you may need to read thru it several times to be at ease on set-up.The only con for this unit is no AC plugs on the rear panel. IF you want a 5.1 receiver this is the one for you.Great price and features and brand at a great price! UPDATE; now two months later IT has a ON-OFF problem,Need to turn on twice to get audio signal from input sources,but I still like it.Why the cheap clipons for the rear channels? UPDATE- 4-1-10 My set needed a firmware update and I did not use the remote to properly set up the receiver. I dropped this receiver and damaged the front panel. Replaced it with the 565 model and read the manual and used the remote(set up-options) and now it sounds better and the tv video improved also from the 465 receiver. Folks, read your manual and use your remote for proper set-up or if you have other issues ,see if your unit needs an firmware update,I didn't know about them for receivers at the time.

I updated my older yamaha 5.1 digital surround sound reciever because I moved on to blue ray. I must say I did not think that it would make a big difference adding dolby true HD, but wow it really did. I was blown away by the bass it produced it was like where was all this sound before? My girlfriend, who hates loud movies even commented saying it sounds like we are in the theater. I was watching Iron Man, which really shows off the bass out of my Boston Accoustics. The crisp highs were there as well, and the dialog seemed more natural.
One other note that is worth mentioning. Passing my comcast cable box through the reciever's HDMI out port actually improved its picture! I believe it upscales the 1080i signal to 1080p, it looked cleaner. So I highly recommend this receiver to anyone looking at this price range.

The RX-V465 serves as a key component of my updated home theater system that includes a Sony blu-ray player and a Samsung 61" HDTV. All connections to and from the Yamaha receiver are HDMI, so I've happily eliminated the familiar "snake farm" found behind typical multi-component systems. And the surround sound results from DVD, Blu-Ray, and Satellite TV inputs are wonderful - in great measure aided by setup using the RX-V465's YPAO Automatic System Calibration feature. Balance, fidelity and sound environments are amazing for all inputs and encoding schemes. Yes, it's "only" a 5.1 channel output but since that's exactly the setup I have, it works wonderfully for me! The many sound fields offered are fine for those who like to tweak inputs, but for me, the fact that I can decode and hear exactly what the studio intended is the best feature of this receiver. It's a great value package for anyone seeking the full HD sound experience offered by today's Blu-ray movies and concert videos.

For those wondering if the Yamaha RX-V465 passes audio to your surround speakers through the HDMI jacks, wonder no more because it does. I just purchased one today from Fry's Electronics Store (for $329.00) to replace my old Yamaha HTR 6050 receiver, and after changing the factory default settings, I did recieved audio to my 5.1 speakers.

Make sure your HDTV is connected to the HDMI Out jack and your Blu-ray player is connected to the HDMI 1 BD/DVD jack on the back of the unit. Turn on the unit and use the remote to change the HDMI Control setting to "ON" in the Functions menu under the Setup Menu. This will send audio to all your speakers. Look at page 42 in the manual under Function Setup for more information.

It was very easy to set up using the Auto Setup feature and the provided microphone. I have my receiver connected to a Samsung LN46A580 1080p HDTV and a Panasonic DMP-BD80 Blu-ray player and it delivers fantastic audio to all my speakers. It comes with Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, and DTS 96/24 and other decoders that are vital to enjoying high resolution audio on Blu-ray Discs. I was surprised to see that I could switch the HD audio from the TV speaker to the 5.1 surround speakers using the Options button on my TV remote. Cool!

There is a reviewer claiming that this receiver does not pass audio to surround speakers through the HDMI jacks but that person must have never purchased this item or done any real research on it because when you open the box you will see that Yamaha has provided a separate sheet aside from the manual showing you how to send audio signals to your TV or Surround speakers. So buy the Yamaha RX-V465 with confidence knowing that you will a get a excellent HD Video and AUDIO home theatre experience.

Got this to replace my Yamaha HTR-5630. Awesome receiver, I love it! Setup was super easy thanks to the YPAO auto-setup feature. The Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio features reproduce some phenominal life-like sound. I only have 2 speakers hooked up but Virtual Cinema DSP creates virtual speakers that makes it sound like I have a full 5.1 channel speaker setup. If you're looking for a receiver in the $300-$400 price range this is the one to get!