Customer Reviews

Yamaha RX-V659BL 7.1 Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver (Black)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am an A/V novice, and this is how/why I bought this receiver:

I originally bought it while looking for a 6.1 receiver in the $400.00 range. Best B** had a Pioneer that was THX certified for about $475. I had them put a rain check on it, then went to another store to listen to what they had (Best B** has a new policy of 'upselling' by sending any customer who is interested in mid-level audio to a 'specialist' who wants to unload Denon etc. - usually in the Home Theatre room. This annoyed me mightily, as I didn't even get a chance to listen to the Pioneer.)

At the other store, I listened to the 6.1 Yamaha HTR-5850 and was happy with that. My wife pointed out that the 7.1 RX-V659 was only about $50.00 more, and wondered what the difference was. We gave it a listen and were pleased. My wife listened to a Luther Vandross CD, and I listened to a classical music CD, then we popped in a copy of The Matrix DVD (you know what scene). My main concerns were HDTV compatability (has 3 component video inputs) and the RX-V659's audio/video auto upgrade feature. As neither me nor my wife have an iPod, we didn't care about the docking station capability of it, but it is a pleasant upgrade for later. We bought it for quite a bit less than what is listed on the Yamaha website, and less than the Pioneer receiver at BB.

I hooked the receiver to a Bic America Venturi bookshelf pair as front ends, then went with the Yamaha NS-SP1600 5.1 HTIB set-up (yes, it's their low end model, but I listened to them and they sounded fine for our 20'x30' room with nine foot ceiling.) I replaced that Yamaha HTIB center speaker with a KLH 525 II Platinum-II 125-Watt center speaker. I bought a roll of 12 gauge speaker wire - avoided the Monster stuff - went with Lowe's. The CD's and movies sounded great already, but there's more to this: the front speakers still have to 'break in' and only recently did I discover what the Neural Surround Sound exhibits when pumping XM satellite radio through them. WOW! Incredible separation! Our little room now has an audio sweet spot that allows me to consider never going out to the movies again. I've spent hours going through the different sound fields, and continue to come back to Neural Surround. Also , listening with headphones is wonderful with the Night Listening Enhancer - listening to TV with headphones never sounded this good for me. Set-up was breeze - the YPA sound optimizing thing takes some getting used to, but I like that the menus are on your TV's screen, not the face on the receiver unit.

Now I 'have' to get a new DVD/CD player that has DTS output. If this receiver lasts for at least a decade, Yamaha has a fan for life...

Unfortunately, this receiver is not HDMI-ready, but that might not be a gripe if/when I get a new HDTV and can run the video line directly into the TV instead of the receiver. Otherwise, this is a 5 star review.

This receiver can play great 7.1 surround sound at a price you can't beat. You're saving a lot bacause it doesn't have HDMI capability, but you really don't need it if you have an HDTV with multiple inputs. I would suggest anyways that you avoid routing any video through your receiver and go straight to the TV.

The auto setup is a really neat feature of this receiver, you just hook up the included microphone and let it do all the work for you. I'm no audiophile, but it seemed to work great for me.

I'm not an A/V novice. I've owned some very expensive A/V receivers but finances now dictate that I buy budget gear. This is a fantastic value in the sub $350 price range. It is well built, has tons of connectivity and produces great sound. The auto set-up feature (for fine tuning/balancing the surround sound speakers) is a snap to use and seems very accurate.

Bought this receiver since it has pre-amp output. Needed this feature as I am using wireless speakers (JBL) for the surround channels. The wireless speakers have their own amplifier and cannot be used with full amplifier outputs. This feature is only found on more expensive receivers from any manufacturer. To find it on a receiver retailing for $300 is quite a surprise. Of course the trade off is the lack of HDMI but I am not aware of any receiver processing the audio part of the HDMI connection.

Based on other reviews, I am sure it will sound good when it arrives. Manual is huge.

This is the receiver to get if you listen to music from your iPod. Yamaha's digital enhancement DSP mode REALLY works and results in a huge improvement. The only thing lacking is HDMI and I didn't need it nor did I want to pay for it. A/B the Yamaha against a lot of more expensive receivers and really couldn't tell the difference until I got to the $1300 Rotel. Even there, the sound quality wasn't enough better to make up for Rotel's rather backward user intereface. Excellent receiver. Tremendous value.

BTW.. Forget Yamaha's iPod dock. Works well enough sonicly and the connection is easy but the scrolling is very slow. If you have a long play list you'll be very old by the time you get through it.

Look at all the available Multi-Zone Receivers on the market including quite a few that were 2 to 3 times more expensive. Except for HDMI which I wasn't interested in, this receiver has everything I needed.

It works extremely well with all sources, Video, FM, XM, iPod dock and my DVD Recorder. It has more than enough power to drive my Bose speakers.

Once you figure out how to set the zone 2 program which is really pretty simple (there are two separate controls which do everything) it entertains the whole house.

Price and quality are the best you can find and the Yamaha extended warranty is a nice extra for a small fee direct from Yamaha. Doubt you will ever need to use it, but for the price you can't justify turning down a factory warranty until 2010.

I was looking for a A/V reciever to replace a Dennon that I had for years.My son bought a yamaha a few years ago and I was really impressed with the sound quality. I started looking at the yamaha line of recievers and decided to go with the rx-v series. at $300 the rx-v659 has got to be one of the best bargains on the market. the sound quality and power of this reciever is pretty suprising for this price. The automatic speaker setup is slick.(it detected crossed wires on center channel after I set it up) It may not be perfect but it will get you close enough until you can tweak it manually once your comfortable doing this. The remote control really got a bad rap in some of the reviews I read but I don't think it's that bad. Once I took the time to program it and learn its functions,I can operate all of my equip. with just this remote.(finally)I'm no technical geek but I've had some A/V equip. over the years and for this price this unit is pretty amazing.

Consumer Reports guided me toward the purchase of this product. With a help of gift certificates from friends, I paid $209 for this receiver. It works well: I connected my Comcast digital cable box, my Toshiba DVD player, my Sharp VCR, my Accurian turntable, temporary :-) Aiwa speakers and my Toshiba 65-inch TV. It has been almost three months since I hooked it all up and everything works well. I would recommend this product if it suits your needs.

What can I say, it's got that great Yamaha sound!

I bought this receiver to replace an Integra DTR-7.2 with a malfunctioning DSP. I owned a Yamaha receiver before that and I decided to go with Yamaha again. What a difference! The first song I played sounded so fantastic, I couldn't believe what I'd been missing. I paid twice as much for the Integra and this receiver sounds much, much better!

It's got all the bells and whistles you could ask for except HDMI. The YPAO microphone setup is unbelievably slick. If you've ever calibrated a surround-sound setup using a SPL meter and a calibration disk, you know it's tedious. YPAO figures out which speakers are connected, whether they're in phase, how far from the listening position they are, and how loud they are. It's fantastic. The speaker connections take standard double-banana plug connectors, which makes hookup a snap.

The receiver also has decent on-screen displays, although I find that switching them on and off sometimes causes my projector to resync the video signal, which results in a momentary blackout. This might be my projector's fault. I don't have any HD video sources so I can't comment on the quality of the component video switching.

You can reassign all of the digital inputs, and re-label any of the input names. The input selection is done via a knob instead of rows of buttons. This is much better because there are so many inputs on a modern receiver that the buttons (and the text labeling them) are unusably small. DSP program is also selected with a knob. (Of course, on the remote you still have rows of small buttons.)

And yeah, the instructions are dense, but eventually it all comes together.

I know it's tempting to buy amplifiers just based on specs, but I've listened to and owned quite a few different amps and receivers in my lifetime and there's a definite brand-to-brand difference in sound. My favorite sound is from Carver, but who can afford any of their recent stuff? My next favorite is Yamaha. The Integra I replaced with this unit didn't sound nearly as good. Sony amps are abysmal, unless you like your music bright on the verge of tinny. I think that Kenwood and Pioneer are somewhere in the Integra neighborhood.

Anyway, at this price, the musical quality of this unit can't be beat.

This is the best Receiver i've owned to date. 7.1 and all the features make movie viewing better than a theater. and music enjoyment is top notch.