Customer Reviews

Yamaha RX-V861BL 7.1-Channel XM-Ready Home Theater Receiver

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have to say, I was a non-believer. I was debating between Harman-Kardon, Yamaha and Onkyo. I didnt think Yamaha was that great of a reciever than HK. But man, I was proved so wrong that I feel what I have been missing all along. Suddenly the Klipsh, Bose speakers are awake like crazy. I had a Technics before ( I know I was cheap...) but having the 861 made the whole experience like you are immersed in sound, the bass is deep, the distribution is awsome as the sound distribution is set by using the Yamaha mic which detects the errors, distance and adjusts the sound.. I can go on and on but try this out. I was not convinced that a receiver should be more than 500 bux but this monster is better than the Rolex I bought last month!!!!

Love this reciever, plugged right in and ran out of the box no problem. Use the HDMI to watch tv tru the cable and HD Dvd. Only reason not 5 stars is the Upconvert from the analog cable causes the reciever to temporary reset itself and all you see is a green screen for about 3 seconds. I know its the cable signal cause it doesn't do it in DVD.

Bought this receiver a couple of weeks ago online for $399(WMart) to upgrade from a Yamaha RX-V1200 for HDMI support with a PS3. As other reviewers have stated, easy set up with auto speaker settings and it sounds great. Only area of surprise is the need to crank up the volume settings higher than expected when playing Blu=Ray movies. It works well with the PS3, Comcast HD-DVR and DVD-Audio via a Panasonic DVD-F87 5 disc changer(5.1 analog inputs).

I remember when I would have stayed up all night, if necessary, to install a new piece of audio equipment. Well, it's hooked up for TV and cd/dvd but not yet for radio and tape decks. I had some friends over the day after I installed it and we watched several hours of concerts on dvd. Their response was unanimous: FABULOUS! And that's without a subwoofer. Front pair of speakers are Klipsch F-3 towers. Center and rear are cheap set of Sony's.
Sometimes the receiver has a mind of its own. I restarted a movie we had just watched and it played with commentary. It would not let me change it back to no commentary. This has never happened prior. I think it may be a compatability issue.
TV picture looks better but I have to adjust the aspect ratio and the "video status"(color variants) every time I watch something. It doesn't really bother me but for someone who does not want to fiddle with the controls to get the optimal picture, it will be a hassle.

After reading reviews from many sites and reviewing various features I finally purchased this to replace my Pioneer VSX-9500S. The quality and performance of this is outstanding and noticeably superior to my old top of the line receiver. With next year models released with few benefits over this, the performance, features and current pricing can't be had unless you want to spend twice as much. No wonder every site rates this the best! Sound seperation and clarity is the best I have heard driven through my Klipsch speakers. I expect I will be happy with this for at least the next 10 years.

I purchased this unit back in July and have had nothing but great quality sound coming out of this receiver. I used to have a Harmon Kardon receiver and this Yamaha receiver blows it away. I immediately noticed louder and clearer sound quality. The only negative was the instructions for hooking this unit up. It took a good 2-3 hours to get everything working. Instruction manual poorly written like most are. I recently hooked up my satellite receiver using HDMI cables which works great. I also hooked my ipod up using a purchased adapter which also work great. I highly recommend this receiver to anyone looking for a high quality receiver at a low price.

This reciever has lived up to everything I expected, ease of connections and sound quality is fantastic. The only draw back I have found is when I do an auto setup the Sub Woofer Does not kick in with the Music channels. I had to manualy go into the program and change several settings. Other than that POW! sounds great and works well with my system.

I am thrilled to have this unit, it's one of the best investments i have ever made. when i hooked this unit to my sorround system my living room came alive. the sound is UNREAL. If anyone is looking for a great receiver this is the ONE.

Just hooked this up over the weekend. A little tricky to set it up but the sound and features from this unit are great. I doubt there is a better receiver out there for $400. If you don't like to read the users manual, buy a simple receiver with less features.

After researching many receivers, I decided to give the Yamaha RX-V861BL a try. I have had great results with the Yamaha guitar I purchased some years ago.
Yamaha receivers received great reviews, so I felt that I nothing to loose by trying one. I was not disappointed. This baby knocked my socks off. It is fairly easy to install and simple to operate with plenty of ports to accept all of my electronic equipment.
After hooking it up, I watched a Blu-Ray Movie. The sound was like being in a real theater. I saw this same unit (refurbished) at Overstocked. com for over $700. I got it, new, through Amazon. Com for $524.