Customer Reviews

Yamaha RXV2700 7.1-channel Network Home Theater Receiver

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The RX-V2700 has more features than any receiver I know of in any category. The main features that distinguish it are:
* Play MP3s (off PC running the proper software)/Internet Radio
* High Power (140x7 - One channel driven into 8ohm from 20hz-20khz)
* Handles 7.1 multi-channel PCM over HDMI, helpful for Blu-ray and HDMI
* YPAO (Automatically adjusts levels, and bass management features; I believe it also has some basic equalization features)
* Three HDMI inputs (not a common feature of AVRs)
* Can pass 1080P

Cons:
* Remote control longer than usual; controlling network features a pain
* Clunky GUI for network capaibilities

I connected a number of component video sources and audio sources and ran a single HDMI cable to my display. I have no video issues with this setup. I used YPAO to do the initial setup. When that was done I set all speakers to small and the LFE/Bass crossover to 80hz. There's no good reason to let your speakers handle bass if your subwoofer can do it. 80hz is what THX has reccommended. Everything worked fine. The diagrams in the manual of the back panel were hard for me to read. This made it harder for me to try to wire it up with less than two feet between it, and the back wall. There are some photos online of the back panel that might be easier to use.


Sound quality is good. If you already had a good receiver, don't expect amazing improvements. Amps tend to sound very much alike. Processing modes are typical. Select straight mode, and it should do the right thing most of the time. I prefer 7-channel stereo for normal music listening, though.

As for video, because I have a plasma, and I feel it does a good job deinterlacing (480i -> 480p) and scaling (to it's native 1024x780,) I only use HDMI conversion. I did play around with the 2700's deinterlacer and scaler options. I saw no improvement. I also see no degradation, which is what I expect. I use the 2700 to convert component to HDMI for a DVD player/Tivo box and my XBox 360.

The network features work ok. I see usual problems with disconnects, etc. To stream MP3's from your computer to the RX, you will need Microsoft Media Connect, or Windows Media Player 11 (which comes with Media Connect.) You don't need to run Win Media, Media Connect will run as a background process, which is nice. Setting it up was easy enough, but I have spent my life working with computers. You will need to go into Win Media Player or Media Connect and add the 2700 so you can share music to it. The ability to play internet radio is one I quite like. You can't add stations, and are limited to MP3 (I think.) The 2700 uses the vTuner database, which is extensive, and you can suggest stations to it. The GUI for the network capaibilities is painful. It's slow for one thing. It will stop displaying with no keypress in 5 seconds or so. However long it is, it's not always long enough forcing you to hit the display button on the remote again. Very dissapointing for a product with a suggested retail of $1700.

As mentioned above sound quality is good. It's powerful enough that I can turn it up as loud as I want without audible distress, and I can't say that about other receivers I have owned. Like most receivers, it's only rated with one channel driven, but don't let that concern you. If it's not loud enough for you, you either have a big room, inefficient speakers or a need to damage your hearing. As for it's sound quality being better than other receivers, I can't say that it is. Most receivers sound pretty close (in tests, even trained listeners have trouble picking out one amp vs. another.)

A brief note about Blu-ray and HD DVD. This receiver will handle 7.1 multi-channel PCM at 96khz/24bits. That allows you to take advantage of the lossless audio formats available on the new high def media formats, such as TrueHD. You will need to set your player to output multi-channel PCM over HDMI. Some people have reported diminished LFE (low frequency channel) when PCM was used rather than bitstream. I don't have room for a full discussion of this alleged issue. It is unconfirmed by any formal review, and some people have reported that LFE over HDMI/PCM works fine. This is only a potential issue if you want to hear the best quality from uncompressed audio on Blu-ray or HD DVD. You always have the option to let the player convert to DTS or Dolby Digital and send that via bitstream over HDMI (or S/PDIF.)

As for video quality, all I asked of it that was it converted component to HDMI, which it does with no obvious degradation.

Why would you spend over $1000 on a receiver? Probably for the feature set, and high power. Yamaha also has a reputation for quality. It's my fifth Yamaha receiver, so I am obviously a fan.

I purchased this receiver several weeks ago based on the fact that you get the most for your money with this unit, and my friend is using the RXV-1600 and loves it. I also looked at Denon, Marantz, HK, Sony, and others. Nothing else came close to matching specs and features for the price. When I hooked it up to replace my Sony str-895 I was pleasantly surprised with the improvement in sound on my Polk RTi/CSi speakers (which are a bit power hungry). The sound totally came alive. Even my wife noticed the difference in clarity and heard new sounds we had never heard before. The auto setup with the microphone is truely great. The menu is a bit cumbersome with a bit of a learning curve, but at least it is an on screen menu. The remote could be designed bit better with a few more functions but overall I find it acceptable. My receiver is mainly for home theatre so I of course popped in LOTR which is the bench mark for auido/video quality. After finding which sound field I liked I was really impressed with the sound depth and again noticed distinct effects coming through a lot more clearly, especially through my surrounds (ex. the birds chirping when Gandalf arrives at the Shire and also at the council of Elrond when Gandalf speaks in the toungue of Mordor the background voices are really clear). As an added bonus I was pumped when I noticed an improved picture (sharper/crisper image)on my Optoma HD7200, obviously the receiver's scaler is better than my dvd player's which I wasn't expecting. Next I threw in I Robot which has great effects and is awesome for testing the high end (when the robots are climbing to the top of the HQ). Again this receiver did not disappoint, revealing each individual robot clanking up the building and seperating each breaking shard of glass when they busted through. I was finding myself so engrossed in my demo I forgot to actually listen specifically for tonal quality, range, etc. (which are exceptional btw). I would definitely recommend this receiver to anyone in the market for a new receiver. It has loads of power, excellent upconversion, and tons of great features. 6th Ave. electronics shipped it promptly and it arrived sooner than expected (it was unfortunately left on the front steps however). Obviously everyone's setups are not the same and may not reflect the same results I got but I definitely give it two enthusiastic thumbs up!!

As Michael Bauers notes, this is a great A/V receiver. I decided to use this at the center of an upgrade to my home theater system. It replaced an older Sony A/V receiver. Wow! Talk about a difference. The sound is much clearer and sweeter. And it's got enough inputs to handle all but the most very complex environments. For example, I have the following hooked to my receiver:

* phono
* iPod
* USB drive
* cassette tape deck
* minidisc player/recorder
* CD/DVD player
* DVD/VCR player/recorder
* home theater pc

Right now I have an older tube TV that uses S-Video for input. The CD/DVD player and DVD/VCR are connected via component (for DVD output) to the receiver. The receiver outputs that video signal to the S-Video output. The video on the tube TV is clearer than it has ever been.

In a couple months I will purchase an LCD TV. Then I will use the receiver to upscale and upconvert the output to the LCD TV. I will probably just run one cable to the TV and everything else to the receiver. Well, okay, I will route two other cables to the TV. Cable TV and the OTA antenna will go to it as well, so I can just listen to the TV (without the receiver).

And there are still some open components (DTV, CBL/SAT and CD). I will use the DTV for my home theater pc. I will use CD for audio from my LCD TV (from the ATSC tuner). And of course, CBL/SAT will eventually be for input from HD Cable (if I get it).

Oh, and let's not forget the network connection. Though in all honesty, I will probably use the USB drive and iTunes on the home theater pc. I already listened to the last Harry Potter book via USB drive. (iTunes to MP3 files to USB thumb drive. Even without a network I can listen to those MP3s).

The music enhancer for compressed MP3 files makes a huge difference. It adds depth and warmth to the compressed sound.

Setup of the unit was a snap. Well, okay, plugging in all those cables takes time to get it right. But the receiver helped in the process. The YPAO setup helped me sort out a polarity problem. I initially had no output to two speakers. I switched the speaker bannana plugs and presto - sound! As Michael noted, since the automatic setup, I manually tweaked the speaker setup to make the sound as even as possible.

By the way, though the Yamaha remote can control many components, I decided on a Logitech Harmony remote to simplify the number of remotes. My only problems in that process was (a) realizing there are NET remote commands to control the Net/USB input, and (b) teaching the Harmony remote the RAW commands to manage the iPod (the V-Aux input).

And as Michael notes, it's future proof. It handles PCM input over HDMI and passes a 1080p video signal to the HDMI output. So, I can add to this unit without fear it won't work.

Over $1,000 for an A/V receiver? I'm very pleased with my purchase. This is an investment that should last for many years.

I have owned Yamaha receivers for 20 years, and this is my fourth. Every time, I look at competitors' products, but I always come back to Yamaha for the sound quality and versatility.

As with all of my previous Yamahas, this receiver is almost perfect, with just a few minor issues.

Sound quality is outstanding, with crisp highs and clear lows (I have Klipsch floor speakers and rear and center channel, no subwoofer). Bass is slightly weak (as I have found on other Yamahas), but not terribly so.

Connectivity is also outstanding, with a multitude of connections, including HDMI, digital audio (optical and RCA) and composite and RGB inputs. The 1080 uplift on the video output (to a 52" Samsung LCD) is excellent, and regular DVDs look clear and crisp.

One of the primary reasons I chose this receiver was for its ability to connect (via Ethernet) to my home PC network. I have my entire CD collection on my PC, and I can play any of this through the built-in interface on the receiver. I can also listen to hundreds of channels of internet radio.

This connectivity, though, is the source of a few of my issues with the receiver. It took a little work (and manual entry of an IP address) to get it working. Those without PC technical experience might have trouble getting it working.

In addition, the user interface for the PC and internet connectivity is very rudimentary, and it can be difficult to get to the music you want (no page down feature, for example). I would love to see more effort put into this interface, because with a little work it could be really useful.

My last issue is with the remotes (also a perennial Yamaha problem). It is somewhat cryptic and counterintuitive, and it doesn't have some of the advanced features of some of the newer multifunction remotes. The receiver also includes a remote for "Zone 2", but because it is IR instead of RF, it doesn't do you any good if Zone 2 is in a different room.

That said, I would definitely recommend that this receiver be at the top of your shopping list if you're looking for a good-sounding, versatile and cost-effective AV receiver. I'd buy it again in a second.

I have had this for about two weeks now. Most of the longer reviews here are spot on. This is a great receiver, powerful, great features. My one disappointment, and the reason it doesn't get five stars, is because the receiver cannot play digital audio sources in the 2nd and 3rd zones even when using an internal amplifier. What this means is that in addition to running a digital audio cable from your CD/DVD/DVR/so forth, you must also run an analog cable. For those devices where you can run just one cable (my airport express), you have to choose between digital or analog if you want to listen to it in zone 2 or 3. Thankfully the receiver does process both signals in parallel -- the main zone will play the digital signal, and zone 2 the analog. But so much for fewer cables.

Also a tip: the HDMI upscaling of component looked much better to 720p rather than 1080i. My DVD player is a an ancient Sony S7000, and it looks fabulous on my 1080p LCD when upconverted to 720p.

This is my 3rd Yamaha receiver. All three have been RX-V series. The first one was about 8 years ago and only support Dolby Digital, not DTS. Then about 4 years ago, I upgraded to the RX-V1300. It had a lot more features, included DTS.

About 9 months ago I got the 2700 for HDMI. It has been rock solid. Thew HDMI inputs have been a cabling blessing. I have a 360, HD-DVD player and DTV HR-20 hooked up, all HDMI in, and one HDMI out to the TV. That's it. And it has been great.

I get LPCM High Bit Rate audio from my HD-DVD player over HDMI, which sounds excellent.

I have 9 6ohm speakers hooked up, and regularly run at 0db (75db, reference volume) and the unit never gets hot and runs like a champ. The sound is crisp and clear. I love Yamaha's sound, it is not harsh at all.

I will probably wait for the next gen Yamaha before upgrading, but I am tempted now to upgrade again to the 3800 or even the bad boy RX-Z1.

It sounds good, looks good and works well. Doesn't present too many buttons and dials on the front whihc may please many (most are behind the flap). Only down side is the remote which isnt the most intuitive device you can imagine, but it is progammble, so you can contol other items in your system with it.

Outstanding receiver - good power - love the HDMI connections - wonderful array of spatial sound choices (i.e. - Live Club to Church in Zurich - actually sounds like these acoustic spaces). The diversity of the selections of spatial sound is over the top. I am very pleased with this receiver. Perfect for any home theater. Borders on audiophile quality.

This was the first AV receiver that I purchased in over 20 years.
Lots of bells and whistles; some I have already played with (network radio, USB connection, HDMI upconversion) and some that I am still waiting to try (PC music, multi-zone multi-input).
No problems so far just have a lot to time to peruse the owners manual and discover all of the features.

Excellent product. Bought this as a replacement for my RX-V2095 and once again, Yamaha has come through. Very easy to set up, sounds great. The one area that needs work is the speed and GUI of the Network functionality (the abiility to play MP3s over your home network). Other than that, it is a great receiver.