Yamaha RX-V459BL - AV receiver - 6.1 channel - black Review

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(More customer reviews)I decided on the Yamaha RX after an arduous journey that began with a simple desire: to have halfway decent sound to go with my big-screen TV. I was hoping to pay maybe $200 for everything (speakers + amp). Eventually however, I discovered that any serious improvement in sound was going to cost at least $400. In the end, the best low-cost solution was the same as the best high-cost solution. Here are my findings.

--Any "home theater system" costing less than $300 at Walmart or anywhere else is not going to give you speakers that are significantly better than what are already in your television.

--The worst thing is to buy a "home theater package with multi-disc DVD player." You are essentially paying at least $300 for a fancy DVD player plus worthless plastic speakers. And, if anything goes wrong with any single component, the whole thing may have to be replaced.

--If you buy a home theater package without a DVD, or separate home theater components, you must pay at least $400. And you can pay over $1,200 for a home theater system, and still get shoddy plastic speakers. The whole market for "home theater speakers" is absurd.

To produce realistic midrange effects, a speaker needs to have a sizeable woofer in a wooden box (or 'wood-like composite' to be precise) and which is the same box as the tweeter so that high and low frequencies are thoroughly mixed. Home theater systems always use plastic, never have good woofers, and try to make up for this with the single subwoofer. The general result is no good midrange and no stereo effect in the bass, thus a serious lack of depth and realism, and a subwoofer that is not really a subwoofer.

(Worst of all is a Bose home theater system, which adds 50% to 100% to the price, and which essentially uses gimmicks to "imitate" a better quality home theater system.)

--I suggest that you listen to the best home theater system you can afford, with subwoofer, and then go to a hi-fi audio store. Listen to some $150-$200 per pair hi-fi audio speakers with 8" woofers and a WOODEN box, and with NO SUBWOOFER. (Ideally, play a full-symphony classical CD for both experiments, or the theme music on a Star Wars DVD.) There is no comparison. The $150-$200 hi-fi speakers are far superior in realism, depth, bass, midrange, and everything else. I bought a pair of "Whitehall" hi-fi speakers for $150.

--If you already have a hi-fi stereo system, you can simply place its speakers next to your TV. Then for $0, you will have superior sound quality, and probably be more happy than with a $500 "home theater system."

--But you may also want the "3-D surround sound" feeling of voices or gunshots coming from behind you, or a flock of birds or a jumbo jet flying overhead. For this, you simply need a home theater receiver and two additional "satellite" speakers.

A pair of relatively good home theater satellite speakers will cost about $75. But, if you have $150 hi-fi speakers in the front, you might as well match this with $150 hi-fi speakers in the back. Thus, adding a Yamaha RX-V reciever, then for a total cost of about $600, you can have a surround sound experience that is vastly superior to any "home theater system" costing $1,200.

(You can of course spend more on the main speakers, if you wish. However, for $150 you are already doing better than many high-end home theater systems. I would definately not spend any more money on the satellite speakers. Most of the movie sound comes from the front.)

--What about the subwoofers? With 4 hi-fi speakers in wooden boxes, each one having an 8" woofer, you will easily out-do the so-called subwoofers of any home theater system costing below $1200. You may also vastly outdo the bass, the midrange, and the overall realism of any home theater system at any price. If you wish to go further, I would suggest a 15" Cerwin Vega which is priced at Amazon at $300. (The most reputable subwoofers are Velodyne, but which run about double the cost and do not seem significantly better.)

--What about the "center channel"? I like the idea of a "voice-biased speaker" to make sure that you catch every word of movie dialogue. However, with hi-fi speakers such as I suggest, everything is already clearer and more pleasant. Thus, you can ease your budget by leaving out a dedicated "center channel" speaker until later. Then I would suggest the following options.

a) Connect the "center channel" output to the television audio input. Your built-in television speakers might perform well as center channel speakers.
b) Or buy a Denon center channel speaker from a local hi-fi store for about $50. You can pay much more but not get anything much better. (So far as my admittedly basic research has gone.)

--What about 7.1 channel home theater systems? To my knowledge, movie tracks only carry 4 'distinct' channels. Adding more speakers is unlikely to make a significant difference. Moreover, the improvement that you WILL get by using 4 hi-fi speakers, instead of 4 plastic "home theater" speakers, is vastly more significant than any slight difference you MIGHT get by using 6 speakers.

--Why the Yamaha RX? According to my local hi-fi dealer, no matter how little or how much you pay for a home theater receiver/amplifier, there is little difference in sound quality. So, for the best sound, you can simply get the cheapest home theater receiver for about $150. Reportedly however, major manufacturers make two levels of quality: one for department stores, designed to last 2 years, and one for hi-fi stores, designed to last over 10 years. Among these major brands, Yamaha is the least expensive because of its popularity. The Yamaha "department store" model numbers are prefixed with "R" and the hi-fi models are prefixed with "RX." So, I have decided on the cheapest Yamaha RX I could find.

In summary:

If you want any real improvement to your home movie experience, you will need to buy separate components. I recommend $150-$200 hi-fi audio speakers with 8" woofers in wooden boxes, not plastic "home theater" speakers. In addition to a superior movie experience, you can then fully enjoy CD and FM music. Only 2 good speakers are needed for a good movie experience, and if you want full surround sound, you can always buy another 2. If you wish, you might add a $300 Cirwin Vega subwoofer and a $50 Denon center channel speaker--but these are optional frills. For the receiver/amplifier, the cheapest Yamaha RX-V is just as good as anything at any price. The cheapest Yamaha RX-V meanwhile is only about $100 more than the cheapest department store models, and can be expected to last longer.

* I AM NOT AN EXPERT. PLEASE CLICK THE "COMMENTS" LINK FOR MORE DISCUSSION.

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Product Description:
This receiver is XM Satellite Radio Ready, allowing you to hear over 160 digital channels of music, news, sports, talk and entertainment from America's number one Satellite Radio service. With the addition of the XM Passport and XM Connect-and-Play Home Kit (sold separately) just subscribe to XM Satellite Radio and hear radio as it was meant to be! This receiver is also capable of receiving XM Satellite Radio with XM HD Surround powered by Neural Surround. This is a new advance in surround technology that allows delivery of a more detailed sound stage with superior channel separation and localization of audio elements. When music is encoded in a digital compressed format such as MP3, frequency response suffers in the high and low ranges. Yamaha employs sophisticated digital signal processing with our exclusive algorithms to enable playback that improves compressed music quality. A mini jack on the front panel makes it convenient to connect portable audio players. This model provides a choice of nine subwoofer crossover frequencies: 40, 60, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 160 and 200 Hz. In addition to providing a wider range than other receivers, the steps from 80 to 120 Hz are only 10 Hz apart for more precise selection. The Digital ToP-ART design concept combines the latest and best technologies, parts and circuit designs to maximize sound quality. High Current Amplification uses superior components to achieve high current power with low impedance from input (power supply circuit) to output (speaker terminals).