Yamaha RX-V861 7.1 Receiver Review

[AVRevForum.com]

Read the full review at

http://www.avrev.com/equip/yamaha_rxv861_receiver/

and post your comments and questions here in this thread. Subscribe to a
thread to be informed when other AVRev.com readers post their comments and questions.

[deacongreg]

Wow, I only smile very broadly reading this review. As I stated earlier in the RECEIVERS area, I think they are great for the high end. And this is the type of product with good dealer support, can surely usher in the mass market consumers to the next level.
Congratulations to Yamaha.

[Robinson_A]

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the review. I was quite surprised by the RX-V861's performance. My first receiver some years ago was a Yamaha and while it suited my needs I always found it to be a bit hollow sounding and vague. NOT THE CASE with the RX-V861 which is absolutely fantastic. It's a truer sense of the high end then I think even Yamaha realizes. It would be a fantastic purchase at twice the price, however at its current price I find it to be a STEAL. My favorite sub $5K receiver by far.

Andrew

[deacongreg]

Yeah, your review was very good and thorough. Hopefully, Yamaha will continue in the upper line models with more power for those speakers that require it. But, like you said, for all it can do, and DSP processing that really works, this is a good thing!!

Too bad about the remote though. Since, once everything is calibrated and lined up, that is the device you wil be using the most.

[bo-cephus]

Hello,
Loved the review. Wanted to know if you had a chance to review this receiver's predecessor, the HTR-6090. Looks like the 6090 is heavier, has more power and a few more switches, while the 861 has DTS Neo 6 and video upscaling. I wanted to get your opinion on the audio performance side.

Also, will the upscaling be done for all 480i/p inputs no matter what "in" connection you are using to the receiver (including HDMI), or is it only non-HDMI 480i/p inputs (S-video, component) that are upscaled to 1080i/720p?

Thanks so much for your time.

[Robinson_A]

Bo,

Glad you enjoyed the review. I can not speak highly enough about the RX-V861, it's a tremendous receiver. I have not messed with the 6090, in fact I haven't used a Yamaha receiver in well over 5 years. Honestly, I didn't have very high expectations for the RX-V861 since I've never been a true fan of Yamaha's past efforts. That being said the RX-V861 made me look at Yamaha in a whole new light. They are, from a performance standpoint, in a class all their own when it comes to other receivers on the market today.

As for the upscaling, it works across the board. All inputs can be upscaled to 1080i/720p through its HDMI monitor out. The RX-V861 is one of the few receivers that offers full video upscaling through a single HDMI output.

Audio wise, the V861 is awesome. Dolby TrueHD is a revelation and you'll need a receiver like the V861 to take full advantage of it. At extreme volumes, more so with 2 channel material, the highs will get a bit brittle and the bass does loose a bit of its definition, but for 99% of users out there this will not be an issue. If you feed it a good multichannel signal like Dolby Digital or the like you're going to be hard pressed to find a better sounding receiver or better sounding anything for that matter. I'm actually using the V861 as a processor for the moment with the amplification being handled by my Mark Levinson 433s. To me, this combo is incredibly hard to beat at any price. I like that the V861 allows me to experiement easily with multiple products yet still allows me to take advantage of the latest connection and decoding options. But I have to say, the internal amps inside the V861 are very very good considering its price tag. They power my Meridian inwalls (not an easy load) with ease and grace.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any further questions.

Andrew