Yamaha RX-V 861

Advantages: Numerous movie settings,
Disadvantages: Flimsey rear speaker connections

...After doing a significant bit of research, I recently purchased a Yamaha RX-V596RDS home cinema receiver. The reason i chose Yamaha was that i had been told on numerous occasions how excellent these home cinema products were at recreating the cinema experience. I wasn't let down. Films such as Lost In Space and Blade sound amazing. With Pro logic, Dolby Digital and DTS decoding and the latest in movie sound settings, as well as RDS, this piece of kit has everything. All you need to do is sit back and enjoy.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Value for money. Sound quality
Disadvantages: Fiddly to set up. Spaghetti! No dedicated digital input for a CD player.

...I have recently taken delivery of a Yamaha RX-V596RDS Home Cinema receiver through Letsbuyit.com for £259 (list approx £400) – but that’s another story, see my opinion on Letsbuyit.com! The receiver is almost the same as the Yamaha DSP-A5 amplifier, with the addition of an AM/FM RDS tuner capable of remembering 40 pre-set stations. Hi-fi purists may frown upon receivers, preferring to buy separate tuners and amps but they haven’t seen the state of my hi-fi rack! What else do you get for your money? 5 channels of 75 watts power each, plus a pre-amp output for a sub-woofer. Twin Dolby Digital/DTS decoders built in, capable of handling both optical and co-axial digital input from a DVD player. It will also handle digital stereo from a set-top box like my ONDigital Nokia through the co-axial input. The rear... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good product with many specifications
Disadvantages: Ps3 compatibility issues

...This is our first home cinema set up. I am using Yamaha RX-V2700 with B&W MT - 30 speakers. This amplifier is great and sounds better than a cinema. Cost : £1000 . We use it for multiple home entertainment for eg : CDplayer , Sky HD, Blue ray, Ipod, and PC. ADvantages: - 3 HDMI in and 1 out. - Network receiver - Internet radio - Ipod compatible - UP SCALING - High power output (7x 140W) - Multi zone function ( We use it in the kitchen and conservatory which is zone2 and zone 3 respectively and it works excellently) Disadvantages: - HDMI(1.2a version) does'nt pass through true HD sounds - There has been compatibility issues with PS3. - Remote control is not user friendly But overall this product is good value for money with so many features and we are enjoying it very much as this is our first home cinema... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful