Yamaha RX-V571BL 7.1- Channel AV Receiver (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

This replaced a Onkyo TX SR604 that barely lasted 4 years before - one-by-one - the channels for it's various inputs burned out.I've bought Onkyo receivers for years and - until now - loved them. I've never seen heat issues like the last couple.It was time for a change.I have friends that swear by Yamaha (and they make amazing keyboards).EXPECTATIONS:I tend to buy middle-of-the-road receivers.I've heard the 2K+ receivers and they are breath-taking.The sound. The features.I'm a lazy audiophile.I set-up my system. Dial it in. Then let it the Hell alone.I only buy what I need and the mid-range receivers I buy drive my man-cave exactly to my specifications.I mostly watch movies and sports, but I'll crank up music when I'm reading or doing chores etc.This is a mid-range unit that's very feature-rich for the price.I opted not to get a networked receiver as my ROKU makes an excellent interface to my desired content.And frankly, even more amazing devices like the new Nexus Q can be added at any time without locking me into the limitations of today's receivers.SETUPI knew I had a winner right out of the box.For one thing, it was the lightest receiver I'd ever handled.Probably due to newer materials etc, but I would assume it also comes from an extremely well thought-out design.Basic black case. Well-made - as expected. Front panel is well-lit and easy to read when on.I'm still getting used to the controls and the "scene" function, but they seem to be very well thought-out.All the inputs were clearly marked and I love all the HDMI connections.After being powered up for a couple of hours I could comfortably put my hand on the top of it.No major hot-spots. The heat appears to be evenly distributed and not much of it.Menus are stupidly simple and clear. You can do as much or as little as you like to dial your system in.I chose to let it run for a few days at factory presets before I started tweaking.One complaint:PRINTING HAS BEEN WITH US SINCE GUTENBURG INVENTED THE PRINTING PRESS IN 1440!ROM MANUALS ARE AN ANNOYING WASTE OF YOUR CUSTOMER'S TIME!YAMAHA, PRINT THE DAMNED MANUAL!(steps down off of soapbox)SOUND:The Sound of the Yamaha simply blows away my old Onkyo.I realize it has a bit more power, but we all know some poor fool who bought a "powerful" receiver without reading about (or knowing about) distortion.The Yamaha has a much richer - more natural sound than anything I've owned - including a couple of Vac-tube Pioneers.Changing from "movie" to "music" and all the variations in between is just dazzling.I realize now that some of the jazz I listen to sounded like it was being played underwater on my old rig.I can close my eyes and hear the brass horns as if I had the band in the room with me now.I have a 5.1 Surround system employing Cambridge Soundworks speakers and I can honestly say I feel like they've been wasted on the previous receivers.The best part? I haven't even used the included microphone to dial in the sound for my man-cave.I'll be doing that later today when I finalize some of the inputs for the kids (Wii/Xbox).VIDEO:Played my BluRay Aliens through it to compare the DISH signal of the same movie currently playing.There is a lot of contrast so it seemed like a good place to start.The upscaling was amazing!The BluRay was perfect (per usual) but the DISH signal has always been a mixed bag.Some shows are perfect HD - some....not so much.Wow. Just...wow!The picture was crisp and flawless.I'll probably revisit the review after a few weeks to talk about tuning the system and the "scene" function, but so far I think I've found may favorite receiver.(Now excuse me while I go print out my own manual)

I purchased this receiver a few months back (3, possibly 4) for a bedroom setup. I absolutely love the set up I have in my living room, with a much more expensive receiver, but figured I'd try save a few bucks since it was just a bedroom. Turned out to be the wrong choiceI never loved this receiver like my other. It doesn't have the same natural sound (though I did set it up with the exact same speakers). I use a 7.1 setup in my living room, that I want to bring to this setup as well as I was floored by the immersive sound. But, I just couldn't ever get there. The automated setup, while easy, was also way off. And more infuriatingly, each time I ran it, it came up with different settings. So, just took the time to do it myself.The sound is comparatively muddy, nowhere near as clean. The sound in movies wasn't as directional. Even the subwoofer... Same woofer, same crossover, etc etc, just was never as full. And then finally, the Friday before Father's Day (ya, great timing) - the hdmi out started going bonkers. Sometimes sound but no image, sometimes nothing at all. Turning off and on again would temporarily fix, though sometimes only for as long as 10 seconds. So now, I have to pipe all my media devices into the TV and out to the receiver through optical, and sadly, the sound suffers even more for it.If only I had spent just a little more money...

I bought this with a Mirage Nanosat. I was venturing into Home Theater setup for the first time. As soon as I received it, I set it up and played 'Forbidden Kingdom' in Blu-ray[Thats the only one I had at that time], and instantaneously I had a grin that stretched from one ear to the other.It has a decent UI, works with Iphone and radio. It has decent number of HDMI connections. The receiver can be configured to be turned off with TV remote. These are all some of the good things.If YPAO works, it works well, else it does not finish. Its a bit buggy. But I think the calibration done by YPAO is not bad and is a good feature to have for a newbie like me.I did think the sound quality was pretty good up until the 0 DB mark. After that its not (last 10 DB). I think this is a good receiver for entry level users. You could also consider v473 or v573. I would guess their distortion will be lower at higher volumes based on their THD specs.The reason why I am not giving it four stars (which is usually the maximum I give) is because it sometimes turns off automatically (may be overheating). It has not happened often, it has happened a couple of times when I had kept it running for more than 5 hours.Also at high volumes there is some distortion, now I dont know if its my speakers or if its my receiver.One thing to note is there is no pre-out connection for subwoofer. For newbies, I would recommend that the YPAO system determine how much power to send to the subwoofer.