Yamaha RX-V685 – Alexa compatible MusicCast AV Receiver with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth – 7.2 Dolby Atmos – Black

This is the best receiver I have owned so far - in my life. I went from regular 5.1 to Atmos and wow, just wow.I paired this with Q Acoustics 3030i's for the front heights, 3050i floor standers, 3090c for centers, kept my tannoy as satellite rears and BK XLS200 MK2.It has blown my mind away at how much more Atmos adds to the audio experience. It had been around eight years since I'd upgraded and I assumed the media I was watching was the best it could be. How wrong was I.I used to use a 4k splitter so that I could watch Sky Q UHD in the dining room and living room simultaneously but this allows mirroring, so solved a problem I never even thought about before buying.Music sounds excellent through this too, tracks I've known for decades suddenly have new dept I couldn't ever have imagined.Movies are a different experience all together. I actually went a bit geeky and lazer lined up everything for the MLP as I wanted it to be perfect. When watching movies there's no way to tell where the sound is coming from. It's one of those "you have to be there" experiences.When a scene pans or action comes from a particular direction it's amazing how it works and blends together. I love how the audio puts me right into the scene, like you're in a bubble. A completely different level of clarity over 5.1.I've had Yamaha receivers for the best part of 17 years now, so it's always my go-to brand for audio visual equipment and like previous models everything is easy to navigate.I particularly love the fact I can select the crossover for each individual speaker and then can equalise the speakers to work within the frequencies YPAO has automatically calculated for each speaker.There's still features on this I'm only just coming across and it's packed with connections for devices etc.I wanted to be able to use my turntable and this of course had the connection for that. Also love the fact I can use my Bluetooth headset to listen at night without disturbing anyone in the house.It really has brought enjoyment back to music and movies. I'd kinda lost interest with my old system but this has now got me back into entertainment.The only thing I miss is the info button on the old remotes which allows me to check what decoder/speakers I'm currently playing through.Also I wish it would put through Atmos without being on. It auto decodes to DD if I want to listen through the TV without the surround on but it has to be turned on and then muted when Atmos content is playing. Obviously it puts through all other audio when in standby mode but it's a shame it has to be on to do this with the above.

So i bought this unit to replace my ageing (and faulty) Yamaha 763SE Amp.The 685 out-performs it in every way. In fact its so much better than i expected at the price (£420).The spec' is also off the charts at this money.It has 5 HDMI inputs and 2 HDMI outputs - very useful if you have a projector.Future proofing was high up on my 'must have' list - and this 685 has full 4K pass-through, Dolby Atmos, DTS X, Alexa voice compatibility and can even use wireless rear speakers - unheard of at the price-pont.Yamaha are also pretty good at adding new/updated stuff with their firmware updates.Its the sound quality that seals the deal though. It's on the warm side of neutral - only just - but thats exactly how i like it. Its so easy to listen to and never gets fatiguing.It can really move some air when required too.I have it in a Dolby Atmos 5.2.2 setup mode - and it obviously benefits from having some good quality speakers.A good movie sound track sounds absolutely HUGE !! :)It even has a decent phono preamp, a very good FM tuner and main Pre-outputs to connect a separate "HiFi" amp built in too - should you need it.It's really got the lot.The remote isn't great - and could also do with being back-lit. But thats my only real criticism.Outstanding value for money.Superb sound quality.Well done Yamaha.Recommended. :)

Really great bit of kit. Bought with basic Yamaha speaker kit to upgrade from a quality Samsung sound bar. Having been used to the sound bar and it’s warm bass-heavy tone, it was a bit of an adjustment.This system is brilliant. The initial setup with the enclosed mic was fast (tho not fast enough for the cat, who was not a fan of this process!), and yielded almost-perfect results.A small amount of exploring and fine tuning satisfied me immensely. I’m an ex sound tech, having worked on huge gigs, and extensively in sound mixing, so I’m picky.The system at the moment is only 5.1 but sounds brilliant. I bought this amp as it has the options to go 7.1 / 5.1.2 etc. Will be expanding soon.The added functionality is great. Alexa can pretty much do one at this point, but if you’re a fan, I can confirm it works just fine. We were pleased to see that Airplay 2 works seamlessly, and my husband was thrilled to see a lot of Filipino stations included on the Digital Radio (as well as Radio 2, which is our staple).Picture pass through is same quality as direct. Sound fields are only semi-helpful, but do work. Prefer direct to speakers for movies. Atmos is great.It’s a good bit of kit. Recommend.

There are plenty of more expensive and better sounding receivers on the market. I didn't want to get into spending too large an amount of money, so I went with this which comparatively is quite affordable. It has a lot of functions and features so I recommend reading up on it before buying.I have one downside to the receiver which is the preset audio program's/settings aren't great, a lot of them are too echoey or lacking bass so if you have the time it's probably worth setting the levels yourself for the right sound.Overall I am pleased with it.