Home Audio & Speakers : Yamaha RX-V1500

This unit has plenty of inputs, can up-convert video signals and the sound is clean and natural. Usually in this price range (~500.00) receivers usually skimp on features or the sound is not what it could be. This receiver breaks the trend and does it in a big way!

Audio:

When using an analog source, the receiver's "pure direct" mode gives extremely accurate playback of the source material. The receiver also has a multi-channel input mode for 6 channel sources. Listening to the Doors 6-channel DVD I have makes the whole room come to life. The receiver provides great power for quick reacting bass and provides superb crispness in the upper end. DVD-audio and SACD sound extremely well.

Video:

Movie sources are rendered the way they were supposed to be. The dynamic range and the quick response of its large capacitors can make you jump out of your seat when passing from a quiet scene to an action packed one. Of course, you need good speakers for you to completely enjoy this receiver. This receiver will let you know how good your speakers are. Up-conversion of video in this receiver works well and would be useful for lower quality video connections that can be up-converted for a S-video or component level connection to your TV.

YAPO:

Yamaha has included an automated speaker set-up with this receiver. with the included microphone, you can automatically adjust speaker size, speaker distance, frequency response and loudness. This feature even checks wire polarity, which found an error in one of my surrounds when I initially set it up. While you can manually tweak this receiver for better results, this feature does a more than adequete job in less than 5 minutes.

Bottom line:

There is better, but think about spending at $1000.00 more to get anything significant improvements.

Test equipment:

Genesis Physics model 2 fronts, Genesis Physics model 1 sides and Genesis Physics V-6 backs, modified Audio-Source 10" sub-woofer, Pioneer DV-563A DVD player and Sanyo 32744 High Definition TV. Hide Full Review