Yamaha RX-V671 7 Channel AV Receiver - Black

I have always had Yamaha home cinema kit and have bought this as an upgrade to my DSP AX620.
I was still fairly happy with the 620 however Home cinema Amps have come a long way in the last ten years or so.
Using the HDMI is also the only way to get HD audio of course.

First up is the auto calibration.. what a god send ! It checks your wiring, adjusts levels, sets the sub. cross over frequency and even sets time delays to account for speaker placements.
I have always set up the Subwoofer by ear and now it's been set up 'properly' it's /so/ much better, it sounds so much more integrated.
The auto calibration has set the level a lot lower than I would have normally done, however what it means is that when the LFE effects do kick in you really notice them !
The amp has better support for dynamic range control too ( AKA Neighbour conflict avoidance control !) It is adaptive and increases as you crank up the volume.. which really does the trick .

Next up on my favourite feature list is the iPod app.. how cool is it to be able to play back music over the WIFI ! I wept a little ;-)

I never used to route the Video through my old amp, however these days you route HDMI through with no loss of course.
This means that you can see the excellent on screen menu and access various information about source and settings etc.
The front panel of the unit it self has a very useful display which can be configured to show various different information.
I have had some problems getting the HDMI control to work so I ended up switching that off.
When trying to use ARC it would continually mute the audio from the amp, until I switched it off and back on. As it says in the manual I reverted to using a Optical cable and all is well though.

After fiddling with the settings of my BluRay player I was able to get HD audio over the HDMI cable.
Funnily enough my Panasonic Bluray player does not output HD audio by default, you have to disable 'secondary audio'
(DTS-HD does not work in bit stream mode for me, however setting the player to output PCM resolves this.)

I set up the front speakers to be Bi Amped since I have no other use for the output terminals.. this is a truly 'high end feature' IMHO !
... and it /does/ improve the sound.. I find the treble is a bit clearer.

I don't think the 671 is more powerful but there is no doubt in my mind that this amp is a huge improvement on my old one .
Movie sound tracks are very punchy and well controlled and sound very exciting and engrossing.
HD audio is to die for.. listening to the end music to Hangover II sounded fantastic, just like a well produced CD but mixed for surround sound !
The Surround decoders and DSP effects have improved a lot and sound very natural and add to the experience rather than adding strange echo effects like on the old DSP620.
Particularly the Neo 6 setting does a great job of bringing the two channel DD of programmes like 'Top Gear' to life for example.
My B&W 602's always have sounded rather light on bass for my tastes during music listening and the RX-v671 does not seem to have helped much.
I am probably comparing the sound harshly to my bass mad BOSE system in my MX5 though !

I am amazed at how well integrated the sound from this system is.. it sounds like my system is an 'off the shelf' home cinema..
Apart for problems using HDMI control and ARC I can fully recommend this amp.
The only thing I would like is possibly a spare Optical audio input, since Sky needs optical for DD and ARC does not seem to work from my TV ( Panasonic G20 ) I have used both of the available optical inputs.

I agonised long and hard over this purchase, looking at competing products from Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo and others. Doubtless you will be doing the same and weighing up which is the right one for you.

They are all good but here's what I've found so far about this one.

Sound quality - as well as home cinema this is my main hifi and it does sound very nice. It has Pure Direct so you can cut out the excess electronics. It also has input for a moving magnet cartridge so you can plug a turntable right in and it does sound good.

Sources - More inputs than you could possibly need and all nicely assignable so you can pick the audio from one to go with the video from another if you need to.

Good remote - quite impressed with it overall.

Internet radio - I wasn't expecting to like this as much as we do. Incredible range to choose from. You can program in presets just like normal radio and I configured the Radio button so that it goes to internet radio instead of FM, so we now use Internet Radio as our FM reception is not that great.

Configuration via the on screen display is easy.

Previously I owned a Denon AVR and I'm pleased with the move to this Yamaha.

The bloke with blonde long hair and a beard at Richer Sounds in London Rd Brighton advised me to buy the Yamaha RX-V671 when I went in for Onkyo TX-NR609, which they didn't have in stock. I remember listening to him 'rumble on' about how worth it this amp is and thinking 'ya another marketing ploy to get your silly sale you rascal you'.

So I went home and scoured the net for an affordable Onkyo TX-NR609. I didn't find any.

Long story short, I ended up ordering this bad boy. And that is probably the most important decision of this year so far (seriously!!).

Here are my ratings:

Music - 5/5
Movies - 5/5
Price - 5/5
Looks - 4/5
Remote - 1/5 (feels flimsy and cheap!!)

I'd have preferred a USB on the back as well but I can live without it.

I've had Sony, then Onkyo TX-SR605 and previously Sony DA2400ES, which were all very good. This Yamaha blows all 3 right out of the water!! It's a superb receiver. The sound is so natural. I'd highly recommend it to anyone!