YAMAHA RX-V765 7.2-Channel Digital Home Theater Receiver

Pros: I had been looking at several of the Yamaha models through the spring of 2009, as well as it's competitor’s (Sony, Onkyo, Denon), for an upgrade of my ancient Sony receiver. I just installed a set of Definitive Technology Mythos speakers, including a power-hungry Mythos Three center channel. I wanted this receiver to be a core of my Home Theater as it’s primarily use for improving my Sony Blu-ray and TiVo Series3 HD DVR experience. Sports, such a baseball is vivid with the upscale feature from 1080i to 1080p. The YDS-11SL iPod dock works well with both a 4th generation Nano and an 80G iPod Classic, including the videos. What is worth the wait is the clean layout on the back, the heft of the discrete amp, and the Blu-ray friendly support with both the scene button and the Decoders for HD audio formats: Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Yes they do make a difference HT experience. Also the audio calibration microphone & Silent Cinema (headphone mode) work as advertised.

Cons: What could be improved - You need to keep the manual next to you for the first week to figure out some of the controls such as accessing all of the iPod controls with the optional dock. I was also sorry to see HD Radio™ missing from this “top of the mid-range” Yamaha’s. The older RX-V863 has it, but this one doesn’t. Also the four scene buttons are not programmable. I wanted to program the TV scene button for my TiVo (HMDI #2), no luck.

Overall Review: I was pleased with the fact that Newegg.com was the first of the one to have this new product ready to ship, and it was delivered promptly to my home in Oregon only two day after I ordered it, and in pristine condition. In the end, if you are looking for a quality receiver that performs well on both movies and music, and can drive your amp hungry speakers to their potential, look no farther that this RX-V765. It really was worth the wait.

Pros: Great sound (through Polk RM85 + PSW111 Sub). Sound fills in around -20db and sounds great above that; I watch movies with the volume around the -10db to -15db and everything is clear. Clean and classy Yamaha look, very little flash (except for the bright blue PURE DIRECT indicator). Overall got everything I was paying for, along with a refreshing level of quality.

Cons: Lacks HDMI 1.4 support, but of course I knew this when I purchased. So, you can't make use of the audio return channel (ARC) or switch 1080p 3D sources. Remote is old school and ugly. On screen menu is ugly, slow, and generally doesn't offer anything you don't get from the built in display. No S-Video support.

Overall Review: Works great with the Samsung LCD (LED) UN55C8000; passes the signal through perfectly on HDMI with no handshake issues. Even the Anynet works well, though Samsung support is limited.

Pros: I am changing my previous review after having fixed some of my own issues. Updated: Sound quality is great! Once you figure out how to get the receiver and your source both set up correctly, then you can have the best sound quality you could possibly get from a mid range receiver like this. Video is great also. You would be hard luck to find a any different between the 1080p up conversion and pass through versus a direct connection to your tv from the source. Clean set up in back. Connections are well laid out. The speaker knobs are a little cramped but not many receivers are not this way. Once you understand the display settings you'll easily be able to obtain the best sound quality and display the right settings such as DTS-HD. Lots of settings options and a pretty good customizable settings (Assigning names, adjustments, ext) Simple and clean looking front. Not to many buttons and display settings cluttering it up.

Cons: Different terms used. I find that the terms and settings names different from most other receivers so you may have to do some messing around and extra learning to understand what each one does. There are a lot of settings and different ways to set this up so this can make it pretty hard and confusing to set up just right.

Overall Review: My previous review gave some negative points on things that I actually had set up wrong myself. This goes to show just how confusing it can me to set this up.

Pros: Discrete amplifier circuitry.....good mid-range receiver power (500VA or 4.2 amps).......pre-outs........2 sub-woofer pre-outs.........4 HDMI IN......equalizer available for each individual speaker.......silent cinema for headphone use

Cons: Archaic GUI, but fully functional........YPAO is adequate but not as good or detailed as MCACC

Overall Review: The 765 provides excellent power for the money. Many newer receivers do not utilize discrete amplifier circuitry anymore. This receiver is full of goodies but is very easy to operate. Above all, it sounds fantastic even without calibration. The unit is not dangerous, ha! There are many reasons a unit can fail including user error.

Pros: For the average user with a low-to-medium range requirement, I think it would be difficult to beat this unit in terms of $ cost versus its: flexibility, configuration options, available power (standalone), DSP options, etc., etc., etc. I found the pre-outs especially useful for driving Front L & R signals to a pair of old "tempermental" speakers (Infinity Kappa 9's) thru an couple of old Sunfire amps. No doubt this unit will be as reliable as my 25-year-old Yamaha AVX-100U which still drives some incredible 18-speaker surround sound in my garage workshop. I have found that Yamaha engineers a relatively high-quality product (that is; it DOES what it is designed to do), at a reasonable price. It is user-friendly, Set-Up is a cinch, and it performs better than (my) expectations - especially given the unit cost (I got mine from Newegg at a substantial discount as part of their 4th of July Salebration). I don't think it is possible to beat the price/performance ratio of this unit!

Cons: Nada, yet. IMAX would be jealous if they watched a BD, DVD (upconverted) or even HD Cable in my Family Room. It took 4 days for UPS to deliver the RX-V765 due to 4th of July holiday weekend. This is not really a negative because I normally get my Newegg order in less than 24 hrs! Newegg has always delivered like clockwork.

Overall Review: If you are looking for a true audiophile home theater, you probably shouldn't be looking at a DSP unit anyway - at least not if you are expecting "pure" signal (direct) - Oxymoron(?). Instead, you might want to invest your $25k - $35k in some higher-end (KRELL?) electionics & then another $15k -$25k+ in some higher-end transducers. Oh, but wait... then you have blown your budget for your new Lexus. I have a tendency to go the other way - That is; invest considerably more money into the speakers than the electronics because the speakers will produce a significantly higher ROLI (Return On Listening Investment). Newegg is awesome! I couldn't be more satisfied with my purchase of the RX-V765! NICE!!!

Pros: For the last few years, I have joked that now that I can afford a high end stereo system, I can't hear the high frequencies anymore and it's a waste. We have higher end, Paradigm surround sound in our home theater, great for action movies, but music was just okay. That's changed! The Yamaha, RX-V765 Receiver is the BOMB! I'm astounded at the difference. When I first hooked it up ... nice improvement in the music but, after the Optimizer ran, jump back jack! Wow! I'm back into our music library, enjoying old friends I have not bothered playing in years. Turns out my hearing is much better than I thought.

Cons: As I am illiterate, in terms of electronic terminology, perhaps I will find some drawbacks? Right now, trying to turn electronic lingo into music and movies is sorta like, "plug and pray".

Overall Review: Thank you Yamaha for the Optimizer! I NEVER could have tuned this system to sound the way it does now. And, thanks for the sale! The price point was perfect for me.

Pros: shipping was 2 days, auto setup was great. hooked up 50 inch plasma to hdmi out, input cable sd with rca, dvd with hdmi, xbox360 hdmi, wii rca, all work great. upconversion is noticable, but doesnt make analog look like hd by any means. if you are shopping for recievers the sound should be your main reason, and connectivity next. upconversion is just good to make the connectivity easier. using 5.1 sound and not currently using the zone 2. overall great receiver

Cons: the unit is bigger than i thought it would be, make sure you have space, speaker terminals are close together and you need small fingers

Overall Review: Had an old panasonic home theater package, used the same speakers, and used the panasonic for a amp on my passive sub. Couldnt believe the difference this receiver made. sounds like the theater, and before didnt even notice i had sorround sound

Pros: I forgot to add, that the Ipod on zone2 works just fine. I'm playing my Ipod on the yamaha dock.

Cons: none