Price Paid:  $739.00 from K&S Sound

Summary:
When my wife and I baught our new home I asked a buddy for a home theater setup. He built my system around a Yamaha RX-V795A with PSB in-wall, center and sub. I am very happy with this Yamaha unit and have not had any problems what so ever. Very strong features, flexibility and performance, I highly recommend this unit to anyone. Lastly, my PSBs dont know what hit'em.

Strengths:
Durability, features, setup capability - I am running Cable and satalite through this unit. Remote - Has been used as a bat by my kid and still works fine!

Weaknesses:
Pricing - looks like I did not receive the bro deal. Remote - lettering wore off too early.

Similar Products Used:
First time using this level of equipment.

Price Paid:  $699.00 from Natural Sound

Summary:
I am extremely pleased with this receiver. I didn't know much about the product when I initally purchased it. The sales rep just said "Trust Me" - and I've never looked back! It is by far the best receiver I've ever owned. I previously owned a Technics SA-AX720, what a hunk of junk. Read my rant under the SA-AX720 section for that. This receiver really doesn't have many weaknesses. The only improvements they could have made were to add more video inputs. I'm maxed out right now and have my Satellite running through the VCR input. The newer Yamaha's from what I understand have a video 2 input, this definitely would have come in handy. If your running more than cable TV, satellite, and DVD, VCR, you'll hit the same bottle neck. They also could have passed on the useless/outdated Phono input. As for power, clarity, brightness, and bass. I have nothing but praise for each. Everything seems to be in perfect proportion. I suppose it comes down to your speaker brand/configuration. You could pay more for a better unit but this thing does everything I need it to do and sounds fantastic in DTS/DD. For the money, this receiver is an extremely strong performer. As for other reviews regarding the remote. I actually like it. It stands out from the rest and it pretty functional. My only compaint is the print is really wearing off. My Current Setup: Fronts - Paradigm Monitor 3's Center - Paradigm CC-370 v.3 Rears - Paradigm Titans v.2 Sub - Paradigm PS-1000 v.3

Strengths:
- Speaker Wire Binding Posts - On-screen Setup - Very Powerful - Very crisp and clean sound - Ability to tweak all speakers individually - No annoying "hiss" from rears - Very solid construction - Great price point - Auto Switching from Pro-logic/DTS/DD - More features than you can imagine!

Weaknesses:
Video Inputs! I'm maxed!

Similar Products Used:
Technics SA-AX720 <- JUNK

Price Paid:  $400.00 from local HI-FI dealer

Summary:
An excellent Receiver/Amp combination. The Yamaha RX-v795a is an outstander in the under £500 group, and it still dares to give a little hazzle to the under £1000 upper class models. From any way you look at this model, you won't find anything negative about it. Performance-wise, this was the best unit money could get you for that price, and as i said earlier still probably as good as other expensive model. I plugged my Marantz cd player to it through the analogue input using a couple of QED silver edition leads, and it's been swingin' to every record since then. Great Dynamics, grove, and most of all, an excellent soundstage & stereo separation for such a middle-priced model. After I got my DVD player I plugged it through the Digital coaxial input using a monster cable Coax-lead. This couldn't get any better, select your DD Dynamic range to MAX and you'll know what i mean, everything from a whisper to the loudest blast will be realisticallly recreated. Don't be surprised if your neighbours start hating you for this!

Strengths:
DD 5.1, DTS 5.1, DPS, Pro Logic, 6 channel dedicated input for an external decoder or SACD player, excellent radio quality (when using cable), bass response & timing on dynamics but most of all, Warm & Excellent Sound. This unit will be never intrusive with your music!.

Weaknesses:
none, maybe the price, too cheap that it embarrasses the unit itself, I can't hardlybelieve YAMAHA would have given away for that much (£400), but what the heck...

Similar Products Used:
this unit was tested with... Marantz CD6000ose Sony DVP-NS 900 (DVD/SACD) Mission 730 Speakers ... and they all seem to love each other..

Price Paid:  $375.00 from Used

Summary:
I´m very happy with it, especially the DTS features. I can´t say how powerfull it is since I´m not using the amp. for my primary speakers, they are driven by a set of bridged NAD 2700THX amps. I have Cerwin Vega 1215 SE as primary speakers, Dali SC5 center, Paradigm Atom w/sub to take care of the rear surrounds.

Strengths:
I like the automatic surround on/off when changing source.

Weaknesses:
The remote takes some getting use to.

Similar Products Used:
NAD, Denon, Rotel

Price Paid:  $520.00 from Stereo West

Summary:
I did my research for a receiver backward. I had my old stereo, such as it was, taken away (ex-wife) and I was in a hurry to get a new system (like my buddy said when he and the rest of my friends bought me a DVD player for my b-day, a brother''s got to have a stereo). So, since most of my friends had Yamahas of similar quality, I looked at the 795a first. As time has passed, I have auditioned other units and am always trying to find this kind of quality and features for a similar price with no luck. I''m glad my friends sent me to get a Yamaha. The guys at Stereo West in Omaha were great by the way and recognized my need for quality and economy and my then lack of knowledge about home theater equipment. They took a lot of time when they showed me this unit and shot me a great price so I bought it. I have been nothing but pleased with my purchase for the past 1 1/2 years. I like the DSP modes now that I have learned to use them. Tip: if you are like me and a bit of a purist about CD music, turn off the DSP effect for music. For movies they are great and if you don''t want one just use the plain pro-logic or dolby digital mode (or DTS). I think it sounds great with my Paradigm Monitor Series speakers(Monitor 9 fronts, CC-370 center, Mini-monitors for rears and SW2200 subwoofer), has very adequate inputs/outputs for my needs(front and back), an impedance switch, DD and DTS decoding, plenty of power, the list goes on. I even like the remote now that I have gotten used to it, although I can see why everyone is whacking on it, admittedly not its strongest feature. But as one other reviewer mentioned, one shouldn''t buy any piece of stereo equipment for the remote. In conclusion, a great receiver and a great value, especially for a first and for some a second system. Highly recommended.

Strengths:
Sound, features and versatility, DSP modes, power, looks nice, inputs and outputs, great value for the price.

Weaknesses:
None really. Remote, but not for the common reasons. Once you learn how to use it, I think it''s O.K. but the printing came off the buttons which I didn''t care for. Also takes a while to learn to use the receiver because of all the features, if you call that a drawback.

Similar Products Used:
None.