Price Paid:  $250.00 from ebay

Summary:
The RX-V995 exsibites amazing clarity and difinition to all 5 channels. Its true 100 watts per ch. is clear all the way to the cliping point Many companies do not rate the receivers to true peak watage and over estimate the amount of power that they produce.

Strengths:
This Yamaha gives so many souround fetures for the price that is payed. The DTS is clean and dynamic and the Dolby Didgital is also strong. The display on the receiver and on the Television is detailed and easy to understand. Remains cool even under a hard load using Mission 765 mains, 762 rears it keeps its heat disapation under the damaging level. Many amps get very hot and do not get rid of the heat causing dammage to the solder conections and parts. I owned a Carver HR-895 prior to this and had to keep it outside of the rack in order to disapate the heat enough to keep it running.

Weaknesses:
The remote control is complicated and rather large and the front flip panel seems to be fragile and may be broken easaly and at neerly $150US to replace (the cover is needed in order to select diferent operations depending on if its open or closed) its not something that I would want to do.

Similar Products Used:
Carver HR-895, Yamaha E1000U, Yamaha DDP-2

Price Paid:  $300.00 from eBay

Summary:
I bought this receiver on eBay to replace a Denon AVR 3600 to get DTS and some extra power. I was amazed by the quality of the sound and all the excellent DSP modes. It is hooked up to 2 B&W 601 S2's, B&W CC6 Center Channel, some Infinity bookshelf speakers for surround, and a Sunfire True Subwoofer Jr. Movies and music sound much more rich and full than on my old Denon. Highly recommend.

Strengths:
Build quality, sound, inputs/outputs, 6-channel input for external decoder (like DVD Audio/SACD), DTS & Dolby Digital

Weaknesses:
Lame remote

Similar Products Used:
Denon AVR-3600 Denon AVR-5600

Price Paid:  $630.00 from Crutchfield in-store

Summary:
Most of my comments are of the “minor-gripe” variety, but I’ll start with the positives. Overall I like this receiver (or else I would have sold it by now). The power-for-the-price ratio is great – especially for the bargain clearance price that I got it for. It cleanly delivers its (100W x 5) channels. Excellent control over the loudness, delays, etc. of the center and the surrounds - it actually has more features than I would ever use in that regard. I have played with the DSP settings a bit, but the only ones I really use are the Pro Logic and the Pro Logic Enhanced to make normal stereo sources sound better - although not all sources sound better going through Pro Logic. That is a function of how the recording itself was engineered and the nuances of Dolby Pro Logic and not a fault of Yamaha (in my opinion). The remote control – in a word – is ridiculous. It is too complicated to use. The door seems too flimsy to resist breakage, the glow-in-the-dark buttons cannot be read five minutes after the lights are out – you can only see that there are buttons there, but can’t read them too well. I have read the manual on how to program the macros, but the limitations of the macros don’t allow me to do what I want it to do anyway, so I don’t use them.

Strengths:
Build Quality. Handsome, professional looks. Good sound using my Wharfedales.

Weaknesses:
SNAFUs and hoops-to-jump-through to play DTS CDs (My biggest gripe). DAC only goes up to 48kHz (cannot decode DVD-Audio Discs). No option to monitor radio station info on the display continuously (minor gripe). No dedicated ports for EQ hookup. Ridiculously over-ambitious remote control.

Similar Products Used:
No other surround-sound equipment.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from American TV

Summary:
Excellent Receiver. Componet switching would be nice. I wish it had better sub control. I'm not sure about the power handling, I use the main outs to a Hafler XL-600 amp that drvies Infinity Kappa 8's. I also use a Velodyne ULD-15 sub (not very tight, but plenty of shake and rattle) I use this receiver in a rather small room, I'm a tough sell on the audio-digital-enhancements Yamaha provides. For movies I set it on the standard Dolby Digital or DTS surround modes, for audio I still prefer plain Jane stereo, the Jazz, Rock, Hall, etc. is still too artificial for me. I know Yamaha has spent more time than any other trying to pysco-acoustily reproduce music at different venues. But, it's still sounds like "canned digital sound". If anyone reading this has found custom settings they can't live without (for movies or audio) let me know. I haven't invested the time to tweak cinema settings.
( reddevydde@hotmail.com )

Strengths:
Excellent Value, Excellent Value,

Weaknesses:
Not Upgradeable, Remote

Price Paid:  $450.00 from Wiz

Summary:
The RX-V995 is an excellent A/V receiver that has many features which need to be explored in detail. One of these features that blew me away was the DSP (Dynamic Sound Processing) fields buit into it. You can set room size, liveness, center channel delay and other variables to your liking. We have a relatively small living room and the sound was not to my taste with standard DSP settings. Once I learned changing those and what they meant, the sound quality improved tremendously. Many other manufacturers talk about 4 way stereo, this receiver has effects such as Concert Hall, Rock Concert, Disco etc. which uses the main channel as well as the surround speakers (4 channel sound). When I listen to live recording of rock concerts, the sound is just like at a gig. I checked other receivers by Marantz, Sony, Pioneer Elite which were much pricier than this one, and they did not sound better.

Strengths:
Sound processing, custom sound fields, ease of use, remote control.

Weaknesses:
None.