Clearance sale worthy
Written: Sep 13 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Home theater sound, power, neutral sound for music, remote, analog inputs, phono inputs, reliability, DSPs, power, price & value
Cons: Binding posts for main speakers only, confusing s-video inputs with one functional input only, sound is a bit thin on stereo music
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| austinbirdman's Full Review: Yamaha R-V1105 5.1 Channels Receiver |
This review is partly for people who feel overwhelmed with all the choices and specs when shopping for A/V and home theater receivers, as I felt when I purchased this product six months ago. Let me give you the conclusion first: This fine receiver from Yamaha is a tad out of date today, but only because it lacks some non-essential items -- binding posts for all speakers (it has them for the mains only), and more component video and S-video inputs (it has some, just not enough). It's still a great buy, if the price is right.
This receiver sounds good on music and great on home theater and it will be ahead of the curve for the average home theater user. If you can find one at the right price, it is well worth picking up. I paid $499 for mine last March. I don't regret it, but today would look for one between $300-$400, or else would turn my attention to the Yamaha RX-V795a for under $450-500, which is essentially the same receiver but with additional S-Video inputs and more binding posts for speakers. If you can spend $550-600 or more, start looking at the Denon 2800 and above models and Yamaha higher end models. I hear other brands are good in these price ranges (Onkyo, mainly) but do not have any experience with them.
Okay, specifics: Almost no home theater receiver will sound as good as an old-fashioned, well-powered integrated stereo amp, and certainly nowhere near as good as separates. However, with that caveat in mind, you can get excellent sound out of a mid-range A/V receiver like this one, so long as you combine it with decent speaker wire and great to above-average speakers.
It took me awhile to learn this, and when I initially set up my RV-1105, running Energy eXL-25s, the sound quality on music cds seemed a little bright and a little thin, the kind of sound that fatigued my ears after awhile. Recently however I ditched my old, mass-market speaker wires and bought some entry-level audiophile cables at my local high-fi shop. I chose AudioQuest Type 4s, which cost only $2.50 a foot. I'm sure other fine ones will work about as well, but I chose these because they have a reputation for warming up sound, not brightening it.
I couldn't be happier. The sound coming out of my DVD is awesome on the home theater set-up and so good on stereo music that the combo of the DVD-A/V receiver now outperforms the combo of my old integrated amp and my old CD player. (A new CD player might make the amp outperform the A/V reciever, still, the bottom line is I am happy.)
The Yamahas are known for their neutral sounds. To me, the RV-1105 is very very good, but still maybe a tad too neutral. I can see the appeal of the Denons with their warmth. For home theater, however, I see no point in worrying about these things. The fact is you will not notice a bit of difference while you are concentrating on a good movie, so long as you have a decent machine like a Yamaha, Denon, or other audiophile quality brand. Meanwhile the price-to-performance ratio is great on the Yamahas, especially on a machine like this that can be picked up for a bargain since it is a phased out model.
What makes this receiver out-of-date and will that be a drawback? you have to decide that for yourself, based on components and future needs, but in my case it works just fine. Here are some facts: this receiver has Dolby Digital and DTS, making it current on the 5.1 channel front; it does not have 7-channel capabilities (but do we really want to encourage the speaker industry to start selling us SEVEN expensive speakers?); it has one coaxial digital audio input for a DVD or LD, and this is the highest quality digital audio input; it has more analog inputs then you'll want or need, notable among them a phono input (which I use and love); it has s-video input, but only one, functionally; it has binding posts for main speakers, but plain old clips for rear surrounds and center channel.
Comments. I couldn't care less about the lack of posts for the rears, but the center seems like a silly omission, and really, what was the point of skimping on this, did Yamaha save like 50 cents a unit? Of more concern is the one s-video in/out combo (there seem to be more, but it's totally confusing), and the fact that there are no component video inputs.
What does this mean? It actually might mean very little for you, as it does for me. It means you can not do "video switching" with your DVD or satellite receiver. You can't do this on any machine below Denon's 3300, which costs $800+, however, and even then component video switching is a dubious idea, since you have to buy twice as many expensive as hell cables, and all the switching probably diminishes picture quality anyway. The better thing to do is to send your component video and s-video directly to your TV, then route the audio only to the receiver.
(Don't have a TV with s-video or component? Then that's a problem, but it's not a problem that you can solve with a receiver. You need specialized video switching equipment to solve that with any adequacy.)
It would be nice to have two s-video inputs, for an S-VHS vcr AND a satellite feed, but again, if you can afford all this, you should probably be paying an audio video consultant to wire your bathroom, not reading this review about how to save some money.
The biggest problem with the receiver, input wise, is that there is only one coaxial digital audio input. There are three optical digital audio inputs, but I hear these bite (not on Yamaha, but in general) and that coaxial is the way to go, so it's disappointing to only have one such input, and only have it for DVD (not for new CD players, or future flexibility).
A couple random notes: My wife likes the remote, which is striking; the remote so far won't power my brand new Toshiba TV and DVD, which is annoying; the DSPs may be gimmicky but they are fun; the tuner is outstanding; you do get some minor hiss if you turn sound volume way up high with no sources, which tells you this is not a $1000 machine; mine has been extremely dependable.
Bottom line: buy this on special (do not cave in to the overpriced MSRPs on it at Best Buy etc), take the savings and upgrade cables and wire, get great speakers, or buy a DVD player, and you'll be totally happy for a long time to come. Don't pay anywhere close to MSRP, however, and even then, look for the RX-795a as you shop, because it is a later model with minor upgrades and, I believe, additional s-video inputs.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
austinbirdman
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Location: Austin, TX
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 4 members
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