Yamaha RX-V730 6.1 Channels Receiver

Pros: Value, sound, features, usability
Cons: No 7.1, or THX, may be "bright" when paired with some speakers.

I spent a great deal of time previewing various audio components before I made my decision. While the Yamaha RX-V730 really doesn't shine in any particular category, for the money, it is very difficult to beat. The common complaint with Yamaha is ...

Pros: Price for features, LCD remote, Fast DD kick in time, great "enhanced" DD
Cons: Ugly, Sound is a bit hard for music

This receiver i got as a replacement for my Marantz SR-5200 that the store that was fixing it lost. So a lot of my gripes with this are because I am comparing it to the 5200.

The specs on this receiver seem more or less the same as other...

Pros: Inexpensive. Yamaha quality. Excellent sound and power.
Cons: None, really.

This is our first home theater receiver unit but I am fairly competent in all things audio. This receiver sounds great. It is plenty powerful enough to upset the neighbors. My only gripe is that there are only two "surround sound" audio inputs - one is the digital coaxial for the DVD player and the other is the fiber optic for the CD player. What I don't like about this is that my DVD and CD player are one in the same. I don't need separate inputs for them. I would prefer that one of these inputs would be for the "DTV" input. I had to hook the cable box up to the CD input so when we watch a high definition TV channel we have to select the CD option on the receiver instead of the TV option. Small gripe but it does bug.