Yamaha RX-797 Audio/Video Receiver (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I bought this receiver to replace my Insignia NS R-2000 (which I will refer to as "the old one") for my home stereo (only, i.e., not 5.1 or 7.1) sound (only, i.e. no video) system. While the old one has the same nominal power as the RX-797 (100 watts per channel), it has greater distortion, both nominal and perceptible. More to the point, it just couldn't cut the mustard with my Vandersteen 2C speakers (which have a well-earned reputation as great speakers but equally great power hogs), so I decided to replace it with the 797, and have been very pleased with the sound. I'll echo the other reviewers' notes on the tuner, especially the FM tuner, which comes in with nice clarity and separation, even with the little included one-wire antenna, which, by the way is much more convenient to deploy than a folded dipole.On those bases alone, I would give it 5 stars, but there are some downsides of inconvenience on the one hand and unnecessary bells and whistles on the other, all of which cost it one star. On the old one, the tone controls were adjustable with the remote; on the 797, they are not. This probably has to do with a purist approach to both tone and volume controls, using old fashioned continuously variable resistors rather than discrete switching (which are easier to control remotely). On the 797, only the volume control is remotely operable, and that because it is motor driven, a seemingly unnecessary complicated and expensive way to accomplish something that could be done more cheaply, but, again, the purist approach leads to this, I suppose. As a result, there is no visual display of volume level other than the position of the little dot on the knob. So there are old-fashioned knobs for bass, treble, balance and loudness which you have to get up out of your chair to operate. Mind you, I'm not lazy, it's just that I can't hear from the same perspective when I'm standing in front of the amplifier as when I'm sitting in the chair, so adjustment of these controls is a not-always accurate extrapolation.So, unless those concessions to tradition are truly necessary for the sound quality, those are the Paleolithic qualities. On the other side of the ledger are the modern advances, which strike me as unnecessary and not particularly desirable. The array of inputs and outputs looks like the button rack at your local sewing shop, but most of them are not particularly useful. There are video in and out sockets, which makes no sense to me, even if it is to be used in a home theater setup. And there's some feature called Zone 2, which allows you to use the preamp section to do some parallel processing to feed to a power amp in a different room. This also requires a separate remote control receiver (although the Zone 2 remote transmitter is included). Both of these must be wired from the one room to the other. I find it hard to believe that all that trouble and expense would be less than that associated with just getting a separate sound system in the second room. Understand that, despite the vast array of inputs and outputs, this is still strictly a 2-channel device, and will not handle 5.1 or 7.1 inputs, although there is a subwoofer output (high-impedance only, not amplified) that, as far as I can tell, just combines the two channels. In a similar vein is the XM radio feature. From my perspective, XM offerings in classical music are paltry, and would hardly justify the subscription fee. It would save only one piece of hardware. You still have to buy the antenna, but only avoid buying the converter box that you would have to have with a regular amplifier or receiver setup.With all the bells and whistles, the remote gets pretty crowded and the buttons accordingly pretty small, despite the absence of tone or balance controls. There are buttons on the remote having to with television whose functions are not clear to me. I would prefer fewer and larger buttons, but I suppose Yamaha is trying to appeal to a larger market. At any rate, the important buttons, viz., volume, on, and standby, are large enough and logically laid out.The speaker connectors are definitely a weak link. They are difficult to operate and too close together. They take only banana plugs and bare wires. I haven't tried the banana jacks yet; they seem like they would work well, but would add to the depth dimension, which is already fairly hefty. The side connections of the posts are designed for bare wire only and will not accept spade lugs. The reason is that there is a collar around the post with a slot in it into which you insert your wire. That collar is too high to get a spade lug under, even with the screw completely retracted. The purpose of the collar is to prevent accidental shorting, I suppose, and to that degree it works well. It also helps to guide the wire to where it needs to go, which is important, given the crowding of the posts. But the post contacts and screws seem to be of cheap metal and don't operate very smoothly. I don't know what kind of metal because the insides are hard to see. They bind particularly on tinned wire ends, presumably because the force is concentrated in one spot, which rocks the screw to the side, causing it to bind. I recommend that you NOT tin your wires, because the collar does prevent shorting and spreads the force over a larger area which reduces binding.Likewise, the high impedance in and out RCA jacks are NOT gold plated, a bit of a disappointment. Interestingly, my $80 Yamaha DVD player which I use as a CD player, does have gold plated RCA jacksSo, bottom line, I would have preferred to save a few bucks with something that didn't include Zone 2, XM, subwoofer out, or many of the other inputs and outputs. I could also do with less purist tone and volume controls (as long as I wasn't sacrificing sound quality), but would like better connectors. One thing I had on my old cheap tube Dynaco preamplifier that I would like to see and have not seen on any contemporary receivers is a separation control, which partially mixes the two channels. This allows blending of over-separated material, and forcing the material to be monaural, which is sometimes useful for testing connections and speaker defects.

This is an excellent 2-channel Stereo Receiver, for several reasons. Let me explain why I chose this brand/model over others and how I came to it. If you are in the market for Stereo Receiver, it may be useful for you.A few months ago, I was listening to a jazz CD on my cheap ($200) Sony Home-Theater-In-A-Box and noticed that the sound was noticeably tighter than when I listened to it on my much more expensive, but significantly older stereo system. My old stereo system was purchased as separate components in 1993. It consisted of Sony STR-D990 Receiver ($400), single-disc Sony CDP-211 CD player ($100) and pair of Advent Baby II speakers ($250). Mind you, each of these components work and sound as good today as they did 15 years ago at the time of purchase (kudos to Sony for that), but I suppose I'm getting a little pickier now that I'm in my 30s. Music plays a MUCH larger role in my life than movies or television does (hence the cheap Home Theater set-up), so I decided I needed to upgrade.PRIORITIES: 1) SPEAKERS--> 2) RECEIVER--> 3) CD PLAYER --> 4) CABLING/INTERCONNECTSI decided that speakers were most important and thus the place to begin. After reading several reviews, I decided that Polk Audio Rti6s might be a good choice. I went to a retail store to listen to them and they sounded really good, but then the sales associate let me listen to the Polk Audio Lsi9s. Whew! They just blew me away. I had never heard anything like them. While the Rti6s run for $270, the Lsi9s are $900, but well worth it for that price, as a long-term investment (Polks come with a 5-year warranty). But I noticed that these run at 4 ohms and need a low-impedance amplifier/receiver, that is, one equipped with so-called "high current amplification," to drive them. Well, my old Sony did not have this function (it could take only 8-0hm current speakers). So, I looked all around for a receiver that could fit the bill and the Yamaha RX line became the obvious choice, after reading positive review after positive review. Since the Lsi9s can handle 200 watts per channel, I chose the RX-797 because while it has a power rating of 100 watts per channel at 8 ohms, it allows one to use two 4-ohm speakers and when doing so there is a power boost. Customer representatives from various retailers couldn't give me an exact watt rating (because Yamaha does not conduct tests at with 4-ohm speakers), but the general concensus was that it would increase to about 140 watts per channel with 4-ohm speakers. (I just didn't want to shortchange my speakers). I also chose this receiver because of the extremely low Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) rating of .019% as well as the Pure Direct and CD Direct modes for the lowest possible distortion. (Compare these features to say Onxyo and Harmon Kardon A/V receivers in this range and you'll see that the advantage lay with Yamaha).When the RX-797 arrived, it not only lived up to but exceeded my expectations. Paired with the Lsi9s, I can hear a much, much crisper separation of instruments, and this is especially nice for my digitally remastered jazz CDs. I live in an apartment complex now and never have the need to turn the volume beyond the 9 o'clock position. I have gone up to 11 o'clock for testing (when I knew my neighbors weren't in!) and, as expected with these ratings, I couldn't hear any distortion whatsoever. (I can't wait until I move into a house for a larger sound stage). Other pluses: The knobs and controls have a nice solid feel and look great. It picks up many more FM radio stations than my old receiver, and the reception is noticeably cleaner. The remote is simple and sensible (just how a remote should be). My only gripe is that one cannot program CD players made by other manufacturers with this remote, but perhaps thats standard practice. This has other nice features such as being XM Satellite Radio Ready and dual room/dual source for those who are interested, but the main selling points for me were the 4-ohm capability, the wattage rating and the extremely low distortion. The fine looks and sensible controls/display and remote are icing on the cake.I found one from an authorized dealer by a fluke for $350, but certainly would have been willing to pay the full $499. If you see one for less than $450, be sure to first confirm with the seller (or better yet Yamaha) that they are indeed an authorized dealer; otherwise your two-year warranty won't be honored if you run into problems (not that I'm expecting to).In sum, if you are looking for a receiver with ample, clean power, extremely low distortion, the abilitiy to drive 4-, 6- or 8-ohm loads, excellent FM reception, and easy to use and well laid-out functions for 2 channel (as opposed to Home Theater) listening, I don't believe you can do better for under $600 than Yamaha's RX-797 receiver.