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Yamaha RX-V365BL 500 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver Features
Yamaha RX-V365BL 500 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver Overviews Yamaha RX-V365BL 500 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver Related Products
Customer Review Best Customer Review : I'm not an audiophile, but enjoy watching movies with my family, listening to all kinds of music and playing both Xbox and Wii. I purchased the Yamaha RX-V365BL 500 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver to upgrade my 8 year old Sony 'theater in a box' set-up, after reading several reviews on it. I did note that the HDMI inputs on the receiver do not carry audio - only video. Incorrectly thinking that this wouldn't really be an issue I bought it anyway and these are my impressions regarding that issue and a couple others. SETUP Getting it out of the box is easy, reading the manual and applying it to your set-up is the challenge! The manual that comes with the receiver (also available on the Yamaha website in a PDF file) was not terribly clear, at least not for me. I ended up on the Monster cables website where they have a home theater set-up helper (diagrams) that helped a lot to simply figure out what cables I needed to go buy to adjust for the lack of audio being filtered through the HDMI cables. To get my set-up working as I wanted it to, it literally took me 2 days of tweaking and changing wires around. Mind you I've done this before, and consider myself somewhat 'mechanical', having set-up many computers and other electronics previously. My electronic components I wanted to sync with the receiver included: an Xbox, Wii, plasma hdtv, upconverting dvd player, and a vhs player. It shouldn't have been tough, but it was because of the 'audio' inputs/outputs and HDMI issue. Before you begin your set-up I suggest you have on hand a flashlight and any cables you may need like a Belkin AV20000-06 PureAV Digital Optical Cable (6-Feet) or a Belkin PureAV AV20500-25 25-Foot Subwoofer Audio Cable, to save yourself some time and grief. I also found these to be very helpful in cable management: Belkin F8B024 8-Inch Velcro Cable Ties, and purchased a Belkin 12-Outlet Home/Office Surge Protector with Phone/Ethernet/Coaxial Protection and Extended Cord to plug in all the home theater components and protect them from surges in the power. I also suggest you evaluate each component you're going to be filtering through the Yamaha receiver and figure out where you'll be connecting them. I found that one of my components worked better being hooked up and filtered through my hdtv versus the AV receiver. HEAT and WEIGHT The receiver is a standard size and should fit easily into a home theater component rack, but the vents on the top are there for a reason - the receiver gives off a quite a bit of heat! You won't want to place another component on top of the receiver or have it in an enclosed space without proper ventilation. It's also quite weighty, so make sure it's on a surface that's built to support its weight. SHORTCOMINGS While this receiver is powerful and the price is right, there are some issues that may be a deal-breaker for some. These were the issues I had to weigh before making my purchase. 1. The HDMI inputs on the back of the receiver only carry video, not audio signals. HDMI is known for its superior ability to carry both signals so this is a curiosity to me. I had to go buy two cables: a Belkin AV20000-06 PureAV Digital Optical Cable (6-Feet) and a Belkin PureAV RCA Audio Cable 6 ft to connect my dvd player and TV to the receiver AND get sound filtered through the receiver. 2. Speaker connections on the back of the receiver do not all accept GLS Audio Black Chrome Series Gold Connector Banana Plugs - 20 Pack (10 Reds & 10 Blacks). Now this may seem a bit nit picky, but if you want the best, most secure connection for your speaker wire, this is the way to go. The receiver allows for the front 2 speakers to be connected this way and filtered through my Klipsch KSW-10 10-Inch 225 Watt Subwoofer (Black), but they are not available for all the speakers. On the higher end Yamaha receivers, all of the connections are banana plug compatible. 3. Set-up was tough. I found that the 'basic set-up' for the receiver (via the remote) would only take me so far and that troubleshooting was minimally helpful. This may be with all AV receiver set-ups, but it would have been helpful if this unit had shipped with a 1-2 page, easy-set-up guide and/or an online video. 4. The remote has small buttons and would be tough to use if you have big fingers. It also REALLY needs back-lighting! 5. No hook-up for a turntable. You can buy a Pyle PP-999 Phono Turntable Pre-Amp and use the CD hook-ups though, and you can re-name inputs that appear on the screen. Hook-ups in general are limited, as is the speaker set-up with 5.1 versus 7.1, which simply means limited upgrade-ability to your system in the future. WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT "The sound." I feel like I'm hearing things I completely missed with the older set-up. The upgraded home theater experience I was looking for has been achieved! "Music Enhancer" mode seems to work the best for me in combination with the Dolby Digital sound. Tweaking the speaker settings for the room was essential, but once I got the right blend - it was fantastic! I paired this receiver with Klipsch's Quintet III speakers and their 10" subwoofer. All of it for about 0, with a sound and power worth twice the price. Many 'tweaks' to the sound are possible via the settings on the receiver. READ the manual and refer to it as you make your settings. It is highly customizable with 4 buttons on the front of the receiver that you can set-up with whatever sound settings you like - for easy change overs. The remote is lightweight and works well. NOTE: You can also get a free app on iTunes that allows you to use your iPod Touch or iPhone as a remote! The receiver is Bluetooth ready and has an optional port for the Yamaha YDS-11SL Universal iPod Dock for Select Yamaha Home Theater Receivers. You will only get 2-channel sound when playing tunes from your iPod, but it's a great addition to the system. CONCLUSION Price, power, and Yamaha quality sell this AV receiver. The limited input options with the lack of HDMI audio out and the 5.1 versus 7.1 make this a lower end choice in a receiver, but for the money this receiver is a solid choice for a home theater AV receiver with great sound quality coming from a trusted brand. Isn't that the point? I'd recommend it to anyone wants a quality home theater experience for minimal cost, and who doesn't mind using other audio cables to offset the lack of audio signal through the HDMI ports. AV RECEIVER SPECS (per Yamaha website): Channels 5 RMS Output Power (20Hz - 20kHz) RMS Output Power (1kHz) 100W x 5 Total Power (20Hz - 20kHz) 500W (1kHz) Dolby TrueHD Dolby Digital EX/ Dolby Pro Logic IIx (Dolby Digital / Dolby Pro Logic II) DTS-HD Master Audio DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 (DTS Digital Surround) DTS 96/24 / DTS Neo:6 Pure Direct HD Radio Tuner iPod Compatibility * Audio Only (With Optional YDS-11) Bluetooth Compatibility * (With Optional YBA-10) Compressed Music Enhancer * Neural Surround XM HD Surround SRS (Circle Surround II) THX Processing Sirius Satellite Radio Ready XM Satellite Radio Ready HDMI (In/Out) (2 / 1) audio pass-thru i.Link (IEEE 1394) Component Video (In/Out) (3 / 1) A/V Inputs (S-Video) 4 (Composite) Digital Inputs/Outputs [O: Optical, C: Coaxial] (O: 2, C: 1) Front A/V with Digital Input * (A/V Only) Front Mini Input for Portables * Front USB Input For Flash Memory Drives LAN Terminal RJ-45 Network Connection D/A Conversion 192 kHz / 24 bit Surround Programs 8 Night Listening Enhancer * DCDi Processing Time Base Corrector HDMI Pass-through HDMI Up Conversion Component Video Up Conversion S-Video Up Conversion Dialogue Lift YPAO (w/Optimizer Microphone) On-Screen Display Assignable Power Amp Zone Speaker Terminals Zone 2 Output Zone 3 Output Zone 4 Output Zone Power Switching Zone Remote Control RS-232C Interface +12V Trigger Output IR Ports Receiver Manager Software Speaker A, B or A + B (A,B) Selectable Subwoofer Crossover * Multi-Channel Decoder Inputs 6-Channel Pre-Out All Channels Learning Remote Capability Preset Macro Command Capability Product Dimensions (W x H x D) 17-1/8" x 5-15/16" x 12-1/2" Product Weight (lbs.) 17.6 Shipping Dimensions (W X H X D) 21-1/2" x 9" x 16" Shipping Weight (LBS) 21 Customer Review 1 : Xlnt THX Sound for what it's worth - Porkee Peeg - Santa Cruz, California Pros: Yamaha. Well made, works out of the box, xlnt THX audio, xlnt separation, xlnt surround. Cons: Setup sucks. The owners manual sucks as its hard to follow. Heck, I have reviewed and proofed hundreds of technical manuals over my career and this one really sucks. You get to step 6 out of 10 and the setting does not exist! Lots of fumbling around with hits & misses. Well step 6 in the last chapter is now step 3 two chapters following. By saying the rcvr is over engineered is stating it mildly. Everything is software adjusted. eg; to adjust my rear speaker volume levels, I have to wade through a gazillion steps in order to get there. And, if I miss a step I start over. Am I on the phone calling a company going through their phone tree nightmare??? Heck, you cannot make any adjustments on the fly, not even setting FM presets. This is a set it and forget it receiver! Has two THX inputs; one is DTV/CBL, the other CD. Huh? THX for CD and not DVD? Duh! So when I watch Blu-Ray THX DVD's, I push the CD button on the remote. How stupid is this? Would I buy Yamaha again? Not if their products are engineered like this. Don't get me wrong, if you are the "set it and forget it" type you will be most happy with this receiver. Others, like me, who continually adjust to suite the input mode will hate it. |
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Yamaha RX-V365BL 500 Watt 5-Channel Home Theater Receiver
Posted by richy | 9:30 AM | 5-Channel, Receiver, RX-V365BL, Theater, Yamaha | 0 comments »
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