Yamaha RX-V663 Receiver Thread

[bigmod]

Got my Yamaha RX-V663 a week ago . Thought I'd let anyone thinking of getting one know what to expect. I'll be comparing it mainly to my old Onkyo HT-R508 (5.1 version of the TX-SR505).

First of all the Yamaha was pretty simple to install. Plenty of analog inputs but only 2 HDMI. Manual is pretty comprehensive, not very well organized, but still gives you all the information required to make it work.

Auto-calibration, aka YPAO, is pretty simple. It asks you to choose between 3 EQ settings before it starts. I tried them all and found "Natural" to be, well, the most natural sounding one. But you can still disable the EQ later or use the graphic EQ to adjust the sound to your liking. Calibration takes about 2 minutes. It is very fast since YPAO only takes measurements from one location unlike the Audyssey 2EQ which takes from 3. The results were pretty accurate, measurements of distance and sound level differed a little bit from actual results.

Next step was setting the "SCENES". I personally like this feature a lot. My Onkyo allowed me to assign inputs and outputs for DVD, CD, TV, etc... The Yamaha lets you do the same but with the additional option of adding DSP effects (or not). Example: you might set up CD with HDMI 1 as input and with DSP as Dolby ProLogicII Music to Scene 2. So when you press Scene 2, HDMI 1 is selected and played in Dolby ProLogicII Music mode. You can assign 4 scenes only.

The On-Screen Display is more Commodore 64 than Sony XMB. But it is simple and well organized with plenty of options to play with. Yamaha provide their own DSPs with a plethora of options to tweak. Personally I didn't modify any, but they're there for anyone who wants to adjust reverberation times and delay, etc...

Sound quality improved over my Onkyo . Bass is tighter, highs are brighter and mids are clearer (though a bit smeared at higher volumes). The music enhancer does wonders to mp3s and other compressed music. And uncompressed blu-ray movie soundtracks sound incredible .

Yamaha rates the RX-V663 at 95W/Channel. I certainly felt it compared to the 130W/Channel of my Onkyo. But it still is powerful enough to fill a mid-sized living room. However I did notice an increase in distortion at higher volumes. Seems like to Yamaha runs out of power pretty quickly. And the volume control is kinda weird. You can adjust the volume from -80db to +16.5db ! Why +16.5 and not just stop at 0db. What's weirder is that in the setup menu you can choose it to stop at 0db. I hope someone can explain this to me.

Overall it is a pretty decent receiver with good sound quality and plenty of features. However if your speakers can handle more than 80W, I recommend a more powerful one.


Pros:
- Good sound quality
- Accurate auto-calibration
- Scenes are very useful
- OSD menu
- Uncompressed audio

Cons:
- Runs out of power quickly
- Distortion at high volumes
- Auto-calibration not as good as Audyssey 2EQ
- No dimmer button on remote. Must go into setup menu to adjust it
- Going to the menu when HDMI inputs are selected interrupts playback

[Headphone Czar]

Originally Posted by bigmod

Got my Yamaha RX-V663 a week ago . Thought I'd let anyone thinking of getting one know what to expect. I'll be comparing it mainly to my old Onkyo HT-R508 (5.1 version of the TX-SR505).

First of all the Yamaha was pretty simple to install. Plenty of analog inputs but only 2 HDMI. Manual is pretty comprehensive, not very well organized, but still gives you all the information required to make it work.

Auto-calibration, aka YPAO, is pretty simple. It asks you to choose between 3 EQ settings before it starts. I tried them all and found "Natural" to be, well, the most natural sounding one. But you can still disable the EQ later or use the graphic EQ to adjust the sound to your liking. Calibration takes about 2 minutes. It is very fast since YPAO only takes measurements from one location unlike the Audyssey 2EQ which takes from 3. The results were pretty accurate, measurements of distance and sound level differed a little bit from actual results.

Next step was setting the "SCENES". I personally like this feature a lot. My Onkyo allowed me to assign inputs and outputs for DVD, CD, TV, etc... The Yamaha lets you do the same but with the additional option of adding DSP effects (or not). Example: you might set up CD with HDMI 1 as input and with DSP as Dolby ProLogicII Music to Scene 2. So when you press Scene 2, HDMI 1 is selected and played in Dolby ProLogicII Music mode. You can assign 4 scenes only.

The On-Screen Display is more Commodore 64 than Sony XMB. But it is simple and well organized with plenty of options to play with. Yamaha provide their own DSPs with a plethora of options to tweak. Personally I didn't modify any, but they're there for anyone who wants to adjust reverberation times and delay, etc...

Sound quality improved over my Onkyo . Bass is tighter, highs are brighter and mids are clearer (though a bit smeared at higher volumes). The music enhancer does wonders to mp3s and other compressed music. And uncompressed blu-ray movie soundtracks sound incredible .

Yamaha rates the RX-V663 at 95W/Channel. I certainly felt it compared to the 130W/Channel of my Onkyo. But it still is powerful enough to fill a mid-sized living room. However I did notice an increase in distortion at higher volumes. Seems like to Yamaha runs out of power pretty quickly. And the volume control is kinda weird. You can adjust the volume from -80db to +16.5db ! Why +16.5 and not just stop at 0db. What's weirder is that in the setup menu you can choose it to stop at 0db. I hope someone can explain this to me.

Overall it is a pretty decent receiver with good sound quality and plenty of features. However if your speakers can handle more than 80W, I recommend a more powerful one.


Pros:
- Good sound quality
- Accurate auto-calibration
- Scenes are very useful
- OSD menu
- Uncompressed audio

Cons:
- Runs out of power quickly
- Distortion at high volumes
- Auto-calibration not as good as Audyssey 2EQ
- No dimmer button on remote. Must go into setup menu to adjust it
- Going to the menu when HDMI inputs are selected interrupts playback

Not with my V1800

[cavu]

Originally Posted by bigmod

Yamaha rates the RX-V663 at 95W/Channel. I certainly felt it compared to the 130W/Channel of my Onkyo.

[...]

Cons:
- Runs out of power quickly

Nonsense!

The difference between 130w and 95w is an imperceptible 1.36dB - you are hearing a difference merely because you think you should!!

Yes, the specs say that Yamaha will reach clipping 1.36dB sooner than the Onkyo, but virtually no-one can audibly detect that very small difference.

The smallest difference detectible by most listeners is 3dB.

[D1-2005]

and lets not forget that the 95 vs 130 is rated different, even the htib yamaha's are rated at 130 watts. the 95 is probably rated at .006 total distortion and the 130 at 2%. And I would say the distortion is probably more from the speakers than the amp as I have yet to hear any distortion at high levels.

[mustang-gt-2002]

well I love my 663 and my YAMAHA NS-777 speakers love it to. distortion I have no distortion at full volume. my speakers are 6 ohm so they make up for the power. I will give you the HDMI menu interruption I dont like that to. but I dont use it much. all in all buy it.

[Moefiz]

Why +16.5...if you go into your menu set up you can change this to whatever setting you want its basically a fail safe setting that you don't blow up your speakers up also you can set the sound level that you want it to be when you put the receiver on.

[kingofgrills]

I sure hope he didn't try listening to the receiver at +16.5 dB without adjusting anything. Trying to output at that level would certainly crap something out his speakers or the amp.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by kingofgrills

I sure hope he didn't try listening to the receiver at +16.5 dB without adjusting anything. Trying to output at that level would certainly crap something out his speakers or the amp.

I was thinking the same thing myself...

[STARKILLER--1138]

Originally Posted by bigmod

Bass is tighter, highs are brighter and mids are clearer (though a bit smeared at higher volumes).

I agree it gets a bit smeared at higher volumes. I've noticed this on all receivers I've owned and installed though. This is why I recommend a seperate amp to fully open up that top end.

Congrats BTW.

[bigmod]

Originally Posted by kingofgrills

I sure hope he didn't try listening to the receiver at +16.5 dB without adjusting anything. Trying to output at that level would certainly crap something out his speakers or the amp.

Actually it was +5db. My Onkyo has its volume control from 0 to 80. At 70, I feel the speakers almost coming apart but no distortion or smear in the mids or highs. On the Yamaha at 0db I start hearing a bit of distortion and my speakers still can handle a lot more.

I also found a review by UltimateAVmag.com that says "Once I got a well-balanced frequency response on the Yamaha, the amp ran out of gas at higher listening volumes" and "Yamaha's stated distortion of 0.09% was reached at 46.9 watts with seven channels driving 8-ohm loads. This is roughly half of the 95Wpc specified by the manufacturer, which could be why the AVR seemed to run out of gas at higher listening levels". You can read the full review here: http://www.ultimateavmag.com/avrecei...663/index.html

Don't get me wrong. This a great AVR. I just wish it had more power.

[SoundFreak]

I think I am going to buy this receiver. Would you recommend?

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by D1-2005

and lets not forget that the 95 vs 130 is rated different, even the htib yamaha's are rated at 130 watts. the 95 is probably rated at .006 total distortion and the 130 at 2%. And I would say the distortion is probably more from the speakers than the amp as I have yet to hear any distortion at high levels.

+1

Also the OP failed to mention how he setup bass management and what kind of speakers he was using. I have the V663 with Energy C series speakers 7.1 system. Every time I run YPAO it sets all 6 speakers to large. These speakers have no business tying to reproduce bass down to 20 Hz, mine go down to 35 Hz ok, but I still set them to small. Setting them to small with a 80 Hz crossover will make any amp like the V663 very happy, since doesn't have to do as much work. Even the small power supply that the V663 has, will do just fine in this situation unless one has speakers that are horrifyingly inefficient, like 83 db/1 meter/1 watt or worse.

I also disagree with the OP's assessment about the distortion. I bet it's his speakers and/or how he set up his system. Overall I'd say he did a fine job with the review bringing out some valid weaknesses for this AVR, which are minor actually. I don't need 3 HDMI inputs so, the V663 suits my needs quite well. I used to own the 805 too but couldn't stand the horrific heat it generated. Kind of scarry. It was quite warm when not in use. He's right, I found the V663 to sound just as good as the 805, but at any volume level that I have tried so far. I love my Energy speakers but they cost over 4x the cost as my V663. It's the Energy speakers that make my system sound superb and the bass management settings along with YPAO set to flat.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by SoundFreak

I think I am going to buy this receiver. Would you recommend?

Highly recommend ....this is a excellent receiver for the value.

[Steve-O]

Originally Posted by Moefiz

Highly recommend ....this is a excellent receiver for the value.

Agreed!

[SoundFreak]

sweet, I'm pumped now I love buying toys. Can't wait to get it

[DeadEyesSmiling]

I read a review of this receiver that mentioned an issue with maintaining a 24p signal through the HDMI ports. It said that when playing a movie off of a dvd/blu-ray player, because the FBI Warning is usually on the disk as 30p, that the receiver will get stuck in this mode, and continue to send the movie video as 30p even though it's getting it as 24p. They refered to it as an HDMI "handshake." Has anyone experienced this? I'm also thinking about picking this up, but I really don't want to lose the 24p. Thanks!

-DES

[SoundFreak]

What happens if the soundtrack is TrueHD/7.1 but I only have speakers for a 5.1? Or vice versa

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by DeadEyesSmiling

I read a review of this receiver that mentioned an issue with maintaining a 24p signal through the HDMI ports. It said that when playing a movie off of a dvd/blu-ray player, because the FBI Warning is usually on the disk as 30p, that the receiver will get stuck in this mode, and continue to send the movie video as 30p even though it's getting it as 24p. They refered to it as an HDMI "handshake." Has anyone experienced this? I'm also thinking about picking this up, but I really don't want to lose the 24p. Thanks!

-DES

Please provide a link to the review article about the V663.

I have never heard of this happening. I would like to know which test setup was used along with the name and model for the BD player and HDTV. This must be fluke. Sounds like there was a defective player, HDMI cable, or perhaps the V663 was defective.

[TENSE]

can any one tell me why the yamaha rx-v1800 is $778 at 6th avenue.com and why it is $1000 at crutchfield.com? i will purchase this receiver since was not aware of its specks! why do you save more at 6th ave? is the quality of the receivers? and would you guys purchase the receiver at 6th ave.com? since i have never bought any thing online and i will pay with a debit card.. would i be better of purchasing from a more trustworthy website?

[TENSE]

Originally Posted by bigmod

Actually it was +5db. My Onkyo has its volume control from 0 to 80. At 70, I feel the speakers almost coming apart but no distortion or smear in the mids or highs. On the Yamaha at 0db I start hearing a bit of distortion and my speakers still can handle a lot more.

I also found a review by UltimateAVmag.com that says "Once I got a well-balanced frequency response on the Yamaha, the amp ran out of gas at higher listening volumes" and "Yamaha's stated distortion of 0.09% was reached at 46.9 watts with seven channels driving 8-ohm loads. This is roughly half of the 95Wpc specified by the manufacturer, which could be why the AVR seemed to run out of gas at higher listening levels". You can read the full review here: http://www.ultimateavmag.com/avrecei...663/index.html

Don't get me wrong. This a great AVR. I just wish it had more power.

HEY CAN YOU SAY THE SAME THING ABOUT THE YAMAHA RX-V1800!
OR IS THIS ONE WAY BETTER?