what do you mean with "Because the RX-V765 has a slightly forward sound, I wouldn't suggest mating it to speakers that exhibit the same or similar traits, for it may prove to be too much of a good thing. "

You mean that it sounds a bit sharp, or ? Would JBL speakers be a good idea

I don't understand the "purchase additional equipment" con of this review. There are only 3, and they are all VERY unessential. One is for connecting a satellite radio (or Sirius), another is an iPod dock, and the last a wireless . All of these are hardly what I would call "so many goodies".

This is probably the worst review I have ever read on anything (if I'm honest). This guy read the facts on the side of the box and put zero effort into this article. What about distortion ratings, cut off levels for the hdmi inputs, what the scene buttons actually do for the consumer, etc. Not how you wish every accessory was included for YOUR personal needs at the vendors expense. I will skip every review that is written by Andrew Robinson going forward because this article just took away 5 minutes of my life that I will never get back and would have gotten more info from someone at Best Buy in the same amount of time. Thanks for nothing Andrew.

I've had this receiver on loan for a little while as a first look into home theatre. As a middle of the road receiver I was hoping it could replace my Harman Kardon HK-670 stereo amp - boy was I wrong. I've spent an evening flicking between the two, and the Yamaha is woefully lacking in midrange and bass for general music listening. The comment about it being "too forward" is also bang on - it's much to "bright" a sound. My wife summed it up, saying that it just wasn't relaxing to listen to. Looping the pre-out to the HK-670 was a good compromise, but I haven't had much luck with the auto lipsync with my Panasonic Plasma (new) so the Yamaha is going back to the shop. Disappointing.

I actually own this unit, having purchased it to perform pre-processor duties for my two multichannel amps. It can be had for a much lower street price than the $649.00 MSRP. I paid $452.00 including S&H.

First, I am not a fan of the tiny amps in today’s receivers (I still have my Sony STR-V6 if I want to listen to music purely with a receiver’s internal amp section – now THAT’S a receiver!). That said, this Yamaha unit’s amp section appears to me no weaker (or stronger) than any amp package I’ve seen in any modern receiver.

I did do a fair bit of listening to it using the unit’s internal amps before connecting my amps, and found the sound enjoyable. Naturally moving over to separate amps vastly improved the listening experience.

It’s been quite a few years since I last purchased audio products, and this is my first experience with HDMI. I purchased my first HDTV and Blue-ray unit at the same time of this unit’s purchase. I could not detect any loss of signal or noise while watching the video that was passed by the unit’s HDMI connection, but when experimenting with my component video cables did notice the unit’s up-scaling of images, which I thought was pretty slick. It does work. I also enjoy the wide variety of connections and sound field options.

For the price, I can’t think of any negatives. The unit does its work well and gives the user a lot of options to play with.

P.S. @By once - Sounds like you and I come from the same listening generation since we seem to respect the same vintage gear. I understand your disappointment completely. You and I both know that these modern budget receivers don't have near the amp guts inside them that the classic receivers did. Indeed, things didn't sound "right" until you started using the H&K's amp section. Modern receivers just are not built like those wonderfully over-engineered tanks.