Let's discuss the Yamaha RX-V661 receiver...
 

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/p...DETYP=RELATION

I've found it for $470 shipped, but there aren't too many place around that seem to have it. Most seem to be in Europe. But this looks like a great unit. Is it just that new? If so, I would wait a bit to let others get it in stock and try to get a little better price.

Reactions?

I was looking at the Onkyo TX-SR604 when I found this.

where did you find it at that price? are they an authorized dealer?

i ask because from an authorized dealer you get a 5 year warranty and a non-authorized is either a year or nothing, i forget.

what kind of speakers will it br driving?

I'm not impressed by this. Not a ton of inputs, won't upconvert to HDMI, missing other features.

It upconverts Component as well as S-Video to HDMI. It doesnt upconvert from HDMI. Unless I am missing something. Mine is set to pass through anyway, not upconvert. Either my source or my TV does the upconversion.

It has almost the same features as my 1700 which retails at $1300. It has slightly less inputs but still more than enough.

What features is it missing?

Sorry man, but according to the specs, it does NOT upconvert across inputs to HDMI.

no need to apologize, i have an rx-v1700. i am just trying to figure out the wording on the yamaha site.

HDMI Up Conversion
Component Video Up Conversion •
S-Video Up Conversion •

i thought that meant that component and s-video would be passed to the receiver, upconverted and then sent via hdmi to the television?

even if it was just a switch and this is set as a "pass through" couldnt it either be converted/processed at the source (up-converting dvd player, native hddvd, BD) and just passed through to the tv?

what else would need to be converted in the receiver?

kvrdave,

Yamaha does not like to sell their stuff at a discount. They will fight you if you buy from an unauthorized dealer and your warranty will be invalid. Waiting til it is a little older may not work with a Yamaha.

You get what you pay for, Yamaha makes excellent receivers. Denon and Onkyo are 2 more examples of companies that won't warrant unauthorized purchases, Denon esp. Onkyo is the most likely to have a reduced price somewhere, like their authorized refurbs at accessories4less.com, or even *gasp* sales.

The Yammy I bought in 1989 is still working perfectly for my sister. Just a little dated on features. And I abused it like I never would abuse any electronics now.

Then you're looking at the wrong thing because it only upconverts to component, not hdmi.

What that means is that it will transcode (upconversion is the wrong term) composite to s-video, composite, s-video to component and pass through HDMI. NO transcoding to HDMI from all inputs. So no, if it doesn't go into the receiver via HDMI, it does not go out from the receiver via HDMI.

unitedonlineshopping.com which seems to be a yahoo! store. Probably not an authorized reseller. These are driving some Boston Acoustic THX speakers. I forget the model # on them.

The upconversion is not something I really care about. My dvd player already does it, and everything else I use is already hdmi except my gamecube, which I don't really care if it is upconverted or not.

I don't honestly remember where I bought my last to Yamahas from, but I remember getting them a bit cheaper than MSRP. Not sure I care a huge amount about the warranty. I tend to have good luck with most products. But I can't find it from any other store to even have the option of buying it from an authorized reseller.

it seems to be the new model of the 659.

i bought the rx-v1700. you can probably get that model from a non-authorized dealer for around $750. i dont know if the upgrades are worth the extra $300 for you.

i was asking about you speakers because the 1700 is 130wpc and the 661 is 90.

My room is about 25x15 with a 7.5' ceiling, so I really don't need the extra power. I think my current one is 90w and it is more than I need.

that's a pretty good sized room. my room is 16 x 16. i had a yamaha that was 75w previously. the new one at 130w doesn't run louder. instead of using 1/2 of my amp I now use 1/4 so it takes less to drive the speakers giving me cleaner power.

by no means was I trying to convince you to upgrade. but if you told me you were driving a set of paradigm studios or something i would have say definitely go for more power with your amps.

Ah. Yeah, I don't know that I want to spend the extra money for the benefit. I'm basically looking for an upgrade to HDMI input/output and this looks like the least expensive Yamaha choice to come around.

http://www.soundpros.com/index.cfm

Yamaha - RX-V661 - $445.00
Yamaha RXV661 7 x 95 Watt A/V Receiver "Shipping Included"

Dave, have you read the talk about this model over at AVS? Seems to be one of the cheaper "future-proof" receivers out there (yeah, I know the future gets faster and faster... I'd be happy with a 5-year receiver, though).

I'm thinking of buying this model.

I did a search over there, but never really found any good threads. Did you find one?

this receiver is their "upgraded" version of the 659 which was/is regarded as one of the best value receivers out there. the 659 was rated at 100wpc but actually put out 130wpc.

i would jump on this receiver at this price point.

Looks like it jumped to $479

If you google Yamaha RX-V661, this thread shows up third. That should tell you how little is out there about the unit. :lol:

That's probably why they upped the price! Someone from SoundPros saw that you wanted to buy this model ;)

Man, I have spent probably 10 hours reading about new receivers and the more I read the more I'm uncertain about what to purchase. I didn't spend this much time researching my more expensive plasma set because it was a much simpler choice to make.

Oh yeah, I didn't see any full threads about that Yamaha at AVS. Just a few mentions here and there.

"Official" thread now up on AVS.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=822161

Thanks. What is OSD?

On Screen Display

This killed it for me:

Indeed the RX-V661 does not transcode component through to HDMI, nor does it send the OSD over HDMI.

Honestly, I'd rather get the 674 for not that much more, and I prefer Onkyo to Yamaha (not that Yammy is a bad brand in the least).