Yamaha RX-V667

It's now 2013 and I wanted to do a little bit of spring cleaning and loose one of my amplifiers. I got the Yamaha RX-V667 late 2010 and only listened to it when watching movies. But it being a well acclaimed 5 star machine I thought I hook up my Quadral Wotan Speakers and have at least the same listening quality as I have while they are connected to my '90-s Onkyo Integra amplifier.

It did certainly did not deliver the sound quality I anticipated. Not by far. I then tried the bi-amp feature of the Yamaha. To no avail.

I read the comment of The Crow and he got a satisfactory setup with the Yamaha (using the Linn first).

Am I doing something wrong? I did set the speaker impedance configuration of the Yamaha to 6 ohms, since the quadrals are rated at 4 ohms and set the amp to pure direct.

My setup contains:

Yamaha RX-V667

Onkyo Integra A 9711

Quadral Wotan MK5

Onkyo DX 7511

Van den Hul CS122 with WBT 645 bananas  

Nordost Black knight inteconnects

Cheer guys and girls!

EDIT May 7th 2013:

Played around with the impedance configuration (6 and 8 ohm setting) and changed the bi-wire assigment (Bass on A and Mid/Treble on B and vice versa). I got a little better sound quality using the 8 ohm setting (BW my speakers are 4 ohm). The bi-ware changes did not reveal an audible difference. Sound quality is still not up to the quality of my old Onkyo.

Also played with the digital versus analog inputs. The analog input sounded a bit better, but it may be influenced by the Nordost interlinks that might sound a bit brighter ( I did not test with simple interlinks).

I also used the Yamaha as 'pre--amplifier' for the Onkyo and used the Yamaha to convert the digital signal into analog. Connected the front pre-outs from the Yamaha to the CD in of the Onkyo. The sound quality was NOT good. The audio still sounded a bit muffled. So using the Yamaha as pre-amp is also not one for me.

I would not have thought that my old Onkyo would still deliver better sound quality. Especially in the 'attack' region it is the clear winner between the two. As an example listening to Al Jarreau Your Song, you can hear him inhale and also here the sigh just before the words starting with an h are sung (e.g. house). The Yamaha just smears this a bit out.

I guess I am just much more an audio guy than an AV guy and though the Yamaha sounds good enough for most needs, if you want very good audio I would advise to use a good stereo amplifier.

EDIT: May 12th 2013

I found some items on fora where they auditioned the Yamaha as pre-amp and used the zone2 line-out and liked it. I did the same an must say that feeding zone2 line-out to my Onkyo gave about the same listening pleasure as when the source was directly connected to the Onkyo. So pre-amping through zone2 line-out is pretty good. I did not audition the zone2 speaker outlets. But, alas, you can only listen to analog sources through zone2, so HDMI and coaxial and optical digital inputs can not be used on zone2.

I then found out that with the multi channel input of the Yamaha you cannot use the cinema settings, so I thought maybe the multichannel inputs would bypass the muffling electronical parts in the Yamaha. So hooked up de CD player to the front line-ins of the Yamaha and auditioned the CD player-Yamaha-Speaker combo. It still sounded muffled.

So my end conlusion for the stereo part would be, yes you can use the Yamaha as pre-amp (but why would you?) if you use the zone2 line-out but be aware you can only listen to analog input sources (no HDMI or coaxial or optical signals). The other line-outs including the multi channel front line-out sound muffles and can not be used as pre-amp line-outs in a decent system set up IMHO. I have not found any analog or digital line in and/or receiver setting (like pure direct, bi-amp) that gives me the sound quality I like (attack, breath,  precense, space) out of the speaker outlets.

I hope this comment benefits you and helps you with your next buy. Salute to every reader.

Hi guys,

 I am about to buy a new system (budget around £2.5K) and have decided on the B&W 685s for stereo and front speakers. I have been advised to buy the B&W M1s as centre, surround and subwoofer but am open to suggestions as these are quite expensive. My plan is to buy a squeezebox and play uncompressed files through it, i'll also buy a reasonable quality (£250 ish) cd player which i have not yet decided on.

 My priority is stereo sound but i also want surround sound. After reading many reviews i thought that the V667 would be a good receiver and to use the pre-out to a NAD C326BEE amp to power my stereo speakers.

But now after reading the above reviews i am wondering if there is any point in buying the NAD amp. At my hifi store the assistant said that you could not buy a receiver for less than £1K that would sound as good as the NAD amp. Is this receiver as good at stereo sound as is claimed? I am no audiophile but i know what i like and good stereo is my priority.

Obviously i'll be testing the various options but it'd be good to get more views on this.

 cheers

For many years I had a Yamaha DSPE800 home cinema processor which, via pre-outs, used my old Linn Majik amplifier to drive my front speakers. This meant I could still use my Linn CD player with my Linn amp for stereo music.

Having bought a Plasma TV , Blu-ray player & Sky-HD , last year I bought a Pioneer VSX-919 with the aim of coming down to 1 amp, having HDMI functionality and using the new HD sound formats available on Blu-ray.

Big mistake! The stereo sound from the Pio was simply not as good as my Linn. Worst still, the Pio had no pre-outs  - so I couldn't use the Linn for the front speakers like before. After 6 months I could no longer put up with it - and as I'd sold my old Yamaha I reverted to plain stereo through my Linn amp.

After 6 more months of it gathering dust, I've just sold the Pio and I've bought an RX-V667 as it's the only budget (?)(£299) surround-sound amp with pre-outs. (I't also coming down in price as it's being replaced).

Well, I have to say I'm delighted with the RX-V667  - turns out that the stereo performance from it is so good, I don't have to use the pre-outs and/or my Linn amp.

I've got my old Linn Karik CD player hooked up to the RX-V667 and stereo music sounds great!  Movie surround sound is great too!

To anyone wanting to find the holy grail of an AV amp with good stereo music reproduction, I think the RX-V667 does a very good job. My Linn amp may soon be on ebay!

I have just bought one this past week but have been unable to fathom out how to connect my PC via HDMI or Audio 1 & 2 & get any sounds, did your test include connecting to a computer & also turntable?

I haven't tried the phono yet but spent days with the PC problem & so far Yamaha haven't helped?

Thanks in advance

Lag

About four months ago I decided to upgrade my home cinema system, the heart of which was a Yamaha RX-V420.

Naturally I wanted to replace with another Yamaha but my budget was between £400 and £500. I'd read the reviews about the RX-V667 but I was still undecided about which model to go for. Then Yamaha made up my mind for me. They dropped the price of the RX-V667 TO £350. I ordered it right away.

I won't bore you with the details except to say that my cd's dvd's and bd's sound fantastic. Just read the review in What Hi-Fi? I agree wholeheartedly with it. Go for it. You won't regret it. I don't.

Thank you Yamaha.

The 667 is neither too warm or bright but has a neutral sound that's easy to listen to for many hours at a time without ever getting tiring. It has a very detailed and open sound with its own unique character.  It sounds quite polite at low volumes which suits easy listening and general pop music well but can sound slightly reserved with rock or dance music. As soon as you turn it up to medium or high volumes though, it really comes alive with lots of energy and dynamics which sounds good with all types of music including rock and dance.

The 667 has a destinctive sound and should be auditioned to see if it's to your own taste but I'm very happy with it in every respect and would 100% recomend it.