These are very likely Costco returns. They’re currently selling the very same model for $380 thru the end of the year.
Receivers don’t seem to be made as 25-year bullet-proof as they used to be.
- Part of that is multi-channel (sales, not audio) price competition resulting in manufacturers cheaping out on components and R&D.
- “Receivers” are now more “Computers” and Video Processors than audio amplifiers. Add to that the complexity of handling ever-changing video and Dolby standards and the result is a crapshoot.
Reading reviews, one would think none of the brands have HDMI and networking figured out. They all seem to have complaints. (I’ve had my share of them with Pioneer/ONKYO, now one company.)
However, one also wonders how many receivers get returned due to new owners getting frustrated by the often painful configuration process… or in the case of frequent “HDMI issues” (signal dropping out or simply failing), due to crappy HDMI cables.
While it is true HDMI is a digital signal so it either works or doesn’t… so you shouldn’t waste money on crazy expensive HDMI cables… that doesn’t mean using cheap HDMI cables either. Try multiple cables before giving up on a receiver.
That this appears to truly be Yamaha refurbished with a 1-year warranty certainly builds confidence. But don’t let it sit in the box after it arrives. Immediately put it into service so you can lean on the excellent Woot! Customer Service should you get a lemon… rather than relying on Yamaha’s support and warranty process.
If this weren’t the holiday gift-funding season, I’d likely grab one of these… in the meantime sitting on the fence… and hoping since it is still being sold by Costco, the supply chain of Yamaha-refurbed units to WOOT! will continue in the future!
I’m a neophyte wannabe audiophile…I want to get a Network AV Receiver but do not know what to look for.
I’d love a cheap under $200 model to start with and learn…but I’m told that isn’t a reality.
So then I’d prefer something that is future proof so that I can expand as my budget allows without having to replace the receiver.
but i’m also told that many of these are proprietary and won’t play nice with speaker and other components that aren’t the same Mother Brand (i.e. Sonos speakers won’t work with Pioneer receiver).
Ultimately, I want to have my house set so that i can stream music from Spotify, Pandora, etc or tape into my ripped CDs or even Terrestrial radio. How does one begin?
I’m getting this to upgrade from my TSR-5810 for the multi-point YPAO alone. The extra power/etc is a nice bonus as well. No problems with my current TSR-5810, does Dolby Atmos flawlessly from my Xbox One X. If you don’t currently have an Atmos setup (with a pair of ceiling speakers) jump on this and get some decent speakers. It will change your life.
Yup. When receivers started getting firmware updates, they became more computer and less audio equipment. Too “smart” for their own good sometimes.
That said, I have a similar Yamaha I got from woot and so far so good. I have only had to unplug the thing once because it wasn’t picking up a signal from an HDMI cable I plugged in. That seemed to resolve the issue.
The advice you’ve received is accurate - you’re not going to find a network AVR for under $200, especially not one that doesn’t make so many compromises you’ll regret it. Unless you luck out and find a less than 2 year old AVR at an estate sale for cheap. Not likely.
AVR standards are constantly in flux so good luck future-proofing. Just assume you’ll either be letting new standards pass by within 5 years or so - or that you’ll be upgrading.
You start by determining your must haves and your nice to haves. And by determining what “proprietary” (whether streaming service or wireless speaker) components you’ll have.
Sonos speakers are premium priced speakers so that alone would contradict matching them with a bargain basement $200 AVR.
Only then will you be able to eliminate or consider particular AVRs.
Thought one - this Yamaha at $260 is a pretty full-featured AVR for that money, even if not top of the line. Costco’s normal, non-sale price is $490.
Thought two - if you’re really lost, go to AVSforum.com, read the posts, and if still lost, post your defined requirements (the more specific, the better) in your own comment - responses will come your way. AVSforum has been around since Y2K and has millions of readers.
I bought one of these from Costco and I would highly recommend. It replaced an 9 year old Harman Kardon 7.2 AV unit which was also great. This Yamaha is ATMOS ready and sounds incredible. Has lots of connectivity, a good app and fills our large room with great sound.
Couldn’t be more pleased and its simply shows that every few years its worth an upgrade to get the latest tech.
Interestingly I took back the first one I bought from Costco as it was apparent when I opened the box that it had been on display but more importantly the microphone used to set up the sound was missing. Otherwise a brand new, unused amp. Maybe Woot is reselling that amp
I got this unit here a few weeks ago. There was no evidence that it was anything but a brand new unit. If this really was a repack, it was returned immediately after purchase and placed in new packaging.
It took a little fiddling to figure out how to get Bluetooth to pair. And Bluetooth doesn’t appear as an input selection using the front panel knob until you select it with the remote button for the first time. Which seems to be a software issue. A less patient customer might have diagnosed the Bluetooth as broken. Embedded firmware in consumer equipment is generally crap, whatever the brand.
It seems to be reasonably feature-full for the price.
The next wave of video standard changes will accompany the rollout of ATSC 3.0 tuners. This replaces the current vestigial sideband modulation used to carry HDTV over-the-air with orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing. So all of your current HDTV tuners will go obsolete and not be usable for receiving, just like the cut over from NTSC. And this will be an even worse cluster-uh… mess, because FCC is not giving broadcasters additional channels to accommodate the cut over, as they did before. Everyone has to continue with a 1.0 channel for a year or two after they roll out their 3.0. so expect the 1.0 channels to be a bunch of low-quality sub-channels on one or two transmitters per market.
All of this means that cable cutters will be buying new TVs in about 2 years. And of course the manufacturers will take this as an opportunity to roll out new forms of Dolby, etc. that existing receivers won’t understand.
But can it run Doom?
No I don’t think this receiver is Turing-complete. 
Which brings up the network radio. It’s functional, but the station I am most likely to listen to these days has locked itself to radio.com and no other online service. So you have to use an app rather than the built-in radio. And I probably would use something with the screen interface for any sort of radio listening, rather than that vacuum fluorescent display or whatever it is.
I grabbed this a month ago here and was blown away by atmos with appletv and xbox one source. Amazing. Alexa integration and airplay is def a plus.
FWIW - I bought a older similar version from Costco 4 years ago (Yamaha RX-V775) when we built a new house and have loved it so far. I love the app on my phone. I can push spotify from my phone to the receiver and it plays it on my TV and speakers, same with Pandora. I wanted the 2 HDMI out feature so i could push my video to a tv inside and outside. It has separate zones for inside and outside, you can sync or keep separate (with some limitations on zone 2). I’m not an audiophile but I have really loved my receiver. I had to get new TVs when a lightening strike knocked them all out and no longer have all my streaming devices in my AV closet. because all my TVs are Roku TVs. I’m using ARC over HDMI to push audio from the TV back to the receiver over the same HDMI used for a different input. I’d pay this price for mine again and this is newer.
Not that great of a deal when you consider Best Buy has the Onkyo TX-NR686 on sale for $250 new. It’s pretty much the same feature set with THX certification and higher power output. I just picked one up yesterday and I’m blown away by the difference compared to my old Panasonic SA-HE70. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/onkyo-tx-7-2-ch-hi-res-4k-hdr-compatible-a-v-home-theater-receiver-black/6194119.p?skuId=6194119