RX-V2700 Build Quality

Introduction

I know what you’re thinking… another new receiver from Yamaha and just less than one year (more like 8 months) after the release of the RX-V2600? Yep.  Welcome to the wonderful world of progress where next year's model design is completed right around the same timeframe the current model starts hitting the store shelves – no kidding, folks, this is bleeding edge.  Right now it seems Yamaha, Denon and Pioneer are locked into a rat race to see just how much of the proverbial market cheese they can steal.  The result?  More features, more power, at more competitive prices to the end user with the slight side effect of buyer's remorse for those who love to change out A/V gear more frequently than they change their sheets (well I hope not).  Rest assured, however, that even last year's model is likely far ahead of the curve for what most people will and can use in a typical home theater system.

The RX-V2700 builds upon the solid foundation of the RX-V2600 and shares many of its virtues, along with a few distinct differences tabulated below:

At first glance, it appears the RX-V2700 is armed to the teeth with networking-type features allowing it stream music from virtually any type of source including iPod, USB, wireless, etc.  Oddly this 5th generation YPAO receiver doesn’t sport the THX Select 2 certification found on the last 4 predecessors, but it does come equipped with very similar guts of the THX Select 2 RX-V2600 model.  I can understand why Yamaha didn’t go the THX route and instead elected to place the saved licensing costs towards a much better video scalar from Anchor Bay Technologies, though I do miss the THX Games mode especially when using my Xbox 360.    Normally I’d scold Yamaha for not having THX certification at this price point, but considering the design virtues of this receiver are so similar to its predecessor, I’d take the leap of faith at saying the RX-V2700 will likely meet THX standards.

Overall the RX-V2700 has a very impressive feature set and, rather than rehashing the basics covered in our exhaustive RX-V2600 review, we will instead focus on the cool new features of this latest does everything receiver. 

Build Quality

One thing we have come to admire over the years is the good build quality of Yamaha receivers.  They typically give consumers a good meaty power supply and amplifier section which they seem to be improving on with each new generation of receivers.

The RX-V2700 is no exception to this rule as evident by the large E-Core transformer and large capacitor bank (71V 18,000uF x 2).  The heat sink is tapered to minimize resonance and also provide for optimal heat dissipation.

Editorial Note
In order to hit the rated 140wpc Yamaha is claiming, they would require a rail voltage of sqrt(2)*[(140*8)^1/2 ] = 47V + 5V(margin) = 52V.  As you can see their capacitor bank has plenty of overhead to meet this requirement.

This receiver means business and, despite the lack of THX rating, it’s pound for pound every bit of the RX-V2600 and perhaps a bit more (see tests reports).