RX-V659 Overview and Build Quality

It has been awhile since I reviewed a moderately priced piece of home theater gear. Some of my staff often comment on my flare for reviewing only the upper echelon products. I am certainly not one to argue this point, but I figured I would upset the status quo by throwing in a mid-priced receiver into my review lineup to keep them guessing. With that in mind, I requested Yamaha's latest sub $550 receiver - the RX-V659. This is their first RX-V series of receiver I have taken a hard look at in the under $800 price category. When I took a look at this product, I quickly realized I was behind the evolutionary progress of trickle down technologies as evidenced by some of the most notable features this receiver offers, such as:

• 100wpc x 7
• Component Video Upconversion
• On Screen Display
• iPod Connectivity and Music Enhancement Modes
• DTS 96/24
• PLIIx Music/Movie DTS Neo Modes
• XM Ready with XM HD Surround
• EXT 7.1 Multi Channel Analogue Inputs
• Preamp Outputs for all Channels
• 3 Zone configurability (with powered Zone2)

Some of these features aren't even found on their $4,500 flagship product let alone their newer RX-V2600 receivers. Most of these features weren't found on any receiver brand at this price class only just a couple of years ago. Now that's progress which budget minded consumers could certainly appreciate. This type of increase in purchasing power for each new generation of product is perhaps only rivaled in the computer industry.

 The Yamaha RX-V659 is a receiver cut from a different cloth from what we are accustomed to in this price class. It shared many of the virtues of its bigger brother - the RX-V2600 such as a large E-core transformer, large capacitor bank (71V 12,000uF Caps x 2). 50V caps would have been plenty to achieve 100wpc, though using 71V caps gives Yamaha plenty of design margin and added headroom since the rails can safely been swung much higher. There is nothing wimpy about the amp section of this receiver and as you will find in the Measurements & Analysis section of my review, this receiver is an overachiever and delivered MORE than its rated power.

The RX-V659 employees all burr brown 192kHz/24bit DACs and Yamaha's Top Art construction found on their more expensive receivers. All in all, I liked what I was seeing under the hood of this new budget Yamaha receiver and looked forward to determining if the sum of the parts equated to good performance and sound quality... a signature hallmark of Yamaha's high end receivers.