Excellent value for the money
Written: Aug 25 '02
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Pros: Price, clean sound, speaker connections
Cons: tuner is adequate, not excellent
The Bottom Line: For smaller rooms where you don't need digital surround sound, this is a wonderful value. Great sound and more than adequate features make this highly competitive for the price.
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| rbuchanan11's Full Review: Yamaha RX-496 2 Channels Receiver |
I was looking for a stereo receiver or integrated amplifier for a second stereo in a small 16X20 foot living room (I have a separate home theater set-up downstairs). My budget was no more than $300, and I narrowed my choices down to a Denon integrated amp at $249.00, with 50 WPC; an Onkyo receiver at $199.00, with 50 WPC; and this Yamaha unit, which I purchased locally for $270.00. It is rated at 75 WPC, with .04% THD, amazing specs for this price range. For the money I haven't heard anything close to this sound. Plus, for $20 more than the Denon amp I got a decent (if not wonderful) am/fm tuner.
I found this easy to set up out of the box. The back of the unit is well marked and easy to navigate, and the speaker connections are not the usual springy-things you get at this price. They will accept banana plugs. The FM antenna connection (a very basic wire antenna is supplied) is not a standard coaxial connection, but there is an adapter supplied which took care of the misfit between my powered antenna and the connection on the receiver. The receiver looks and feels solid.
The controls are standard treble/bass/balance knobs, and a large, substantial-feeling volume knob. For the purist there is a tone defeat button. I have had no audible problems with this control. A Loudness control allows a frequency boost at lower volume levels.
Another review listed as a negative the absence of inputs for a center channel. This is, after all, a STEREO receiver, not an A/V receiver (which Yamaha makes in this price range as well, by the way). You can connect two sets of speakers, with A/B switching, so that you can play A or B or A+B. There is an impedance switch on the rear panel to switch from 4 ohms to 8 ohms. I assume this means the RX-496 will drive 4 ohm speakers, which few receivers in this price range can.
So no center speaker or surround speakers, and no subwoofer output, either, although most subs allow you to connect your speaker wires through the sub to the left and right front speakers if you want to use a three piece speaker system. I am using very old, very inefficient, Small Advent speakers, and the RX-496 drives them well beyond the spousal tolerance level with no audible distortion. They sound better than I've heard them in years.
For component inputs you get CD, AUX, two TAPE inputs (one with tape monitor), and (getting more rare all the time) a PHONO connection. There is also a headphone jack. Two switched AC outlets are supplied. The feet of the unit are rubber coated (a nice feature).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 270.00
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Epinions.com ID:
rbuchanan11
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Reviews written: 1
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