AV Receiver Reviews

Yamaha RX-V371 A/V receiver HT Labs Measures

HT Labs Measures

Five channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads:
0.1% distortion at 32.4 watts
1% distortion at 35.1 watts

Analog frequency response in Stereo Bypass mode:
–0.61 dB at 10 Hz
–0.17 dB at 20 Hz
–0.01 dB at 20 kHz
–2.84 dB at 50 kHz.

Analog frequency response with stereo signal processing:
–0.98 dB at 10 Hz
–0.27 dB at 20 Hz
–0.25 dB at 20 kHz
–63.22 dB at 50 kHz.

1011yamre.meas.jpg

This graph shows that the RX-V371's left channel, from Audio1 input to speaker output with two channels driving 8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1% distortion at 81.9 watts and 1% distortion at 95.3 watts. Into 4 ohms, the amplifier reaches 0.1% distortion at 100.6 watts and 1% distortion at 121.1 watts.

There was no analog multichannel input to measure. THD+N from the Audio1 input to the speaker output was less than 0.010% at 1 kHz when driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load was –76.34 dB left to right and –75.63 dB right to left. The signal-to-noise ratio with an 8-ohm load from 10 Hz to 24 kHz with "A" weighting was –107.30 dBrA.

From the Dolby Digital input to the speaker output, the left channel measures –0.20 dB at 20 Hz and –0.21 dB at 20 kHz. The center channel measures –0.20 dB at 20 Hz and –0.26 dB at 20 kHz, and the left surround channel measures –0.19 dB at 20 Hz and –0.13 dB at 20 kHz. From the Dolby Digital input to the line-level output, the LFE channel is +0.09 dB at 20 Hz when referenced to the level at 40 Hz and reaches the upper 3-dB down point at 94 Hz and the upper 6-dB down point at 116 Hz.—MJP

Video Test Bench

3:2 HD 2:2 HD MA HD 3:2 SD 2:2 SD MA SD VIDEO CLIPPING LUMA RESOLUTION CHROMA RESOLUTION SCALING
DIGITAL N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A PASS PASS PASS N/A
ANALOG N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

The Yamaha performs no video processing. Its video circuitry is pass-through only (resolution in = resolution out). It also does not cross-convert from a component input to an HDMI output. But it cleanly passed a 1080p HDMI input through to a 1080p output.—TJN

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COMMENTS
techguy378's picture
Submitted by techguy378 on October 6, 2011 - 12:47pm

What a lousy receiver. Yamaha just keeps getting worse and worse. Every single one of Denon's budget receivers has an on screen display. There's absolutely no excuse for excluding this feature. Also, Yamaha has a version of their YPAO auto setup software that does not have an equalizer of any kind. They used it in their budget receivers many years ago when they first introduced their auto setup feature. It just sets up the basics (size, distance, crossover, etc). Surely they could have at least included that much at this price point. Why should anyone buy a receiver that can't even properly indicate what surround mode it's operating in? This is a piece of crap receiver from Yamaha and never should have been rolled out in this state.

etrochez's picture
Submitted by etrochez on October 7, 2011 - 6:45am

Way to go Yahama!!! Cut the cost by eliminating not so important features and not compromising on performance. It's nice to know you can build a decent home theater with a $250 receiver. Kudos.

Scott Wilkinson's picture
Submitted by Scott Wilkinson on October 7, 2011 - 10:37am
How interesting that two readers can reach such different conclusions! While I wouldn't call an onscreen display, auto room correction, and speaker binding posts "not so important features," I consider performance to be king, and this Yamaha seems to deliver in that regard. As always, companies must make compromises to reach certain price points, and $250 for an AVR requires a LOT of compromises. It seems to me that Yamaha made the right choices, prioritizing performance over other factors for those on a severely limited budget.
Arnaud32's picture
Submitted by Arnaud32 on October 7, 2011 - 3:03pm

Scott, as you say, this receiver seems to deliver quite a lot for the price point. So the Value rating seems low, doesn't it?
Isn't value a ratio between performance/feature and price? and at that price, I would believe the ration being pretty high...
What really bugs me is I believe having read that article online a day ago, and the rating were higher than that... Maybe you can let me know I was dreaming!!!

chcnz's picture
Submitted by chcnz on January 11, 2012 - 6:43pm

Purchased about three months ago in New Zealand. The YPAO mic input sits about 3 o'clock 4 cm from the power button. This set-up program seems to work really well.

Sound wise - I'm not as articulate as the fine reviewers here, but, I've been using a two channel Pioneer A400X since it was new, dabbled in HT in a box (Yuk), so, still wanting to invest in home theatre sound (but not totally convinced that AV units can sound as good as 2 channel for 2 channel units) I purchased my Yamaha RX-V371 - entry level I know, but money less spent if the sound was custard.

It's lovely. It really is.

It's making my older (but happy) Tannoy Mercury M20's sound wonderful and (dare I say it) more detailed and enjoyable than my A400X (sorry old friend - retire for a while).

Tannoy's sounded so good I purchased a couple of Tannoy Murcury M15's (closer enough for voice matching - same early 1990's era), added an entry level Velodyne Impact mini and a Paradigm center.

Sweet sweet sound from everywhere - most enjoyable.

I'm very happy with the RX-V371. Not sure why your review unit doesn't have the YPAO feature. Older (perhaps?), newer and they've dropped the feature (unlikely?). Don't know really.

For those who don't like this receiver because of a lack of YAPO then do realise some units do have this feature.

tarzan1234's picture
Submitted by tarzan1234 on February 27, 2012 - 2:01pm

Just came across this review. While I tend to agree with the reviewer, I think some information in this review is inaccurate. The RX-V371 receiver does decode DTS-HD Master. Yamaha website, and all specification pages I have seen indicate this. I have this receiver and I know it as well.
It also displays DTS HD Master, Dolby TrueHD or whatever sound decoders on the front panel. Just press the "info" button on the remote to switch to "sound decoder" mode. You can select to display input, surround sound mode, and sound decoder, I think.
I agree that if they just add auto calibration feature (for model sold in North America), this receiver would score high and it will be much easier to use for its targeted customers: entry level. It's pretty interesting because they have YPAO auto calibration in this exact same model for European and other markets, as the commenter from New Zealand pointed out, but not US version.

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