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This is one of the easier recievers I've ever dealt with (as is yamaha in general) as far as dialing in the perfect amount of treble and bass. I know this is about a 100 bucks more than a sony reciever that lots of people have bought but I rolled the dice. All around, the radio gets great reception. I love the output terminals for the speakers.
This reciever is BY FAR the best sterio reciever on the market (within the price range). I couldn't be happier. The most important thing is how user friendly the reciever is. I studied for a while on what to by.
They are screw in terminals rather than "pinch" terminals which means they can support a bigger gauge wire and that it will hold the connection better. Spend the extra money and get a quality reciever. Im a huge audiophile so it was important to have good sound even though I wasn't looking to spend a lot. After having this reciever for a few days, i've noticed that even in lower end models, yamaha still keeps their great sound and quality.
Have CD, phono and tape decks attached. I can use all my components and receive all the AM and FM stations I want without any external wiring. All work and sound fine. This product does everything I wanted it to do. The sound quality is excellent.
OK--I just feel it's a little over-marketed. The quality is excellent, the tuner sensitivity fantastic, and the 50 watts per channel seems more like 75. The "raw direct" button simply bypasses the front panel controls, so you can quickly switch back and forth to see what you have done to a sound. This unit seems to support Yamaha's reputation for conservative specs. It performs as represented. The continuous "Loudness" knob is just a midrange control. The more "loudness" you use, the more you have to turn the "volume" back up.
(I play mostly classical music, instrumental and vocal). My not so old (10y) old Technics receiver gave out suddenly, and I needed a replacement with a phonograph input and would work with two old Dynaco speakers. These kinds of stereo receivers seem to be going out of style in favor of fancier ones to be used with video and surround sound (with no phono input). Also, it seems to me that the sound of speech doesn't have the clarity desired---distortion present.I'm modestly satisfied with my purchase, but not impressed. The Yamaha seemed a modest unit at a modest price which filled the bill. I works OK, although I find the setup for station presets is awkward, and the tone quality is not as full bodied as with the Technics.
Be careful though to only buy from an authorized Yamaha dealer since the Yamaha warranty specifically excludes coverage from product purchased from any other source. I'm not a techie and the reviews previously posted were very helpful. The Yamaha RX-397 is perfect in every way, and easy to set up.
I like it so much that I got this Yamaha RX-397 (50 watts/channel) to replace a 20-year old Pioneer receiver supporting 1 pair of speakers in a small den. Most receivers sold now are surround sound / home theater rather than a straightforward am/fm stereo receiver. A few months ago I bought a Yamaha RX-497 (75 watts/channel) to replace a 15-year old Denon that powered 2 pairs of speakers in a living room and dining room.
Most also do not have a built-in pre-amp for a turntable. I'm very pleased with my purchase. I wanted something simple, reliable and able to support a turntable, reel-to-reel tape deck and CD player.
50 watts/channel is more than adequate, even when I crank up the volume.
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