Yamaha RX-V1600 Digital Home Theater Receiver

Serious home theater and music enthusiasts have long revered Yamaha's electronics expertise, and it's easy to understand why when you experience the RX-V1600 in action. This receiver combines time-tested Yamaha design elements with cutting-edge features like HDMI digital video compatibility, XM Radio, advanced auto calibration, and exceptional three-room flexibility.

This THX® Select2-certified receiver delivers 120 watts x 7 channels of Yamaha's clean, high-current amplification. It also offers exclusive THX processing enhancements designed to transform all of your movies, music, and TV shows into convincingly theater-like sound.

HDMI digital video capability
HDMI compatibility lets you switch easily between two high-def sources — like an HDTV receiver and an HD DVD or Blu-ray player — while maintaining phenomenal picture quality for both. And thanks to analog-to-HDMI conversion for your older, non-digital video sources, all you need to connect your receiver to your TV is a single HDMI cable. You'll never have to switch inputs on your TV again — you can perform all source-switching with a few simple button presses on the receiver's remote.

Three-room/three-source capability
The 'V1600 also lets you re-assign 2 to 4 surround amplifier channels to power stereo speakers in other rooms, or even on your back porch. This lets you play 3 different audio sources in 3 different areas of your home at the same time, without the need for any additional amplifiers. Yamaha even includes a second remote that, when used in conjunction with an optional remote control extender system, gives you control of your system from your 2nd or 3rd listening rooms.

Easy, accurate home theater setup
Yamaha's YPAO auto-calibration system enables quick, easy, and remarkably accurate home theater setup. Plug in the included microphone and place it in your favorite seat. The receiver analyzes the size, volume, relative distance, and frequency response of every speaker in your home theater, adjusting the settings for each one individually. In under three minutes, your surround sound is optimized for your specific room and speakers.

Yamaha quality inside and out
Yamaha's meticulous design standards include a rugged anti-resonant chassis, top-notch internal components, and an oversized, low-noise power supply. Eight of Burr-Brown's finest digital-to-analog converters handle your digital sources with extreme precision. All of these features contribute to extremely high standards of signal purity, for audio and video reproduction that's especially precise, powerful, and dynamic.

THX Select2

Created by Lucasfilm, THX is a certification standard designed to determine the audio components and acoustics needed to accomplish the most accurate movie audio play back. For full effect in a home theater, the THX decoding process requires a 7.1 speaker configuration with two back-surround speakers.

THX Select2 Certified Products are engineered and designed for small to medium sized home theaters. Viewing distance of approximately 10 feet / 3 meters from the display to the listening position.

8 Ch Ext Input

8 additional input jacks for discrete multi-channel input. Front (Left, Center, Right), Rear (Surround Left & Right, Surround Back Left & Right) and Subwoofer

CINEMA DSP Digital

Conventional multichannel audio reproduction systems base their sound on Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, using matrix and steering technologies to create surround sound effects. Yamaha CINEMA DSP is much more advanced, actually creating richly realized independent sound fields that envelop you in an unmatched surround sound experience. With dialogue, music and effects from ideally located in these separate sound fields, you will hear sound with accurate placement, smooth movement, exceptional clarity and richness, and startlingly realistic presence. It will seem as if the walls of your room have disappeared and you are in the middle of your own immense theater! The decoding circuitry performs Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, DTS Digital Surround, DTS-ES (DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 and DTS-ES Discrete 6.1), DTS Neo:6 and DTS 96/24 decoding with extreme accuracy, as well as all digital sound field processing. A THX Select mode is provided as an extra listening option.

Digital ToP-ART

Digital ToP-ART (Total Purity Audio Reproduction Technology) is the name Yamaha has given to a design philosophy whose goal is to maximize digital quality while minimizing analog circuitry. The culmination of Yamaha’s long experience in digital engineering and design, it brings together several key elements to create the best-sounding, A/V components available on the market.

Dolby Digital EX

This surround format from Dolby Digital includes an added center rear channel. The rear center channel is actually matrixed into the two rear channels, and is extracted upon playback. (Formerly called Dolby Digital Surround EX, or Dolby Digital Matrix 6.1.)

HDMI

High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is the first and only digital interface to combine uncompressed high-definition video, multi-channel audio and intelligent format and command data in a single digital interface. HDMI switching, providing the most advanced method of delivering high quality video signals to a home theater system to enable the reproduction of DVD and satellite TV sources with HD quality. Compatible with the HDMI Ver. 1.1 format, it can also decode digital audio signals from sources such as DVDAudio, CD, Dolby Digital and DTS.

SILENT CINEMA and Virtual CINEMA DSP

SILENT CINEMA makes it possible to hear large-scale surround sound through ordinary headphones! This is a variation of CINEMA DSP technology that Yamaha developed to let you listen in private to movies and other multi-channel sources for hours without listening fatigue. Virtual CINEMA DSP lets you enjoy the effects of CINEMA DSP surround sound without using surround speakers (handy for use in custom installations where some rooms don't have surround speakers). It can be used with the front / center / presence speakers or even with just the two front left and right speakers.

XM - XM Ready

These receivers are XM SATELLiTE RADiO (XM Ready), allowing you to hear over 150 digital channels of music, news, sports, talk and entertainment from America's number one Satellite Radio service. With the addition of the XM Connect and Play digital antenna accessory (sold seperately) just subscribe to XM SATELLiTE RADiO and hear radio as it was meant to be!

YPAO Automatic System Calibration

Yamaha’s YPAO system uses a small microphone and sophisticated equalization to automatically set the best sound for any room, no matter where the speakers are. First it checks the speaker connections and phase of each speaker. Then it sends out tones which are captured by the microphone to analyze the room acoustics and sets a variety of parameters, such as the speaker size, the distance of the speakers and even the sound pressure level, etc. Until it achieves the best sound conditions for your room and you don't have to do anything!
RX-V2500 and newer models have an improved system that is faster (less than three minutes), also adjusts frequency response, and provides three programed EQ patterns, plus the ability to manually adjust parametric EQ settings. Six YPAO settings can be held in memory and recalled via two system memory buttons on the remote control.

DTS-ES Discrete 6.1

In this format, the back surround channel is matrix encoded into the left and right surround channels. For playback, the three channels are separately decoded.

High Sound Quality

Pure Direct for Higher Fidelity Sound Reproduction
7-Channel 840W Powerful Surround Sound (120W x 7)
Digital ToP-ART and High Current Amplification
Burr-Brown 192 kHz/24-Bit DACs for All Channels
Assignable Amplifiers for Bi-Amp Connection

Channels	7
RMS Output Power (20Hz - 20kHz)	120W x 7
RMS Output Power (1kHz)
Total Power (20Hz - 20kHz)	840W
Dolby Digital EX/ Dolby Pro Logic IIx	•
DTS-ES Discrete 6.1	•
DTS 96/24 / DTS Neo:6	•
Pure Direct	•
iPod Compatibility
Compressed Music Enhancer
Neural Surround
XM HD Surround
SRS (Circle Surround II)
THX Processing	Select 2
HD Radio Tuner
XM Satellite Radio Ready	•
HDMI (In/Out)	(2 / 1)
i.Link (IEEE 1394)
Component Video (In/Out)	(3 / 1)
A/V Inputs (S-Video)	6 (All S-Video)
Digital Inputs/Outputs [O: Optical, C: Coaxial]	(O: 5, C: 3 / O: 2)
Front A/V with Digital Input	• (S-Video / Optical)
Front Mini Input for Portables
Front USB Input For Flash Memory Drives
LAN Terminal RJ-45 Network Connection
D/A Conversion	192 kHz / 24 bit
Surround Programs	19
Night Listening Enhancer	•
DCDi Processing
Time Base Corrector	•
HDMI Up Conversion	• (Deinterlace 480p)
Component Video Up Conversion	•
S-Video Up Conversion	•
Dialogue Lift	•
YPAO (w/Optimizer Microphone)	•
On-Screen Display	•
Assignable Power Amp	•
Zone 2 Speaker Terminals	•
Zone 2 Output	• (Audio Only)
Zone 3 Output	• (Audio Only)
Zone Power Switching	• Main/ Zone2 / Zone3 (Front Panel)
Zone Remote Control	•
RS-232C Interface	•
+12V Trigger Output	• (x 2)
IR Ports	•
Receiver Manager Software	•
Speaker A, B or A + B	•
Selectable Subwoofer Crossover	•
Multi-Channel Decoder Inputs	8-Channel
Pre-Out All Channels	•
Learning Remote Capability	•
Macro Command Capability	•
Product Dimensions (W x H x D)	17-1/8" x 6-3/4" x 17-1/4"
Product Weight (lbs.)	38.3
Shipping Dimensions (W X H X D)	21-3/4" x 10-3/4" x 21"
Shipping Weight (LBS)	40

A consumer's review:

I bought this receiver because I wanted HDMI switching, period. I've searched through a lot of receivers and this is the only one that had the features I wanted and the inputs/outputs I wanted. I've already mentioned that this unit does HDMI switching, but I have to stress it's an integral part considering people charge $200+ for an HDMI switch. Not only can you switch between your HDMI components, but you can up convert your other inputs up to HDMI (480p). Setting up the speakers was too easy with Yamaha's YPAO automatic setup. All you have to do is put the YPAO microphone in the central listening area of your room and push a button, the receiver does the rest. It checks your wiring, distance, size, and EQ.

When I ran the program it detected that I connected the surround speakers to the rear speaker channels and recommended that I change them. I was pretty impressed to say the least. There are so many different types of "Sound Fields" or listening modes, and they all sound great! There are stereo modes, music modes, entertainment modes, movie modes, THX modes, etc. The remote control takes a lot to get used to and the owner's manual doesn't do a great job explaining how to program it, but once you figure it out you'll love it! You can program buttons from your old remote to the receiver remote, which came in handy because I have a Comcast cable box. The receiver has a lot of other features like the A+B speaker select, the multiple zones, and speaker impedance select. A stylish look and hidden inputs on the front.