Great review, Mike! The 661 might just make for a good pre/pro to mate with my RB-1080.

Hi Mike,

Thanks very much for the great review. I have to admit that I am still very surprised that it shuts down at the level you reported. I wonder if it is shutting down because it is over-heating or because it detects distortion.

By the way, KlipschGuy had a few too many beer in him last night. In another post, he apologized for his posts.

I hope you continue to enjoy your Yamaha.

I don't see why anyone would be surprised the lower end Yamaha shuts down with the M80s when pushed beyond its limits. Like it has been said before, there is no magic involved, the amps are not robust enough for the job at hand.

Well, I am just curious whether it is shutting down due to over-heating or distortion. I suppose Mike can always blow a fan on it and see if it shuts down at the same level as before. If it does, most likely there is a clipping circuit in there that causes the shutdown.

I'm also curious because I have a very low end Denon and I have not been able to get it to shut down with one hour of playing at max (7.1). Of course it doesn't sound good when it's maxed out. And no, I haven't blown my tweeters .

I was pretty surprised it plays as loud as it does. 100 db’s isn’t exactly quiet. In a larger room it will be less, but still not bad.

For reference, I had my Radio Shack digital meter on a tri pod 12’ away from the mains and 11’ away from the center(s). I had it pointing straight up and I was using PLIIx so all speakers were being used.

I’ll try running the M80’s by themselves next Monday when I have the house to myself. My girlfriend already gives me weird looks, and I might have trouble explaining why I’m listening to music with ear muff on.

If it’s shutting down for heat reasons, there’s nothing I can do about it, nor do I want to. It’s on an EQ rack that is open to all sides, and it has 4” of air space between it and the next shelf. There is a fresh air supply duct in the EQ closet as well. As I said before, it runs hot to the touch. My Marantz didn’t even get warm on the same shelf.

I’m open to do any test you or anyone else would like me to do. I did contemplate moving it upstairs to my two channel rig in the great room where I’m using Rotel Seperates. I have about 4600 cubic feet in that area. But I’m burnt out on routing cables at the moment. That test will have to come later.

I'm not sure if it would be less in a larger room. My room is twice the size of yours and I achieve 110 dB (C, slow) with peaks higher than that. Maybe it's because my room is very live and yours is more damped...I don't know. It's just occured to me though that my Denon may be cranking out more than your Yamaha. Although my Denon is rated 90W/channel into 8 Ohms, it's also rated 125W/channel into 6 Ohms and 170Wx2 channels into 4 Ohms dynamically.

Holy long reviews mdrew.
Well worth reading though esp. for people who are always looking for a new AVR and like to compare brand x and brand y.

I really don't think it has enough connections though. You clearly need more.

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The ONLY difference I could tell was the in-between track times when there is no music playing. With the Marantz, there is complete silence. With the 661 I can pick out a very, very slight white noise hisssss…. But other than that, it sounds great.

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I've actually encountered a similar thing when A/B testing some amps. The 'noise floor' or background hiss is prominent on some far more than others. This was one of the few reasons why i decided against buying the Parasound Halo amps for my setup though Tharkun, somewhat lost now from the forums, had reported he heard no such artifacts with his setup.

I noticed this same noise with all three of my HK’s too (7200, 7300, 745). I do not hear it from the Marantz or my Rotel set up. But honestly, other than that and the higher volume / head room, I just can’t tell if this cheap Yamaha sounds worse or better than any other receiver I’ve had hooked up. That would be in direct stereo mode, not to be confused with surround modes. For surround, I will have to give the nod to the Marantz and that’s probably due to the Audysey room correction.

I think for the budget minded crowd that buys Axiom speakers would do well with this receiver and any 8 or 6 ohm speaker. The HDMI switching and high def audio processing is as good as it gets right out of the box without needed a firmware fix. I think that is a first for any receiver with HDMI audio processing. Plus, it passes 1080P at all formats without any issue that I can see. And with the pre-outs, it would make a fine pre / pro to go along with the A-1400 (at least that’s what I’m thinking right now)

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And with the pre-outs, it would make a fine pre / pro to go along with the A-1400 (at least that’s what I’m thinking right now)

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You know someday when i'm back in the Yukon, i'm going to take a sidetrip to Alaska to see this growing setup that you have.
Then i may have to rob you blind.