Just recently Yamaha announced three new AV receivers: the RX-V1800, the RX-V3800, and the RX-Z11. The RX-V1800 is the least expensive of Yamaha’s high-end receivers. For its price range it provides many features, including four HDMI inputs, onboard Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding and multiroom functions. Its key features are:

• 7.1 receiver at 130 watts per channel,
• 4 HDMI 1.3a inputs with HDMI upconversion,
• XM-ready and Multiroom functionality for three zones,
• Video upscaling to 1080p,
• iPod compatibility,
• YPAO Auto Setup with Quick Start
• Multi-zone custom installation support.

The amplifiers in the RX-V1800 are capable to drive a complete 7.1-channel system pretty well. However the multi-zone capabilities are limited to audio only.

Yamaha’s "Pure Direct" mode is a plus for those who want to extract the maximum audio from an audio/video receiver. The receiver’s sound is warm and easy to listen to due to the attention that Yamaha gives to the internal signal path and the overall construction of the chassis. When set on straight-through playback of the Dolby TrueHD signal, there is nothing in the amplifier that gets in the way of the music or the feeling. There are two other audio items worth mentioning:

1. One is the quality of sound from the external XM tuner, especially when using the Neural-THX Surround mode. Many channels, especially the XM HD Surround-encoded channels sound quite good.
2. The second thing is the RX-V1800’s Compressed Music Enhancer. Even though the RX-V1800 isn’t perfect its overall performance is superb.

It has almost everything with the highest levels of sound and video quality and convenience for total home theater enjoyment.

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