Gadgetory

hey I'm Matthew Muscovy AK from C net and we're going to take a look at the Yamaha rxv 473 this is a 5.1 AV receiver with built-in airplay and it's currently selling for three hundred and fifty dollars now the design is pretty much like any other AV receiver this is a big full-size unit so you're gonna need sizable shelf space to hold it the included remote is about as confusing as it gets with tons of tiny buttons and confusing labels so you'll definitely want to consider a universal remote if you go with this receiver you can also control it with Yamaha smartphone app which is available for iOS and Android and it has a much more straightforward interface in the physical remote some AV receivers have upgraded to fancy graphical displays but the rxv for 73's display looks pretty ancient it's kind of bizarre to see this kind of blocky text on a high-def TV especially since the entire screen refreshes every time you press a button now you're honestly not going to see these setup menus that much but you will get the same kind of experience when you're using the built-in airplay functionality around back is the connectivity and there are only four HDMI inputs which is pretty skimpy when most receivers at this price point include five or even six there's an Ethernet port which you'll need to connect for airplay smart phone control and internet radio but there aren't any additional streaming music services built-in like Pandora or Spotify for legacy devices there are also for digital audio inputs including two optical and two coaxial ports sound quality only Yamaha is good although it's not quite at the level of some of our other favorite receivers we had resident audiophile Steve Guttenberg listen to the Yamaha and while he generally liked the sound he liked Yamaha step-up model and our reference then on AVR 1912 a little more but this is a much less expensive receiver so that's not completely unexpected but altogether the rxv 473 just doesn't offer enough value when there are competing receivers that offer more connectivity and more features for the same price the Yamaha rxv 473 isn't a bad receiver but you can find a better deal elsewhere I'm Matthew Muscovy ak and this is the yamaha r XV 473