Yamaha RX-V777BT Review

As we have come to expect, the AV receivers from Yamaha are characterized by a unified design, and this applies to the 77 series as well. In other words, if you´ve seen one model of the series - you've seen them all, and the difference is really only noticable in the size of the housing. However, the RX-V777BT differs from the more affordable cousins by incorporating an aluminum front, which provides greater stability and durability, as well as a more luxurious look. The front panel is divided in two horizontal sections with a slightly protruding bottom part, which helps organize the various control buttons. In the corners of the lower part you find large controls wheels for volume and input selection, and additional buttons and in- and outputs are placed between them; HDMI, USB, composite video, 6.35mm headphone output jack, and the calibration microphone input.

There are also four SCENE buttons placed in the center, making them accessible and easy to use. The surface of the upper half is completely covered with plastic, under which a large dot-matrix display with white illumination can be seen. Beneath it is a series of ten small buttons for controlling the secondary functions.

Due to a large number of connectivity options, the rear panel of the receiver is filled with various in- and outputs. Five HDMI inputs and two HDMI outputs are probably more than the average user needs, and to feed it analog video signals you´re provided with two component and four composite video inputs.

The interior of the receiver is characterized by a more standard approach, but the Yamaha managed to leave enough space for cooling components and air to flow. On the left side is a transformer of solid dimensions, and behind it is the power supply for the digital section. The rest of the front of the housing is filled with cooling parts, to which complementary pairs of output transistors (Sanken A1695 and C4468) are attached. The last section have circuit boards in three levels, with two electrolytic capacitors of 6800 microfarad from the manufacturer Nippon Chemi-Con. Burr-Brown PCM5101 is used for digital-to-analog conversion, and the PCM9211 serves as a transceiver. The rest of the electronics is very conventional, and includes well-known circuits, such as Texas Instruments Cinema DSP, memory module from ESMT, Silicon Image Sil9589 HDMI processor, and more.

Apart from the receiver, the shipping box contains a quick guide in printed form, a complete user manual on CD, YPAO microphone, in-door FM, AM and wi-fi antenna. The remote control is borrowed from the more expensive AVENTAGE series and has a good build quality and button layout, as well as a large number of small buttons with various functions in the bottom section.

Sound and Image Quality

In addition to the auto-calibration, which is being improved for every new model and also common in this price range, the RX-V777BT is characterized by a fairly large number of features and additional options, wireless networking being among one of the more important. Supported audio formats include 192 kHz / 24-Bit FLAC and WAV, and we used this to check how the Yamaha sounded in stereo mode.

Human voices are reproduced quite faithfully, and we really enjoyed the vocals from Bob Marley and José González, among others. Just like the YPAO system, the Compressed Music Enhancer is getting better from generation to generation and really makes compressed audio quite pleasant to listen to.

The handling of video files showed the power of this Yamaha - HDMI 2.0 supports 4K Ultra HD material, and the RX-V777BT can scale up 480, 576, 720 and 1080 to 4K. No visible degradation of the image was visible when upscaling.

When it comes to multi-channel audio, standard 7.2 channels can be complemented by additional Front Presence speakers, which provide an even larger sound image. The impression of power was retained during use with Polk's TL1600 5.1 system, with which the RX-V777BT provided a detailed and three-dimensional sound. Switching to more demanding Klipsch speakers showed that power is not unlimited, but it still sounded massive and impressive. Details sounded far more refined, and the tone was natural, but we can say that these speakers got the most out of the receiver.

There are plenty of additional functions and features, and one of our favorites is the AV Controller App, which enables advanced DSP setting parameters. The RX-V777BT is equipped with preamplifier for turntables, an it´s nice to know that Yamaha has not forgotten those who love vinyl.

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