Hands-on preview of Yamaha RX-V2065 AV receiver, the first of a new breed

Yamaha’s £850 RX-V2065 is an altogether different type of AV receiver from the iconic brand. Yamaha has seen its fortunes ebb and flow in the AV market, and this new model effectively tries to draw a line in the sand and start over.
The most obvious point of difference over previous models is its new GUI, designed to make setting up a complex receiver like this simpler than ever. But despite spending more than a fair amount of time using it, I’m left somewhat puzzled.
For example, access to the set-up functions is buried at the bottom of three or four pages of (admittedly pretty) source selection icons. The only feature you would not go into the menus for is source selection  - it’s achievable through direct keys on the remote and the fascia…so why have pages and pages of source select icons heading up the menu? When you are into the features and functions area, it’s laid out in a disjointed format with lots of unlinked individual pages rather than traditional left to right flowing menus. I had to refer to the manual on several occasions just to find various functions and that is not a good sign for the average user.

I’m not getting the new cosmetics either. It looks feels less solid that Yamaha’s previous receivers at this price. I also feel rather guilty about the years, decades even, I have spent denigrating Yamaha’s ‘orange’ front panel display – because the new look involves a me-too blue display showing precious little useful info and a few red legends. It could have been grafted off of any one of the sub-£300 receivers on the market, which for an upper mid-range model is poor show indeed.

Slick features
Behind this irksomeness however there are some very slick features. The provision of 5-in, 2-out HDMIs is brilliant particularly as one input is front mounted. The RX-V2605 is very much geared up to be a Network receiver with both Ethernet and USB inputs, a port for Yamaha’s optional Bluetooth receiver or iPod dock, and plenty of dedicated Network audio features. There is very simple connection to a PC-based home network, a compressed music enhancer and tricks like pulling photos from your PC to display onto you TV. And despite what I said about the GUI the network side of the RX-V2065’s business plan is pretty damn straightforward to set up and use.
Interestingly, unlike its direct Onkyo TX-NR807 competitor, it is bereft of Dolby ProLogic IIz. Yamaha instead using its long established Presence (height) channels at the front with bespoke processing for these channels. Equally like the Onkyo you will lose rear-back channel amplification to drive the fronts – but in the RX-V2065’s case that really isn’t worth it.

Heart of gold
However, despite my grumbles, this is an amp with a heart of gold. It’s smooth yet detailed, fast yet subtle, and never once gets you wincing at an over acerbic HF effect. It feels mature and sophisticated with a fabulous balance between spacious soundstage and accurate positioning of individual sounds.

Overall, the RX-V2065 offers a well balanced all-round sound performance, and is as happy with all action block busters as it is with a Pixar masterpiece. 

To see how the RX-V2065 performed in our Tech Labs, read the in-depth review in HCC 179.