If you're putting together a home theater system on a budget, you probably haven't even considered a receiver from Yamaha. Known for their high quality sound, smooth operation and sleek looks, Yamaha receivers are normally reserved for those with fat wads of cash. But it's that holiday shopping season again: the time when magic deals happen.
Amazon is selling the Yamaha RX-V377 receiver for $179.95 ($120 off list). Find out more here.
The RX-V377 is a 2014 model but it includes all the essentials: DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD decoding, four HDMI inputs, YPAO calibration with microphone and support for 1080p video with 3D. It even has 4K video passthrough so it's ready for the future. It packs a rated 100 Watts/Channel (into 6 ohms) in its 5.1-channel configuration (all channels driven). It features Burr-Brown 24-bit/192 KHz DACs on all channels and uses discrete amplification for improved sound quality.
Our own Rachel Cericola reviewed an earlier Yamaya model, the RX-V575 and liked it so much it won our coveted BIGGIE Award. We expect that the RX-V377 will be similar in operation and sound quality (just with fewer speaker channels, lower power and a simpler feature set). The RX-V377 doesn't include music networking features like AirPlay or Pandora, but for under $200, it's hard to go wrong.
And if you need speakers too, Amazon is currently discounting Energy's excellent 5.1 Take Classic speaker system for just $299 (save $300). Energy is a Canadian speaker manufacturer, well known for high quality sound on a budget. The Take 5 system has been a budget speaker recommendation here on Big Picture Big Sound for years: nice tight bass, transparent midrange and crisp high frequencies all in one compact and affordable package.
Why bother with a soundbar or a bland home theater in a box system when you can get a high quality component system for under $500?
And if you need something to play movies on, we'd recommend a Blu-ray player with streaming capabilities (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, etc.). Blu-ray gives you a super-high quality A/V source and streaming apps gives you instant access to loads of great content. Two of our current favorite budget picks for 2015 are the Sony BDP-S5500 and the Samsung BD-J5900, both of which are on sale for around $100. Both players feature rich streaming media features and apps, built-in WiFi wireless networking and support for Blu-ray 3D playback. We particularly like the Sony player for its ability to play virtually any video file type you throw at it. The Samsung is curved to match Samsung TVs. The Sony is a petite little box about half the width of a traditional A/V component.
And don't forget your HDMI cables (you'll need two or three) and speaker wire as these do not come in the box.
As these deals are limited to inventory on hand, we're not sure how long the prices will last.
You can check current availability and prices of these products now on Amazon. Remember to pick one receiver (Yamaha), one Blu-ray player and one set of speakers, plus the HDMI and speaker cables if you need them. Here is a link to everything mentioned above:
