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There's some additional connectivity, such as an iPod dock port, which allows you to connect to Yamaha's YDS-10 iPod dock. The RX-V661 also comes with an XM port, so you only need an XM Mini-Tuner and Home Dock to get reception, with a subscription, of course. There's onboard XM Neural processing, so it can decode XM's surround sound channels.
The RX-V661 has support for multiple rooms, as it can power a second zone or send a second, unpowered signal. The second zone can be playing a different output than the main zone is playing, but note that the second zone cannot handle digital audio; it can only send audio from analog inputs.
One little detail that product literature often glosses over is the issue of selectable AV sources. The issue is that even though a receiver may have well over 10 inputs total, you can't necessarily use them all at the same time, because there are a limited number of device names. The RX-V661 actually handles this pretty well, as there are five total HD inputs (two HDMI inputs and three component video inputs), and those inputs can only be assigned to five device names (DVD, DTV/CBL, V-Aux, DVR, and VCR). In other words, you can switch among a total of five video sources, each of which can be an HD or a standard-definition source.
Unlike some AV receivers in the $500-and-up range, the RX-V661 is unable to convert analog signals to the HDMI output. The benefit of receivers with analog-to-digital conversion is that they allow for a simple, single cable connection to your TV; connect all your gear to the receiver's inputs, and then connect a single cable from the HDMI output to the TV. The Yamaha does, however, convert composite and S-Video inputs to component video output. That means you'll need at least two connections to your TV--HDMI and component--if you have both digital (HDMI) and analog (anything else) video sources.
Yamaha is also drawing attention to its new Scene function, which is available on the RX-V661. The concept behind the Scene function is similar to macros on universal remotes; by pressing a Scene button, the receiver automatically configures itself for a specific scenario, such as DVD viewing. The customization is somewhat limited though. The only parameters that can be set for each Scene are which input should be selected, which DSP mode should be used, and whether a Night mode (which is designed to improve audio at low volume levels) should be used. We would have liked the ability to configure a default volume level for each Scene type.
If not for the aforementioned Onkyo TX-SR605, the RX-V661 would stack up nicely to other receivers in this price range. But as more manufacturers begin to release more HDMI 1.3-equipped receivers similar to the Onkyo, the RX-V661 will quickly begin to fade by comparison.
Performance
As big fans of Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers, we were eager to see his latest film, Curse of the Golden Flower. It's nowhere as visually magnificent as Daggers, but the soundtrack has it highpoints, such as the scene with thousands of warriors in gold armor battling black-armored adversaries. The surround mix of metallic fury and human carnage enveloped our home theater. The DVD wasn't as detailed as Daggers, so we were concerned the RX-V611 was a little soft on sonic resolution, but it was the DVD, not the hardware. Once we put Daggers on, the sound cleared right up and the RX-V661 handled both epic soundtracks with ease. Still, the sound balance seems richer than we've heard from Yamaha receivers of a few years ago.
Searing blues rock from The Black Keys' Magic Potion CD had plenty of bite. The Keys are a guitar and drum duo who record in what sounds like a garage. The music is highly reverberant and sounds like it's live, so it works best cranked up loud. The RX-V661 obliged and maintained its composure even when playing raw blues workouts.
Yamaha claims the RX-V661 will accept SACD and multichannel PCM signals over the HDMI connections, but we couldn't get it to work (the HDMI did pass CD and stereo Dolby signals from DVDs). Instead, we opted for the receiver's multichannel analog inputs to listen to a brand new Ralph Vaughan Williams SACD with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The RX-V661 conjured the sort of robust string sound we rarely get from midpriced receivers; the SACD's surround mix was spacious and wonderfully deep, effectively placing the orchestra slightly behind the plane of the front three speakers. The RX-V661's power was never an issue, and the orchestra's wide dynamic swings sounded utterly natural.
In terms of video performance, the RX-V661 was fine. The RX-V661 doesn't do any upconversion, so we really only looked to make sure it was passing video signals untouched. HDMI signals from our Toshiba HD-XA2 looked just as good as they would directly connected to our displays. Using Silicon Optix's HD HQV test suite, we saw no difference between when the receiver was in the signal chain and when it wasn't. The same goes for analog sources, where did not see any distortions introduced by the receiver.
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