Yamaha RX-V383BL 5.1-Channel 4K Ultra HD AV Receiver with Bluetooth

This is my second, lower cost Yamaha receiver and they don't disappoint. With a good set of surround speakers and current-standard HDMI cables these things really kick out the volume with crystal clear sound, rich bass and a stunning picture. You can spend $6-800+ on higher end receivers and for some people maybe they're necessary, but honestly for the average TV, music, movie watcher I just don't see the need. Yamaha packs a lot of technology in at really decent price points. The only reason I upgraded to this receiver is because although my prior recvr. (RX-V477) did allow for 4k pass through, it did not have HDCP 2.2 HDMI connection ports which you need to enjoy 4k in HDR or Dolby Vision. The best I could get out of it was 4k SDR at 60 Hz which was still nice, but I wanted to take full advantage of the best 4k can offer. I have this unit paired with an LG 65" LED/LCD 4k tv and an Energy 5.1 home theater surround kit with subwoofer. Peripheral devices include a 4k Apple TV box, Amazon Fire Stick and a Sony BluRay player that barely get used anymore. The Dolby Vision coupled with DTS surround sound is stellar. My first 4k test movie was the latest Star Trek and let me tell you....WOW! It really pops. The unit comes with a brief set up guide which is good enough for the basics. The user manual comes on a CD ROM which is useless if you are a MAC household...you can find the full user manual online easy enough however. Once all the connections are made on the back, power it on and follow the guide. You will want to plug in the included YPAO sound tuner and follow the instructions to optimize sound for your room. Once that's done you're basically ready to go. You can fine tune in the settings if you like but the YPAO works quite well, and I was more than satisfied with the results. You will want to turn on the 4k upscale function if you have 4k devices. My LG smart remote and Apple tv remote both paired with the unit right away enhancing ease of use. If you have a smart tv with video apps like Netflix, AmazonPrimeTv, Vudu, Xomo, etc. make sure you plug the HDMI out cable into the ARC ready HDMI connector on the back of your TV. The recvr. will automatically recognize the ARC and output your sound accordingly (AV1 typically). If not, you will need to use a digital optical cable to get sound out of those apps. Tested the Bluetooth using iPhone X; connected and played no problem. Upper right corner of remote has Enhancer and Bass buttons. They recommend turning on the Enhanced setting for streaming music which I did. Sounded great with no issues. I just leave xtra bass on all the time 'cause I likes it! Couple points to note: there is no Ethernet port which is a little odd since there's no Wi-Fi card either. Updates are accomplished by downloading a zip file to USB stick on your computer and then load onto the recvr. Somewhat cumbersome and my only real complaint with this model. This is a 5.1 system so you'll need to spend a little more if you want 7.2. Make sure you have the latest up to date HDMI cables...HDMI 2.0, ARC, HDCP 2.2, 4k, UHD etc...these are the specs you want to be looking for. Out of the box the firmware needs to be updated using a USB stick-mentioned earlier. This update is required to get Dolby Vision 4k. Well as you can tell I really like these Yamaha receivers. Yamaha has been around forever manufacturing instruments and stereo equipment. They know what they are doing and they produce a quality product that you don't have to break the bank in owning. The unit being replaced is still in fine working order and will be relocated to the garage paired with bookshelf speakers so papa has tunes during those outside work days around the house!

My mom had an Onkyo 7.1 Receiver which simply stopped working well. The HDMI ports and board had a recurring loud popping/crackling problem. Since the receiver was several years old, it was out of warranty and they do not support it anymore with replacement parts like the faulty HDMI board. There were several online threads which stated was a well documented problem, and Onkyo does nothing anymore for the repair of the product. Because of this, it was time to get a new receiver since all the speakers work well. I purchased the Yamaha RX-V383BL 5.1-Channel 4K Ultra HD AV Receiver with Bluetooth, and it was very easy to set up. Since 7.1 is overkill for my mom’s needs, I simply set up her system like I did with the Onkyo, and used the receiver and HDMI functions as the switcher for the system. We omitted the two additional rear speakers and matched the 5.1 setup for the Yamaha RX-V383BL. Set up was easy, and since we already had her old system set up with a Harmony remote, all I had to do was switch the amplifier device in the remote set up and match the HDMI inputs on the Yamaha to how I had it set up with the Onkyo. The sound is great, and worked right out of the box! The nice thing too is the unit auto-detects whether or not the signal is 2.1/stereo and 5.1 Dolby sound, so my mom doesn’t have to do any switching or figure out if the rear speakers are working or not. Because the rear speakers are on the other side of the room, I set it up with a 3rd party rear-speaker wireless kit, and the rear speakers work well with the transmitter hooked up to the Yamaha RX-V383BL. While I tried to get Amazon Alexa hooked up to the speakers via bluetooth, they didn’t work because the Alexa units are in other rooms. While they initially worked, the streaming cut in and out because of the distance from the receiver. In the future, I will try out another Alexa in the same room as the receiver so my mom can enjoy streaming music. All in all, the unit was easy to set up (since I already had the speakers) and simply followed the input/output HDMI setup we had on our old Onkyo unit. The Yamaha sounds great too, and now I’m interested in buying one to upgrade my own home theater set up!

This was almost a 5 star rating (wish they had 10 point system/halves). The functionality of the unit is great and while it's not as powerful as my stereo from the 80's and 90's, it's plenty powerful to fill our living/great room with terrific sound and was pretty economical compared to many units on the market. I'm not clear whether the things I have problems with are related to what I've got hooked up to the AV receiver or to the unit itself but they are all minor concerns (e.g. we have an older DVD player which does not support ARC and if it's connected to the receiver, central power-on/volume/etc control seems to be defeated and sometimes pressing volume on the AV remote is shown on TV screen, sometimes it is not even within the same viewing session). One tiny beef I have is that I got things set up well (including fixing issues like telling the system exactly what speakers are connected - in my case no center channel/speaker) then moved the unit and speakers to their permanent location a few weeks later and things still worked even after disconnecting and reconnecting everything; then I connected the YPAO and ran the feature to try to calibrate settings better than my random + or - .1 on a setting here or there, but when I did, it turned on the center channel speaker setting again which took me a long time to figure out -- the result was that I couldn't hear ANY dialog on most program settings until I corrected the problem the YPAO function introduced. Moral of the story is always make sure you tell it what is connected, don't let it tell you ;-)...

Initial review (will do a more comprehensive review later on). After a few weeks of learning, using this new receiver, I have fallen in love again to listening to music. So clean, effortless power, functional tone selections, and BLUETOOTH. I paired it to my Amazon Echo and am blown away how great this receiver sounds. Does not get upset with low frequency delivery...like a lot of the crap that is sold nowadays. This Yamaha mimics the vintage sound of the 1960-70's warmth/power/HCC beautifully. Granted 90+% of the sound that reaches your ears is by your choice in speakers...this receiver will deliver the cleanest, low distortion, high current capability, to whatever you choose. Best to use banana plugs and quality speaker wire. I am 50, but savvy with electronics and was able to figure everything out. More later. UPDATE (May 12, 2018) - The audio enhancer function is really nice...brings out lots of detail (esp when streaming Bluetooth). However, the treble and high notes are way too over-enhanced. Any way to bring that down and still have that function? I also added a Dayton Audio SUB-1000 powered subwoofer to this system. FM reception is phenomenal with just the included piece of wire. UPDATE (Dec 13, 2018) - Using higher quality speaker cable (pure copper) and a new Dayton Audio SUB-1500 (15") powered subwoofer. Had some weird subwoofer "grumble" that I thought was being produced by the Yamaha receiver. It was like the enhancer settings were causing a low freq delay to the subwoofer. I replaced the subwoofer RCA cable with a new cable (lower impedance)...took care of 75% of the weird grumble sound on certain low freq notes. The new pure copper (14 AWG) speaker wire is AMAZING...now the high freqs come through cleaner. I thought I was a smart 50 year old with experience on all this. Boy was I wrong! My 2.1 Yamaha system now sounds better than ever. I don't use any tone or enhancer at all (direct, 2-channel mode)...stupid clean and lifelike with lots of old school headroom and warmth. Yamaha made a great receiver with this unit.

Hi First of all, this is a 4.5 Star review. I recently bought this receiver through Amazon (Good Delivery) and I want to share my opinion and judgment about. This new receiver is replacing an old but very faithful (about 17 years!) Sony STR-DE945, that was -in its moment- the top of the mid-line of the AV receivers from Sony. The Yamaha one is the entry level of their own line-up, but is very similar feature-wise and price-wise to other equivalent products by rival brands like Sony, Denon or Onkyo. I did first some Internet research taking into account the budget (Around $300), the features, the brand name, and some other considerations (As size, weight, etc.), so when I did my acquisition I was pretty aware of what I was getting into. After ten days or so living with it I am rather content with the equipment. The sound is rather clean and detailed with a tight bass (I know this may be in part a byproduct of the Room-EQ provided by the YPAO process) and you have a lot of control and settings for finicking it at your heart desire. Regarding decoding duties, it has DPLII, and DTS: NEO6, all of them in both versions, Music and Cinema, and several proprietary DSP environment enhancers (Something from which Yamaha is famous for), that sound pleasant, clean and sort of professional. The receiver also handles all the new HD sound Codices and DSD. It has Bluetooth connectivity, and a USB-port (But only for audio files). And now what I didn't liked that much: - The RC commander sensor is very, very restricted; if your receiver is hiding a little behind something else (which is my case) it simply won’t work at all. - To attain some sound loudness, you will need to go over 40 (of a top 97), so the range from 1 to 30ish is absolutely worthless. Thankfully it has an option in which you can set the initial volume for the moment when the unit is turned on. As it can be seen, none of them a big deal and, as I said before, I was rather aware of what I was purchasing so I am rather content with it. Of course, you can get more, like 7 channels of amplification, DLNA and Wi Fi, Atmos decoding and so on, with more sophisticated units, but you will have to pay rather more for them. Well, I hope this could be of some interest or utility to any prospective buyer. Regards

High quality sound that works great in my 25' x 30' den. I have it paired with a Yamaha NS-C210BL Center Channel Speaker, Black , a Polk Audio PSW111 Subwoofer (Single, Black) and the 4 surround sound speakers that were already built into the walls of our new house. It makes a great surround sound experience with my Samsunk 4K TV & Samsung 4K Blue Ray player & with streaming services (Roku Ultra 4K). I especially like the Yamaha YPAO sound optimization feature that adjusts the settings on all of the speakers to be optimized for the room. It worked great & was super easy to setup. All I had to do was plug in the mic that comes with the receiver for this purpose & it automatically prompted me to run the YPAO setup which just simply worked. Before I ran this, the subwoofer was a bit overwhelming but now it is perfectly setup for the room. As far as quality, ease of use & bang for the buck, this is a no brainer.

This is a pretty good model for the price. Have all the features I needed and has enough HDMI and other ports. The setup was easy enough and took about an hour for my energy 5.1. The display screen is pretty clean and all settings have worked flawlessly. My only gripe with the unit is that the remote which came with the unit looks extremely cheap and is made of worst quality parts and plastic. Wish there was a replacement remote of better quality which I can buy somewhere.

I have personally had 5 receivers over my lifetime and I always find myself going back to Yamaha. I've had more expensive ones and honestly I found the last one to be too complicated. I am setting up a home theater for the house and I wanted my kids to be able to handle everything without having five different remotes to run a movie. My older receiver was much more money but it was a little outdated. It lacked HDMI inputs etc. It was also way too complicated with the sound settings and adjustments. This Yamaha is great because its kind of a set it and forget it type thing. The microphone to help optimize your speakers is a great new option and makes your initial setup very easy. The prefigured sound settings are nice. A lot of audiophiles will tell you you need to get in and adjust every little thing this way and that. I honestly dont worry about that kind of thing. I have the XBOX One hooked up to this and it kind of acts like the brains for the theater. You can setup the xbox to turn on the tv and the sound receiver. So now all my kids have to do is turn on the Xbox and everything else pops on. Its great. The sounds is great too. You might think that an inexpensive option like this wont pack the punch but it does. It is clear and powerful. Plenty of room to blow your speakers up.

Muy buen equipo, facil instalación

Great amp,works and sounds great.Always a yamaha fan.

Good product

Best bang for the buck that I can find now ! -The look of this receiver is pretty neat. -There is a lot of ajustement available to tune your speakers from Bass and treeble ajustement to fine EQ ajustement for each of your speaker. -Very easy and fonctionnal interface. -Is very powerfull Can't find any con for now.

if your thinking of this receiver don't wait you will love it