Customer Ratings & Reviews

I bought the predecessorof this receiver a few years ago for $200. I had a really difficult time with deciding between four and five stars. For performance I'd give it a solid four. When the price is figured in, it deserves higher than a four. I would like to have given it 4 1/2 stars. Before considering my review it is relevant to consider the generation I grew up in. I am not a technophile. I was born in the early to mid 1960s. I found the settings on this unit to be maddeningly confusing at times. The most frustrating experiences were when I unintentionally changed the input/output options. For example, the CD or DVD outs can be electronically switched around. I'm not sure of the purpose of this feature, but I wish it didn't have this confusing flexibility. The unit does not automatically set up the surround distance speaker volumes etc. for the room. Many of these perceived shortcomings may be due to my lack of technical savvy. Of course it does not have the physical attributes of a more elegent and expensive piece of audio equipment. For example, in the 1980s I bought a Caver receiver that was a hefty beast. Oh what I would give to have silky smooth rotarary controls!! Now that I have said what I do not like about this receiver, I need to give it its due. The computer sound processing options make this a very nice sounding receiver, especially for a paltry $200. I really appreciate the optical inputs. It is pre-HDMI connections. The newer model may have them. I have been surprised and very pleased with the power output of this unit. Using a powered subwoofer helps any amp out tremendously, and I use one. Due to its many sound options and flexibility, you need to play around with its settings to get the best sound possible from this receiver. You "tune" it to your room. It used to be impossible to get such good sound from a $200 receiver. With everything taken into accout, I have to say that this receiver is a very good buy and sounds much better than a $200 receiver has any business sounding. Check out the newer version of this receiver currently being sold. Some of the maddening things about the older model may have been changed.

i needed an inexpensive receiver to run a secondary home theater i was setting up in my living room. i am using it as a 3.1 system, using a jbl sattelite & sub speaker package from best buy. as i said, it is not my main home theater system, so i didn't want to spend much money, but it actually gets used more for daily tv viewing, music and ocassional movies, so quality was still important. having said all that, here is my opinion of this receiver. getting it on sale, the price was really good and it has all the features i need. set-up was about average; hooking everything up was easy, programming was about what i expected, i got through it, but felt that there must be a simpler way! i thought music sounded great, whether played from a cd or a concert dvd. sound quality was also good when listening to a movie or tv played on my dvr. however, this was not the case when playing a movie on my dvd player. no matter what soundfield i used the dialogue was always very quiet; i was always having to turn the volume way up to hear and understand what was being said, then turn it down quick when there was an action scene. nothing i did solved this problem. i checked my settings, changed soundfields, nothing helped. i guess i could have increased the signal sent to the center channel since that is where most of the dialogue comes from, but then i would have needed to decrease the signal when using my dvr or listening to music so the sound from the speakers matched again. and , i don't know if it would have worked anyway. since i haven't read any other reviews complaining of this, maybe mine was just a fluke. also, the total harmonic distortion is not as best buy has it advertised. check the "overview" section for the receiver. it says thd is .09%. now, check the "specifications" section. it says thd is .06%. according to the owners manual neither of these is correct. yamaha says thd is .9%. in the end, it became too frustrating to listen to movies the way this receiver performed, so it was exchanged for a pioneer vsx517k, also from best buy. you can check my review of that receiver if you are interested!

This receiver has the feel and touch of a high end one. I was extremely pleased with its performance right out of the box. The unit has more than enough power for most home use. The sound quality is excellent. The only negative about the unit is that the text for the buttons in the front of unit is too hard to read. So if your in the market for a surround system, I highly suggest this unit. If you purchase this unit and use it for 6-9 months, then usually the price of higher end units will drop a couple of hundreds so you can go purchase them, and you use this as your spare!

When I bought this receiver, it was a heck of a lot more than I was looking for, or so I thought. I drive this receiver through a digital IO module and the SB X-Fi extreme sound card from my computer, output is to a pair of Klipsch La Scalas in front and a pair of Klipsch Heresys in back so I have some serious efficiency on the output side. This receiver is great, good clean power, cool special audio effects and lots of facilities to run a good home theater system. Currently there are lots of receivers out there...then I realized that my mom has been running a Yamaha receiver for the last 20 years in her multi-room system.

Picked this up on sale at BB. Best Buys regular price is $50 less then the factory Yamaha web site. Thats one part that I realized what a good deal my purchase was. Of course it is the sound that this 361 puts out, that makes it a real Best Buy. Also not much different then the 461, power specs are equal, some extra settings on the 461. Blows my old technic surround out of the water. Yes things have changed from 1994 when I picked up my old amp, for more $$$ too. Read the manual, and it is not a hard Amp to set up, just take your time. The sound on all five speakers is great without adjustments, if you have all the same brand speakers. Im running bose 301's front, V-10 center, and 201's rear, with a bose 5 sub. I did turn up the rear just one notch. I use my ears for sound set up, cause ears have been around for millions of years, he, he. Also my sub is not a powered sub, but this amp is ready if you feel you need one. Run one optical from your CD to the amp, and the other from your HDTV, to the amp, and your set. Also pick up a good optical cables, and always keep in mind if its too cheap, it will most likely transfer the sound cheap. Enjoy your new amp, read the manual, set it up and enjoy :)

Ease of setup is great. Also the different choices for sound reproduction is amazing, from watching TV to movies to sporting events. For the price this item is hard to beat!

I have just recently purchase this item. I have always loved Yamaha products. This reciever has done a great job providing great sound. I am only missing a powered sub next paycheck I guess. For the inexpensive cost you get a wonderful product. Great piece for those new to the audio game.

I bought this recently from a recomendation from a friend. This sounds terrific for the price you pay. I hooked it up and used the optical cable and it made my small yamaha speakers sound much better than they ever did. Playing movies sounded better than a movie theatre. We loved it, easy to use. Remote is simple. Yamaha is the only receiver i would buy.

I bought this receiver a couple of weeks ago and after some tweeking I have finally gotten it to where I want it. I'm new to having my own home theater system and that is probably why it took so long. I have listened to my dads for years and new what it should sound like. When he gave me his Polk Audio setup sans his Denon receiver and sub I needed to start somewhere and this Yamaha filled in the gap. I recently bought a Rocketfish digital coaxial cable because I wasn't getting digital sound and WoW what a difference. My wife and I rented The Bourne Supremacy last night and where totally amazed how this unit performed. The effects where clear and house shaking. All I need is a sub and my system is complete.

I live in an RV. Very small space, and worse, the cabinet that the A/V system must go into limits the component size (depth) to 13 inches. After nearly a year of looking for and comparing components, the RX-V361 came to the rescue. With 10 different component inputs to select from, the ability to customize the sound field "sweet spot" and plenty of power (100W/channel), XM radio and artifact removal for MP3 streams, this unit does everything an RV system needs. Missing only HDMI, USB and Ethernet, this is the perfect receiver for driving the sound and video needs of a small space with a 32" LCD 720p monitor. Important safety tips: 1-The sub-woofer needs to be a POWERED speaker. Output is only 1vPP through an RCA coax. (My incumbent sub-woofer is unpowered - it will be replaced today). However, there are tunable cross-overs for the sub-woofer and LFE selections, allowing the bass to be routed to the main speakers as well as the sub-woofer. 2-The digital inputs may not match your components. However, these are re-assignable - a very nice feature. Unfortunately, there is only 1 coax S/PDIFF input: if more than one component produces coax S/PDIFF you may need a converter to get optical outputs. 3-The RX-V361 does not have OSD. However, the slightly more expensive RX-V461 does. If you want this, look at the 461. 4-Although there is excellent speaker output and quality adjustment, the RX-V361 does not have the Yamaha automatic sound field setup feature. Again, the RX-V461 does. (An RV is too convoluted to allow automated sound field setup, so I did not need this feature - your milage may vary.) 5-There are MANY features that are "hidden" in the unit. ABSOLUTELY read the owner's manual and experiment with the settings. While it works perfectly "out of the box", to truly use the power of this unit you need to use the Manual Setup menus and have an understanding of how your environment affects the sound field. But, if it can produce near-perfect sound in an RV, it's certainly nimble enough for any small-medium home space! I've been using and reviewing Yamaha equipment since 1973. The RX-V361 is one more example of how they have truly maintained their reputation as one of the best consumer sound system manufacturers. The RX-V361 definitely punches well above its weight, competitive with other systems costing 50% more.

I purchased this receiver the other day. I had geek squad home theater install this product. My system ROCKS and the install was GREAT! It didn't take them long and they explained everything to me. I would recommend this product to anyone who wants a great amp and I would encourage you to get Geek Squad Home Theater to install it.

I haven't had surround sound in about 3 or 4 years. I was very excited to buy this product. I got it on sale and I think it is a great value for the price. The power is amazing. Though I am disapointed because it doesn't seem to give as much of a suround effect as my Sony suround system used to give. I tweeked and tweeked. I'm willing to give it more time and match it to my room better.

Since buying a Yamaha theater system from Best Buy watching TV and movies has been awesome. The sound is so clean and makes the movies come to life. Thanks Best Buy for your help in selecting this product

I am running my 32 track Korg recording board through my Yamaha amp and the sound is clean and full. A high point for me is the manual. The manual included was very complete, lots of info and tweaks for setting up quality sound setting to meet the needs of your space. I had to return my first unit. The remote was not working.. No problems exchanging the item. The people at Best Buy were a great help with my decision buying and with the exchange. The 2nd unit was a gem, This is great all round AV Receiver Amp unit with the quality far out doing the price.

Picked up the this unit as had good reviews and was on sale. I am happy with it with one exception...the remote control programming is difficult and after much time I resigned to the fact that it would not operate my brand new Samsung tv, Panasonic dvd player or Comcast provided General Instrument digital cable box. If you are considering buying this unit, be sure to factor in the cost to purchase a programmable remote or accept that you will have to use several remotes to operate your system.

Great product, got it on sale a few months ago. No problems except for not being able to program my tv remote into it. It doesn't include Memorex TV VCR combos. Dissipointed about that. But otherwise no problems; love it.