Customer Ratings & Reviews

It has been awhile since I made a home theater purchase. I was a little wary bc I heard receivers are hard to set up and use, but I love my Yamaha. I have a couple retro floor speakers plugged into it. Also I have my TV and a couple game systems plugged into it. It is doing an awesome job and made my audio experience much more enjoyable. I need to watch the original Jurassic Park and all of the Marvel movies again now that I have this. I have Spotify on my TV which then outputs to these speakers. The speakers have Bluetooth too but I don't really bother since my TV has the Spotify app. If you are plugging your TV into this, make sure to enable ARC on your receiver. It is not on by default like some other receivers. ARC allows your receiver and TV to communicate back and do some magical things - e.g. turning the TV on also turns on the receiver; when I turn on my Nintendo Switch the TV changes inputs to the receiver and the receiver kicks on automatically. To turn on ARC, connect your TV into the 4th HTMI port (this is the ARC input) using a good HDMI cable. Then, change your TV input to whatever input your receiver is connected to, and find the ARC option under HDMI settings. It's kind of confusing but you'll find it. My Samsung TV (about 6 years old) detected the receiver and did some update so that the Samsung universal remote also controls the receiver when you have it on. Magical. This receiver does produce some heat so I wouldn't keep it inside a cabinet or it may run the risk of overheating. I would put it on top or somewhere it has good air flow. The Energy Star certified receivers were so much more expensive.

I purchased this as an upgrade to my V373 so I could get 4K passthrough. I'm using it in my home theater that is about 18 X 17. I have Boston Acoustics front, surround, and center speakers, and a Paradigm powered sub. This Yamaha drives them all brilliantly. Aside from watching movies, I also use my receiver a lot for listening to high res, lossless music from a DAC. The Yahama lets me get pure, direct 2-channel sound from the DAC while incorporating my subwoofer for bass punch. Before buying this unit, I tried a less expensive one from another brand. That one handled 5.1 sound from movies well, but it would not let me use the subwoofer for 2-channel sound without using processing such as forced surround or "enhancement" meant for compressed audio such as MP3s. I want my music direct and clean, and the Yamaha gives me that. Setup is easy with the included mic. Overall I couldn't be happier.

Great for XBOX Series X and everything else. The Mike helps tune itself beautifully. Well made and really pushes the sound. I have what you can consider a rather large open living room and it pushes sounds to all 4 speakers the center channel and the subwoofer nicely. No loss in video quality passing either.

Works great. Easy to hookup. Good Quality. Nice Features

If you don't care about a lot of extra bells and whistles this Yamaha AVR gets the job done nicely. It has many DSP modes, bluetooth, and 5 sets of binding posts on the back (some budget models only have 2 or 3). It drives my Power Sound Audio M210T towers and Yamaha in ceiling speakers I use for surrounds effortlessly. My towers are priced at $2k a pair and a $3k subwoofer so it's price really doesn't match the rest of my equipment but I believe in only spending for what options you need in an AVR. I wish the Ypao was a better version but I knew that before I purchased. I've had more expensive brands/models and this $280 Yamaha sounds just as good! Also...if you're using a powered subwoofer some of the Yamaha sub out terminals are weak. I use a sub cable that plugs into both LFE inputs but you can accomplish the same thing with a Y splitter. It doubles the voltage output of the sub outputs I believe.

I decided to upgrade my living room sound system to 5.1 surround. Found an amazing deal on a Klipsch speaker system and was so excited to get it up and running. Now mind you, I haven’t purchased a new receiver since 1998, hahaha! So I looked in the back of my old receiver and laughed at myself when I only saw 4 speaker outs and no USB, HDMI, Optical or subwoofer output. No worries though, I hopped on BestBuy and found this nice little Yamaha for a great price. Sure you could spend much more to impress your neighbors and the few relatives you still care about... but for plenty of power, great sound and ease of use this one wins hands down.

This receiver isn't like the Yamaha receivers of 20 years ago, and that's expected. The on screen setup is nice and the remote setup is quick. The programs for surround are well developed. Bluetooth connects quick and it reconnects fast every time Output is clean and playback is accurate

Fantastic. No issues or problems. Set up is easy. You can label the inputs, or have them auto read by using ARC and enabling HDMI info connections on your devices. I have a fire stick, PS4, and a 4K player connected. It also receives audio via bluetooth so you can play music with your phone for example. The speaker connection have banana plugs which is the best way to go. I use it for an apartment, but has enough power for a bigger place. Couldn't be happier. Also you can choose to have the colored buttons on the bottom to change the different audio formats. For example, Standard, 5 ch stereo, Music, DPL Movie. I have these set to change based on what I am using it for. The ARC connects allows on HDMI cable to go to my OLED TV, and everything else is connected to the inputs on the receiver. Awesome

Very pleased overall. Only nitpick I have is I wish it upconverted or at least output RCA Video input signal thru HDMI out when switching inputs. Had to temporarily run a Yellow RCA to TV RCA Analog input and will change TV input to it when someone plays our Wii. Plan to buy a Wii HDMI adapter and use HDMI 4 input and fix that issue. Not a big deal because my wife and daughter rarely use the Wii. Used HDMI 1 for BluRay, HDMI 2 for DirecTv, and HDMI3 for Nintendo Switch. That still leaves 3 extra HDMI inputs on my TV available if needed. I have my Playstations in another room on another system. Onscreen menus real nice. Easy to navigate. Like the remote. Pretty decent selection of varied options found in menu. One choice I liked was different "looks" to your volume number display. Sounds really nice. EQ in menu. My daughter is a fan of the Bluetooth music output. I should have gotten one back when they were on sale for around $300. Now they are on sale for $369 but I also used some rewards cash. Glad I got it. So far so good after about a month.

First, I want to say I'm a "high-fidelity" guru by any means, but I have had stereo receivers since the later 70's, but this Yamaha is the first with all the more digital features like Bluetooth, ARC, the many sound fields that are also customizable and in addition how you can create what basically is an aural macro to fit your listening/viewing needs. I will not go into the specs of this unit as you can easily see them on the Best Buy item details, but I will say that I am thoroughly enjoying the economical Yamaha home A/V Theater receiver since I got it hooked up in a small "everything" room. I appreciate the speaker auto-configuration microphone that makes setting up a decent sound field in a small crowded space as this a joy rather than torture. I also, appreciate that all of the "settings" and "options" are found in two places on the remote. It was much easier figuring out all the options minutia of the video quality and simulated sound fields having them logically close to each other than my recently departed Pioneer VSx-1121-K. In addition the Yamaha has been one of the first receivers that can actually have the dialog from DVD and Blu-Ray audible and understandable without turning the volume up too high. So, I'm pleased with this purchase. There are only three things I will mention that kept my rating below 5 stars. First, the remote while well organized does feel a little too light and cheap in the hand. I'm afraid should I drop the thing it'll shatter. The second opinion is the audio/video cable/wire posts are a really too close together. It was difficult to get the speakers wired where there was little chance for a stray copper strand to short out. Well, I just thought of one other minor issue for me. The receiver does not have a phono connection which is a little annoying for me, but thankfully I can pull the pre-amp from the living room's Sony to make all my vinyl accessible on the new receiver. Finally, I would so much like to f ind an actually professionally printed operation manual IN the box. I am not one to print out 112 pages of manual from a lower end jet ink printer. I'm just saying... Last word is this: if you are looking for an affordable lower end, modern a/v receiver, the Yamaha VX-385 will do it for you without you dipping into the kids' college fund. For the price, I am pleased with the unit so far and would recommend it to friends and family looking for something that good (not great) that is affordable and thoughtfully engineered.

Have it hooked up to 5 SVS satellites and the smallest Jamo sub. Sounds great. Easy setup and YPAO adjustments. I also have a cheap phono hooked up and sounds great in 5-channel stereo. This probably isn’t a gamer/Blu-ray pass through receiver as it doesn’t support all the latest spec stuff. However, I just plug the Xbox directly into the TV, then back to the receiver via ARC. Honestly, have been re-watching shows and listening to vinyl. I might sell the Xbox. I bought this, as none of the Atmos/eArc receivers seemed to be ready or performing as advertised. And... is Atmos worth it yet anyway?

The RX-V385BL is outstanding value for the price. You get top of the line features for less than half of what you’d pay for some overpriced brands. This was to replace/update a 7 year old Yamaha Receiver... I needed the upgraded HDR 4K HDMI pass through/selector with HDCP 2.2 and new Audi formats... Boy did this deliver.. HDR, HDR+, HLG, and Dolby vision for picture(with upscaling)... eARC... and all the new DTS and up sound decoders. And Bluetooth as the cherry on top(with a bi-amp option). They team up well with Samsung TV’s. The 7yr old model now runs the stereo system in my shop.. it still works like a new one. Yamaha just can’t be beat for the money.

So happy with my purchase. If your looking for a great A/V receiver for a reasonable price, this is the one. It has a great sound and just the basic bells and whistles that the average person will need. The set up was very easy too. I got it for a 15' X 15' room and it has plenty of power to blow you away if you want. Yamaha has my business from now on. The best buy associate was very helpful too. 5 stars all around

Great entry-level AVR for both movies and music. I run a simple 2.0 setup with Polk Series III floorstanding speakers. I decided to upgrade my old, non-HDMI AVR for two reasons: 1) better sound quality for my 320 kbps music streaming, and 2) the ability to finally play audio from my Samsung Q60 TV through my stereo 2.0 setup (which also lacked an optical audio input). I also game on an Xbox One X and wanted to make sure that the AVR would be capable of smoothly passing through 4K HDR content. This receiver excels at all aspects. The music quality is surprisingly improved, particularly with the Compressed Music Enhancer function. I always thought all receivers would sound basically the same when it comes to simple music playback in stereo, but there's a noticeable improvement to my ears in terms of both detail and clarity. So far I prefer using the STRAIGHT preset in combination with Compressed Music Enhancer for listening to albums. On the 0-97 scale, I find 50-60 is generally loud enough for reasonable listening in my ~ 700 sq. ft. apartment living room. On the video side, I was able to get the HDMI ARC function working surprisingly quickly. I have the Xbox plugged into HDMI 1 on the AVR, and another cable running from HDMI Out on the AVR to my TV's HDMI ARC input. This lets me send consistent 4K HDR video signals from my Xbox, through the AVR and to the TV without any distortion or lag, and returns the audio through the speakers. Even though I don't have a surround setup, I typically use the Surround Decoder along with the Game preset for pretty good results. Audio from shows and movies streamed from my TV's various apps (Netflix, HBO etc.) also works well. I debated forsaking the video stuff and just getting a higher quality stereo amplifier, but the ability of this AVR to coordinate with my Samsung TV's Anynet+ features for media switching is what sealed the deal for me. Using the HDMI Arc setup described above, and after enabling HDMI control on this AVR, the AVR automatically 1) switches to TV audio whenever it detects a streaming app, 2) switches to the audio and video signals coming from the Xbox whenever I start it up, and 3) automatically switches to the audio channel I have my Chromecast Audio plugged into whenever I feel like listening to music. The AVR also passes the audio and video from my Xbox through while powered off - and the TV automatically switches on its onboard speakers when the AVR is powered off, no manual digging into TV settings required! The only potential drawback in terms of functionality is that using this ARC setup, the TV doesn't automatically switch in and out of Game Mode depending on the media source, since it's all being routed into the TV via the same single HDMI input. I don't mind leaving Game Mode on for movie streaming, but for those that would, you could alternatively connect your game system into another TV input rather than pass it through the AVR (though the game's audio would still be returned via ARC to your external speakers). The only other drawback so far is the YPAO calibration. It was easy to connect the mic and run the quick calibration, but the results were just awful! For some reason it turned my right (front) speaker down by 10dB, making music sound horribly tinny. I manually went in and restored it, now everything sounds great. I was hoping it'd automatically give me a more fine-tuned calibration on the order of a couple dB (without me having to figure it out by trial and error), but oh well. Overall a fantastic product, especially at this price.

sounds great just what I was looking for. easy set-up and BT works very well. good power out put

I purchased this receiver to replace its predecessor, which was also a Yamaha, but was 12 years old and beginning to get glitchy. Its predecessor was a higher end version with a bit more functionality. This receiver is really pretty much perfect. I chose it over the updated version of its predecessor because it is simpler. This receiver is very simple and straight forward to use - very easy to optimize sound quality, move through effects settings, control inputs etc. Per the description, it's optimized to drive a 5 speaker/sub woofer system, which is what we have, and it does that very well. Sound quality is on par with the more expensive receiver but I would say it's not quite as "deep". That's a tough characteristic to nail down, but it doesn't quite drive the edges (highs and lows) like the more expensive receiver. That said, it's a VERY minor difference and likely not noticeable by 99% of the human species (my wife can't tell). It makes up for that minor deficiency with sub-woofer performance and simplicity of operation. The remote is cleaner the the previous version and has a more positive and direct interface over functions. The LED display is also very clear and easy to see across a large room. Overall this is a VERY GOOD product, particularly for the ridiculously low price. I didn't give it 5 stars only because it's truly not perfect from an audio standpoint, which is the perspective of this review. If I was going strictly on audio value per $$ this would absolutely be a 5 star review.

It’s a very sophisticated unit. Lots of settings. Lots of inputs. Very clear sound from it. 4k video improved the picture on our TCL tv. I’m 80. I had to read the instructions several times and looked up information on the internet about how to set it up. Videos on YouTube helped a lot.

This is a very user friendly receiver with great depth. Setup is quick and easy to navigate and it powers out 4 speakers in our covered patio nicely.

This Yamaha 5.1 channel receiver is terrific. It is used in the den for music listening and movies. The Klipsch front speakers and Polk center, subwoofer and satellite speakers blow sound bars away. The hdmi inputs make tv and Firestick connections easy. What started as a reasonably priced receiver has turned into a fun listening area. The YPAO microphone helps tune speaker placement for the best sound for yourseating area. The Bluetooth receiver works great for listening from your devices. The usb port in the front is great for a flash drive full of your favorite music. This product has exceeded my expectations for home hi fidelity.

We purchased this as an "open box" item, and saved $110. The box was marked "slight scratches" but we didn't find any damage, and the clerk allowed us to open the box up inside the store, before we left. Easy set up. Good sound. And it has enough features and flexibility for our needs.