Since I mainly do the Denon recievers and such on most installs(which have thier own idiosyncrasies), I was wondering how you folks have used the new Yamaha 2700 or 600 receivers in your installations? (I had to go to a workshop on Yamaha last week)

It seems like these two products are pretty powerful and integrate much better with IR and 232 then the Denon products. The software to program the receivers seems to be great. The Yamaha's can also pickup selected internet radio and the GUI seems great even when using the i-Pod dock from Yamaha, which behaves very similarly to the i-Pod itself.

The zone 2/3 bass/treble control with input trim level adjustments that carry over to zone 2/3 could be the clincher. The disparity in source levels these days can be very irritating. Since I always see the cup as half full, should I just pour it out now and stay with Denon?

Yamaha has made some very good products over the last number of years, and I use Yamaha as my go to receiver manufacture, and use denon as my backup for the reasons you list and some others...More robust power supply on equivelent models, and the yamaha's can handle 4 ohm loads with ease. There are at least a dozen other reasons I recommend and spec yamaha when I can, but denon definitely has its place (more people know, or have older denon amps that need to be replaced and feel they have had good luck with the existing one so why not just get another denon). I have played with the RXN600, RXV_59 series, and the RXV2600's and all seem to be die hard fully capable and very reasonable units for most applications. I have not seen or used the new 1700's or 2700's yet but will probably begin spec'ing them soon.

The N600 Has all the features that an "network Receiver" should have except the on screen display. They Philter out alll the Porn sites (dam) and as long as you you u run the windows file share program on your PC or Server it works for serving the music (less Play list_ But bookmarks) on your Harddrives. The File share progam Runs at about 12% of your CPU (on my del 2yr old) it is nice. Other than the text inter face.
my Rep says that the 2700 has a much better GUI but i havn't seent it yet ither.

Dave

I didn't realize that it had no GUI, just text like the Denon. Did you try out the Zone 2/3 features?

I have used the N600D- did what it said on the tin but WITHOUT ANY GUI. Also, USB, Ipod dock, DAB and internet radio (do you get XM?). Good value for money. Obviously no Z2 experience with the N600D and the 1/2700 haven't shipped here yet.

Its a shame that the musicast stuff is a bit clunky- could form the kind of system that meets the needs of 90% for the money that many have to spend? The inwall parts are just HUGE- you have to cut into the cavity in a 9" wall!

As an aside, I know no brand with the reliability of Yamaha- the receivers just don't seem to go wrong. Denon, Pioneer, Rotel and all of the other solid brands are reliable but Yamaha just seems to be infallible. Have I just been lucky?