Yamaha RX-397 100 Watt Natural Sound AM/FM Stereo Receiver

Inputs at rear are confusingly labeled (except for "phonograph," of all things). No one but me will know what turns on what, and I can't get everything to work. Had to plug in my TV to "Aux"; nothing works for audio cassette deck. The manual is badly written and even worse organized---disgracefully so---which makes it wholly unhelpful. The remote turns the receiver on, but not off (quality control, anyone?). I've owned some twenty receivers in my life... this is the only one where neither labeling nor manual helps at all and where intuition avails not. I'm not sure where the high reviews come from, but get something else.

I wanted an amplifier that would get the best sound out of my CD player. This relatively low power receiver has better specs and sound than some integrated amplifiers for hundreds of dollars more. Granted it doesn't have the bells and whistles of many other receivers, but if you want a stereo receiver with solid fundamentals then this is your ticket.

It's not great looking, but it is everything I needed. It has replaced my 20+yo Technics receiver quite well. It has plenty of power for my speakers plus I was able to connect my CD player, cassette player AND my direct drive turntable to it. I didn't think I would use it but I love the remote. I recommend this to anyone, this is a nice receiver for the money.

This is the second Yamaha receiver I've owned. I bought #1 30 years ago...and replaced it with this slick unit three weeks ago. Crisp clear sounds---great radio reception (we live in very mountainous country)and great price. Other customer reviews were correct. Why spend more?http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000COW90I/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

This is my first review.

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased the Yamaha RX-397 receiver to replace one of my old receivers from the 1980's. (Back then, stereos actually had knobs that you could get a hold of).

Most stereo equipment sold these days has a lot of "fluff" without much "substance". Everything seems to have unwanted channels, frilly complicated displays, cheap tiny push-buttons (that you can't see), and remote controls so complex that they should be able to control the space shuttle.

The Yamaha RX-397 is refreshingly different. It has rotary controls with a nice professional feel, a clean simple layout, quality jacks in the rear ----- just like a real stereo receiver should. One of the most impressive things are the speaker hookups. They are large heavy duty screw type knobs with excellent wire protection and separation.

The RX-397 is now at home in my backyard woodworking / hobby shop.
My shop has difficult acoustics but the tone controls all work very well and I get great sound. Of particular interest is the continuously variable loudness control. It works a lot better than the old push button (all or nothing) loudness controls.

The Pure Direct feature also is quite nice. I find that it works especially well with modern digitally mastered, digital source music. If your recording is clean and well balanced why muddy it up? The Pure Direct feature bypasses all of the tone controls. For certain recordings, it works very well.

I have a metal pole barn that pretty well blocks out radio reception. The digital tuner on the RX-397 is set up pretty "tight" (a good thing to exclude noise and unwanted signals). If you have a metal building or otherwise poor radio reception you may want to consider a stronger FM antenna. I have a TERK antenna on order.Terk FM-50 Indoor/Outdoor Dual-Drive Amplified FM Antenna (Terk FM50)

In conclusion, I wanted a simple, high quality receiver that I can understand and hookup without a lot of fuss. I wanted something with good sound. I wanted something that I can operate without my reading glasses ((((baby boomers are you listening?)))). The RX-397 does all of the above and exceeds my expectations.

Thanks to Yamaha for making the RX-397
and thanks for reading my review.