Review on YAMAHA AVENTAGE 7 2 Channel Receiver MusicCast by Tracey Brown

This is my third Yamaha receiver and my first time with the Aventage range. The sound is as clear as my other receivers and for that reason this is my third receiver. It also has pre-outs for the front left and right speakers so I can add an amp to my Klipsch RP-8000F to really SING! I really like the look of the new CYCLOPSE series and the sound lives up to its name. Now the negatives - the UI is TERRIBLE! My underage Yamaha RX-683 had a better menu than this one. It looks so easy! No animation, no pictures (even with manual speaker settings). I'm not a two year old who needs a picture book, but I expect more WOW. In addition, it is very slow to respond to the most basic functions, such as increasing the volume or entering the menu (on the screen). As far as I know the UI is a few steps backwards. I really hope that a firmware update will fix this soon. Overall it delivers what you would expect from a quality Yamaha receiver. I just wish they hadn't messed up its functionality.