Yamaha R700 - worth picking?

kotofei

permanent gear evolution
I have a chance to pick up a Yamaha R700 receiver locally for $40. The seller said everything works and the unit is in a good shape except two missing knobs at the front panel but one can still adjust the controls. If everything will go as planned, I will audit it tomorrow.

Does the R700 worth picking? I am trying to upgrade (in terms of sound quality) from a Pioneer SX-780. Are there any specific problems with this Yamaha receiver model that I should pay attention upon audition?
 
$40 is OK but keep your expectations low and you will not be disappointed. Cosmetics are very nice with the promose of digital tuning but the tuner is really analog with a digital counter. Drift is a problem. The amp section sounds OK but can run very hot which is always bad for electronics.
 
Brought this Yamaha home for audition and compared it with the current “king of the rack” Pioneer SX-780.

Result- the Pioneer is better. Specifically, bass sounded more softly, appealing, or "velvet" so to speak, than the Yamaha. Yamaha has more pronounced midranges, but it’s exactly what I was not interested in. I even got some sort of mild “listening fatigue" with the Yamaha. I did not find much use of its “loudness” control, probably because I listened to it at moderate sound level.

The Yamaha’s “surround extension” control did widen the 2-D stereo base. However, my impression was that it resulted in way too excessive “widening” or “washout” of the instruments’ position. Overall, instrument positioning was better with Pioneer than with the Yamaha. Such as, when I listened to Santana “Inner Secrets” LP with the Pioneer the sound of each drum within the drummer’s set came from close but distinct position while with Yamaha (with surround extension off) all drums sounded as being located at the same place.

I did not test Yamaha's tuner since I was most interested in its amplifier virtues.

So the Yamaha was returned back:sadwave: and Pioneer awaits its next challenge.
 
The R-900 and R-1000 are the units to be looking for. The 700 is just not that good. I gave mine away.
 
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