I am shopping around to replace the crappy Sansui RZ6700 AV receiver I currently have and have seen a Yamaha RX-V350 at a reasonable price. What I have read so far sound fine, but I am curious to hear if anyone have firsthand experience of this product.
I am sure that I will get advice to rather buy a NAD receiver, but in my neck of the woods they are outrageously expensive. I still foundly remember the 3020 I bought in 1981, which is still going by the way!
The RX-V350 is not good. It has very few connections and somewhat low quality. The V450 is clearly better. Look if you can find a Sony DA1000ES or Pioneer D814 for a low price, they're far better choices than the smallest Yamahas.
I did buy the RX-V450 instead of the 350. Unfortunately we do not have a wide selection to choose from here(In South Africa) Or let me rather say that the stores that do stock the Marantz's and Denons consider themselves speciality stores and charge up to 300% more than you would expect.
I am happy with the sound of the Yamaha RX-V450 except that I would have liked a bit more power. Channel separation is good, the sound clean and the DSP programms very useful. My way around the apparent lack of power would be to shop around for speakers that are more sensitive than what I have currently.