From: Brooks Shannon on January 26th 1998:

I have owned the Yamaha RX-485 reciever for almost a full year now, and I'm quite pleased by it. Unlike some recievers I've heard, the highs don't come across as being terribly sharp when the volume is turned up. At high volumes it can get bright though, especially when listening to the tuner. CDs come across as nice, depending of course on which disc player and CD itself you are listening to. At medium volumes though it gives a warm, detailed sound with fair imaging when coupled with my Acoustic Research 94's. I like having the Pure Direct switch on the unit to bypass the bass and treble controls when listening to the source's signal purity, and the variable loudness control is great for listening in the evening when you can't rightly have a concert in your room but want to retain a better frequency range than what is given by simply turning the volume knob down. Overall, I give it a 8.5.

Rating: 8.5