Sadly after 18 years of faithful service my Yamaha R-9 Receiver has lost a channel. I looked through the regional phone book and did not see a repair facility. I guess it's time for new. Don't need anything real fancy and would like to stay Yamaha. Can one of the surround type units still be used with the standard 2 speaker setup or is surround sound a must have to use one of those receivers? TIA for any input.

Almost every multi-channel receiver has a 2 channel setting for that type of setup. Just head on out to your local electronics store and pick something out. Good luck.

JWA,
Yamaha has been making a pretty good unit for years. My parents just bought one and I could not believe the sound quality at that price!
I bought a Onkyo 14 years ago and like the units now they have a switch for 2/4/surround modes.
If I had to buy another one it would be a Yamaha unit. I feel you can't beat it for the price.
Take a look at some of the bundles from Yamaha. There are some with a good unit and a 5.1 speaker set. 5.1= 4 corner speakers, 1 center speaker, .1=bass
Scott

I'd recommend giving them ALL an extensive listening session before buying!! I have an Onkyo surround setup for the 'family room' with the tv, dvd, etc, but when I want to listen to MUSIC, I use my old 70's era Sansui. I just think the older discrete component systems sound so much better than the modern IC based systems. (yeah yeah, tubes v/s transistors v/s IC's) When the lights dim and the meters are indicating over 100 watts, I'm having fun!

Can one of the surround type units still be used with the standard 2 speaker setup or is surround sound a must have to use one of those receivers? TIA for any input.

If by "surround type" you mean home theater in a box, the answer is a yes, BUT... Those home theater units use fairly small front speakers. So even if you put larger/better speakers in place of them it couldn't drive them. And as a side note, quite a bit of those units do not have an FM receiver for radio.

If you already have a pair of front two speakers that you like, and they produce suffecient bass for you, then just get a Yahama receiver. It'll have some fancy stuff built in, but it still has the quality amplifiers and signal processing that you expect from a name brand unit. I've had my Yamaha HTR-5760 for 2 years now and have been nothing but happy with it. the very best feature on it is the "-30dB mute". Basically, you have the option for teh mute button to make the volum very low, but not shut it off. Works awesome with loud commercials and channel surfing.

You can repace just the receiver unit for ~200. with this piece:
http://img.shopping.com/cctool/PrdImg/images/pr/177X150/00/02/02/94/83/33723523.JPG
http://www3.shopping.com/xPO-Yamaha-HTR-5930

Or replace the whole sound system and step up to the world off surround sound for ~$500 (notice the larger front speakers because it is a full size receiver):
http://img.shopping.com/cctool/PrdImg/images/pr/177X150/00/01/e6/de/b6/31907510.JPG
http://www3.shopping.com/xPO-Yamaha-Yamaha-DTX-5000-Home-Theater-in-a-Box

What are you using it for? Mostly music? Movies? Do you have a DVD player? What are you willing to spend? Going from basic surround to 5.1 really livens up movies...no comparison at all.

What RMS watts did your old Yamaha put out per channel and what can your speakers take? Don't want to blow them up.

My reciever, CD player, and tape deck (:D ) are all Yamaha. In the price range for the recievers I was in, the Sony ES and Onkyo models were no competion for the Yamaha. I'd stick with them :thumbsup: .

If you are not going to use more than two front channel stereo, then don't spend the money on surround sound processor -- it has processing controls and amplifiers that you are paying money for and not using. Just get the receiver.

On the other hand, if you want to transition eventually to a 5 or 7 speaker system at some future point, get the surround sound. This would include future thoughts of HD TV or anything like that. BTW, I've got a Yamaha receiver that just lost the pre-amp input right channel - had it for 22 years and will likely still keep it as just a radio tuner feeding another amp.