Disappointing
I've had this receiver on loan for a little while as a first look into home theatre. As a middle of the road receiver I was hoping it could replace my Harman Kardon HK-670 stereo amp - boy was I wrong. I've spent an evening flicking between the two, and the Yamaha is woefully lacking in midrange and bass for general music listening. The comment about it being "too forward" is also bang on - it's much to "bright" a sound. My wife summed it up, saying that it just wasn't relaxing to listen to. Perhaps I'm expecting too much, but I can't really justify an amp and a receiver. The HK-670 weighs much more than the RX-V765, and I'm guessing power supply partially contributes to a light weight bottom end.
Looping the pre-out on the RX-V765 to the HK-670 was a good compromise, as the pre-amp didn't appear to disturb the sound too much.
However, I haven't had much luck with the auto lipsync with my Panasonic Plasma (new) so the Yamaha is going back to the shop. Watching Iron Man on BluRay (through the RX-V765) had worse lipsync through the RX-V765 with HDMI Auto (lipsync) enabled than the Monitor Out on my Plasma. Disappointing.