Yamaha R-S202 Stereo Receiver Review

The distinguishing “new” feature for this stereo receiver is the addition of Bluetooth technology for streaming music. Coupled with Yamaha sound quality and an attractive price, the R-S202 can be a young audiophiles (I’m talking to you, college boy) ticket to Musicville.

I know we have a tendency to focus on high-end, multi-channel receivers with Dolby Atmos and complex bass management schemes, but let’s not lose sight of the final goal: Enjoying the music. Yamaha has been making receivers for many decades and when I was in college, you could always spot the Yamahas on the racks at the audio shop because that had orange fluorescent displays. Of course, back in the days, stereo was King and CO2 tape decks were the rage. The R-S202 carries on that Yamaha tradition of great sound at an affordable price and has been updated for streaming via Bluetooth.

It has been a long time since I reviewed a stereo receiver. No DAC, no bass management, no GUI for speaker setup, no distance or speaker leveling software, no video processing, no sound processing, just stereo. The front panel is simple and uncluttered.

Sporting large push buttons for tone controls and input selection, small buttons for presets, tuning FM mode and memory and speaker selection, the R-S202 has a clean faceplate in black brushed aluminum. In the back of the unit you get analog inputs for a CD player and 2 more unassigned for other devices. There is a set of line/outs for recording in the analog domain. The spring clips allow for 2 sets of speakers (A/B or A+B).

The clips will accept bare wire up to 16 gauge and pin terminals. At this price point, that’s not unexpected. The fluorescent display is easy to read from across the room and is white, not the orange like from the 80’s. The black brushed aluminum face is clean and looks smartly dressed. If you use the headphone jack, you must turn off the speakers by deselecting speakers A/B.

Setting up the R-S202 only took me a few minutes to wire up a spare pair of speakers I had lying around and I was streaming music in no time. Pairing my iPhone 6 to the receiver was quick and easy. There was a certain feeling of liberty not having to set speaker levels and distances, fiddling with bass management, or running an auto-EQ program. And once I had the speakers positioned correctly for imaging, it was just me in my favorite chair listening to some great music.

The first impression I had with this receiver was with its ability to reproduce the full range of the music. I was surprised that the sound had very good bass. The middle range was full without over emphasis and the treble was sweet, without harshness. I ended up hooking my Revel F12s up to the Yamaha and the sound quality was still very good. The F12s have two 8inch woofers/tower and the R-S202 had no trouble driving them to very loud levels.

The R-S202 did not overplay any specific frequencies, but provided a detailed natural soundscape. I could easily detect the quiet whisper of Jim singing along with himself. Bass was virile, but controlled and not overpowering. When I compared the Bluetooth stream with the CD version, it was difficult to tell the two apart.

In Ecclessis has two boys choirs (left and right), one men’s choir and a full set of brass players in between. The R-S202 was able to cast a believable soundstage with depth and width, capturing the true acoustic space as recorded by those remarkable CBS engineers. The reverberation and seven second decay were well reproduced by the Yamaha.

Streaming Pandora via my iPhone was also quite enjoyable. Because there is no video processing with the R-S202, my phone provided the video interface I need to navigate through the music. Simple and convenient, I spent hours listening to music that fit my mood. I found the reception of the FM tuner to be mediocre at best. I live 35 miles north of Boston and was not able to pull in as many stations as my Emotiva UMC-200 could. Maybe a better antenna than the one supplied would help.

With its Ease Of Use And Bluetooth Technology, THE YAMAHA R-S202 Makes a Great Choice for The Budding 2 Channel Enthusiast

So, with my few weeks of having the R-S202 in the equipment rack, I was able to relive a bit of my youth and enjoy the sounds of plain old vanilla stereo again. I had almost forgotten what a simple pleasure it was to setup two speakers and just listen to music. No fancy DSP or bass management schemes. No APP to download. Just hookup a CD player or turntable and listen to the music. Bluetooth streaming is easy, convenient and sounded fine for everyday listening. Yamaha has taken a decent stereo receiver and made it eminently more useful and enjoyable. I recommend this receiver if you are starting out as a newly initiated audiophile. It is easy to use and easy on the ears. At this price, why would you say no?