Hi everyone,
Just created this account to say that I'm glad this review was written and can attest to how good this receiver sounds.
I guess I got lucky and just picked this receiver up for $40 CDN from Facebook marketplace. That's about $3 USD
I knew I got lucky because even the screws to the case were flawless. This thing had never been opened, and only a thin layer of dust was present. There was distortion when using the tone controls and balance, but after a little contact cleaner and exercising the controls, the distortion was all gone. In addition, the person using said it said they only used it for the CD player. As such all of the buttons for the memory presets and FM/AM were out of whack. If you press 1, 3 would go on. If you press FM, Memory would go on.
I think this person just hadn't pushed those buttons in decades. The solution I found was just to rapidly press every single button. Like hundreds of times. Then all of them started working! I'm just down to a finicky 1 and 2 preset. All the rest are working perfectly.
I also want to add one thing about this receiver that wasn't tested, and that is the really good FM tuner that it has! It's not going to win any awards or have DXers running after it, but I think it's pretty decent. I have a Sony STR-7045 (currently rebuilding the power supply for it) and it out performs it in my opinion. Mind you I'm sure the FM tuner for that could use a calibration as it's 48 years old. So it's not a really fair comparison.
Yamaha RX-596 FM SECTION:
Tuning Range
[U.S.A. and Canada models]
..........................................87.5 to 107.9 MHz
[Australia and General models]
..........................................87.5 to 108.0 MHz
50 dB Quieting Sensitivity (IHF, 75 ohms)
Mono .................................1.55 µV (15.1 dBf)
Stereo...................................21 µV (37.7 dBf)
Usable Sensitivity (75 ohms)
(30 dB S/N Quieting, 1 kHz, 100% mod.)
.............................................0.8 µV (9.3 dBf)
DIN, Mono (S/N 26 dB) ........................0.9 µV
DIN, Stereo (S/N 46 dB)........................24 µV
Image Response Ratio ............................45 dB
IF Response Ratio...................................70 dB
Spurious Response Ratio.........................70 dB
AM Suppression Ratio..............................55 dB
Capture Ratio ..........................................1.5 dB
Alternate Channel Selectivity ..................85 dB
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (IHF)
Mono/Stereo ..............................80 dB/75 dB
Harmonic Distortion (1 kHz)
Mono/Stereo .....................................0.1/0.2%
Stereo Separation (1 kHz)......................50 dB
Frequency Response
20 Hz to 15 kHz..............................0 ±1.5 dB
AUDIO SECTION
Output Level/Impedance
FM (100% mod., 1 kHz)..........................................500 mV/2.2 k-ohm
This is a wonderful site. Have a good day!