Yamaha is introducing five new A/V receivers for its 2009 line-up (RX-V765, MSRP: $649.95; RX-V665, MSRP: $549.95; RX-V565, MSRP: $479.95; RX-V465, MSRP: $379.95; and RX-V365, MSRP $249.95).

This series would be called the “65 Series,” notice the number increment after V. Some notable changes that Yamaha has taken with the 65 series are the following:

More HDMI connectivity

Yamaha certainly learned their lesson this year by offering additional HDMI inputs, starting from the RX-V465 and up, the receivers now feature four HDMI inputs. The RX-V365 only has two.

Improved rear-panel layout

The previous 63 series generation of receivers had quite a confusing rear-panel layout in that the video inputs were completely separated from their corresponding audio inputs. For the 65 series they are layed out more close to each other. Yamaha is also completely removing all S-Video inputs on these five new models, if you have legacy components to connect, you might have to wait and see if their higher model line-ups for 2009 would be offering it.

Does the difference in weight mean lightweight or thin sound?

We obviously won’t be able to tell until someone gets to test these new offerings by Yamaha but in the past, more weight usually meant a much beefier sound due to the higher quality components used in manufacturing the equipment. The specifications indica