Yamaha RX-Z11 HDMI 1.3a 11.2 Channel A/V Receiver Review

E

Exit

Audioholic Chief
Man, if you recommend this for a +500 ft^2 room with ceilings of 10 ft or more (+5,000 ft^3), then there goes just about every room except a two car garage or small aircraft hanger. :eek:

Not for any normal house on the market, that's for sure.
Its a minor point, but you can get over 5,000 cu ft in a ranch house with an open floor plan connecting living room, family room, kitchen and hallways. I agree that it is probably not common, but you don't need a top of the line receiver to power it either. You do need a pretty good subwoofer though.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
Man, if you recommend this for a +500 ft^2 room with ceilings of 10 ft or more (+5,000 ft^3), then there goes just about every room except a two car garage or small aircraft hanger.
Its just a guideline not a requirement. 500ft^2 is roughly a 25' x 20' room. I am sure you can get by in a room that is less wide, but you really need a long room with high ceilings to cram all 11 speakers in and achieve an actual benefit of doing so.
 
N

ned

Full Audioholic
Actually the video scalar on the RX-Z11 is one of the best we've tested. Although it didn't pass all HQV tests, it did quite well for real world performance.
I'm actually referring to 5308CI Realta or Athem's Genum. It's too bad YPAO still plague with it's inaccuracies. Audessey seem to be doing better.


Review samples have been hard to come by with Denon products lately. Hopefully when their done sending units to the Robb Report and Playboy magazine we will get a sample :D
This is really sad.:(
 
birdonthebeach

birdonthebeach

Full Audioholic
Hopefully when their done sending units to the Robb Report and Playboy magazine we will get a sample...
No kidding. I mean seriously, what kind of perks can Playboy possibly be offering the Denon marketing dept. that Audioholics can't???


:rolleyes:
 
D

dda

Audiophyte
Thanks Gene for this excellent review!

On an early announcement of rx-z11 I read that:

To realize the ultimate in transparency, power and sonic richness, the RX-Z11 was developed with close attention to the details. It utilizes current feedback amplification, which requires less phase compensation and protects the audio signal from being adulterated, as opposed to the voltage feedback method, which is commonly employed by most other amplifiers.

Did you notice any differences that are expected to come with "current feedback"? Please comment on this.
 
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Highlander

Highlander

Full Audioholic
Yamaha offers dual subwoofer outputs on the RX-Z11 just like they did in previous flagships. This time however, they allow you to assign them as (stereo, mono, or front/back).
The option of Stereo/Mono/Front/Back was available on the Z9.
 
surveyor

surveyor

Audioholic Chief
RX-Z11 Power Supply Question

The Yamahama site states the RX-Z11 has a Hybrid Power Supply?
Is it class H, class G, what?
 
J

James 7

Audiophyte
Hello

I was wondering if you have reviewd any Classe Gear such as the SSP-600.
 
jgcamil

jgcamil

Audiophyte
Hi,

I Have a PS3 connected to the Yamaha, with a Sharp LC 42D64U 42".

I was upconverting satellite signals with the Yamaha but I just read in the manual that by doing any kind of upconversion, the Yamaha automatically disables the deepColor xxVV signal, degrading it to regular color! This basically "removes" one feature from the HDMI 1.3 in both the PS3 and the Sharp TV.

Additionally, Im trying to engage the 24hz output on the PS3 ... with no luck whatsoever...

Is the Yamaha limiting this?
 
W

walt_nixon

Enthusiast
Question on DVD Audio in...

I just read the excellent review of the Yamaha RX-Z11. I replaced my RX-Z9 with an RX-Z11 last year and have a question. I'm running an NAD T-585 multi player (DVD, DVD Audio, CD, SACD). Everything in the rather sparse user manual indicated that I needed to route the DVD Audio output through the 6 (5.1 channel) analog outputs on the T585 to the same inputs on the RX-Z11. Because of this, none of the RX-Z11 DSP modes is available when I play either an SACD or a DVD Audio disc. I also own a copy of the Beatle's "Love" DVD Audio disc and was surprised when I read in your review that you had switched in the "Music Video" DSP mode while listening to it. How are you getting your DVD Audio digital signal into the RX-Z11 to enable this?
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
is it possible to ake out a 20yr mortage on this? I want one!!
That would be very unwise, judging from the way receivers have aged in the past. Very probably, in 5 years, something better will come out, and then you will not be happy with a long loan for the old, outdated thing. If you doubt this, just take a look at the market value of the flagship receiver from Yamaha (or anyone else) from 5 years ago; you can check such things by looking at sales made on eBay.

For most people, buying a much less expensive model, such as the RX-V3800, would be a much wiser choice. Or, even more realistically, the RX-V663. The RX-V663 can do things that the 5 year old flagship receiver cannot do. Just check for yourself if you have any doubts about this. And, realistically, the near perfect performance of the flagship isn't likely to result in a performance advantage that you will actually hear. I went from a Yamaha RX-V730 to a Yamaha RX-V2700. Although a difference can be measured, they sound the same, unless one is using a processing mode not available on the other, or one requires the additional power. This is comparing an old $600 receiver with a fairly new $1700 one. I bought the newer one for features, and in that way, it is vastly better. But, even with my good speakers with quality ribbon tweeters, they sound the same.

Basically, a flagship receiver is only a good choice for people for whom the purchase price is not a big deal. Otherwise, it is almost certainly a mistake to buy one. If you need great video processing, a separate processor, or, if one only needs it for DVDs, an Oppo DV-983H DVD player is a much more sensible option. That way, one can replace the receiver in a couple of years, and keep the processor, when new sound formats or capabilities come out. And with the money saved just from stepping down to the RX-V3800 (as opposed to the RX-Z11), one can get an incredible video processor. Or, amplification for low impedances, if one needs more power than the RX-V3800.
 
G

ggunnell

Audioholic
As others on AVS have posted, I have had no luck getting the Z11 to recognize any HDMI video signals from my Oppo 983 except 480p.

Upgrading to the latest Oppo firmware has no effect.

Using the Z11's "Signal Info", 480p is recognized as such, and the Z11 will up-convert it to 1080p. Both 720p and 1080i are unrecognized (type = "???") and the Z11 will not process them further, they are simply passed through.
1080p doesn't get through at all (blank screen).

This is unacceptable performance. My 3800 has no problem passing 1080p from the 983.
 
bandphan

bandphan

Banned
As others on AVS have posted, I have had no luck getting the Z11 to recognize any HDMI video signals from my Oppo 983 except 480p.

Upgrading to the latest Oppo firmware has no effect.

Using the Z11's "Signal Info", 480p is recognized as such, and the Z11 will up-convert it to 1080p. Both 720p and 1080i are unrecognized (type = "???") and the Z11 will not process them further, they are simply passed through.
1080p doesn't get through at all (blank screen).

This is unacceptable performance. My 3800 has no problem passing 1080p from the 983.
What display are you using? Is it possible to send 480i unaltered and let the yama or the display scale?
 
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