Yamaha Dolby Atmos AVENTAGE A/V Receivers Preview

[admin]

Just in time for all the Dolby Atmos hullabaloo, Yamaha has unveiled their new 2014 AVENTAGE A/V receiver lineup, including the entry level RX-A740 and RX-A840 to the Atmos-ready RX-A2040 and RX-A3040 high end models. Even the base model RX-A740 is packed with features including HDMI 2.0 with video upscaling to 4K/60p and integrated wireless, while higher end models add niceties such as preamplifer outputs, ESS SABRE DACs, and more advanced versions of Yamaha's YPAO auto-calibration system.

We tabulated all of the differences between the models to help you make a more informed purchasing decision. Want to know all the details? Click to keep reading.

Read the Yamaha RX-A740 to RX-A3040 AVENTAGE Dolby Atmos AV Receivers Preview

Which Yamaha receiver do you want?

 

[cembros]

How does ypao rsc 3d compare to xt32? Does it eq subs?

 

[BigScreen]

Atmos support is great news!

I'll be looking forward to reviews and more details to figure out if the 3040 is going to be worth $500 more than the 2040. I've been using Denon receivers in the past few years, so I'm unfamiliar with the differences between the 40x and 20x products.

 

[Bghead8che]

Poor EQ

Yamaha makes some great receivers, no doubt. They measure well and sound great.

The only problem is their EQ system, YPAO, is a joke. There is a thread on AVS Forum showing a before and after graph with using YPAO. YPAO only adjusted the curve a maximum of 1 to 1.5 DB throughout the entire range! Mostly the EQ made minor cuts and did not address any of the nulls. The EQ is close to useless. You will notice that most reviews fail to post a before/after graph.

I can't see why anyone would buy a Yamaha when you can get Audyssey XT32 on so many other receivers for little to no extra cost.

I really like Yamaha. I just wish they would introduce an EQ that actually does something.

-Brian

 

[3db]

Yamaha makes some great receivers, no doubt. They measure well and sound great.

The only problem is their EQ system, YPAO, is a joke. There is a thread on AVS Forum showing a before and after graph with using YPAO. YPAO only adjusted the curve a maximum of 1 to 1.5 DB throughout the entire range! Mostly the EQ made minor cuts and did not address any of the nulls. The EQ is close to useless. You will notice that most reviews fail to post a before/after graph.

I can't see why anyone would buy a Yamaha when you can get Audyssey XT32 on so many other receivers for little to no extra cost.

I really like Yamaha. I just wish they would introduce an EQ that actually does something.

-Brian

Which YPAO results are they showing? I have the oldest form of YPAO on my RX-V1800 and I can assure you that there is a world of difference in sound between the corrected and non corrected sound coming from my speakers. This simply isn't true based on what I'm experiencing.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Atmos ready means what exactly. Will it decode and steer the sound to the correct speakers? How many; up to 11?

 

[Living Stereo]

As you might guess by the channel count, both receivers are ready for Dolby Atmos

The high end RX-A2040 and RX-A3040 also see the addition of Dolby Atmos support

mtrycrafts
Atmos ready means what exactly. Will it decode and steer the sound to the correct speakers? How many; up to 11?

I looked on the Yamaha Web Site and the Owners Manual for the 3040 and found no reference to Dolby Atmos at all.

Could the Author please clarify the info on Dolby Atmos on the 2040 & 3040 ? Can it decode Dolby Atmos ?

 

[gene]

I looked on the Yamaha Web Site and the Owners Manual for the 3040 and found no reference to Dolby Atmos at all.

Could the Author please clarify the info on Dolby Atmos on the 2040 & 3040 ? Can it decode Dolby Atmos ?

Yes via a FW upgrade this fall just like all of the other Atmos Ready receivers hitting the market now.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Yes via a FW upgrade this fall just like all of the other Atmos Ready receivers hitting the market now.

So, if I understand this correctly, may not, The FW upgrade will allow decode of ATMOS and steer to the correct channels. In a 7.1 setup and a 11 ch receiver, this will allow 4 channels for the special ATMOS added ceiling channels or possibly the front/rear height channel and a couple in the ceiling?
Or, in a 5.1 setup and 11 ch AVR you have additional available for ATMOS?
Also suppose the faceplate indicators are already so created to display this mode of operation.

 

[crossedover]

all the questions for your system

 

[RichB]

all the questions for your system View attachment 13666

That's the old model. The new Atmos ready box comes with top firing speakers

- Rich

 

[crossedover]

That's the old model. The new Atmos ready box comes with top firing speakers

- Rich

And new digital amplifiers

 

[BigScreen]

Yamaha makes some great receivers, no doubt. They measure well and sound great.

The only problem is their EQ system, YPAO, is a joke. There is a thread on AVS Forum showing a before and after graph with using YPAO. YPAO only adjusted the curve a maximum of 1 to 1.5 DB throughout the entire range! Mostly the EQ made minor cuts and did not address any of the nulls. The EQ is close to useless. You will notice that most reviews fail to post a before/after graph.

That's unfortunate, if it's true. I haven't been following Yamaha's all that closely in the past couple of years, but I was quite happy with the EQ job that my RX-V2500 did back in the day. My recollection of Yamaha Aventage reviews in the past is that they were not unhappy with the YPAO, but maybe I have to look them over again. If you have some references, I would be interested to review them.

The newest Denons have Audyssey MultEQ XT (e.g. AVR-X3100W) and the upcoming AVR-X4100W (the Atmos-equipped model that was just announced) will have Audyssey MultEQ XT32, but the Onkyo/Integra products are dropping Audyssey in favor of their in-house effort, and Pioneer and Marantz really don't show up on my radar screen in this category.

Denon has historically had what I consider to be the worst possible interface that I have ever seen on an AV receiver, and that includes my first Yamaha which had no GUI at all, and everything had to be done from the receiver's display. My first experience was with a 2310CI and then I foolishly bought a 3312CI, thinking that they couldn't possibly have kept the same approach (they did, just dressed up a little to bring it out of the B&W TRS-80 motif). There is a reference guide from Batpig on AVS Forums that attempts to translate Denon's approach into common sense. (The need for which is a clear indication of the problem.) I will not buy another Denon until someone provides evidence that they have come out of the usability dark ages.

The advent of Atmos will certainly bring Room EQ and DSP Processing into the forefront more than ever. It will be interesting to see which manufacturers actually deliver on their timeframes, which figure out how to do it right, and how fast they react to fixing the inevitable problems that will arise.

 

[Marshall_Guthrie]

Marantz has Audyssey as well.

Agreed on the old Denon interface. Miserable at best.

New Denon = whole different ball game. Much more user friendly from either the built-in display or the video screen. On screen tutorial is great; we'll have video evidence very soon in our AVR-S700W review.

That's unfortunate, if it's true. I haven't been following Yamaha's all that closely in the past couple of years, but I was quite happy with the EQ job that my RX-V2500 did back in the day. My recollection of Yamaha Aventage reviews in the past is that they were not unhappy with the YPAO, but maybe I have to look them over again. If you have some references, I would be interested to review them.

The newest Denons have Audyssey MultEQ XT (e.g. AVR-X3100W) and the upcoming AVR-X4100W (the Atmos-equipped model that was just announced) will have Audyssey MultEQ XT32, but the Onkyo/Integra products are dropping Audyssey in favor of their in-house effort, and Pioneer and Marantz really don't show up on my radar screen in this category.

Denon has historically had what I consider to be the worst possible interface that I have ever seen on an AV receiver, and that includes my first Yamaha which had no GUI at all, and everything had to be done from the receiver's display. My first experience was with a 2310CI and then I foolishly bought a 3312CI, thinking that they couldn't possibly have kept the same approach (they did, just dressed up a little to bring it out of the B&W TRS-80 motif). There is a reference guide from Batpig on AVS Forums that attempts to translate Denon's approach into common sense. (The need for which is a clear indication of the problem.) I will not buy another Denon until someone provides evidence that they have come out of the usability dark ages.

The advent of Atmos will certainly bring Room EQ and DSP Processing into the forefront more than ever. It will be interesting to see which manufacturers actually deliver on their timeframes, which figure out how to do it right, and how fast they react to fixing the inevitable problems that will arise.

 

[agarwalro]

I will not buy another Denon until someone provides evidence that they have come out of the usability dark ages.

I can assure you the X generation menus are hugely improved over the CI generation.

There is even the Denon app to control the receiver via a networked device,

 

[3db]

That's unfortunate, if it's true. I haven't been following Yamaha's all that closely in the past couple of years, but I was quite happy with the EQ job that my RX-V2500 did back in the day. My recollection of Yamaha Aventage reviews in the past is that they were not unhappy with the YPAO, but maybe I have to look them over again. If you have some references, I would be interested to review them.

The newest Denons have Audyssey MultEQ XT (e.g. AVR-X3100W) and the upcoming AVR-X4100W (the Atmos-equipped model that was just announced) will have Audyssey MultEQ XT32, but the Onkyo/Integra products are dropping Audyssey in favor of their in-house effort, and Pioneer and Marantz really don't show up on my radar screen in this category.

Denon has historically had what I consider to be the worst possible interface that I have ever seen on an AV receiver, and that includes my first Yamaha which had no GUI at all, and everything had to be done from the receiver's display. My first experience was with a 2310CI and then I foolishly bought a 3312CI, thinking that they couldn't possibly have kept the same approach (they did, just dressed up a little to bring it out of the B&W TRS-80 motif). There is a reference guide from Batpig on AVS Forums that attempts to translate Denon's approach into common sense. (The need for which is a clear indication of the problem.) I will not buy another Denon until someone provides evidence that they have come out of the usability dark ages.

The advent of Atmos will certainly bring Room EQ and DSP Processing into the forefront more than ever. It will be interesting to see which manufacturers actually deliver on their timeframes, which figure out how to do it right, and how fast they react to fixing the inevitable problems that will arise.

You can count on Yamaha to do it their own way but do it right.

 

[AVisualGeek]

Pumped pumped and pumped

I am super pumped about some of the new receivers. I have a slightly older RX-A1010 and have been needing to replace that with something a little more powerful and feature-wise and something more future proofed. I've had a few tabs open on my screen waiting for them to ship with reviews such as this one and Poc's (Review: Yamaha's New RX-A3040 Aventage 11.2 Channel 4K Receiver | Poc Network - Tech Blog). I had one other open for a bit but I accidently closed it while checking my mail and lost track of where it was that I pulled that review from. Then I saw on a twitter blast that they have started to ship. I checked and sure enough....*click*!!! Mine is now ordered

The old unit will be moved to the game room, for gaming and listening purposes. I plan on getting one of the new models at my gallery as well so that I can have more speakers spread about and connected directly to the receiver to minimize hardware clutter. I can just run it in all-channel stereo and no more need of extra boxes to split and gain more speaker spots.

I may have to follow up with some more information one it comes in and share my thoughts compared to the 1010 model.

 

[keithhr]

What are the best settings for rx-a2040, with only front left and right speakers, in my bedroom.
I have it set for stereo mode, which sounds better than straight.
I can't do an auto run with only two speakers I believe.
Best setting or way to do this?
Please, any suggestions.