Amp I got for free with speakers sounds better than brand new 2000$ Yamaha aventage

[BryanG]

I just got some almost 20yr old Boston towers and the guy said he’d throw in a receiver he didn’t want just as a bonus. It is a Yamaha v995 from 1999. Okay so here’s the tricky part. I just bought the 2000$ Rx-a3070 from bbuy. I thought I’d see how the free receiver works and I was floored with the performance. It was truly as blind as a home test could be. I had no idea the level of receiver it was in its day. It turns out it was a relatively pricey one. But the sound is just so far beyond the flagship 2018 I just got from the same company. Why is this and what do I have to do to beat my old receiver and this one!? I’d love to know the difference and how I can get this level of performance again. Ie. sq even and low volume, natural/real sounding instruments, and I don’t know how to say this but more discreet signals to the speakers? Meaning the new one sounds more like pro logic, sound doesn’t seem to move around like it does on these old ones. Any help would be appreciated.

Oh AND! trying to beat the Yamaha I got a x7200wa from Denon and it has no display and no sound on arrival. What is going on with these new receivers!?

 

[lovinthehd]

How are you comparing them, i.e. in pure/direct modes, all dsp turned off, levels matched, etc? You didn't really do a blind test, you knew about the free vs $2k thing as well as sighted installation, so that takes "blind" out of the picture.

 

[BryanG]

I mean Blind as can be. If I had no idea what level or price the second receiver was or even the age. That is as blind a test as one can setup for themselves and if anything the free dirty old one should bias me toward the brand new shiny 2k$ one. I had no idea what the old one was. I googled it after the surprise. I tried the new one in all modes I could think of, pure direct, enhanced, ypao vol on and off, surround decode, straight, did factory reset and tried again. Same wires and everything. Wish I could have tried the Denon but it was dead on arrival.

 

[everettT]

The Yamaha 995 was a beast of an av amp. I still have one in a two channel setup . That said it shouldn't Sound different than any other unit unless you're speakers are demanding. As loving stated unless compared apples to apples, there shouldn't be any difference.

 

[lovinthehd]

I mean Blind as can be. If I had no idea what level or price the second receiver was or even the age. That is as blind a test as one can setup for themselves. I googled it after the surprise. I tried in all modes I could think of, pure direct, enhanced, ypao vol on and off, surround decode, straight, did factory reset and tried again. Same wires and everything. Wish I could have tried the Denon but doa.

Still not a blind test, sorry. Not what it means. It is difficult to a blind test of avrs by yourself, tho....it's not easy to even setup. You certainly seem to like it, tho. If you're happy with the feature set and connectivity of the 995 then you're set.

 

[BryanG]

I am trying to move into Atmos and WiFi control for the wife. That’s the motivation for changing. This old freebie sounds nice but is beat up and has no remote and doesn’t do dts hd etc. It will have to hold me over until I figure out what to look for to find this sound however. I have a jvc dp15b that I was trying to replace. I thought that was just a magical amp that was tough to beat. But after hearing this old Yamaha I’m concerned it’s not that the old ones are so great but that the new ones are bad. I hope I’m not just nostalgic. I don’t typically buy used things in av. Wife won’t even get used cars! I truly think it’s some type of cost cutting or power supply issue or maybe just new style amps? The flagship Yamaha should blow the doors off an old Yamaha and a jvc from 13 years ago. Now I’m thinking to give separates a try. Do you think that’s worth a look or do they really just have the same guts as the high end receivers?

 

[lovinthehd]

I have four avrs in the house. They're far more similar, aside from dsp/connectivity/feature set, than different sq-wise. Hard for me to appreciate your observation. I think you're expecting too much, from your comment like "blow the doors off" because it's newer. I have old 2ch separates (more than one set, too) and they don't have any particular advantage over the avr sq wise and don't approach them in usefulness.

There's a lot of folk who seem to get all excited about old receivers, I'm not one of them (and if I'd hung onto my old 2ch Marantz could sell it more today than I paid for it it seems, crosstalk and all), and don't think separates for multi-ch are worth the extra cost. Three of the four I've got can act as pre-amp and they do that quite well when I've added amps. Some like tube amps, don't care for using those either. YMMV.

 

[BryanG]

I must say. On 2 channel music. The aventage is breathtaking. Absolutely stunning. Even via airplay. So I know the quality and power is in there. Once it goes Dolby Digital......it’s honestly not even close. I don’t see how anyone would pick the 3070 over the 20yr old one.

 

[lovinthehd]

I think if you spend enough time with any avr due all the possible adjustments, you're likely to find some dsp that really appeals. Is it the straight decode mode from a bitstream source you like DD in or as a sound mode for 2.0 or other sources? How about YPAO setup? Assuming you did that....details man details!

 

[BryanG]

For one thing it’s saying pcm the entire time on 2018 model. HDMI in. Where the older one says DD on same source material. optical in. Does hdmi do things differently than optical? I fussed with different bitstream hz and couldn’t find one that would make it say DD. Finally hooked it up optical and ran hdmi right to projector and got it to say DD and get a little more surround action. Just not the same SQ. Especially noticeable on lower volume levels and center seems more fake sounding. I’m gonna research tonight and see what the power sections look like on 2018 vs 1999 and go from there. Gotta rule something out.

 

[lovinthehd]

Sounds like you still need to check your audio output on the source if it's indicating pcm (is it 2ch pcm or multi-ch pcm?). Some sources have specific hdmi menus.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

When comparing AVRs, 2 things will most likely set them apart:

1) Not volume level match. A 1dB difference can significantly affect the sound.

2) Use of DSP/Tones/EQ vs Direct/Pure Direct/Straight mode.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I got a x7200wa from Denon and it has no display and no sound on arrival.

This is a brand new Denon X7200 ?

 

[BryanG]

This is a brand new Denon X7200 ?

It was. And it was from crutchfield so I know it was legit. Shame. Matching those specs is EXPENSIVE!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

It was. And it was from crutchfield so I know it was legit. Shame. Matching those specs is EXPENSIVE!

Definitely reinforces my notion that buying something like the $1K Denon X3000 series on sale for $599 brand new is the better choice because it costs a lot less, hurts a lot less, and sounds just as good for most cases.

 

[highfigh]

I just got some almost 20yr old Boston towers and the guy said he’d throw in a receiver he didn’t want just as a bonus. It is a Yamaha v995 from 1999. Okay so here’s the tricky part. I just bought the 2000$ Rx-a3070 from bbuy. I thought I’d see how the free receiver works and I was floored with the performance. It was truly as blind as a home test could be. I had no idea the level of receiver it was in its day. It turns out it was a relatively pricey one. But the sound is just so far beyond the flagship 2018 I just got from the same company. Why is this and what do I have to do to beat my old receiver and this one!? I’d love to know the difference and how I can get this level of performance again. Ie. sq even and low volume, natural/real sounding instruments, and I don’t know how to say this but more discreet signals to the speakers? Meaning the new one sounds more like pro logic, sound doesn’t seem to move around like it does on these old ones. Any help would be appreciated.

Oh AND! trying to beat the Yamaha I got a x7200wa from Denon and it has no display and no sound on arrival. What is going on with these new receivers!?

What did you do after opening the box? First thing, always- hard reset, then firmware update.

You have to assign the inputs before it will work.