Yamaha Owners’ Thread (AVR, Pre-pro, Amp)

[3db]

@KEW,

IHO, Yamaha does not need this kind of marketing mumbo jumbo. They build stellar reliable products as it is and built its success on its QC. Maybe, this marketing speak is to rope in the audiophiles who rather believe in magic than science. Thats all I can think of. If I were that well off to afford these, I would purchase these components because I know that they will be around and most likely bury me in 30 years .

 

[PENG]

@KEW,

IHO, Yamaha does not need this kind of marketing mumbo jumbo.

They definitely don't "need", but like others, they do do it, don't they (like those anti-vibration stuff)?

I would purchase these components because I know that they will be around and most likely bury me in 30 years .

Me, too, if just for their good looks, afaic best look/$!!

 

[M Code]

All part of Yamaha's top of marketing position posturing...
Extremely important in certain markets such as domestic Japan...
By providing super build materials and quality besides exceptional electrical specs. Total tooling cost for this series was >$4 million, 1st production run is 100 pcs each...


Just my $0.02...

 

[Verdinut]

Yamaha doesn't publish much detailed specs on some of their products:

R-S202 - Specs - Yamaha - United States

Yamaha, the most trusted brand in home audio, adds Bluetooth® compatibility in this Hi-Fi receiver for easy wireless access to streaming music services and music on your smartphone or other devices. Enjoy the connectivity and the outstanding and legendary quality of Yamaha natural sound.

usa.yamaha.com

In my opinion, that stereo receiver probably has a power rating of about 60w/ch with THD <0.1% at best. But why don't they indicate it in their specs? People might be mislead in thinking that the product is more powerful than it really is by reading what is published. It's poor marketing publicity.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yamaha doesn't publish much detailed specs on some of their products:

R-S202 - Specs - Yamaha - United States

Yamaha, the most trusted brand in home audio, adds Bluetooth® compatibility in this Hi-Fi receiver for easy wireless access to streaming music services and music on your smartphone or other devices. Enjoy the connectivity and the outstanding and legendary quality of Yamaha natural sound.

usa.yamaha.com

In my opinion, that stereo receiver probably has a power rating of about 60w/ch at best. But why don't they indicate it in their specs? People might be mislead in thinking that the product is more powerful than it really is by reading what is published. It's poor marketing publicity.

Was curious about it so looked. Odd about the lower end quoted at 40 hz on the basic rating....wonder what happens if you rate it to normal 20?
From the owner's manual:
• Minimum RMS output power(8 , 40 Hz to 20 kHz, 0.2% THD)
[North America, General, China, Korea, Australia and Europe models] 100 W + 100 W
[Asia model] 85 W + 85 W
Dynamic power per channel (8 6 4 2 IHF) 125 W/150 W/165 W/180 W
Maximum power per channel (4 1 kHz, 0.7%, THD)[Europe model] 115 W
Maximum effective output power (8 1 kHz, 10%, THD)[General model]140 W
[Asia model] 125 W

 

[Verdinut]

Was curious about it so looked. Odd about the lower end quoted at 40 hz on the basic rating....wonder what happens if you rate it to normal 20?
From the owner's manual:
• Minimum RMS output power(8 , 40 Hz to 20 kHz, 0.2% THD)
[North America, General, China, Korea, Australia and Europe models] 100 W + 100 W
[Asia model] 85 W + 85 W
Dynamic power per channel (8 6 4 2 IHF) 125 W/150 W/165 W/180 W
Maximum power per channel (4 1 kHz, 0.7%, THD)[Europe model] 115 W
Maximum effective output power (8 1 kHz, 10%, THD)[General model]140 W
[Asia model] 125 W

Yes, Yamaha have been producing some budget priced receivers for several years. I noticed that most of them have a low frequency response starting at 40 Hz. That's really weird.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yes, Yamaha have been producing some budget priced receivers for several years. I noticed that most of them have a low frequency response starting at 40 Hz. That's really weird.

Yamaha: Hey, we just care about being #1 in reliability and compatibility. Screw power and pre-out voltage. And if you can't afford higher-end components, then, well, you don't need anything below 40Hz.

 

[snakeeyes]

I found another setting on my Yamaha today. You can enable a phantom surround back channel in the setup menu. It’s called virtual surround back.
Anyhow it won’t do anything even when enabled, unless you use a dsp. For example “Movie Standard.” If it’s workin, “Virtual” appears or the right side of the display. (My Yamaha is RXA2060 and I currently have a 5.1 setup)
It does an ok job of simulating the surround back actually. Anyhow just another feature I found today.

 

[3db]

I found another setting on my Yamaha today. You can enable a phantom surround back channel in the setup menu. It’s called virtual surround back.
Anyhow it won’t do anything even when enabled, unless you use a dsp. For example “Movie Standard.” If it’s workin, “Virtual” appears or the right side of the display. (My Yamaha is RXA2060 and I currently have a 5.1 setup)
It does an ok job of simulating the surround back actually. Anyhow just another feature I found today.

Its good to play and try different out options. At one point, I was forced to learn about reassigning inputs on an RX-V1900 as I just didnt have enough inputs. It saved my bacon.

 

[jwdhelaman]

I haven't looked at this forum for a while and my whole system setup is different now. I'm on my 4th Yamaha AVR and you can guess that I like Yamaha. I have had great luck in getting help from them when I had a question. I got my first one from and insurance sale many moons ago. After a few years, I bought the AV3010 for surround sound with my Optoma HD26 projector. It did well, but then other equipment started popping up, so I bought the AV3050. Then Dolby ATMOS and DTS:X and other stuff and I got the AV3070 to work with the AV3010 for the extra channels. I currently have a 7.2.4 system, which is great. I do have one question that made me wonder about some things. When I got the AV3070, I tried to set up the ATMOS and DTS:X and it didn't show on the screen. When I contacted Yamaha as well as others, I was told that I would have to set up each of my 4K UHD DHR Blu-ray Players with Bitstream. It is working great now, but I don't understand why the info button didn't automatically set the AVR for ATMOS or DTS:X. What am I missing? You guys have a lot of great info. Thanks for being there for us.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I haven't looked at this forum for a while and my whole system setup is different now. I'm on my 4th Yamaha AVR and you can guess that I like Yamaha. I have had great luck in getting help from them when I had a question. I got my first one from and insurance sale many moons ago. After a few years, I bought the AV3010 for surround sound with my Optoma HD26 projector. It did well, but then other equipment started popping up, so I bought the AV3050. Then Dolby ATMOS and DTS:X and other stuff and I got the AV3070 to work with the AV3010 for the extra channels. I currently have a 7.2.4 system, which is great. I do have one question that made me wonder about some things. When I got the AV3070, I tried to set up the ATMOS and DTS:X and it didn't show on the screen. When I contacted Yamaha as well as others, I was told that I would have to set up each of my 4K UHD DHR Blu-ray Players with Bitstream. It is working great now, but I don't understand why the info button didn't automatically set the AVR for ATMOS or DTS:X. What am I missing? You guys have a lot of great info. Thanks for being there for us.

Does LCD screen show DTS-HD MA and TrueHD?

If yes, then it should show Atmos and DTS:X MA.

Also make sure you set the DSP mode to STRAIGHT.

 

[jwdhelaman]

I did press the INFO button and set the DSP to STRAIGHT, but it did not show ATMOS nor DTS:X on the LCD screen. I checked with Yamaha and Panasonic and was given the same answer, in that I would have to set the output of the player to BITSTREAM. I converted the Panasonic 820 to BITSTREAM and set the output from the 4K disc to ATMOS and another disc that was DTS:X and both showed the LCD screen to ATMOS and DTS:X. I did the same thing to my SONY X700 and SAMSUNG M8500 and they also show ATMOS and DTS:X, therefore, there is something that I don't understand, but I'm not going to fix it now, because they are working correctly. Thanks.

 

[sanderrz3W]

I do think that there is nothing better than model Yamaha RX-V683, cause I've been testing it for a long time. I've purchased it after reading an article and I'm really glad I found it. Cause it showed me a lot of pros and cons of each model of receivers from different audio brands.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I did press the INFO button and set the DSP to STRAIGHT, but it did not show ATMOS nor DTS:X on the LCD screen. I checked with Yamaha and Panasonic and was given the same answer, in that I would have to set the output of the player to BITSTREAM. I converted the Panasonic 820 to BITSTREAM and set the output from the 4K disc to ATMOS and another disc that was DTS:X and both showed the LCD screen to ATMOS and DTS:X. I did the same thing to my SONY X700 and SAMSUNG M8500 and they also show ATMOS and DTS:X, therefore, there is something that I don't understand, but I'm not going to fix it now, because they are working correctly. Thanks.

Yeah I guess they assume most people don’t have AVRs and just hook the BD player straight to the TV or something.

But for everyone who owns AVR or AVP, we all have to set the output to BITSTREAM and Video to 4K (for all 4K AVR/TV).

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I do think that there is nothing better than model Yamaha RX-V683, cause I've been testing it for a long time.

Well, if it works great, then don’t fix it.

 

[jwdhelaman]

Yeah I guess they assume most people don’t have AVRs and just hook the BD player straight to the TV or something.

But for everyone who owns AVR or AVP, we all have to set the output to BITSTREAM and Video to 4K (for all 4K AVR/TV).

 

[jwdhelaman]

I had been on line with another website, and this is the first time that I have been told in language that I could understand. I have been hooked on AV since 1979, when I built my amplifier from a kit. I worked at a university and a friend of mine that was a professor in the Chemistry Department specialized in building speakers. He gave me plans for one set of speakers that would blow year ears off. Their range was so low, you could hear the bottom pedal of an organ on them. Sadly, that was 40 years ago and my speakers just couldn't keep up with the digital technology anymore. I sold them to some one for a bunch of change.
Anyway, thanks for the straight talk you give. I just turned 72 on the 20th, and like my speakers, I have trouble keeping up with the technology.

 

[3db]

I had been on line with another website, and this is the first time that I have been told in language that I could understand. I have been hooked on AV since 1979, when I built my amplifier from a kit. I worked at a university and a friend of mine that was a professor in the Chemistry Department specialized in building speakers. He gave me plans for one set of speakers that would blow year ears off. Their range was so low, you could hear the bottom pedal of an organ on them. Sadly, that was 40 years ago and my speakers just couldn't keep up with the digital technology anymore. I sold them to some one for a bunch of change.
Anyway, thanks for the straight talk you give. I just turned 72 on the 20th, and like my speakers, I have trouble keeping up with the technology.

Looks to me that you are handling new technology quite well. One word of advice which I follow myself, I reread the owners manual and experiment regularly to understand the AVR better and to help myself remember its features and capabilities.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I just replaced my Denon AVR-5308 with the Yamaha RX-A3080.

The AVR-5308 can output about 340 watts RMS x 2Ch into 4 ohms, while the RX-A3080 can output about 300 watts RMS x 2Ch into 4 ohms.

I listened and sang karaoke last night on the Yamaha AVR connected to the Yamaha MIXER.

I’ve always preferred not using any kind of auto room correction EQ. Same with both the Denon and Yamaha. So the SQ is the same in “direct” modes.

There are differences between the Denon and Yamaha.

1. Direct Mode/Pure Direct Mode and Bass Management. Denon allows Subwoofer usage even in Pure Direct mode. Yamaha does not allow bass management in Pure Direct mode. However, Direct modes sound the same to me as “Straight” (Yamaha) and “Stereo” (Denon) modes. Except for KARAOKE!

2. Karaoke Mode. Okay, there’s no such thing. I just made this up. But huge difference here. Night and day difference. In Stereo mode, there is a slight delay in vocals through the Mixer for karaoke. It’s like a slight “echo” effect, which may be fine for most people who use “echo” for karaoke. But I prefer no echo effects of any kind. Thus, with the Denon, I had to use Direct Mode.

Since Denon allows Sub output in Direct mode, there’s not an issue.

But since Yamaha doesn’t allow Sub output in Pure Direct mode (Yamaha doesn’t have a Direct mode), this created a problem for me.

Yamaha’s PD mode seems to be made for FULL RANGE Large speaker, which doesn’t need a Sub. So it routes all the bass to the Front L/R speakers.

Solution: I have to use the Yamaha‘s XLR Balanced Front Left/Right Output to connect to the RBH SA-500DSP Sub amp XLR Input. Then use the Sub amp’s XO/PEQ to set LPF (150Hz), HPF (25Hz), XO Slope (12dB), and PEQ settings.

I boost the PEQ from 25Hz-80Hz to create that “Dynamic EQ” bass effect.

So now I use the Yamaha in Pure Direct mode.

But again, the end result is the same Sound Quality with both RX-A3080 and AVR-5308.

3. Once again, the Yamaha’s WiFi Remote App and Music Streaming (MusicCast) work perfectly, unlike the Denon’s. I was able to easily set up and control the MusicCast for Zone 1 (Living Room) and Zone 2 (Back Porch). There’s also the option for Zone 3 since I’m not using all of the Yamaha’s internal amps. So going back in time, I would have wired more speakers for more zones.

4. HDMI Compatibility. With the Denon, if the PC is turned on first or is already powered up and then the Denon is powered up, there is the HDMI handshake problem and it doesn’t work. The PC has to be powered up LAST. Sometimes even when the PC is powered up last, it still doesn’t work and I have to restart the PC.

The Yamaha has no issue here. The PC can be powered up first or stays on overnight. As soon as the Yamaha powers up, the HDMI works perfectly.

5. Heat. The Yamaha stayed very cool after 6 hours and a lot of karaoke. The Denon always got very hot.

In conclusion, the SQ of the RX-A3080 is excellent like the AVR-5308. “Karaoke mode” is also excellent with Pure Direct mode.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]