Yamaha RX-Z11 First Look

[Buckle-meister]

Hmm

I'm leaning towards the Oppo 980H since I have several dvd audio cd's and SACD's. This unit should send all high rez music via HDMI to the Z11.

I hope you're not considering buying a Z11 so that you can obtain high resolution music. You can already do this via i-link with the Z9.

I just need to sell my Yamaha Z9 this fall which I love.

I love mine too and there is absolutely zero chance of me selling it for many many years to come. For what it's worth, I prefer the look of the Z9 to the Z11.

And no, it's not just sour grapes on my part.

 

[troytn]

I hope you're not considering buying a Z11 so that you can obtain high resolution music. You can already do this via i-link with the Z9.


I love mine too and there is absolutely zero chance of me selling it for many many years to come. For what it's worth, I prefer the look of the Z9 to the Z11.

And no, it's not just sour grapes on my part.

I currently have the Pioneer 59dvi dvd player using I-link and it rocks. I'm wondering when high rez music will begin to be released in the new lossless formats on the HD DVD players and Blu Ray players.


I agree. I'm still on the fence. I guess it will determine what the internet price will be for the Z11 and then what I could sell my Z9 for, the Pioneer 59dvi for and I have a Carvin amp to sell that I'm not using.

 

[Buckle-meister]

I'm wondering when high rez music will begin to be released in the new lossless formats on the HD DVD players and Blu Ray players.

You think you're going to hear a difference between CD/DVD-A/SACD and audio on HD DVD/BD?

Are you going to use 11.2 speakers? Do you even use 9.2 at present?

I guess it will determine what the internet price will be for the Z11 and then what I could sell my Z9 for...

Regardless of what the price is, one thing is for sure; it'll be high and it'll be greater than the cost of the Z9. As for selling the Z9, if you bought it new you must know that you'll lose a fortune when you come to sell it.

 

[troytn]

You think you're going to hear a difference between CD/DVD-A/SACD and audio on HD DVD/BD?

Are you going to use 11.2 speakers? Do you even use 9.2 at present?



Regardless of what the price is, one thing is for sure; it'll be high and it'll be greater than the cost of the Z9. As for selling the Z9, if you bought it new you must know that you'll lose a fortune when you come to sell it.

I do currently use the 9.2. I started years ago with a dsp 3090 then a Denon 5803 and now the Z9. I know how much these toys depreciate when I do an upgrade. I just don't know how much of an upgrade the z11 will be over the Z9 for pure sound quality. I think sometimes this hobby is as much fun tinkering with the features/setup and adjusting the parameters trying to get the best sound for ones room as it is for the pure enjoyment of sound it provides. Plus who doesn't like to have the latest and greatest toys


Heck I had a Mitsubishi 65" TV and thought I would never want more then I went to a SanyoZ4 720p projector at 100" screen and thought I was set now I have a Mitsubishi HC5000 1080p projector with a 133" screen and I'm still blown away everytime I watch it. Its kind of like cars. You get the best car for the time and just about the time you pay it off one trades it in and gets a new one.

Its the American way. Just when you get out of debt you buy more stuff you don't need. Ha Ha..

 

[Buckle-meister]

I do currently use the 9.2.

Oh.

I think sometimes this hobby is as much fun tinkering with the features/setup and adjusting the parameters trying to get the best sound for ones room as it is for the pure enjoyment of sound it provides.

Absolutely!

 

[lifamily]

Love My Yamahas

I could not imagine selling off my Yamahas. I have acquired the DSP-A1 and the TX-950 Tuner that I use in my living room, and my RX-Z9 in my basement set up. The two most amazing units that I have had the pleasure of listening to. Although I would love to get the RX-Z11 when it debuts, $4500.00 is a lot of cash to lay out, since I just picked up the RX-Z9 last year. I think I'll wait until the next flagship emerges from Yamahas drawing boards...

 

[erikjohn]

I just don't know how much of an upgrade the z11 will be over the Z9 for pure sound quality.

My guess would be zero if not a step backwards. The Z9 has more power with the torridal power supply and larger caps. The upgrades are in the department of HDMI capablilties(Audio and Video) and video scaling/switching.

 

[Donsky]

First Post: Question

Hello, I am very curious about the new Yamaha RX-Z11. My main concern is that I am trying to decide weather or not to purchase a PC or Mac with the receiver. I currently have my entire music/media library on a Mac iBook G4 and am concerned about the difficulty of transferring the media to a Windows-based PC after purchasing the RX-Z11. My bottom-line question is this: I intend to use a computer (either a Windows-based PC or Mac) to hold my entire media library (music, videos, movies, etc) and to browse the internet in my media room (home theater room) - will the Yamaha RX-Z11 be Mac compatible? Your thoughts and help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Don

 

[Dakar]

This new receiver looks very nice. I know with the Z1 & Z9 models you could get them for much less than full price so I imagine this will go down too. However I'm not impressed with the 140w/ch. My 2700 has that much power. I imagine the Z11 has more power with 7 channels all going but still not as much power as I would have expected. Its just not a significant enough change for me to want to upgrade at this point. 11.2 would be cool to hear with a jungle or a storm scene, but I wouldn't want to have to set all that up.

 

[Rtech1]

Z11 is for Tech Geeks

After reviewing the Z11 User Manual, at first glance this looks like a beast. I use my Z9 for my Sony G90 Projector (Superior to any DLP) which still uses Component Video Inputs and not HDMI. But even comparing a Projector with HDMI the G90 is still King. OK Back to the Z11,
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the Z11 is more for Tech Geeks then Audiophiles. Less inputs, less Power, Graphic Equalizer removed, less Yamaha DSP Programs compared to the Z9,(although they do add HD Decoding which is the only advantage over the Z9) And more tools for compressed music and compressed Video.
In my opinion it would have been great to add HDMI without losing all the Inputs and Power. If you are a Z1 user this is a Great upgrade, but if you are a Z9 User. I would wait for the review. Me? I will wait for the next Flagship.

 

[brahn]

To upgrade or not to upgrade

I currently own a RX-Z9. My question is will the RX-Z11 going to be much of an improvement? I will say that I can get may hands on one in the next couple of weeks for a very great price but is it worth getting?

 

[bwillcox]

The Z9 already allows for Stereo or Mono to be selected for the subs.

As did the RX-V1 and RX-Z1 (at least). I think they just decided to start promoting/marketing the feature is all.

 

[bwillcox]

I currently own a RX-Z9. My question is will the RX-Z11 going to be much of an improvement? I will say that I can get may hands on one in the next couple of weeks for a very great price but is it worth getting?

For me, the driving force to upgrade from my Z9 is the HDMI support. More of my equipment is becoming HDMI capable all the time. I will miss the iLink support, though.

 

[bwillcox]

I hope you're not considering buying a Z11 so that you can obtain high resolution music. You can already do this via i-link with the Z9.

But not for $169.00. iLink capable players tend to run a bit more than that.

I currently own 3 of the Oppo DV-980Hs and have been very pleased with them (I'm using them with Yamaha RX-V2700s).

I have to say that I've had iLink compatibility problems between my Z9 and my Sony SCD-XA9000ES. After a few hours of playing it I start getting various unexpected noises ("sparkly" kinds of stuff) and I have to power cycle the Sony player to clear it up. I suspect that neither Yamaha nor Sony did much compatibility testing of each other's products. I will miss the iLink support on the Z11, but won't miss this aspect of it.

 

[brahn]

to upgrade or not to upgrade

For me, the driving force to upgrade from my Z9 is the HDMI support. More of my equipment is becoming HDMI capable all the time. I will miss the iLink support, though.

$5000.00 seems like a lot of money just for HDMI. My concern is that sonically the Z11 might fall short of the Z9. I would hate to go backwards on my system. Is dolby True HD that far superior? same question for dts-hd.

 

[bwillcox]

$5000.00 seems like a lot of money just for HDMI. My concern is that sonically the Z11 might fall short of the Z9. I would hate to go backwards on my system. Is dolby True HD that far superior? same question for dts-hd.

There are a number of other features that the Z11 has that I am also interested in. The HDMI support is simply the most prominent one for me personally. I don't know how good TrueHD or DTS HD will be, but I do expect them to be better than lossy compression.

As for how it will sound, I guess I'm taking it on faith and Yamaha's track record. Every flagship Yamaha amp/receiver that I've purchased over the past 20 or so years (I've owned at least one of each since the DSP-A3090) has sounded better to me than its predecessor. I'm hoping that I won't be disappointed this time either.

 

[gene]

However I'm not impressed with the 140w/ch. My 2700 has that much power.

All wattage specs are NOT created equal. The power of your 2700 is much different than that of the Z11. The Z11 will handle low impedance loads much better and have more headroom to boot.

Years ago I owned a $999 RX-V992 rated at 80wpc back before I started Audioholics. I later acquired a $2600 DSP-A3090 also rated at 80wpc. When I A/B'ed the two units they weren't even in the same league sound quality wise for 2 channel music. The 3090 simply smoked the 992 sounding much more detailed and dynamic, with better stereo separation.

Don't judge the product simply b/c of a power spec.

I was a bit skeptical about the Z11 until I saw it in action both at CEDIA and at our 9th Annual State of the CE Union Event. This receiver is a serious contender and I can't wait to do a formal review of it.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

All wattage specs are NOT created equal. The power of your 2700 is much different than that of the Z11. The Z11 will handle low impedance loads much better and have more headroom to boot.

Years ago I owned a $999 RX-V992 rated at 80wpc back before I started Audioholics. I later acquired a $2600 DSP-A3090 also rated at 80wpc. When I A/B'ed the two units they weren't even in the same league sound quality wise for 2 channel music. The 3090 simply smoked the 992 sounding much more detailed and dynamic, with better stereo separation.

Don't judge the product simply b/c of a power spec.

I was a bit skeptical about the Z11 until I saw it in action both at CEDIA and at our 9th Annual State of the CE Union Event. This receiver is a serious contender and I can't wait to do a formal review of it.

I can vouch for that statement as well. I ran a Denon 3805 for a few years trying to power some demanding Polk RTi towers in a 7.1 setup, and was never impressed with the results in a very large room.

After losing an output stage out of warranty, and experiencing UPS returning my fixed 3805 in pieces, I used the insurance money to purchase an older flagship Denon 4802R AVR.

Although the rated wattage on the 3805 was 120x7, compared to the 4802R at only 5 watts more at 125x7, there was a huge difference at reference levels as well as dynamics and punch. The toroidal transformer in the 4802R is as large as a softball, and the weight of the unit is about 10lbs. more. There 4802R is also much deeper then the 3805 is as far as dimensions go.

Take it for what its worth. If you're driving very efficient speakers in a small room, you may never notice a difference. In a large room with demanding speakers, at high volume, it could make all the difference in the world. YMWV.

 

[morksbeanbag]

My guess would be zero if not a step backwards. The Z9 has more power with the torridal power supply and larger caps. The upgrades are in the department of HDMI capablilties(Audio and Video) and video scaling/switching.

Why would having a toroid and 2000 extra uF of capacitance make it sound any better? There are many audio upgrades made to the Z11 over the Z9 particularly in power supplies for the digital and analogue stages of the pre amp, DAC location and there is also far more real estate on the power amp pcb's allowing for installation of a better quality circuit.

I can't believe its $5k in the U.S, its twice the price in the UK at £5000, and you don't get the built in tuner either

 

[bwillcox]

Why would having a toroid and 2000 extra uF of capacitance make it sound any better? There are many audio upgrades made to the Z11 over the Z9 particularly in power supplies for the digital and analogue stages of the pre amp, DAC location and there is also far more real estate on the power amp pcb's allowing for installation of a better quality circuit.

I can't believe its $5k in the U.S, its twice the price in the UK at £5000, and you don't get the built in tuner either

The Yamaha rep at the Z11 demo that I attended in San Antonio claimed that US Yamaha pushed hard for a $5000 selling price in the US. He went on to say that many at Yamaha felt that they had under priced it and that an "upgraded" model with a higher price tag could be released in the not too distant future to "fix" the problem. I have no idea how much truth there is to this of course, but it does suggest that there are those at Yamaha that feel as you do regarding the US pricing. (Could have just been a ploy to convince us to buy one soon to avoid a price increase.)