Official Yamaha RX-Z7 Receiver Review Thread

[ryaneagon]

HDMI Processing

Having a Hdmi issue

When I turn on yamaha processing for hdmi my display gets really dark!
And I have to boost up the brightness on my TV.

It only seems to to do it with hdmi to hdmi, not component, to hdmi scaling.

This is a big problem! If I switch between component and a hdmi source I have, huge brightness issues.

I also have the blue line hdmi to hdmi bug.
I hoping the new firmware expected sometime this month will fix this brightness issue.

Can anybody comment on these issues

 

[EvanescoZ7]

Having a Hdmi issue

When I turn on yamaha processing for hdmi my display gets really dark!
And I have to boost up the brightness on my TV.

It only seems to to do it with hdmi to hdmi, not component, to hdmi scaling.

This is a big problem! If I switch between component and a hdmi source I have, huge brightness issues.

I also have the blue line hdmi to hdmi bug.
I hoping the new firmware expected sometime this month will fix this brightness issue.

Can anybody comment on these issues

Please try go into Advanced Setup and do a Initialize - ALL. Everything will be reset to factory default.
Mine was also playing weird stuff with me, after I upgraded the firmware from 1.04 to 1.05. Initialize ALL in Advanced Setup solved all my problems, so try this.

 

[Warlan]

First, let me thank everyone for posting on this thread and for Gene's great review! I purchased the Z7 and I'm very happy...it is a great receiver.

I am having an issue and hope someone can help me. This unit replaced my Denon 3805, but I want to use it in another room (Zone 4). I connected the optical Zone 4 out Yamaha to my Denon (opt in). However, I only get audio from devices that are connected to the Yamaha optical inputs (TV, DVD player). I have 3 other components (Xbox, PS3, 2nd DVD) attached via HDMI, that are not sending a signal as well as the Yamaha Tuner and Net-Radio).

I've tried changing the opt ports to the Denon (Aux, DVD, etc), but still only optical inputs are transmitting, I cannot hear anything from the HDMI devices or Tuner/Net Radio. I have both the Receiver manager and web interface on to control Zone 4 on the Yamaha. It seems you don't have volume control via the Z7 if using the optical Zone 4 method (I think gene mentioned this in his review)-but do if you are using the analog Zone outs...

Am I missing something? I would like to get this running before buying a longer optical wire to run into the other room. Right now I am testing with a 6ft Toslink cable with the receivers next to each other.

Thanks in advance!

I haven't received mine yet but that is something I will definetly look into as I have the same setup and want to do the same thing. I'd rather use one optical to feed my old denon rather than going the 6 RCA route. That being said, have you tried running optical from your PS3 and 360 to your Z7 and then an optical to your Denon receiver to see if that works?

Edit: If you check page 22 of the manual (english) you will see that if you pass audio on hdmi it stays hdmi. If you pass it digital optical it stays optical (digital coax can mix with optical) and RCAs stay RCAs. On the video side it seems they can all mix except HDMI can't downmix to component or composite.

2nd Edit: On page 124 it says "Any source you want to listen to in these zones must be connected to the analog AUDIO IN jacks of this unit". However, when in party mode audio signals at the HDMI IN jacks or DIGITAL INPUT jacks are output at the ZONE OUTs. I would assume though that if you connect your source via optical that you should get optical in Zone 4.

 

[ryaneagon]

Please try go into Advanced Setup and do a Initialize - ALL. Everything will be reset to factory default.
Mine was also playing weird stuff with me, after I upgraded the firmware from 1.04 to 1.05. Initialize ALL in Advanced Setup solved all my problems, so try this.

Been there, done that, same issue

Thanks for your input.

 

[EvanescoZ7]

OK, lets hope the 1.06 firmware gets out asap!!

 

[loatincali]

Thanks for the reply Warlan!

Actually, I am really looking forward to using Yamaha'sTuner/Net Radio on Zone 4 (optical to the Denon). I'd imagined getting HDMI audio feeds would be a great bonus, but I would settle with just the Tuner/Net Radio in Zone 4.

I've tried party mode, but that did not seem to work either. I wonder how Gene was able to get the Zones working during his review? It was really cool to hear he could have music going and a 7.1 movie at the same time.

 

[mrobb]

Yamaha worst power supplies

I had contacted my hi fi supplier who is 150 miles from where i live to get him to order a new RX Z7 now he tells me they are not stocking yamaha because of all the problems they have had with them. He would'nt give me any information on the problems and kept going on about how they had been to a sales conference and how they had opened up one of these and compared to the denon 4308a and pioneer sclx81 these had the worst caps and power supplies of them all. He then went on about how good the denon is and then gobsmacked me by telling me their new price here in NZ from when I first asked just before xmas they were on special at $4500 now they're asking $6000. what a rip off for a receiver over 2 years old. Any thoughts on those power supplies or are they just be biased towards an overpriced denon.

 

[Warlan]

I had contacted my hi fi supplier who is 150 miles from where i live to get him to order a new RX Z7 now he tells me they are not stocking yamaha because of all the problems they have had with them. He would'nt give me any information on the problems and kept going on about how they had been to a sales conference and how they had opened up one of these and compared to the denon 4308a and pioneer sclx81 these had the worst caps and power supplies of them all. He then went on about how good the denon is and then gobsmacked me by telling me their new price here in NZ from when I first asked just before xmas they were on special at $4500 now they're asking $6000. what a rip off for a receiver over 2 years old. Any thoughts on those power supplies or are they just be biased towards an overpriced denon.

Based on the reviews here the Pioneer has inferior power supply and caps (though it uses ICE amps that may not need the extra juice) to the Yamaha. Couldn't tell you about the denon. I'm sure you could find the service manuals around somewhere and compare the power supplies and caps.

 

[Hi Ho]

The store I work for sells more Yamaha than Denon and we have had no problems with either brand. In fact, our service tech told me that he feels that the design and layout of the Yamaha receivers he's opened up is superior to Denon. He feels Yamaha is generally the better engineered product. Now, as far as I know he has never had to open up any Yamaha or Denon receivers as high end as the Z7 or the Denon equivalent.

 

[mvp2005fan]

My First Impressions Z7

I thought I'd also post my first impressions here, since this thread seems more active than other Z7 threads: I just got my Z7 hooked up today with my 7.1 Mythos system (Ones (Mains), Eight (Center), and UIW RSS II's (Side Surrounds), and Eights (Rear Surrounds) with 2 SVS PC-12 Pluses. I did not install any presence speakers. Everything connected by Blue Jeans Cable Interconnects (great company!).

I did a manual calibration for the speakers to 75db and after level matching the 2 subs at the listening position, set the subs just a touch hot at 78db (Sorry to all you purists out there ) All speakers set to small, all the LFE to the subs.

The only digital source I have presenti is HD Surewest cable--tested out the video processing on several HD channels--things look as good or better than when my Pioneer 151-FD is doing the processing. Beautiful picture--did not notice any loss of brightness when the Z7 is at work as reported above. I have a single HDMI cable running from the Z7 to the 151, so the HDMI Through feature of the receiver is really, really handy (allows HDMI to pass through when the receiver is off--perfect for when you just want to quickly turn on the TV to check the weather or something). Great, practical feature.

In terms of sound quality--I only had the FM tuner available and brought in a few HD FM stations here in town--sounds wonderful--open, dynamic, but not overly bright (which was a concern I had pairing these with the Mythos setup). I need not have worried--everything from classical to pop/rock sounded spot on compared to my trusty Pioneer Elite VSX-07TX. The 07's MOSFETS have served me well over the last 13 years with a nice, warm, laid back Pioneer sound. The Z7 has a slightly different character--a bit less warm, a bit more forward, but very full nonetheless. I did not find the Z7 artificial, clinical, or fatiguing--even when playing with some DSP stuff.

I ran the unit for 2 hours straight--no heat issues yet. Don't really care for the remote as much--lots of tiny little buttons, but they do light up so that's nice. Really don't like the slide selector button on the side--makes using the tuner confusing. The little printed diagram of the remote is very helpful in interpreting the manual, which is better than most, but is still not a model of clarity IMHO.

These are just my off the cuff impressions. When the Oppo BDP-83 arrives for testing, I'm going to run a battery of familiar DVD, DVD-A, SACD, and Blu-Ray material through the Z7 to see how it really is. I'll compare the video processors between all three main pieces to see if I can tell the difference. I'll probably also run the YPAO program as well to see how that flies.

So far, so swell!

P.S.: As far as build quality--I'd trust Gene's review over anything an average salesman would tell me, since Gene probably sees the innards of more receivers than he/she does, unless they have a special expertise in this.

 

[mrobb]

Thanks I'm sure the dealer is being biased towards Denon and the fact they won't tell me what problems the yammys were having does'nt help.
Just means now it's going to be a lot harder to find a new source willing to supply one

 

[Meridius]

well a update on running the (YPAO)

i set my amp up by ear when i first got it and here are the settings i put in.

By Ear

All distance is set to 3.0m this is pre saved in the amps memory i did not change it.

Left Front = 0.0db I did not change it
Right front = 0.0db I did not change it
Centre = +2.0db i uped the vol
Left Rear = +1.0db i uped the vol
Right Rear = +1.0db i uped the vol
sub = 0.0db I did not change it, but had the sub vol control about 75% vol.

Now using the (YPAO)

Left Front = -3.0db Distance 2.70m
Right front = -2.0db Distance 2.60m
Centre = 0.0db Distance 2.40m
Left Rear = +1.0db Distance 2.00m
Right Rear = +1.0db Distance 1.95m
sub = +4.5db Distance 4.2m but had the sub vol control about 50% about 25% less vol than what i had it by ear and the amp has uped the volume in the amp for 4.5db prob works out the same .
Wire = NRM


as you can see the rears was spot on to what i had, now i uped the centre to +2.0db by ear when i did it but the YPAO kept the centre at 0.0db instead it lowerd the mains left by -3.0db and the right by -2.0db which makes it just about the same is what i had, but instead of uping the centre by +2.0db like i did it kept it at 0.0db and lowerd the right and left by -2 to -3 db.

Q1 why did it not up the centre like i did instead it lowerd the left and right ? i thoguht that to be strange.

not to far what i had by ear.

I got the tape measure out and all the speakers are about spot on for the distance which i was amazed at to be honest but the sub is not 4.2m away its about 3.8m away.

i did have to change the speakers back to small and the crossover to 80hz as it totaly messed that up

the questions are

Q2 should i leave the level of the right and left as its -1.0db diffrence between them or should i level them eg put them both to -3.0db ?

Q3 what about the distance should i alter them to to both 2.7m on the left and right or should i leave it to left 2.7m and right 2.60.

Q4 the amp set the equallzing to natural is this right ?

Q5 i run my amp at -40db to -20db do you go louder than that in your house how far can this amp go before it losses it kcik at higher volumes.

Q6 do you have your YPAO setting saved to memory 1 ?

Q7 will the amp always use that memory setting on all inputs until i change it to a diffrent memory setting on the remote.

Q8 what settings does the amp use when all the memorys are empty and can you save the memory 1 to that ?

Q9 can you delete a memory i can not seem to find out how you empty the memory or find how to do it?

Q10 would it be ok to lower the crossover of the mains to 40db as my speakers the iq90 can go down to 33db for music only not movies and save it to memory 2

Q11 what settigns do you all use for music only ?

sorry for all the questions but just wanted some help

thanks

 

[mvp2005fan]

Presence Speaker Recommendations

Had anyone used the Presence speaker feature on the Z7?

If so, how much frequency response do you need for the speakers to make this feature effective?

I have some Mythos Ones and could potentially add 2 Gems or Gem XL's up front--it's just a matter of frequency response.

My understanding is the presence amps are 25W at best, so it looks like Gem XL's would be overkill for this application.

Any thoughts?

 

[loatincali]

RX-Z7 and Zones

From my testing I can only get optical to optical sound on Zone4. Zone 2/3 will work with analog signals, including the Tuner/Net Radio, and in party mode HDMI feeds. I'm testing using RCA connects in zone3 to an external amp (Denon 3805), and optical zone4 to the same AMP, but in a different input from the analog.

Has anyone else tried to hooked-up multi-zones on the RX-Z7...either optical, speaker, or analog (left/right)? I am surprised that I don't get more options running optical connection to Zone4 (just other optical connections inputted to the Yamaha)?

 

[quenthal]

Q1 why did it not up the centre like i did instead it lowerd the left and right ? i thoguht that to be strange.

I'm not sure what speaker it is using as reference point, or if YPAO just tries to keep all speakers as close to 0 as possible (by average).

I got the tape measure out and all the speakers are about spot on for the distance which i was amazed at to be honest but the sub is not 4.2m away its about 3.8m away.

I'd probably keep the 4.2m measurement even if it really is 3.8m. Longer distance equals less delay for that speaker's distance. Changing distance setting of subwoofer is somewhat same as changing it's phase

Q2 should i leave the level of the right and left as its -1.0db diffrence between them or should i level them eg put them both to -3.0db ?

The speaker with lower volume is probably either from bigger distance away from your listening position than the other one, or it has less large surfaces like walls near it that reflect sound.

Q3 what about the distance should i alter them to to both 2.7m on the left and right or should i leave it to left 2.7m and right 2.60.

Best would be if you could move both speakers equally away from your listening position.

Q4 the amp set the equallzing to natural is this right ?

You can choose from few presets. If I remember correctly, natural gives little bit of warmth in sound partially by lowering the high end and giving slight bass boost. You can choose what ever suites your taste, your listening environment and speakers the best, they are all equally right, altough I personally don't like equalising non-bass frequencies at all.

Q5 i run my amp at -40db to -20db do you go louder than that in your house how far can this amp go before it losses it kcik at higher volumes.

That depends on source, your speakers (ohm rating, speaker sensitivity), number of speakers and the size of your listening room. I usually use the same volume, but sometimes I go even as high as -15db.

Q6 do you have your YPAO setting saved to memory 1 ?

Nope.

Q7 will the amp always use that memory setting on all inputs until i change it to a diffrent memory setting on the remote.

Q8 what settings does the amp use when all the memorys are empty and can you save the memory 1 to that ?

I think so yes.

Q9 can you delete a memory i can not seem to find out how you empty the memory or find how to do it?

Q10 would it be ok to lower the crossover of the mains to 40db as my speakers the iq90 can go down to 33db for music only not movies and save it to memory 2

You could do that. Even though you main speakers can go down to 33Hz (have you measured that yourself, or is it what manufacturer promises?), you could use as high as 80Hz crossover for movies, and 30-40 Hz for music. With speakers capable of producing that low frequencies, you may get best quality by disabling your subwoofer altogether and use Pure Audio. But if you like, you can save different crossover settings for memory 1 and 2.

Q11 what settigns do you all use for music only ?

Pure Audio for high quality sources, 2ch Stereo without YPAO but with subwoofer for bass hungry music and 2ch Enhancer for low quality Net Radio / MP3s.

 

[Meridius]

thanks for that

forgot to tell you i have kef iq90 main, iq30 rears, iq60c front

so would it be ok to go down to 40 or should i use pure direct ?

dos pure direct disable every setting and only uses the left and right speaker for stereo and dos it turn centre,rear and sub off and uses the mains for base?

also when the new firmw comes out and i update it with a usb memory stick will it keep all my settings i am sure i read somewhere that it backups the settigns before it updates and then updates and then copies the settings back is this true?

 

[EvanescoZ7]

Hey gene

Could you ask your Yamaha source, when we can expect the new firmware. Beginning marts is due, middle marts is due and we almost have end marts now. The HDMI processing bug seriously starts get me on my nerves. Sorry for being impatient.

 

[Meridius]

i was told by another that its best to try and get all your speakers at the 0.0db or close as poss to that is this true ?

as my sub is set to +3.5db and the volume on the sub is 50% would it be better to put the sub to 70% and then my amp will have the setting back to0.0db when it uses the yapo

and move my left and right more away from me as they are set to -1.5 and bring the rears in a littile to reduce the +1.5db

this of course if its true that you should try and move your speakers so that the yapo level get them all set to 0.0db as i can move them to try and get them to be all 0.0db

can you tell me if there other person is right about trying to get them close to 0.0db as poss for each speaker so i can readjust them and up the volume on the sub ?

thanks

 

[mvp2005fan]

i was told by another that its best to try and get all your speakers at the 0.0db or close as poss to that is this true ?

as my sub is set to +3.5db and the volume on the sub is 50% would it be better to put the sub to 70% and then my amp will have the setting back to0.0db when it uses the yapo

and move my left and right more away from me as they are set to -1.5 and bring the rears in a littile to reduce the +1.5db

this of course if its true that you should try and move your speakers so that the yapo level get them all set to 0.0db as i can move them to try and get them to be all 0.0db

can you tell me if there other person is right about trying to get them close to 0.0db as poss for each speaker so i can readjust them and up the volume on the sub ?

thanks

This is not my understanding of how best to calibrate your speakers manually.

It doesn't seem to make sense to move speakers around to try to get the amp level to 0.0--this would not volume match each speaker to the listening position--which is the whole point of level calibration.

My understanding of the procedure would be something like this:

1. First, set up your speaker positions (The Dolby and THX sites have a good guides)
   
2. Get a Radio Shack SPL meter (or equivalent) and a tripod. Meter goes at the primary listening postion on the tripod--seated head level--45 degrees angled towards the front and ceiling.
   
3. You go to the speaker setup menu first, then turn the volume control to 0.
   
4. Set the test tones to on. Turn on your meter (slow, C -weighted, 70)
   
5. Then set the levels of each speaker to to 75db using the AV control.
   
6. Manually plug in the distances to each speaker. Done. (You can, of course, then use the equalizer to tweak things)

Either that or just run YPAO and make corrections as needed.

 

[ryaneagon]

Hey gene

Could you ask your Yamaha source, when we can expect the new firmware. Beginning marts is due, middle marts is due and we almost have end marts now. The HDMI processing bug seriously starts get me on my nerves. Sorry for being impatient.

I'll 2nd That!!!