Yamaha RX-A3000 Aventage 11.2 Networking A/V Receiver Review

[SVideto]

It Worked

Thanks Nestor,
Your suggestion about the HDMI control worked. I had a feeling the customer support guy didn't know what he was talking about. He just sounded like he was making things up.

I guess I'll have to keep reading the ever so complicated user's manual jumping me from page to page and yet another page.

 

[3db]

Thanks Nestor,
Your suggestion about the HDMI control worked. I had a feeling the customer support guy didn't know what he was talking about. He just sounded like he was making things up.

I guess I'll have to keep reading the ever so complicated user's manual jumping me from page to page and yet another page.

I have to agree with you. Yamaha manuals suck the big fromage. I don't know how many times I had to wade thru the manual for my Yammmy.

 

[gene]

Firmware Update for RX-A1000/2000/3000

New firmware (v3.15) is available for the RX-A 1000/2000/3000


The following are the improvements:

1. Adds Pandora Internet Radio Service

2. Adds Napster Online music service

3. Improves network content playback stability

We recommend a Network update via the advanced menu. See the owner’s manual for details @ http://www.yamaha.com/yec

 

[dm_4u]

I understood that the DSP functions(not PLIIX or Music etc. which CAN be used in conjunction with ALL types of soundtracks))but Yamaha's own proprietary ones( 17 on this new model) you mentioned, i. e. "Movie Theater" etc.. I understand, as with previous models, they can only work and overlay with the normal compressed Dolby and DTS soundtracks but NOT DD True HD and DTS Master Audio/DTS HD. In other words, you can't watch a Blu-Ray disc with DD True HD or DTS Master Audio and overlay their Movie Theater DSP on top of "them".

Yamaha's documentation seems to be "fairly" clear on the subject, however, I am somewhat surprised the reviewers have not touched on this since Yamaha's DSP, for several years, has been a feature quite unique to them. Quite disappointing since when I do watch a movie, it is now primarily on BR with the lossless tracks, so assuming this limitation exists, the DSP functions are essentially useless(to me anyway).

Hopefully Gene could confirm this since it was never mentioned in the review.

Gene would you address this please...as this (if true) would be very disappointing.

 

[Jacksmyname]

Gene would you address this please...as this (if true) would be very disappointing.

I'm also scratching my head on this one.
I have an RX-V3800. When watching a Blu Ray with TrueHD or DTS-Master HD, I use the movie DSP's all the time (adventure, sci-fi, spectacle, drama, etc.).
Am I confusing this with something different/new on the new models?

 

[dm_4u]

Not sure...I have an RX-V3900 and always use the DSP's to make use of the Presence speakers when watching TV/bluray etc.

 

[Jacksmyname]

Not sure...I have an RX-V3900 and always use the DSP's to make use of the Presence speakers when watching TV/bluray etc.

I usually use my rear surrounds with movies and TV.
If it's a film that really doesn't have much in the way of surround effects, and is more dialog driven, I may use the front presence channels if dialog isn't clear.
I should have added in my post that the movie DSP's are needed for rear surrounds to work with TrueHD, DD+, DTS HD, etc., and also for the front presence channels (Cinema 3D).
That's why I'm wondering about posts stating you can't use cinema DSP with these soundtracks.

 

[mrceolla]

Sorry if this was addressed already but I don't have time to read 7 pages of threads while at work and I'd like to devote my off time tonight to finishing my hookups on my new RX-A3000 receiver.

Can I output HDMI video and/or audio to Zone 2 or do I need to run additional analog audio and video in order to do that? If I have to run analog, does the input type have to match the output type? For example, if I input via RCA can I output s-video? If I input s-video, can I output RCA? If I input component, can I output RCA?

Same question for audio only. Can I output digital coaxial or optical audio to Zone 2 or do I need to run additional analog signals to do that?

Thank you.

 

[jeannot]

I hate to urinize on this parade, but when I see protection kick in at 65W per channel in ACD mode followed by a litany of excuses, from that doesn't matter, to the "compact receiver" and the like, I'm a little bit irritated. Whether it matters or not, I think one should wonder about why that design decision.

How would you react when the car salesman tells you that yes, that new and expensive car is limited to 80mph, but it does not matter because it is an illegal speed anyways and you never need to go that fast? I would walk out of the building, and I think most of us would.

 

[3db]

I hate to urinize on this parade, but when I see protection kick in at 65W per channel in ACD mode followed by a litany of excuses, from that doesn't matter, to the "compact receiver" and the like, I'm a little bit irritated. Whether it matters or not, I think one should wonder about why that design decision.

How would you react when the car salesman tells you that yes, that new and expensive car is limited to 80mph, but it does not matter because it is an illegal speed anyways and you never need to go that fast? I would walk out of the building, and I think most of us would.

If it gets to me 80mph in under 4 seconds, I'll buy it.

Before you critize this receiver's capabilities on academics, listen to it and then make an informed comment. But from where I stand, you critize without anything to back you up. This is real world, not academics.

 

[AVRat]

Mr. Ceolla, the manual is a wonderful piece of literature that will have you on the edge of your seat.

 

[gene]

I understood that the DSP functions(not PLIIX or Music etc. which CAN be used in conjunction with ALL types of soundtracks))but Yamaha's own proprietary ones( 17 on this new model) you mentioned, i. e. "Movie Theater" etc.. I understand, as with previous models, they can only work and overlay with the normal compressed Dolby and DTS soundtracks but NOT DD True HD and DTS Master Audio/DTS HD. In other words, you can't watch a Blu-Ray disc with DD True HD or DTS Master Audio and overlay their Movie Theater DSP on top of "them".

Yamaha's documentation seems to be "fairly" clear on the subject, however, I am somewhat surprised the reviewers have not touched on this since Yamaha's DSP, for several years, has been a feature quite unique to them. Quite disappointing since when I do watch a movie, it is now primarily on BR with the lossless tracks, so assuming this limitation exists, the DSP functions are essentially useless(to me anyway).

Hopefully Gene could confirm this since it was never mentioned in the review.

Yamaha receivers in the past have always allowed DSP overlay on DD/DTS and TrueHD/DTS HD signals. I no longer have an RX-A3000 on hand but my trusted source at Yamaha claims it will overlay DSP on those signals if you want it to.

 

[mrceolla]

Mr. Ceolla, the manual is a wonderful piece of literature that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Hardly. I found my answer eventually. But a simple quick answer from a forum member would have been nice.

New problem/question. And yes, I've searched.

I am using Zone 2 but the audio between the main zone and zone 2 is not in sync. The digital version of the audio playing in the main zone is slightly behind the analog version playing in zone 2. Since my 2 zones are within ear shot of one another, I can hear an echo effect. This is not good and did not happen with my previous Yamaha HTR-5790.

Please tell me there is a solution to this problem.

Thank you.

 

[gene]

Update Directly from Yamaha Engineering Regarding DSP Overlay

A2000 and A3000 have the processing horsepower to overlay CinemaDSP over HD audio streams. The A1000 and below can only overlay up to 96kHz HD streams (most common used). See below

• Full Support Model: HD Audio Decode + CinemaDSP
– RX-A2000, RX-A3000

• Limited Support Model: HD Content decode + CinemaDSP
– RX-A100 and lower
– Multi Channel PCM (via HDMI) + CinemaDSP
• 96kHz or low： OK to CinemaDSP
• 192kHz： STRAIGHT mode only
– Dolby TrueHD + CinemaDSP
• 96kHz or low： OK to CinemaDSP
• 192kHz： STRAIGHT mode only
– DTS-HD Master Audio + CinemaDSP
• 96kHz or low： DTS-HD core decode + CinemaDSP
• 192kHz： STRAIGHT mode only

 

[mrceolla]

Need a big favor...

Does anyone have a source with both digital and analog audio going to it as well as a Zone 2 within ear shot of the main zone?

I'm hoping someone can do a test for me to help confirm if the problem I am experiencing with digital audio delay is due to a defective unit. Although I have a RX-A3000, a test on any of the other Aventage units would be informative.

1. Turn on Zone 2 and select the same source for the main zone and zone 2.
2. Play the digital signal in the main zone and the analog signal in zone 2 (do not use Party Mode as that downmixes the digital signal and sends that to zone 2)
3. Try to listen to the audio coming from both zones at the same time. (when I do this I hear a terrible echo as if I am in a stadium with the main zone audio 67-167ms [2-5 frames] behind zone 2)
4. Hit the reciver remote's "Option" button, select "Audio Select" and switch the main zone to use the analog inputs (when I do this the echo and delay goes away).

I have done this test with 3 different sources which are sending both digital and analog to this receiver. Same results each time. Is this how all of these units work?

The test above seems to make it clear that the digital audio is not in sync with the video. One could argue that the analog version is early but it matches up to video much better than the digital.

One Yamaha rep via email, who didn't seem to understand the magnitude of the problem, says this is just how it works. Another Yamaha rep on the phone thinks there's something wrong and suggested ordering a replacement. I'd like to hear from someone else with an Aventage receiver if they also experience this digital audio delay.

Note: I notice a slight lipsync problem using digital audio when just comparing the audio to the video which most people might not notice. But when comparing both analog and digital audio to one another, the out-of-syncness is obvious.

I've seen a few posts about people trading firmware versions. I asked the Yamaha phone rep if there was a place I could get older firmware releases so I could see if the latest firmware caused my problem. He told me you can't go backwards with firmware. Is this true? If not, where can I get a previous version?

Thanks so much for any help.

 

[rjxox]

i turned off auto lipsync and found improvement from my diamond media box.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Does anyone have a source with both digital and analog audio going to it as well as a Zone 2 within ear shot of the main zone?

I'm hoping someone can do a test for me to help confirm if the problem I am experiencing with digital audio delay is due to a defective unit. Although I have a RX-A3000, a test on any of the other Aventage units would be informative.

1. Turn on Zone 2 and select the same source for the main zone and zone 2.
2. Play the digital signal in the main zone and the analog signal in zone 2 (do not use Party Mode as that downmixes the digital signal and sends that to zone 2)
3. Try to listen to the audio coming from both zones at the same time. (when I do this I hear a terrible echo as if I am in a stadium with the main zone audio 67-167ms [2-5 frames] behind zone 2)
4. Hit the reciver remote's "Option" button, select "Audio Select" and switch the main zone to use the analog inputs (when I do this the echo and delay goes away).

I have done this test with 3 different sources which are sending both digital and analog to this receiver. Same results each time. Is this how all of these units work?

The test above seems to make it clear that the digital audio is not in sync with the video. One could argue that the analog version is early but it matches up to video much better than the digital.

One Yamaha rep via email, who didn't seem to understand the magnitude of the problem, says this is just how it works. Another Yamaha rep on the phone thinks there's something wrong and suggested ordering a replacement. I'd like to hear from someone else with an Aventage receiver if they also experience this digital audio delay.

Note: I notice a slight lipsync problem using digital audio when just comparing the audio to the video which most people might not notice. But when comparing both analog and digital audio to one another, the out-of-syncness is obvious.

I've seen a few posts about people trading firmware versions. I asked the Yamaha phone rep if there was a place I could get older firmware releases so I could see if the latest firmware caused my problem. He told me you can't go backwards with firmware. Is this true? If not, where can I get a previous version?

Thanks so much for any help.

I have a question & then perhaps a work around.....

Question: From reading your setup description, why are you plugging two different sets of inputs from the same source into the same receiver? Can't the zone 2 & the main zone be on the same input?

1 - If the receiver offers a lip synch correction maybe that wwould help with the issue for whatever input is dragging.

- Another thought isnthat perhaps it's your source that could be causing the problem. Have you tried a different source in those same inputs & the same config?

I seriously doubt it's the receiver failing & it's one of the problems above.

Hope some of this helps!

 

[Nomo]

I have a question & then perhaps a work around.....

Question: From reading your setup description, why are you plugging two different sets of inputs from the same source into the same receiver? Can't the zone 2 & the main zone be on the same input?

Unless Yamaha has made a change to their zone capablities, and for all I know they may have, zone 2 and zone 3 can only be analog sources, no digital.

I would imagine this is the reason for the dual inputs.

 

[gene]

Does anyone have a source with both digital and analog audio going to it as well as a Zone 2 within ear shot of the main zone?

I'm hoping someone can do a test for me to help confirm if the problem I am experiencing with digital audio delay is due to a defective unit. Although I have a RX-A3000, a test on any of the other Aventage units would be informative.

1. Turn on Zone 2 and select the same source for the main zone and zone 2.
2. Play the digital signal in the main zone and the analog signal in zone 2 (do not use Party Mode as that downmixes the digital signal and sends that to zone 2)
3. Try to listen to the audio coming from both zones at the same time. (when I do this I hear a terrible echo as if I am in a stadium with the main zone audio 67-167ms [2-5 frames] behind zone 2)
4. Hit the reciver remote's "Option" button, select "Audio Select" and switch the main zone to use the analog inputs (when I do this the echo and delay goes away).

I have done this test with 3 different sources which are sending both digital and analog to this receiver. Same results each time. Is this how all of these units work?

The test above seems to make it clear that the digital audio is not in sync with the video. One could argue that the analog version is early but it matches up to video much better than the digital.

One Yamaha rep via email, who didn't seem to understand the magnitude of the problem, says this is just how it works. Another Yamaha rep on the phone thinks there's something wrong and suggested ordering a replacement. I'd like to hear from someone else with an Aventage receiver if they also experience this digital audio delay.

Note: I notice a slight lipsync problem using digital audio when just comparing the audio to the video which most people might not notice. But when comparing both analog and digital audio to one another, the out-of-syncness is obvious.

I've seen a few posts about people trading firmware versions. I asked the Yamaha phone rep if there was a place I could get older firmware releases so I could see if the latest firmware caused my problem. He told me you can't go backwards with firmware. Is this true? If not, where can I get a previous version?

Thanks so much for any help.

This happens on other models too. I discussed this in my RX-Z7 review. I believe if you use Party mode it will help. Otherwise if its a real problem use analog for all sources when doing multi zone.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Unless Yamaha has made a change to their zone capablities, and for all I know they may have, zone 2 and zone 3 can only be analog sources, no digital.

I would imagine this is the reason for the dual inputs.

That right there is the problem then. Great info.

This happens on other models too. I discussed this in my RX-Z7 review. I believe if you use Party mode it will help. Otherwise if its a real problem use analog for all sources when doing multi zone.

This is the fix I would employ. For a multi zone layout there shouldn't be any... & I mean any appreciable difference in sound quality or experience.