Exclusive Yamaha RX-Z1 Review!!!

[gene]

<font color='#000000'>Fellow Audioholics, I finally finished my review of the fabulous Yamaha RX-Z1 Receiver.  I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to comment here if you have any questions/concerns.

http://www.audioholics.com/product....p1.html

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[Guest]

<font color='#000000'>Very nice review!! Thanks!

Would love to see your ultimate system review!

Have you played with the Anthem PVA amps yet? (PVA5 or 7)</font>

 

[Yamahaluver]

<font color='#0000FF'>Hi Gene,

As usual, a nice refreshing review from you with proper perspective and balance. I happen to own the AZ-1 which is the same amp without the tuner section. I have always been an audio purist and this is the first time I entered into the A/V world. I too was a bit skeptical about the capabilities of the internal amplifier especialy for music application but was pleasently surprised to see that it did it's job pretty good. I have added my existing pair of Yamaha MX-1 and MX-1000U amplifiers to the center and main chanels respectively and another surprise is that the pre amp section of the AZ-1 is only slightly noisier than the original pre amp from Yamaha (CX-1000), this goes to show that Yamaha has kept the quality high and decided to please even the audio purists.

I am using all the chanels including the rear centers( total of 8 speakers+ 2 subs). I fully agree with you on the bass management issue. I use two Yamaha YST-SW800 subs and setting them up has been hectic to say the least. Many a times I have been tempted to connect the left and right chanels directly to the subs and let the sub's crossovers manage the bass instead of the LFE chanels on the AZ-1. High time Yamaha and others wake up and smell the coffee. I too have kept the impedance switch at 8 ohms setting and if one is paranoid about heat, you can always add an external fan on top of the reciever. Luckily the Yamaha features quite comprehensive range of test tone and sub test tone settings making it quite convinient to set up the speakers. The D/A convertors are quite good and I have never had the oppurtunity to test all it's 41 DSP modes. I too like you prefer to watch movies in the 70mm mode. The Concert mode too is very commendable.

In the end it has been a very fair review and for some it will look like shameless Yamaha promo so you better watch out. I have been accused many a times but I take it with relish.

As an icing on the cake why not review Yamaha's NS 300 tower speakers or their latest incarnate the NS-8HX speakers. They are really good speakers and deserve a mention from you.

Keep up the good work.

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[gene]

<font color='#000000'>Hey guys, thanks for your feedback.  I really appreciate it.

Yamahaluver, I agree with you.
<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">In the end it has been a very fair review and for some it will look like shameless Yamaha promo so you better watch out. I have been accused many a times but I take it with relish.</td></tr></table>
Somebody will always claim ulterior motive when one writes a very positive review of a product.  That is the nature of the internet.  The truth of the matter is, I very much enjoyed the RX-Z1 and would have probably added it to my reference system if it had a more complete bass management to suite my system.  I really wish Yamaha would come out with a Preamp/Processor with all the features of the RX-Z1 and the improvements on bass management as I suggested.  
That would be the Processor to beat IMO!

2x6spds, as for Anthem equipment for review, we are still waiting on an AVM20 and 5ch power amp from them.  I will let everyone know when it becomes a reality.</font>

 

[Bprest0n]

<font color='#000000'>Nice job guys, Yamaha must have really liked your review &nbsp;

Audioholics.com Review of the Yamaha RX-Z1 </font>