Unimpressed with Yamaha 6160 (V663) sound at medium volume.

[Bluesmoke]

As you can see from my room (link in sig), it's not big. I don't run the receiver above -18 - ever!!! At this volume it's plenty big from my 12x14 room. However, I noticed that during CD playing, the quality of the audio simply isn't that great. You can see that I use an old Sony DVD player with optical out for music. I wonder if tthe culprit is the player. But I had a HK 247 before that I ended up selling because it gave me too many problems but I don't recall ever being dissapointed in its audio qualities. The Pio 918 I had briefly was terrible at all volumes. It just had a "hard" feel to sound that I didn't like.

I don't believe I'm pushing the receiver and my speakers aren't that demanding anyway, and I certainly haven't blown any drivers or voice coils. To me it seems like the receiver just loses its quality when you raise the volume. Is it because Yamaha and Energy doesn't doesn't match well or something?

 

[Matt34]

Have you checked to make sure you didn't crossed up any of the speaker cables. Maybe you mixed them up when you switched to the Pioneer and they've been that way since you got the Yamaha?

 

[Bluesmoke]

That's not possible since I would've noticed it right away during auto setup. I checked again with the mic and the test tones come from the right speakers. Maybe I just have a bad receiver and requires an exchange.

 

[corey]

If your mains are not set to small, and crossed at 80 hz, try setting them up that way.

 

[TheFactor]

That's not possible since I would've noticed it right away during auto setup. I checked again with the mic and the test tones come from the right speakers. Maybe I just have a bad receiver and requires an exchange.

TRY running your auto setup again with the mic, I'VE noticed different results with the mic in the same place With it sounding better after the mic setup just doing it multiple times. Same thing with a Denon I had, a Yamaha and my Favorite Pioneer Elite 94 . So before you give up on your Yamaha you might want to try that because they really are nice receivers. Also it depends on your speakers, sub and taste but for me my best results were having my speakers set at large and cross over off on my sub with my receiver crossover at 50

 

[PENG]

I checked again with the mic and the test tones come from the right speakers.

But did you check and make sure that you have the polarities (+ve to +ve, -ve to -ve from speaker terminals to receiver output terminals) for each speakers connected correctly? Depending on the type of speaker wires you use it is not hard to have them reversed by mistake. If you reverse the polarity for both left and right channel then there is no problem but if you reverse it for say the left but not the right then you will get some nasty (cancellation) effects that affects mostly the mid to low frequencies.

 

[Bluesmoke]

But did you check and make sure that you have the polarities (+ve to +ve, -ve to -ve from speaker terminals to receiver output terminals) for each speakers connected correctly? Depending on the type of speaker wires you use it is not hard to have them reversed by mistake. If you reverse the polarity for both left and right channel then there is no problem but if you reverse it for say the left but not the right then you will get some nasty (cancellation) effects that affects mostly the mid to low frequencies.

Here's a shot of my speaker wires. As you can see they're spot on. I built them. I certainly wouldn't mess them up. I think I'll exchange it for another and see if it subsides. Another thing could be my room and the fact that Yamaha's YPAO plain stinks compared to Pioneer's MCACC and my old Denon's Audessey.

 

[MDS]

Another thing could be my room and the fact that Yamaha's YPAO plain stinks compared to Pioneer's MCACC and my old Denon's Audessey.

I would think that's the most likely cause. The auto setup routines all aim to smooth out room response or target a particular response curve but they are going to be slightly different. Have you tried defeating any EQ the YPAO applied and just making minor adjustments yourself?

 

[PENG]

Here's a shot of my speaker wires. As you can see they're spot on. I built them. I certainly wouldn't mess them up. I think I'll exchange it for another and see if it subsides. Another thing could be my room and the fact that Yamaha's YPAO plain stinks compared to Pioneer's MCACC and my old Denon's Audessey.

Nice wires! Did you try pure direct mode (actually I think Yamaha call it straight)? It surely doesn't hurt to get an exchange though, such to be sure you don't have a defective unit.

 

[TheFactor]

If your next yamaha dosent work well with your setup can you exchange it for another Pioneer ? For my room and current setup My pioneer elite 94 works the best, especialy the Mcacc and still cant wipe the smile off my face and I went threw 2 hk's, 2 yamaha's, 3 denons and then with my Pioneer elite it was love at first sight and power up I hope you can get the wright receiver for your room and setup I know its frustrating. If you can and you were happy with it before go with another pioneer.

 

[mouettus]

I don't think it's the Energy-Yamaha combinaison. Cause I own the same speakers as you (almost -- RC-70's and RC-LCR) and a Yamaha 6190 (RX-V1800). I wonder if they share the same power supply. Anyways... I didn't even run the auto-setup. Basic speakers distance and volume adjusted by ear. Set crossover and speakers to small except the mains. Music sounds terrific to me, coming out from a crappy Toshiba DVD player via coax optical.

Try resetting the settings and just set basic options. See if it sounds better.

 

[GlocksRock]

I have a RX-V663 in my bedroom running def tech speakers, and it sounds great. Even though my bedroom is small compared to most living room/home theater sized rooms, I have it calibrated to 75db at reference level, using the receivers internal tones, and it has no problems whatsoever getting very loud and still sounding great. Just yesterday I was playing some Pink Floyd and had the receiver in pure direct mode playing it for a few seconds at -5, so it was quite loud. However I have an old onkyo exteral 105 watts x 2 channel amp pusing it instead of the receiver, but it still did fine. I also set everything manually and didn't even mess with the YPAO since it gets things wrong half the time anyway, I think the only thing the YPAO is good for is room correction, if you want to use it for the Parametric EQ, which I don't like anyway.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Here's a shot of my speaker wires. As you can see they're spot on. I built them. I certainly wouldn't mess them up. I think I'll exchange it for another and see if it subsides. Another thing could be my room and the fact that Yamaha's YPAO plain stinks compared to Pioneer's MCACC and my old Denon's Audessey.

AWESOME looking cables!!!

Where did you get the materials to build them?

Did you play the music in Direct Mode or at least turn OFF the Room EQ and turn off any Tone Controls?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I have a RX-V663 in my bedroom running def tech speakers, and it sounds great.

There you have it.

The DefTechs are just plain awesome.

Need we say more?

 

[Bluesmoke]

AWESOME looking cables!!!

Where did you get the materials to build them?

Did you play the music in Direct Mode or at least turn OFF the Room EQ and turn off any Tone Controls?

I got it exchanged and the new one sounds better. I don't know why the old one didn't. I didn't change anything. I have it setup exactly the same way.

The cable is a Canare 4S11 from bluejeans. I bought the heat shrink locally and the connectors are found at monoprice.