I got word from Yamaha rep that new AVR models should be coming out “next quarter”, so about 3 months.
My dealer in Europe said early next year for new Aventage models which would be shown at CES on
Jan. 6-9, 2026. Your source must be right so that is awesome news! Maybe
@gene could contact Phil Shea and prepare session with him about the new models with Q&A!
Some things i would want to see.
- In the 2021 youtube clip with Phil Shea and Gene it was mentioned that Yamaha keeps the new DSP chip set for long into future with top three Aventage models. Does it have enough calculating power for Dirac and also for Dirac ART which is the next hot thing?! If yes why they wouldn`t offer it as paid option for A4A/A6A/A8A as they know YPAO is the weakest REQ in the market making them losing sales year after year. D&M, NAD, Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer all have Dirac Live full bandwidth or option to add it. It`s 2025 and the automatic setup of YPAO leaves subwoofers boomy. It won´t cut the peaks. Abysmal! The manual PEQ for sub has 4 bands and you need REW & Umik1 with it and the same applies for the Low Frequency Mode which is useless in the auto setup 95% people uses. MultEQ XT32 has been out for god knows how long and the 64-bit YPAO R.S.C 3D Angle Ufo Edition is still nowhere as effective correcting low frequencies for speakers nor subs. Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer all comes with phone app setup on Dirac Live using the stock mic. This is what Yamaha should offer too!
- Please change the design/front face for new models!! Move the knob back to right and give us LARGE front display. Some people finds the current Aventage models ugly due to mid position of the knob. I don´t really care that much about the visual side, but there is folks who do and it should not be hard to give it premium touch with a front display that does not require grandpa glasses to see what mode is on.
- New A4A model must have at least 9.2 processing if they are going to be keeping it as 7.2. Example D&M has 11.4 processing at this price range. Give us independent subwoofer pre-outs for f**** sake! Ability to control delay for each separetely is a must have feature for 1,5k product and everyone knows the benefits of dual subs. Denon X3800H, Cinema 50 and Onkyo RZ30 has it. Denon has it since X3300W and now they have 4 independent sub pre-outs while Yamaha is still doing that mirrored s*it on A4A!
@PENG would want to see updated higher spec ESS DAC IC!
Considering D&M decided to save pennies on the X3800H, X4800H, Cinema 40 and 50 with mediocre PCM5102A so this would be one place to hit them back! There is bunch of interest on most audio forums about the DACs in AVRs. The amount these companies are buying those chips means they can´t be that expensive. Should use same chip for all three Aventage models like Arcam does with 9026 Pro.
- New A6A/A8A should have 13.x processing for front wides and DTS:X Pro if people are actually using it? 13.4 AVR would be nice addition, but 13.4/15.4 av-processor is more likely. The plan was to add processor after 2021, but it never arrived for some reason. They have had 5 years time to design it! I do have one question though. If they do introduce it this time
who is going to be paying 4-5k$ for Yamaha pre-pro with YPAO only in 2026 when competition is miles ahead in this department?? Especially as these are often used in dedicated rooms so the demands are even higher. I´m dreaming that Audyssey would been secretly designing new MultEQ XT64 version with FIR filters with support for Umik-1 and Yamaha would be making partnership with them. Sadly the in-house YPAO is much more afforadable for them and easy to implement, but at the same time it can be the deal breaker for many customers meaning lower sales.
- Pre-amp mode for top three models would make
@gene happy! Also the nanny controls aka protection should be less aggressive. It does not look good on review for 3k$ product A6A that measures 52w x 7ch when Cinema 30 does 101w x7ch. Also not being able to run CEA 2006 short dynamic burst test is unacceptable. Yamaha uses big power transformers and main capacitors are pretty hefty too so no corners cut there. D&M, Onkyo etc. at this price range is not power limiting multiple channels driven on bench so some tweaking with nannies would be welcome. These days more and more people are interested in objective measurements so it would be nice to see Yamaha nailing the
engineering excellence side better than in past.
- The current RX-V models and RX-A2A from 2020 has 24Gbps bandwidth limitation in the HDMI board. 48Gbps probably won`t be added as every company is already working on the HDMI 2.2 for ~2027-28 so the lower costing models will be updated with 40Gbps 2.1 board. I would want to see bigger power transformer and or at least bigger caps on RX-V6A by ditching the RX-A2A model completely. In past the 600-serie models were much stronger than current A2A. RX-A2A has front L/R pre-outs, but it`s the center channel being the heavy hitter on films so why none of the companies have pre-outs for LCR? Yamaha could be first company to offer this for RX-V6A/A2A level product. They need to start thinking outside of box and bring something others aren´t offering yet. No more IMAX Enhanced type stuff that barely no one uses and those usually comes with license costs.
Feels like Yamaha is often one or two steps behind competition while asking higher prices. Hopefully they have hired some new people who understands what is needed to MAKE YAMAHA GREAT AGAIN!
I hope they don´t add fluff features no one asks for, please no new version of Surround AI. Give us some internal hardware changes like more channels/processing, add the independent sub outs to A4A finally, better room correction that has the ability to limit correction with phone control and is more effective at low frequencies and DLBC type solution with better main+sub integration. Even as paid option and fix that small display! Phil Shea hinted about Yamaha working on class-d power amp section in 2021. The future definitely lies with Class-D multich amps. Probably have to wait until 2030/35 for those.
