Yamaha AVENTAGE 2021 AV Receivers Bulk Up on Power and 8K Features

OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
Register your AVR on Yamaha's website, you'll get a warranty certificate to download for the extra 2 years of warranty for a total of five years. With your name on it.
Well on my side I made the website registration which doesn't provide any information about the warranty extension. I don't find any warranty certificate to download.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Hahaha, not quite. Let me tell you about my journey in the search of great sound.

I got into the AVR game in July 2020. My first AVR was Denon AVR-X1600h. I returned it after a lot of Audyssey calibrations failed to produce decent sound. Here is the first day trying to install the AVR. The speakers were a Logitech Z502 because the Focals were on the way.
View attachment 51464
View attachment 51466
Here is the Focal Sib Evo 5.1 setup. But it did not sound decent.
View attachment 51467
So, after a lot of calibrations, the Denon AVR-X1600h went back, together with the Focals and was gloriously replaced by the Denon AVR-X3700h. But because the Denon took more than a month to arrive I bought a Sony STR DN1080. Boy, that AVR was fun. Quirky on the HDMI but sound wise better that the Denon by far. The music sounded great, the movies dynamics were great. As soo as you listened to a gun shot or an explosions on the Sony you realized that the Denon 1600 was really bad.
View attachment 51468
Then the Denon X3700 arrived. I was so excited after reading all the great reviews and measurements. I hooked up the Denon and...
View attachment 51472
... my thought was that I have bad speakers. At that time the speakers were KEF e305 (eggs) then replaced by QAcoustics 7000i, then QAcoustics 3020i which sounded really dull with no real highs, then back to Kef e305. All the speakers sounded really bad with emphasis on human voices which sounded muffled and unnatural. I went for an ears control to the doctor. I am aging so I was worried that I do not hear well enough. My hearing is fine for my age. So, if it is not the hearing, if are not the speakers, then it must be the AVR. Denon 3700 went back to the store. I kept the Sony though, despite its HDMI issues.
But one month later the Sony developed an imbalance of the front channels, meaning that on any position I was sitting I could hear louder the front left channel, despite the balance settings or calibration. It went back to the store.
Then the first Yamaha RX-V6A came into my home. It was defective. The center channel was muffled despite the calibrations or direct play. After two weeks, it went back to the store but, because it was before Christmas, I could not find a replacement. So I bought a Marantz 6015. Again, excited by the stellar reviews.
View attachment 51473
In the beginning, without calibration I liked the sound of stereo music. But then, after calibration, playing a record that I knew how it is supposed to sound, I discovered that the highs, on the KEF Q150 sounded like scratching the glass. Owning the Marantz I managed to find another Yamaha RX-V6A and I bought it.

(Here should have been a picture of the Yamaha RX-V6A, but the site allows only 10 pictures.)

After the first calibration, the Yamaha sounded right, much better than the Marantz. I did the swap several time to convince myself that I am not mistaking. It was real, Yamaha sounded better, in my room, with my speakers than the Marantz. Therefore , the Marantz went back.
View attachment 51475
This is how my front setup looked at that time. The center was KEF e301c, LR are KEF Q150, Atmos were Sony SSCSE, surround were KEF e301. The other KEF e301 that you see in the picture were not connected but were there due too lack of deposit space. Subwoofer is a SVS PB1000.
View attachment 51476

I lost more than 30 hours trying to Audyssey calibrate the Denon and the Marantz. In the picture are only part of the calibrations made. I erased most of them. Yamaha after three calibrations - mostly needed because swapping or moving the speakers - that took in total about 70 minutes sounded better. So, Yamaha RX-V6A stayed.
One month ago, during a business trip I heard a NAD T778 and I was hooked. So I purchased one.
View attachment 51477
The sound was great. Dirac worked flawless. But, the LG C1 did not communicate well with the NAD. I had sound interruption while playing TV content that I could not resolve. It was not the HDMI cable which is 4K HDMI2.1 certified, and works without ay issues with the Yamaha. So I gave it back. But during the tests I discovered that the NAD was not far away from Yamaha's sound. Not 2000 EURO away.

What I found out is that I got the bug of great sound. I knew after the NAD that I want an Aventage class receiver. I looked at the A6A, still waiting for the @gene review but the Yamaha dealer here said that they have no date on the A6A, but they already have in stock a A8A. I hesitated a lot, one month, and negotiated a lot, dropping the A8A price from 3600 EUR to 3200EUR. Since I do not believe that the chips crisis will resolve in 2022, I decided to order the A8A that will come in 48 long hours.

I described my journey here because I want to give you a sense about where my experience is coming from. I have a difficult room, as you see in the picture the speakers are confined in a box basically, but I doubt that that was the main factor why I could not get good sound from Denon and Marantz since I have great sound dynamics and spatiality from Yamaha. With the Sound United receivers, the spatiality was there but the dynamics were lacking.
View attachment 51478
Another factor in the setup was the wife who opposed to any change in the furniture and advocating the return to a soundbar instead of having so many cables around the house. So, now I am waiting for the A8A and the sound tests that will follow.
So to recap:

1. You feel that YPAO and Dirac Auto Room EQ are practically equally good?
2. You feel that both YPAO and Dirac are better than Audyssey?
3. You feel the Sony in DIRECT MODE (since Sony does not have auto room EQ) sounds better than Audyssey?

Did you compare the Denon/Marantz in Direct Mode vs Sony/Yamaha/NAD in DIRECT mode?

I think it’s safe to say that some people prefer Direct Mode or Plain “Stereo” Mode + Bass-EQ (under 250Hz) over all Auto Room EQ.

Some people prefer Audyssey, some prefer YPAO, some prefer Dirac, some prefer Trinnov, some prefer Lyngdorf, etc.

And I doubt it has anything to do with ANY measurements like THD+N or even room FR measurements, unless there are some SERIOUS room modes in the BASS frequencies below 250Hz, which can usually be fixed with Bass-EQ (auto or manual PEQ).
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
Hahaha, not quite. Let me tell you about my journey in the search of great sound.

I got into the AVR game in July 2020. My first AVR was Denon AVR-X1600h. I returned it after a lot of Audyssey calibrations failed to produce decent sound. Here is the first day trying to install the AVR. The speakers were a Logitech Z502 because the Focals were on the way.
View attachment 51464
View attachment 51466
Here is the Focal Sib Evo 5.1 setup. But it did not sound decent.
View attachment 51467
So, after a lot of calibrations, the Denon AVR-X1600h went back, together with the Focals and was gloriously replaced by the Denon AVR-X3700h. But because the Denon took more than a month to arrive I bought a Sony STR DN1080. Boy, that AVR was fun. Quirky on the HDMI but sound wise better that the Denon by far. The music sounded great, the movies dynamics were great. As soo as you listened to a gun shot or an explosions on the Sony you realized that the Denon 1600 was really bad.
View attachment 51468
Then the Denon X3700 arrived. I was so excited after reading all the great reviews and measurements. I hooked up the Denon and...
View attachment 51472
... my thought was that I have bad speakers. At that time the speakers were KEF e305 (eggs) then replaced by QAcoustics 7000i, then QAcoustics 3020i which sounded really dull with no real highs, then back to Kef e305. All the speakers sounded really bad with emphasis on human voices which sounded muffled and unnatural. I went for an ears control to the doctor. I am aging so I was worried that I do not hear well enough. My hearing is fine for my age. So, if it is not the hearing, if are not the speakers, then it must be the AVR. Denon 3700 went back to the store. I kept the Sony though, despite its HDMI issues.
But one month later the Sony developed an imbalance of the front channels, meaning that on any position I was sitting I could hear louder the front left channel, despite the balance settings or calibration. It went back to the store.
Then the first Yamaha RX-V6A came into my home. It was defective. The center channel was muffled despite the calibrations or direct play. After two weeks, it went back to the store but, because it was before Christmas, I could not find a replacement. So I bought a Marantz 6015. Again, excited by the stellar reviews.
View attachment 51473
In the beginning, without calibration I liked the sound of stereo music. But then, after calibration, playing a record that I knew how it is supposed to sound, I discovered that the highs, on the KEF Q150 sounded like scratching the glass. Owning the Marantz I managed to find another Yamaha RX-V6A and I bought it.

(Here should have been a picture of the Yamaha RX-V6A, but the site allows only 10 pictures.)

After the first calibration, the Yamaha sounded right, much better than the Marantz. I did the swap several time to convince myself that I am not mistaking. It was real, Yamaha sounded better, in my room, with my speakers than the Marantz. Therefore , the Marantz went back.
View attachment 51475
This is how my front setup looked at that time. The center was KEF e301c, LR are KEF Q150, Atmos were Sony SSCSE, surround were KEF e301. The other KEF e301 that you see in the picture were not connected but were there due too lack of deposit space. Subwoofer is a SVS PB1000.
View attachment 51476

I lost more than 30 hours trying to Audyssey calibrate the Denon and the Marantz. In the picture are only part of the calibrations made. I erased most of them. Yamaha after three calibrations - mostly needed because swapping or moving the speakers - that took in total about 70 minutes sounded better. So, Yamaha RX-V6A stayed.
One month ago, during a business trip I heard a NAD T778 and I was hooked. So I purchased one.
View attachment 51477
The sound was great. Dirac worked flawless. But, the LG C1 did not communicate well with the NAD. I had sound interruption while playing TV content that I could not resolve. It was not the HDMI cable which is 4K HDMI2.1 certified, and works without ay issues with the Yamaha. So I gave it back. But during the tests I discovered that the NAD was not far away from Yamaha's sound. Not 2000 EURO away.

What I found out is that I got the bug of great sound. I knew after the NAD that I want an Aventage class receiver. I looked at the A6A, still waiting for the @gene review but the Yamaha dealer here said that they have no date on the A6A, but they already have in stock a A8A. I hesitated a lot, one month, and negotiated a lot, dropping the A8A price from 3600 EUR to 3200EUR. Since I do not believe that the chips crisis will resolve in 2022, I decided to order the A8A that will come in 48 long hours.

I described my journey here because I want to give you a sense about where my experience is coming from. I have a difficult room, as you see in the picture the speakers are confined in a box basically, but I doubt that that was the main factor why I could not get good sound from Denon and Marantz since I have great sound dynamics and spatiality from Yamaha. With the Sound United receivers, the spatiality was there but the dynamics were lacking.
View attachment 51478
Another factor in the setup was the wife who opposed to any change in the furniture and advocating the return to a soundbar instead of having so many cables around the house. So, now I am waiting for the A8A and the sound tests that will follow.
Amazing and interesting journey. I just made the jump from 1999 Denon AVC-A1D to the Yamaha RX-A8A and what a jump. I will have to run YPAO for the third time because I ran first time without front height then have made some changes to bring them higher. Running the Dolby AppleTV app is a good way to check the room calibration once YPAO done.

4D102798-A363-4DBC-AD13-49118F3E4500.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
Well on my side I made the website registration which doesn't provide any information about the warranty extension. I don't find any warranty certificate to download.
On Yamaha's website, at the top left click that box you'll see (products) click on that scroll all the way down till you see (promotions) click that it takes you to (product rebates and promotions) where you'll input your info.
 
Majorusa

Majorusa

Junior Audioholic
So to recap:

1. You feel that YPAO and Dirac Auto Room EQ are practically equally good?
2. You feel that both YPAO and Dirac are better than Audyssey?
3. You feel the Sony in DIRECT MODE (since Sony does not have auto room EQ) sounds better than Audyssey?

Did you compare the Denon/Marantz in Direct Mode vs Sony/Yamaha/NAD in DIRECT mode?

I think it’s safe to say that some people prefer Direct Mode or Plain “Stereo” Mode + Bass-EQ (under 250Hz) over all Auto Room EQ.

Some people prefer Audyssey, some prefer YPAO, some prefer Dirac, some prefer Trinnov, some prefer Lyngdorf, etc.

And I doubt it has anything to do with ANY measurements like THD+N or even room FR measurements, unless there are some SERIOUS room modes in the BASS frequencies below 250Hz, which can usually be fixed with Bass-EQ (auto or manual PEQ).
1. You feel that YPAO and Dirac Auto Room EQ are practically equally good?
I think that both have their issues and strong points. I liked Dirac much more, I used my UMIK 1 DSP Mic and a laptop to do the calibration. One of the great features of Dirac is that you can interrupt the calibration at any moment and resume from there.
My YPAO experience is limited to the Yamaha RX-V6A. I think that it does a great job. It is not at Dirac level though, but after calibration if gives you more flexibility than Dirac which does not let you change a thing.
2. You feel that both YPAO and Dirac are better than Audyssey?
Yes. In my case, Audyssey did not do a thing. I am not sure that is AVR related and francly I do not understand that statement that Audyssey is far better than YPAO. In MY case, Yamaha calibrated with YPAO sounded far better than more expensive Denon and Marantz. Any explosion rattled my couch, sudden loud sounds made me jump from my seat on Yamaha. Same movie in Denon, by example is more smooth, there are no visceral sounds, no jumps. More muffled.
Dirac is way better than Audyssey, without any doubt from my part. Here are some pictures from Audyssey app vs Dirac.
1636902574293.png

1636902653619.png


Dirac did a much better job at correcting the dips below 200 Hz. Look at the dips around 100 Hz. How audyssey corrected and how Dirac corrected. I think says it all.

3. You feel the Sony in DIRECT MODE (since Sony does not have auto room EQ) sounds better than Audyssey?
I do not know. To my ears Sony sounds better than any Denon or Marantz. Its calibration is simple takes 5 minutes and gives you a very good sound. I tested the same movie with and without calibration and the result is vastly better on the calibrated part.

"Did you compare the Denon/Marantz in Direct Mode vs Sony/Yamaha/NAD in DIRECT mode?"
No. But I listen to same song or movie in Direct and Pure Direct modes at different times on all the AVRs. It did sound different to my ears, depending on the AVR.

In my opinion, calibrated mode was better than Direct on every AVR. More depth on the bass side, better spatiality of sound, better dynamics.

"Some people prefer Audyssey, some prefer YPAO, some prefer Dirac, some prefer Trinnov, some prefer Lyngdorf, etc." I totally agree. Iy was not in my intention to bash Denon and Marantz. For me, in my room, with my speakers, these AVR did not sound good. If you own one and you are happy with it, good for you. Be happy, watch your movies and listen to your music. All this trip with buying the AVR, testing, giving back is costly and cumbersome. I was tired at a point in time to just do the calibrations on the Denon and the Marantz. I was really glad when the second Yamaha sounded better at the first calibration.
 
Majorusa

Majorusa

Junior Audioholic
Amazing and interesting journey. I just made the jump from 1999 Denon AVC-A1D to the Yamaha RX-A8A and what a jump. I will have to run YPAO for the third time because I ran first time without front height then have made some changes to bring them higher. Running the Dolby AppleTV app is a good way to check the room calibration once YPAO done.

View attachment 51479
Nice room. I have to stick to Atmos speakers on top of front and back speakers. The wife forbid to hang them on the wall and let the cables to be seen.
What Dolby Apple TV app are you referring to?
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
it does have 4K 60 Hz 4.4.4 looked really good to me
Yes. HDMI 2.0 can do 4K 60 Hz 4:4:4/RGB, but with 8-bit only (18 Gbps). For 10-bit HDR experience over 4K/60Hz and colour space you mentioned, 20 Gbps are needed, which falls into HDMI 2.1 pipeline already. There are trade-offs with 2.0.

Even 4K 120 Hz can work over older HDMI, if supported by devices - at 4:2:0 8-bit. This needs 18 Gbps.
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
Nice room. I have to stick to Atmos speakers on top of front and back speakers. The wife forbid to hang them on the wall and let the cables to be seen.
What Dolby Apple TV app are you referring to?
There is a Dolby app on the AppleTV which I suppose is intended for show rooms.
 
Replicant 7

Replicant 7

Audioholic Samurai
Yes. HDMI 2.0 can do 4K 60 Hz 4:4:4/RGB, but with 8-bit only (18 Gbps). For 10-bit HDR experience over 4K/60Hz and colour space you mentioned, 20 Gbps are needed, which falls into HDMI 2.1 pipeline already. There are trade-offs with 2.0.

Even 4K 120 Hz can work over older HDMI, if supported by devices - at 4:2:0 8-bit. This needs 18 Gbps.
Thanks, you've help clear up a lot for me anyways on this 2.1 thing. Great info bro!
 
AVR Enthu

AVR Enthu

Full Audioholic
The way I see it just me say, If you have a 4K tv that has 2.1 input just run your video source straight to your TV than audio from your TV's ARC back to your AVR. But many owner's of these new AVR'S no matter who built their AVR want all their sources passing through their AVR for video. I say good luck with that who knows if and when the update's are implemented will 2.1 even work as they All say it will.
Yes. Direct connection source-sink works best for time being. On the other hand, AVR is an audio-video hub device by nature, so it is not surprising that owners want to connect devices through it. It's its purpose. New Denons, Onkyos and high-end AVP from Steinway and others already have working boards with 40 Gbps. New gen of AVRs and upgrade boards are expensive too, so owners who pay premium price should expect advanced features to work properly and reliably.
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
On Yamaha's website, at the top left click that box you'll see (products) click on that scroll all the way down till you see (promotions) click that it takes you to (product rebates and promotions) where you'll input your info.
Thank you.
It’s only for USA, not available for Canadian sadly
 
J

jakkedtide

Audioholic
I need some help with my rear surround for behind the couch. Should I angle them towards the center of the couch or point them straight. I will have a 7.2.4 and setting my new A8a up tonight. My AV guy said straight forward but Dolby site says angled in a bit

Thanks
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
I need some help with my rear surround for behind the couch. Should I angle them towards the center of the couch or point them straight. I will have a 7.2.4 and setting my new A8a up tonight. My AV guy said straight forward but Dolby site says angled in a bit

Thanks
How close are they to you? Is your couch right up on the wall?
 
J

jakkedtide

Audioholic
How close are they to you? Is your couch right up on the wall?
It's open behind the couch so I can move it around, I will see if I can remmeber to take a pic when I get home but it's open so I can put wherever
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
It's open behind the couch so I can move it around, I will see if I can remmeber to take a pic when I get home but it's open so I can put wherever
It's best to have them several feet behind you. I would angle them in somewhat, but not directly at you. Have them fire past you and crossing several feet in front of you.
 
J

jakkedtide

Audioholic
It's best to have them several feet behind you. I would angle them in somewhat, but not directly at you. Have them fire past you and crossing several feet in front of you.
OK so like what Dolby site says. How many feet, about 3ft?
 
OldAndSlowDev

OldAndSlowDev

Senior Audioholic
Since you are providing hints about speaker placement: have you any suggestions?
(Floor stands incoming to replace the kitchen chairs )
6C66A1CB-80F3-43C5-92E9-77C90A1F12C2.jpeg
 
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