Yamaha Receivers for Dummies

[millsryno]

Hello. I am trying to understand the technical differences between Yamaha receivers. I have listened to them and like them and they seem to be one of the favored (along with Denon) receivers to most people on this forum. I currently have a 5740 and want to upgrade. I am into the technical stuff, but don't quite understand it all, hence the title, Yamaha Receivers for Dummies. I am sure there are other "Dummies" out there like me that could really benefit from some dummied down, easy to understand infomation.

Please don't laugh if some of the questions sounds stupid or rediculous. Hey, if I don't ask, I'll never know and if I am asking the question, I am sure there is somebody else out there wondering the same thing. This is a long post and if you don't want to tackle the whole thing, I am breaking it up into categories. Please feel free to help out with just one category

I am researching specs on this link:
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/compare/compare_rec.htm

Here is where I need help and by all means any more techy info (dummied down of course) you wish to provide, would be greatly appreciated.

POWER RATING
The power rating comes in two varieties. One looks something like this:

POWER RATING -20Hz-20kHz @ 80HMS

and one looks like this:

POWER RATING 1kHz @ 8 OHMS

I am assuming that it is more important to look at the 20Hz-20kHz rating because this is perhaps continuous power? Would the 1kHz be peak power?

The HTR-5740 that I have has a 20Hz-20kHz power rating of 6 x 85 and a 1kHz power rating of 6 x 100. I assume this means that this reciever sends a signal to 6 different channels not including a subwoofer. Since I only have a 5.1 setup, will this mean the power levels stay the same, or since I do not have the sixth channel, it sends more power to each speaker?

Now I also notice that the HTR-5730 reciever lists it's power at 6 ohms:

5 X 103 WATTS @ 6 OHMS

This can throw a newbie off. Why do they do that? Is it because rating it at 8 ohms would be really low and not look very good? I am thinking that maybe sinse this is the most entry level A/V receiver they list 6 ohms to make it look more powerful to the entry level customer?

THD - Total Harmonic Distortion
From the internet searches I did it sounds like this is how much distortion is transmitted to the speakers? It is rated as a percentage like:

THD (%) 0.06%

The higher end models have less THD than the lower models. I have seen the RX-Z9 has a 0.02% THD compared to others that have 0.04% or 0.06%. So would a receiver with only 0.02% have half as much distortion as a receiver with 0.04%? Would that mean it is twice as "clear" sounding? Is there a certain point to where you cannot tell a difference? The HTR-5730 lists the THD% as 0.7%. This must be a typo? Is it suppose to be 0.07%?

Why is there different amounts of THD depending if they rate it at 20hz-20kHz compared to 1kHz? I assume looking at the 20Hz-20kHz is more important?

Frequency Response
It looks like all Yamaha receivers are rated at 20-20kHz. I think this means it plays all sounds in this range which is all a human can hear? So if a speaker was rated up to 30kHz, would that mean it would not even get a signal higher than 20kHz since the Yamaha does not have that frequency response? Or on the reverse side if a subwoofer was rated as low as 10Hz it would not receive a signal lower than 20Hz?

LINEAR DAMPING FACTOR (20-20kHz)
I have no idea what this is and couldn't even guess. I am assuming the higher, the better. The RX-Z9 has 200 or more, while some are as low as 60. The HTR-5730 does not even list one. Would 200 be twice as good s 100?

Pre-out All Channels
I think this means whether or not the receiver has a digital coaxial output that you would use strictly with an amplifier if you wanted to add one to your system (an output for each seperate channel). So if you are not planning to add an amplifier, "No" would be fine? Would it still have a Pre-out for the subwoofer? It looks like the higher end receivers have "Pre-out main - In couplers". What is the difference?

192 kHz/24-BIT DAC'S For All Channels
I have no idea what this is. Some say "Yes", the high end say "Yes, BURR Brown" and some don't list it at all. If it does not list it, should I assume that means "No"?

DSP Processor
I have no idea what DSP stands for. I noticed that it looks like the more processors the receiver has, the better? There also seems to be some 24 bit, but mostly 32 bit processors. Is there a big difference? There are Yss-930, YSS-938, YSS-928, etc. Are these model numbers, power, etc.? Is there som ethat re better than other that I should look for?

I noticed some have different BIT STREAM DECODERS and some have the same one. What is the scoop on this?

What are DSP programs? They list how many DSP programs they each have. Are Surround Programs the same thing?

YPAO
I believe this is a surround sound set up utility exclusive to Yamaha? Does it incorporate a microphone? How exactly does it work? Is the microphone cordless? How much will this help the novice? If it does not have YPAO, can you still manually configure everything?

Some receivers have an "ON SCREEN DISPLAY" and some don't. I am assuming this means on your television screen, not on the little screen on the receiver? Does this just show you the volume adjustment, bass adjustment, treble adjustment, etc. on the TV when you adjust it? Is there something else it does to help with configuring the surrond sound or anything?

SURROUND SOUND FORMATS
I think Dolby and DTS are just competitors, not different technology? Here is a list of all the technologies I see: THX Ultra 2, THX Select, Dolby Digital 6.1, Dolby Digital EX (same thing as Dolby Digital 6.1??), Dolby Digital Matrix 6.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby ProLogic II, Dolby ProLogic IIx, DTS ES Discreet 6.1, DTS ES Matrix 6.1, DTS, DTS 96/24, DTS NEO 6. I can look them up online and get plenty of info on each seperate one, but here is what I want to know. For the best 5.1 set up, what are the technologies I NEED? For the best 6.1 set up, what are the technologies I NEED? For the best 7.1 set up, what technologies do I NEED? If I only want 5.1, is it a waste to go with the 6.1 technologies or will they make the 5.1 better?

VIDEO UP CONVERSION
I know this somehow upconverts lesser quality video signals and outputs them into better formats depending on the receiver. Does that mean if a receiver up converts to component and I input the signal with regular RCA jacks or S-video that the signal it send to the TV with a component cable will be just as good as if I sent it into the receiver with component cables? If so, how? It is not getting the more "pure" signal to begin with so how does it magically make it a component quality signal?

HDTV COMPATIBILITY
Why wouldn't a receiver be HDTV compatible? Is it because it does not have component outputs? If it does not list whether or not it is HDTV compatible like the HTR-5280 should I assume that it is not HDTV compatible? Does this mean it is also not EDTV compatible?

WIDE-RANGE COMPONENT VIDEO BANDWIDTH
This is measured like:

5Hz-60MHz -3dB

I have noticed some variations on this and assume this is like the pipeline size of the component cables? What do each of the numbers represent? What is "good"?

OTHER
Anything else I missed?

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and I am positive that any input you have will help me...and any other "Dummies" out there!! Hopefully this will turn into a one-stop Yamaha technical information tool because it can get difficult finding all of this info on this forum or on the 'net.

 

[Leprkon]

power rating: you see two different versions (20-20KHz versus @1KHz) often. A good receiver will report the power rating across the spectrum. 1KHz happens to be a very strong signal peak for most amps, so a cheesey manufacturer could make his amp look good by reporting only that number. The 20-20KHz versions will produce that particular rating at all frequencies, and would probably be 15 to 20 % higher if reported as just 1KHz.

Yamaha sometimes reports power at 6 ohms because a) this number will be higher than it would be at 8 ohms, but more likely b) many of Yamaha's speakers work best at 6 ohms. The 5730 you mention, in particular, most often is a part of home theatre in a box (HTiB) systems, and comes with Yamaha speakers, so it makes sense to quote it in those terms.

THD- is one way to measure the amount of noise in a system. The lower the better, but it should always be less than .1 %. A second way is the signal-to-noise ratio, usually expressed as a number similar to 95dB. In this case, the higher the number, the cleaner the signal. You would want to look at the 20-20KHz number, as it will represent all the frequencies you would be listening to. Again, receivers use "less" power at 1 KHz than they do for full-spectrum, so it will look like less noise.

Frequency Response- a "normal" human hears between about 35 Hz and 18 KHz. I've seen speakers that go up to 22KHz, but pretty much only the dog could hear them. Most receivers will actually produce signals alot higher than that, but there is usually a roll-off as you go far up or far down. Many suppliers, recognizing that no one would hear them anyway, stop at 20KHz. Some "audiophiles" will pay big bucks to get a 22KHz receiver, even though the quality within the audible range is the same as a 20KHz. The answer to the other half of your question is yes, the speakers would not get any "usable" 10 Hz or 30KHz signal from the receiver. There would be some signal, but, due to roll-off, it would not be much.

Pre-out for all channels- This is specifically for use with a seperate amplifier. You would have one channel of coax (more likely analog than digital) for each channel of output you use. If you don't plan to use an amp, then it's fluff. Almost all receivers in this day and age will have a subwoofer pre-out regardless of if they have all channel pre-out or not. The point 1 in 7.1 or 5.1 tells you if it has a sub pre-out.

DACS- digital to analog converters- these are the little devices that switch the 0's and 1's off your CD or DVD into the analog signal that goes to your speakers. To keep things simple (and with double e's around, life is never simple), the higher the number (ie 192KHz), the faster the DAC does the conversion, and the higher the bit number (ie 24 bit), the more accurately it does it. Burr-Brown is a brand name of a company that makes very good DAC's.

DSP stands for digital signal processor. These are small programs inside your receiver that change the way the sound is reproduced. They might put a little more nigh-frequency (treble) in, for example, to simulate the sound that you might hear if you were in a church. They might add a little more bass to make it sound like you were at a concert. Do you want strawberries on your pancakes or bluebeerries or bananas or maple syrup or raspberry syrup... The number of DSP's doesn't really tell you how good the receiver is, as they are changing the quality of the sound. It's not likely your ears would be able to remember, let alone be able to use, a large number of these. That being said, the more there are, the more you can pick from to use for your two or three favorites.

YPAO- using a mike to set up the sound is not only a Yamaha feature. Pioner, Denon, most companies have a system of some sort. YPAO just happens to be the system Yamaha uses. In most newer receivers, you can still do a manual set-up without the microphone. There are several steps involved, usually including telling the system how far you sit from the speakers, whether or not they are large or small (or even there) and if one particular speaker needs a little more juice than the rest to sound the same. The receiver will use the distance information and arrange for the sound to all arrive at one place at the same time. It will use the size of the speakers to decide if the speaker should get all of the signal, or, if it's a smaller speaker, maybe not send it too much bass that it would not do a good job of producing. You can use your ears, or even better, a sound meter (about fifty bucks at the nearest Radio Shack) to dial in the amount of power to each speaker. It's more important that each speaker PRODUCES the same level of sound, not thet it GETS the same amount of power. That makes sure you are getting sounds from all around you and puts you in the center of the action.

This process is just a way (whether done by a YPAO or manually) for the receiver to make the best use of information about the system to make it sound as good as it can. The more it knows, the better a job it will do for you.

Surround Sound Formats: As a minimum you want Dolby Digital and DTS for 5.1. 6.1 will not make a 5.1 system sound better, but it does let you move up in the world later if you want to without having to buy another receiver. Please note that as of this writing, there are no DVD's or CD's out there that actually have 7 channels of signal on them (not counting the point 1 for the sub). Some have 6, but the majority have 5. All 7.1 systems and higher use computer processing to create the additional channels.

Video Up-conversion is a touchy subject. In many of the lower-end receivers, this simply means you can plug in an S-video cable into the receiver, and the receiver will send it out to your TV on a composite cable. It's for convenience and does not actually make the signal any better. Some of your better receivers have a Faroudja or similar processor that will actually make the signal better, which (to me at least) is an actual "up" conversion. Video upconversion is mostly for convenience. You will generally find more places to plug in the cable box, the DVD, the VCR, etc, into the receiver than you will into the TV. You will generally be able to use just one button on the remote to switch from both audio and video on one source to audio and video on another source. I personally prefer to run all the video direct to the TV whenever possible. The more connections and circuits you throw in, the more likely you are to get noise or a bad connection. But that's just me.

HDTV compatible. This is important if you have to use a cable box or other system going through the receiver to get to the TV. It has to be able to handle the bizarre signal that makes up HDTV so that you still get picture and sound, even without turning the receiver on. Component video might carry the HDTV signal uninterrupted, but the sound portion is also a digital stream that has to get to the TV. It's the main reason you can't use a VCR to record an HDTV signal.

Video Bandwidth. As I mentioned, I don't use those features (other than an occasional on-screen display), so hopefully someone who really works with in-line video like BMXTRX will stop by this post and fill you in.

Hopefully this will get you started and someone can fill in what I've missed. Good luck on your project.

 

[crashguy]

Here's my take. I agree with almost all of what Leprkon told you, but I will add some things, and disagree with a few minor points.

1) Power rating ---- I agree with Leprkon, but I will add that another tool you can use to check on the power amplifier portion of a receiver is to look at the weight of the unit (heavier = better usually) because the transformer provides the power source for the amp, and larger ones are heavier. This is not a concrete rule, but a general indication. Also, check on the power consumtion rating on the rear of the unit, usually where the power cord goes in or attaches. A higher "A" rating (usually between 5 and 10 amps) is also a general indication of power capability, as it usually corresponds to the size of the transformer. You will either see an Amp rating (Amp as in Ampere - eletrical term, not amp as in amplifier - audio term) of say 7.1A (Denon 3802 example) or 850VA which is just the Ampere rating of 7.1 X 120Volts of electricity. 7.1A and 850VA would indicate roughly the same size transformer.

2) THD ---- I wouldn't worry much about this number. You will never hear the difference between 0.05% and 0.5% (ten times the difference) in normal applications. You will NEVER hear any difference between 0.05% and 0.02% either. This number can be so easily manipulated, that it is essentially meaningless, unless you start talking 10% THD, which is how some shelf systems are rated. It is once again a numbers game to artificially pump up the power numbers. Consider this example for power ratings, all from the same amp.
- 150w@1KHz, 1%THD into 6 ohms
- 115w@20Hz - 20KHz, 0.5%THD into 8 ohms
- 110w@20Hz - 20Khz, 0.05%THD into 8 ohms
You can see the manufacturers can manipulate the numbers all they want.

3) Freq response ---- I agree with Leprkon here, and see above
4) Damping factor ---- Some think this is an idication of quality, I think is too easily manipulated, and non-standardly measured to mean anything. I wouldn't worry too much about it at all
5) 192KHz/24 bit ---- An indication of digital signal processing power. Higher numbers are better, and older models are typically 96 Khz/24 bit.
6) DSP ---- Agree with Leprkon here too, except that I would be careful in saying that DSP adds bass or treble. I would say it CAN add bass or treble, but mostly (99%) add only digital delay to simulate echos and the like. Suble DSP additions can add greatly to the surround sound experience.
7) Surround modes ---- Dolby Digital, DTS, etc. The more the better. Newest models have DPL IIx, Dolby Digital EX, and DTS ES. An older or lower end model would be just Dolby Digital, or DTS. Generally speaking, the more it has, the better, the newer the software loaded into it.
8) On Screen Display (OSD) ---- A useful feature in my opinion. Modern receivers can be difficult to set up. OSD simplifies the task.
9) Video up conversion ---- I Disagree with Leprkon here. I think this is a very useful feature. Let me explain. You hook up the video signal from a standard VCR by way of a COMPOSITE VIDEO cable. A typical satellite receiver has an S-VIDEO output. A typical DVD player has a COMPONENT VIDEO output. If this is your situation, and your receiver does not have video up conversion, you would have to hook all these components up to your receiver/amp, then also run a corresponding cable from your c=receiver to your TV/monitor. With video up conversion, you can hook any source to your receiver/amp, then run ONLY ONE COMPONENT VIDEO cable to your TV. The receiver/amp will "up convert" everything to COMPONENT VIDEO. This greatly simplifies the hook up process to the TV. By the way, the levels of quality are (in order)
1) COAX CABLE ---- the kind you "screw on" the back of you TV. Poorest quality.
2) Composite (RCA) cable ---- usually the yellow in the red, white, and yellow trio
3) S-VIDEO ---- Very good quality image, this is the cable with the 4 little pins inside the connector end.
4) Component video ---- BEST quality (of the analog connections), made up of 3 separate cables, inputs are usually blue, green, and red or some other combo.

Hope this helps

 

[Leprkon]

Here's my take. I agree with almost all of what Leprkon told you, but I will add some things, and disagree with a few minor points.

1) COAX CABLE ---- the kind you "screw on" the back of you TV. Poorest quality.

Hope this helps

minor watch note here: some people who write the instruction books for the receivers can be very sloppy with the term "COAX". I've seen it used to mean the simple RCA-type cables in some books and my Mitsu TV uses COAX for the digital sound output cable (which is a RCA type with a big something tied into the middle). If it's an important feature to you, I'd recommend you look at the owner's manual online for whatever you plan to buy to see what the picture of the connection looks like.

upconversion - bah humbug

 

[crashguy]

True, the term has now been adopted to the "RCA type" digital connection as well. I meant the 300 ohm video antenna cable.

You'd figure those engineers that design this stuff could come up with a unique name for something new. I propose the RCA type digital connection should be called the "gamma digital connector."

Whadda ya think Leprkon?
Engineers.....can't live with 'em,

 

[BMXTRIX]

RCA Type digital connectors: Sony/Phillips Digital Interface - S/PDIF (pronounce: spidiff)

Leprkon did a great job describing everything.

There are a few other things that you may want to know... Like, some receivers give you 5.1 channel INPUT. Some high end DVD players offer 5.1 channel output (from the DVD player) to your receiver, so it can play SACD. I'm not an audio nut (video yes, audio no), so I have never used it even though it is on my receiver.

I think between $700-$1200 there are a TON of very similarly featured and quality receivers out there. Some sound warmer/brighter than others and some don't. But, that is something to listed to and determine yourself. I don't think my RX-Z1 is warm or bright, but sounds great - but what do I know? It's my ears and I'm happy. I think that is what needs to matter to most: If it sounds good, then you will be happy with the amplification and audio section.

What I think matters a lot: Audio inputs, video inputs, and formats acceptable.
1. If it has component video on it, these days, it almost definitely handles HDTV being switched through the receiver, as long as the receiver is a new/current model. Older receivers could not switch HDTV, but only DVD quality video.

2. How many component devices do you NEED to run through the receiver. There is a chance (small) that the receiver may degrade the quality of any video running through the receiver - so can you run all the devices straight to the display device directly instead of through the receiver?

3. How many digital inputs does it have, and in what type? S/PDIF and Toslink are the two digital audio output formats on DVD/Cable/CD/PS2/X-Box etc. So, how many, and of what type do you need? There is no reason to believe that either is better, just that you have enough of what you need to use all your gear with the best possible audio.

4. Future proof? No, nothing is future proof, but if you plan on adding a couple of devices this year, will the receiver have the inputs you need to CYA?

5. Zone 2/3? If you plan on having a second zone of audio/video then make sure you get a receiver that does it cleanly. Yamaha is OUTSTANDING at this. Others I am not so sure about. Marantz was pretty inflexible at it last time I used it. Not sure about Denon.

Most manufacturers will make you happy, and if you get the chance to listen to the product before you buy, then that can make a big difference. If you deal with a specialty shop and someone gives you a good vibe, then get their card and go back and buy from them if you are happy. A sales guy who knows his stuff can make a big difference in making you happy. If you are into figuring all this stuff out on your own, keep up with the questions and check out some of the magazines for some reviews and specs. Most magazines cater to the products they review, because of advertising, but you can often catch undertones of disappointment in product descriptions that should ring warning bells.

Also, always ask (as you have) before you buy and spend your cash!