Yamaha RX-V6A/TSR-700 views?

[EBN]

It looks to use the same caps as the RX-A860 which was measured by Gene. It`s bit shame if you compare to old days when there was less features, but the internal components were better. But with all these fees they have to pay Dolby, DTS and god knows who these days it´s quite understandable that the compromises have to be done somehow to keep same price. At least on the budget models.

Rx-A30x0 has 18,000uF caps. Denon X6x00H 15,000uF i think @PENG mentioned. Just general information, not to directly compare 400-600$ product to these expensive ones..



The power supply is a bit smaller than I've come to expect in AV receivers in this price class. As comparison, the power supply in my friend's $400 Yamaha RX-V659 AV receiver that just lost a battle against a lightning storm is a bit bigger with a larger IE core transformer and more generous capacitor bank (71V 12,000uF Caps x 2) compared to the much more expensive RX-A860 (71V 8,200uF Caps x 2).

 

[snakeeyes]

It looks to use the same caps as the RX-A860 which was measured by Gene. It`s bit shame if you compare to old days when there was less features, but the internal components were better. But with all these fees they have to pay Dolby, DTS and god knows who these days it´s quite understandable that the compromises have to be done somehow to keep same price. At least on the budget models.

Rx-A30x0 has 18,000uF caps for comparison. Denon X6x00H 15,000uF i think @PENG mentioned.



The power supply is a bit smaller than I've come to expect in AV receivers in this price class. As comparison, the power supply in my friend's $400 Yamaha RX-V659 AV receiver that just lost a battle against a lightning storm is a bit bigger with a larger IE core transformer and more generous capacitor bank (71V 12,000uF Caps x 2) compared to the much more expensive RX-A860 (71V 8,200uF Caps x 2).

Think they were saying the TSR700 was $400 at Costco. I don’t think you can expect it power-wise to compare to AVRs costing over 3x as much. Many users are only doing 5.1 and use small speakers and the subs do a lot of the work. Feature-wise it’s great for it to have that many HDMI 2.1 ports and all of them full 48G. (Not like the Denon with its single HDMI 2.1 port of 40G)

I wonder if my 2060 has similar size components to the 30x0. They share the same size chassis.

 

[Les_H]

Look, this is an economy receiver, not a high end receiver. Because the price is lower, there are going to be compromises. It's not going to have all the features and performance of the more expensive receivers - it can't.

So first, it's not made for large rooms or inefficient or low impedance speakers. It has to be used in the right application. Small room, easy to drive speakers - it's great and has no problem reaching ear shattering sound levels.

The key question is how it performs against the competition at the same price. And it looks to me like Yamaha's intent was to make the best performing receiver at its competitive price point. For example, they gave it more power than the competition. They also put their high end room correction (YPAO RSC multi-point) in it - the competition doesn't do that (and the room correction performs very well at least in a simple, small rectangular room). They put in 8k compatibility - nobody else has done that in an economy receiver.

I wouldn't be surprised if in a few months we find that the review sites comparing this unit to the competition chooses it as a best buy and best performer at its price point. We'll find out.

I haven't seen the video banding issues yet that are reported, maybe they exist at times under certain conditions - but note that I've had expensive, high end AV preamps that had their own issues with certain types of video or certain sources and particular TV's. This is an ongoing problem with most units.

The bottom line, for me, is that this ticks all the boxes for a best performing receiver at its price point. Some may disagree, but I suspect overall that most will end up agreeing with my assessment over time.

It's worth a try with the limitations and compromises in mind. But any other unit at this price (or likely any price) is going to have its own set of strengths and weaknesses, just different. Receivers are like wives, but easier to return.

 

[Gmoney]

Look, this is an economy receiver, not a high end receiver. Because the price is lower, there are going to be compromises. It's not going to have all the features and performance of the more expensive receivers - it can't.

So first, it's not made for large rooms or inefficient or low impedance speakers. It has to be used in the right application. Small room, easy to drive speakers - it's great and has no problem reaching ear shattering sound levels.

The key question is how it performs against the competition at the same price. And it looks to me like Yamaha's intent was to make the best performing receiver at its competitive price point. For example, they gave it more power than the competition. They also put their high end room correction (YPAO RSC multi-point) in it - the competition doesn't do that (and the room correction performs very well at least in a simple, small rectangular room). They put in 8k compatibility - nobody else has done that in an economy receiver.

I wouldn't be surprised if in a few months we find that the review sites comparing this unit to the competition chooses it as a best buy and best performer at its price point. We'll find out.

I haven't seen the video banding issues yet that are reported, maybe they exist at times under certain conditions - but note that I've had expensive, high end AV preamps that had their own issues with certain types of video or certain sources and particular TV's. This is an ongoing problem with most units.

The bottom line, for me, is that this ticks all the boxes for a best performing receiver at its price point. Some may disagree, but I suspect overall that most will end up agreeing with my assessment over time.

It's worth a try with the limitations and compromises in mind. But any other unit at this price (or likely any price) is going to have its own set of strengths and weaknesses, just different. Receivers are like wives, but easier to return.

Can't speak for the "Banding" issue mine doesn't have that issue or any as of right now. As of right now my V6A is Performing flawlessly and sounds great. I to have had high-end pre-pro, My NAD had HDMI issues. By no means is the RX-V6A near a flagship line, but like you stated what it is has going for it 100 X 2 and a very nice feature set plus 2 years warranty. As for the looks, I like the new look some don't but than again what isn't Subjective with audio gear. I find a lot of gear Not to be Pleasing to the eye. Other do, but there's that Subjective thing again. Yamaha will release updates to fully Implement all the features in December for this unit. It replaced my TSR-7790 which still Performs well but cost 250 bucks less than my 7790 new. The V4A was 399 at Costco, but not anymore, I paid 599 for my V6A as for me? money well spent.

 

[EBN]

Think they were saying the TSR700 was $400 at Costco. I don’t think you can expect it power-wise to compare to AVRs costing over 3x as much. Many users are only doing 5.1 and use small speakers and the subs do a lot of the work. Feature-wise it’s great for it to have that many HDMI 2.1 ports and all of them full 48G. (Not like the Denon with its single HDMI 2.1 port of 40G)

I wonder if my 2060 has similar size components to the 30x0. They share the same size chassis.

No of course not, but the comparison for old 400$ RX-V659 still stands! It was taken from Gene`s review of RX-A860. Yamaha did claim in the live video event that the new models has most powerfull amps vs. competitors or something that like. For the price it packs lot of goodies so can`t really complain. Hdmi 2.1 features comes December via update and the Dolby Atmos Height virtualization mode next year for persons who runs 5.1 system and want some height effect without physical speakers.

@Les_H YPAO is still poor eq`ing subwoofer, manual PEQ has 4bands and the automatic setup isn`t likely to flatten any peaks. Audussey MultEQ XT on 2000 serie Denons does something for sub too, but not nearly as much and effective way as XT32. So what i`m mostly intrested is Yamaha making the necessary changes for the new Aventage range YPAO version. Pioneer and Onkyo are getting Dirac Live, NAD is breathing neck with Dirac, ARCAM and Anthem are ahead same as all D&M products with XT32. People are more intrested these days on room correction so fingers crossed Yamaha is doing something to keep with the competition.

I`m not sure about the 2000 range, @PENG can probably see them from the repair sheets if he is online after the "interrogation" on another forum..

 

[Les_H]

@Les_H YPAO is still poor eq`ing subwoofer, manual PEQ has 4bands and the automatic setup isn`t likely to flatten any peaks. Audussey MultEQ XT on 2000 serie Denons does something for sub too, but not nearly as much and effective way as XT32.

***

I had bass peak problems in my simple rectangular room and moving the sub around would have been the best solution but was strictly prohibited by WAF so I left the sub in the extreme corner and let YPAO RSC multi do its work and did not expect much but when it finished I was surprised and impressed and what a great job it did of smoothing things out. So I think you are underestimating it. I have more sophisticated systems in other rooms with XT32 and I appreciate that, too, especially in complex situations - but the Yamaha this year is no slouch for its price point and likely applications. Again, it has to be compared with the competition at the same price point.

 

[EBN]

@Les_H YPAO is still poor eq`ing subwoofer, manual PEQ has 4bands and the automatic setup isn`t likely to flatten any peaks. Audussey MultEQ XT on 2000 serie Denons does something for sub too, but not nearly as much and effective way as XT32.

***

I had bass peak problems in my simple rectangular room and moving the sub around would have been the best solution but was strictly prohibited by WAF so I left the sub in the extreme corner and let YPAO RSC multi do its work and did not expect much but when it finished I was surprised and impressed and what a great job it did of smoothing things out. So I think you are underestimating it. I have more sophisticated systems in other rooms with XT32 and I appreciate that, too, especially in complex situations - but the Yamaha this year is no slouch for its price point and likely applications. Again, it has to be compared with the competition at the same price point.

Do you have any before/after measurements? It´s not that i won´t believe you, it´s just that the higher ranges with even better 64-bit version of YPAO has been as poor the lower YPAOs regarding the subwoofer eq for years. There is no mention that the YPAO would have been changed, they just added better version to V6A which was earlier in A8x0 and V7x0 ranges. The multipoint adds more positions for mic.

 

[Les_H]

I don't have measurements because that wasn't the goal. If I get a chance I'll take some. This is a secondary system in a secondary house so I'm less OCD about it than my main systems. I do have experience and my ears, and those are not unreliable. My main vinyl analog audio system includes $20,000 B&W Matrix 800 speakers and homebuilt 300B tube amps, so I know what good audio sounds like. My main home theater system includes high end separates with 9.2.2. so I take this stuff seriously and have a reference point for excellent sound.

The point is that coming from high end systems my expectations for the $400 Yamaha receiver were very low compared to what I'm accustomed to. And I was surprised, in fact shocked, at how well the cheap Yamaha performed for its price point and in absolute terms.

 

[Trebdp83]

I'm still having HDMI issues and I suspect most if not all will be resolved with firmware updates as the 8K, VRR, ALLM, QMS and HDR10+ will be enabled. Dolby Atmos Virtualizer will also be enabled. Currently, I have disabled HDR in all of my devices and curiously, the Yamaha is sending out a better picture now than my Onkyo ever did with HDR on. I suspect the TV is the weak link here with it's limited HDR capabilities. I turned on 4K upscaling in the Yamaha and left it there. It makes the OTA material from my TiVo look better than when it is off. I forgot to turn HDR off in my 4K blu-ray player so it looked washed out with HDR turned off in the TV. Once I made the adjustment, it looked great. I made more adjustments in the HD DVD player and was able to enjoy a nice picture from it as well. If only my Apple TV 4K would get along better with the Yamaha.There is some animosity there. But, again, turning off HDR there produced a very impressive picture. I always go to episode 1 of "The Mandalorian" for reference with any system changes. It looked and sounded better than it did through the Onkyo. One of my local stations broadcasts in Dolby Digital EX 6.1 and the Yamaha makes my "Big Bang Theory" reruns sound great. My DVD-Audios sound great. Streaming from the net sounds great. USB music in ALAC sounds great. Even though it advertised DSD capability, I worried it might convert it to PCM. Nope. My SACDs never sounded so good. But, sigh, that GUI. It does not belong in an AVR in 2020 at any price. At $599.99, the Yamaha RX-V6A will be an even better value when fully featured. When the TSR-700 is fully featured after firmware updates, it will be an absolute steal.

 

[Les_H]

Trebdp83, you are right. The only downside I've discovered so far is the SLOWWWW menus and low-res graphics in them. Not a big deal for me in light of all the other positive attributes. After initial setup the menu speed won't matter that much. Some people might be really bothered by it though, and if so they'd have to pay much more for equivalent features and faster graphics.

 

[lovinthehd]

Never understood all the fuss about gui graphics....as long as they work they don't need to be hi res or pretty.

 

[3db]

Never understood all the fuss about gui graphics....as long as they work they don't need to be hi res or pretty.

I'll take reliability and good performance over a snazzy gui any day.

 

[Trebdp83]

It's not just the looks, though they do matter. It is slow and at times unresponsive. The music streaming service apps look awful. That would be ok 10 or 15 years ago, but that is just not acceptable in 2020. I wonder when AVR manufactures will have the GUI available over the network so that one could use a Smart phone or tablet for all of the settings. Many car makers wised up and let iOS and Android phones do things that they simply cannot do themselves nearly as well. While the MusicCast app is far from perfect, using it as a remote control for the Yamaha really speeds things up when accessing the settings and making adjustments. It can do quite a bit, but cannot access the AVR's full feature set to make every kind of adjustment.

 

[lovinthehd]

Could you make those screenshots larger? I can't hardly make them out!

ps I've never had a gui that didn't respond to commands, tho. As long as the remote was aimed reasonably well....

 

[Trebdp83]

I didn’t want anybody to strain their eyes. I don’t know what else to tell ya’. The remote control is s#%t. Maybe if I put batteries in it...

 

[Les_H]

The Pong-level graphics don't bother me, but the slowness and unresponsiveness at times do. Maybe a firmware update could improve that, or the hardware may not be up to the task.

 

[Les_H]

But a receiver at this price point is going to have lots of compromises. It's clear to me that the compromises were not mainly in the sound quality, and the Yammy's proficiency there was a pleasant surprise.

 

[snakeeyes]

It's not just the looks, though they do matter. It is slow and at times unresponsive. The music streaming service apps look awful. That would be ok 10 or 15 years ago, but that is just not acceptable in 2020. I wonder when AVR manufactures will have the GUI available over the network so that one could use a Smart phone or tablet for all of the settings. Many car makers wised up and let iOS and Android phones do things that they simply cannot do themselves nearly as well. While the MusicCast app is far from perfect, using it as a remote control for the Yamaha really speeds things up when accessing the settings and making adjustments. It can do quite a bit, but cannot access the AVR's full feature set to make every kind of adjustment.
View attachment 40848View attachment 40849View attachment 40850

Use the Yamaha controller app, not the Yamaha musiccast app to control the receiver from your phone or tablet. Much more functionality, same functionality as the remote.

 

[Trebdp83]

Tried it. Didn't work. It sees my receiver, but when I select it, it actually sends me over to the MusicCast app. The RX-V6A and TSR-700 aren't in the list of supported devices yet for the AV Controller app. I'd like to use it. It looks sharp.

 

[rtgordon]

Another CX RX-V6A owner here... after reading this and other threads, I've seen the hdr color banding and aware of eARC issues. What is the general consensus here with others having the same issues? Hope that a firmware update fixes everything... deal with the color banding and switch video in the receiver? Run through the TV and deal with eARC? Take it back?

Also, is anyone having an issue bringing up the gui when displaying apple tv content? I have no issues when other content is being displayed, but when I hit setup with apple tv playing, I get a black screen and the gui never comes up.