I have new respect for Yamaha (1 Viewer)

[LaMarcus]

I'll be honest I didn't think anything about Yamaha, they'd be last on my list for a receiver. I know Yamaha made quality stuff, but I'm kinda superfishal and I've always thought Yamaha receivers were ugly. Another reason why I wouldn't buy Harmon Kardon receivers, just ugh.

But I went to Best Buy tonight and they had a HT set up with Yamaha receiver, klipsch front and back, and a sub. And I must say it sounded pretty damn good!

Now I don't know how much of that was the receiver versus the speakers. But I was impressed. And I know it wasn't properly calibrated, but it still sounded awesome. And the klipsch weren't even the exspensive one's that the memeber's here have. I'm not sure what model of Klipsch they were, but they were floor standing, and the center was very small.

Makes me think about getting some different speakers and receiver I'll tell ya that.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

Probably the Klipsch SF-1's or SF-2's. Yes, Klipsch speakers are quality speakers and Yamaha doesn't make a bad reciever. In my opinion and from the parts Harman/Kardon uses HK is a much better deal. Much better amplifier in there recievers as well as they don't include BS you don't need which will allow you to have more that you do and better quality for the price. One reason why I think HK skips 6.1 recievers and jumps from 5.1 to 7.1. 6.1 isn't really needed but I think to most people it is sort of a "WOW!" because it offers one extra channel that is kind of just useless.

I also think HK is very flashy and nice looking, one of the best lookin' recievers before you enter seperates.

 

[Chris Quinn]

Yamahas do not get the credit they deserve. They are very accurate. I'd agree that H/K aren't the best looking but it is the sound that counts. Unfortunately with H/K you need to be looking at the 525 which can hold its own. I don't think that is true of the lower H/Ks maybe the 325 too.

I'm not a fan of the Klipsch sound.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

One reason why I think HK skips 6.1 recievers and jumps from 5.1 to 7.1. 6.1 isn't really needed but I think to most people it is sort of a "WOW!" because it offers one extra channel that is kind of just useless.

Actually, H/K is going to make the AVR-230 which is a 6.1 receiver. It has been announced and should be on the shelves shortly.

 

[John-Tompkins]

they don't include BS you don't need which will allow you to have more that you do and better quality for the price

Well, I can tell you that new digital eq in the new Yammies receivers isnt BS...it works incredibly well and is a feature that all receivers/pre-pro's should have.Also the surround enhancement options that the new Yammies have are excellant and allow the user many tweeks to adjust there sides/rears to fit your room.
Im using the rxv2400 as a pre-pro so cant comment on its amps. Having owned a HK avr8000 in the past I can say that the hk amps are really beefy for a reciever and would be hard to beat in a all in one package, but in the end it was the BS of the Yammie that won me over.

 

[Paul Anthony]

I've owned quite a few receivers in the past...Panasonic, Sony, Marantz, Yamaha, and now my current Denon AVR-4802R. And I have never had any problems with my Yamaha, one the best sounding home theater receivers that money can buy, it has one of the best surround processors, because it gives the illusion that you're in a real live movie theater! Pretty wicked.

 

[NickSP]

Having gone through some prepros and receivers used as prepros I can say that the new Yammy line isnot BS at all. The YPAO feature alone is worth an upgrade. I am trying out the 1400 as a prepro and am plesantly surprised by what the YPAO did in terms of soundstage and imaging. The sound for music and HT is extremely pleasing and not overwhelming at the same time. Again, I haven't used a receiver's amps since I have very good external amps but the 1400 sounds very good as a prepro (IMHO)

 

[Mark Romero]

I love Yamaha receivers and amps. I have a 2095 receiver, and an M80 and M85 power amp. Love 'em.

 

[george.Legeza]

I can only speak from experience, but I'm damn happy with my Yamaha HTR-5660.

Then again, I'm using B&W DM303s all around, so I have a strictly budget system. So YMMV.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I have a love/hate relationship with Yamaha.

I love their DSP, and I think it's the best in mass market components.

I hate them, because they don't do a pre/pro!

Had an RX-v793 receiver for a while, and even used it as a pre/pro for a little while longer by adding outboard amplification to it. Really liked that sucker.

 

[DonnyD]

Another Yamaha fan here. And most of my friends have Yamaha too. Over the years, I've gone from the old 905, to the 2095 and then to a RVX-1 which I now have. Rock solid and even though it is a generation or two old now, it still performs as needed..... I have always liked the dsp sections acoording to what I'm doing and there is always one that sounds good on anything I'm playing.
On the BS thing.... I think all this hype about 7.1 is really the BS. That only means two rear center outputs on the receiver and it is really only a split channel. Right?
I achieved that same thing by just running 2 rear centers hooked to the one rear center output on my Yam so if you count speakers, I am running 9.1......... so to me it is the "numbers" that are BS since I don't know of any sources that are 7.1 encoded or 9.1 encoded. If I'm wrong about that, somebody chirp in and then maybe I'll ralize it is time to upgrade to the RXZ-9......

 

[Steve Lucas]

John,
I've been thinking about the Yamaha RX-V2400 myself. Do you mind telling me what the street price is of this unit? The reason I want it is the parametric eq and automatic set-up/room equalization. Does it work as advertised?
I'm presently running a Marantz SR-6200.


Steve

 

[John-Tompkins]

Hello Steve,

I went down to my local tweeters and picked it up for 899.00 (mrsp 999.00). They originally told me 999.00 but after I mentioned that abt electronics and others had it for 899.00 they said no problem. I wanted it quick and also wanted the abilty to return it if I didnt like it (owned almost every other brand in the world but not Yammie). I see on yahoo shopping some merchants have it for as low as 800.00 or so, you just dont get original warranty but you do get the "store" warranty, dont know how big a deal this is to you.

The EQ and auto setup are for real !. They work as adveritised and then some. Things you may not know is the auto-eq has 4 different settings to choose from (FLAT,LOW,MID,HIGH)pretty cool. These give different priorities to your los,mids etc. Another thing I really like is the SURROUND ENHANCED option. This can be overlaid on dd-ex dts-matrix etc. There are many tweeks/settings in this that allow you to tailor your speakers to your room (room size,delay,liveness,decay)..I didnt think Id like the enhancement mode but its work wonderfully.

Another thing is that you can look at your eq adjustments that the Yammie has made and actually see how flat your room/speaker response is..I ALWAYS wanted to know my room /speakers responce curve but didnt have the abilty. It will be interesting to see different peoples eq settings. I recorded mine on a thread over at avsforum and there is another thread over there "demo-ed rxv2400" that will answer alot of your questions.

I cant speak for the Yammies amps as Im using it as a processor. The menus are kinda hard to get used to and arent as well laid out as some other manufacturers imo. Im not using video up-conversion so cant speak to that either. The looks imo arent anything special (looks like a reciever you could buy at best buys). I have a mx-500 remote so I dont really know how to rate the Yammies remote. The manual isnt well written either and doesnt do a good job of explaining things like bass management.

What I can say is that the rxv2400 used as a HT processor sounds excellant..no listener fatigue or brightness perceived, dialog is crisp and clear, processing and seperation are excellant, rear soundfield is full and totally tweekable.

The parametric auto-eq and surround enhancements on the yamaha make these recievers special and something no other manufacturer has at this time. IMO for its price range this is the unit to try and beat if your the competetion.

 

[Neil Joseph]

Count me in as a Yammie supporter as well. Love the DSP modes and the sound. RXV-2300.

 

[Luis A]

I have had a Yamaha RX-V2095 since '99 and recently took it in to be serviced. I had been using it in the bedroom system after I upgraded to a B&K preamp for the theater, but I always loved this receiver which was why I took it in instead of just getting rid of it. Anyway I went ahead and bought an RX-V740 to tide me over for the 6-8 weeks that the 2095 would be serviced. Man I tell you after I hooked it up, and calibrated I brought in EP2 AOTC, and this receiver KILLED the 2095. Everything seem to be more alive with the 740. I mean wow.
Anyway....yeah, so to make a long story short Yamaha makes a great product, and if I for some insane reason had to downgrade my current theater, I'd be more than happy with a Yamaha receiver.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

John,

Did you get rid of your Lexicon processor ??

 

[kevitra]

Wayne,
John explains in this thread.

 

[John-Tompkins]

Yea Wayne, to be honest I could have managed to keep the mc-8. But in my case I just couldnt justify to myself having that much money sitting on one shelf of my rack when I have so many other things I could do with the extra money. Plus the price of the mc-8 about equals what I paid for my ENTIRE system. I paid about 5 grand for everything (NHT T5 speakers which include 2 NHT B5 bass modules and NHT X-1 crossover along with a NHT M5 center, 4 CITATION 7.3 DIPOLES , PARASOUND 2003 AMP, CROWN XLS450 PRO-AMP, SHERWOOD AM9080 AMP, SVSPLUS20-39, TOSHIBA SD-4800 dvd-audio, YAMAHA RX-V2400 RECIEVER

Now to be fair the retail on this setup would be around 11 grand but I shopped long and hard for killer deals.

Having said that, The MC-8 is just about the perfect processor and there wanst a single thing I could bitch about.When comparing the mc-8 to other comparable priced pre-pros I would go with the mc-8.

I can hear the differences between the rx-v2400 and the mc-8 fairly easily but the rx-v2400 sounds REALLY good and I will say that my wife, friend and two sons have NOT been able to tell the difference...They all say it sounded great two weeks ago and it sounds great right now..

 

[Dalton]

the 1400 sounds very good as a prepro (IMHO)

Agreed! In the past 2yrs i have had the following receivers and Pre/Pro's:
Rotel RSP 1066
Outlaw 950
Onkyo 797
Denon 3802
Marantz SR7000 and 7200
Pioneer Elite VSX45tx
Harman Kardon 8000(easily the king of all receivers i have owned)
Yamaha 1300(loaner until the 1400 came in)
Yamaha 1400
I ran all of the above receiver's as a pre/pro except the HK 8000 because the amp section was about as good as many of the entry level HT amps i have owned which include:
Parasound HCA 855A
Carver AV705x
Rotel RMB1075
B&K AV5000 II(which is my current amp)
I got my Yamaha 1400 on Tuesday and set it up in a jiffy. One good thing about trying so much equipment is you learn your way around setups and wiring to the point you can do it with your eyes closed! Anyways i ran the YPAO and have done a few demos of material that is very familiar to me. So far i am very impressed with the 1400 as a Pre/Pro. It holds it's own for HT compared to the two dedicated pre/pro's i have owned(Rotel 1066, Outlaw950) and is better than the receiver's i have used as processors(HK8000 is very close). As far as music goes i like the 1400 but the Rotel 1066 and HK8000 sounded a tad better to me than the 1400 for 2 channel. Though the Direct mode on the 1400 is very good, i don't use it too often because my mains aren't quite full range(Axiom M22's)so i like to use my SVS 20-39PC+ to handle the low end. I have a Philips DVD963sa coming in next week that will take care of the music side of things. The 963 is a VERY good sounding musical dvd player especially with the 24/192 unsampling feature for cd's. Anyway, anyone looking to use the 1400(or the 2400 for that matter) as a pre/pro could do far worse. I do not regret my purchase one bit so far. I still have alot to learn about the 1400 but hey that's part of the fun isn't it?

Dalton

 

[BruceD]

I believe the biggest problem with the YPAO parametric EQ feature is that it is limited to lower center frequency of 62Hz with a "Q" bandwidth that is too wide at 1/3 octave.

This isn't really much help with the bass modal room peaks we all find in our HT rooms.

They don't specify what the frequency width or "Q" of their parametric EQ is at the various frequencies used in the FLAT,LOW,MID,HIGH options, so it's pretty hard to judge how effective it is, except by listening.

IMHO, I like to know what the parameters of the parametric EQ being applied is; center frequency, width of filter "Q", and how much SPL + or -. This is important to know so you don't clip the amplifiers, which is VERY EASY to do with SPL+ parametric EQ boost of only +3dB.