Yamaha Presence Speakers

leafswillwin · 04-09-2007, 09:33 PM

Hey everyone, i have bought a yamaha rxv 659 and I was wondering what the presence speakers are? How do they improve the system, also i cant find out how many watts they output on the receiver. Does the receiver lower the output on other channels so that it can get the necessary watts to the presence speakers?

thanks

MaxL · 04-09-2007, 11:32 PM

i just cut out my response because i had it dead wrong and i think it may have been confusing the issue for others.

sorry.

Jeff O. · 04-10-2007, 08:16 AM

I think you are a little off Max. I believe the presence speakers are used to enhance the front sound stage, especially with Yamaha's different ambience modes. In this respect you run them in a full 5.1 configuration. I used to run them when I had the room in my old house. However, in my new house the front speakers are almost against the side walls. The presence speakers are supposed to go outside of the front speakers, a placement that I can not do now. I liked the effect when I ran them though.

I don't know the power requirements, but since they are just for ambience, I don't think you need full range speakers and therfore not much power. I know that if you use a 6.1 or 7.1 configuration, you can not run the presence speakers simultaneously.

mylan · 04-10-2007, 08:37 AM

This is a feature that Yamaha receivers have incorporated for many years involving two additional front channels at 25W for smaller "presence" speakers to be mounted higher and to the outside of the front L and R speakers. To engage it, use Dolby Digital or DTS "enhanced". It has nothing to do with the surround channels but supposedly gives a wider soundfield to the fronts. I have it on an older Yamaha RXV-2092 as well as my 659, although the 659 is a hub for my whole house audio so I never use it there. I have toyed with it on my 2092 and felt it was not necessary. I have a different space now so it might make a difference.
Yamaha is big on DSP modes so there are many variations you could try including the full 7.1 with surround and surround back as well as prescence engaged or assign the extra two back channels for a second zone. The prescence will not take away from the other channels power output.

Edit: Jeff beat me to it but I *believe* you can do a full 7.1 with presence but since my 2092 is 5.1 I cannot confirm, try it and see.

MaxL · 04-10-2007, 08:56 AM

oh well....
at least i stand corrected.

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bobbyg2 · 04-10-2007, 10:17 AM

Yeah, my Yamaha receiver has two front speaker pair outs (A and B) so I guess you're right.

mylan · 04-10-2007, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbyg2

Yeah, my Yamaha receiver has two front speaker pair outs (A and B) so I guess you're right.

That is not the same thing. A and B lets you connect two pairs of speakers to run one pair in the main room and another pair in another room, either A or B, or both providing the load is not too great, something I would not advise because it could overheat the amp. Presence/zone2 is a whole different input.

leafswillwin · 04-10-2007, 12:31 PM

so let me see if i have this right. I can have either the presence speakers or the surround back, but i cant have both right?

as for the a/b im using them for biwiring, so A goes to low freq, B to high freq on my speakers.

mylan · 04-10-2007, 12:59 PM

Not sure of the benefit of bi-wiring but you can run a full 7.1 in addition to the presence channel. You cannot use the presence and the zone 2 at the same time.

leafswillwin · 04-10-2007, 02:07 PM

hmmm is that for most receivers? i just checked the 659's manual , it says it takes the power from the back speakers. is there a way to make it not do this?