Yamaha 2400 - EQ and SACD/DVD-A (1 Viewer)

[Tom_Mack]

I recently bought a Yamaha 2400 receiver to power my Paradigm Monitor Series speakers.

After trying the different EQ modes, I finally have the system sounding good using the 'FLAT' EQ setting. My worry is that the EQ is rolling off the upper frequencies highly. Two of the front speakers have 2 frequencies about 6khz lowered by 6db and the 3rd front speaker has 3 of the upper frequencies selected (16khz is selected twice - lowered the first time 6dbs and the second time 2dbs.) It does sound good at these settings. If I turn off the EQ, the sound is very thin, bright and fatigueing to the ear.

I am looking forward to using SACD/DVD-A in the future, but don't have a player yet. Are the eq settings used when an SACD or DVD-A is played or are these settings bypassed? If the settings are bypassed, I am thinking that I would be better off with a "warmer" sounding receiver...

Any opinions?

 

[PaulDA]

It is likely that the multi-channel input will bypass your eq (but a Yamaha owner will likely be able to tell you more about that). However, speaker placement can go a long way toward solving sound quality issues (it certainly did for me).

BTW, which Monitors are they? I nearly bought some 5s v.3 and found them quite nice (not thin sounding at all). Does the room have a lot reflective surfaces?

 

[Tom_Mack]

The mains are Monitor 7s (v.1). There are reflective surfaces is the room, but the primary reflection points have quilts hanging to help with that.

I have already done a lot of speaker positioning, but I don't have many options. I already "flipped" the room (speakers and listening positions flipped) to fix bass issues.

As for the Monitor 7s sounding thin - it depends on the receiver. I have tried many receivers and repositioned the speakers for each receiver. My old Yamaha 596 I feel is the perfect blend up not (not dull, not too bright), but the mid to lower end is very muddy and powerless. The new yamaha 2400 fixes all the mid to lower end problems and sounds very good with the EQ on, but without it the overall sound is very thin in the upper range (treble overpowering the bass) and my ears start to hurt within 1/2 hour to an hour.

The other receivers I have tried had the following results (Integra 7.1 - worst match for my speakers/room. Way too much treble and not enough bass/mid;
Denon 3802 - Voices had a very odd, dull tone to them (sounded like THX processing was on 24/7). Sounded great with music, boring with HT;
H/K 525 - a little dull sounding - again good with music;
Marantz - pretty good balance all around - the model I had unfortunately had a very bad delay picking up a digital signal)

 

[PaulDA]

Wow, you've certainly gone through a lot of receivers. Out of curiousity, I've read through the 2400 manual online and it seems to indicate that selecting the external multichannel input overrides all DSP. It does not seem to automatically override your eq settings (pretty cool feature, btw). However, if you select STRAIGHT, it seems to act as my PURE AUDIO mode (according to the description) and in that case, your eq should (if I understood the manual) be bypassed. I think that if you set up the DVD-A/SACD player, set the parameters in the player, plug it in the multichannel input, select that input but DO NOT select STRAIGHT, you should still have active EQ settings. However, you'll have to try it to be sure.

Have fun experimenting and let us know how it all turns out.

P.S., what players are you considering? I'm leaning to the Denon 2200 (because of its bass management and good reviews) but I'm waiting to see the upcoming Yamaha S1500, similar to 2300 but at a lower price point (399$ MSRP).

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

Im not trying to be rude. But have you thought that maybe its your speakers and not the receiver. If you have gone through that many receivers and are still not happy with the sound I may look into different speakers. I have a yamaha RXV-1400 and people say yamaha's are "bright". I have boston acoustics speakers with Aluminum Tweeters wich can be very bright. But it is very neutral sounding.

 

[Blaine_M]

Paul,

You talked about that new Yamaha on another thread, any idea what the crossover point will be on that unit for SACD?

 

[PaulDA]

Blaine,

I just checked the Yamaha site, there is no news yet on the S1500, however, the S2300MkII has a 100hz setting for DVD-A and a 90hz setting for SACD. I expect the 1500 to have similar settings.

 

[Tom_Mack]

Well let me expand a little on why I have gone through some of the receivers. I will admit I am picky about sound and other things!

I didn't like 2 receivers (Marantz and HK) because of the digital delay issue. 2 seconds dropping out at the begining of a CD/DVD and the layer change of a DVD is just unacceptable to me. The sound on the HK was a little dull, but still good and I definitely would have kept the Marantz if it wasn't for the dropouts!

The Integra didn't last more than a couple days due to the headaches it caused.

The Denon had some hissing issues along with the dull sound. I had problems with the store trying to convince them that the hiss was a problem with my unit. So I had a choice of return unit or keep unit with issue.

I do like the sound of the Yamaha 2400 with the EQ on, but off its painful.

BTW, in both EQ and tone controls do work in Straight mode, but I have been told that all processing is turned off in Direct Stereo mode and the external decoder mode.

(Wishing that I had stayed with the Marantz 8200 now that I know there is a fix for the digital signal delays!)

 

[Tom_Mack]

And yes I understand that my speakers probably are the biggest issue with my sound right now, but my old Yamaha can't power the speakers I want to get, so I want at clean, powerful receiver before I continue...