Thoughts on the Yamaha Rx-V1800 (1 Viewer)

[rhuber]

Hey everybody, another new guy here. For anybody who gives any feedback on this question..thanks in advance.

I have a media room in the house, built and wired specifically as a media room by the builder (I know, I know)..anyway, the painting is done, now it's time to irk the wife a bit and start buying components. The current thought process is around the following setup:

1. Yamaha receiver - this is really where this post is going..in just a bit.
2. Polk Audio fronts (monitor 70's or RTi -A9's are the current focus of my search) I want to be able to bi-amp the fronts should the need arise.
3. Rears - Klipsch SS-2 or SS-3 (I am leaning towards a wall mount).
4. Sub - No particular focus here - recommendations are always welcome.

- probably no more that $350 for the sub.

So the question is...does anyone have any experience with the RX-V1800? It seems to me the only difference between the 1800 and 1900 is HD radio which I don't necessarily need.

I have had Yamaha and Sony receivers in the past, and loved the Yamaha.

Also, if anyone has an opinion on the proposed setup I would love to hear that as well.

Thanks everybody!

 

[MTrotter]

I think the 1800 at current prices is a steal, and it has 4 HDMI inputs. I did a lot of research on this and other boards before deciding, considering Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, Denon. I just didn't want to have problems with overheating, decoding glitches, etc. The Yamaha just works great with my HDDVD and BD players, and does SACD DSD audio. I also don't care about HD radio.

You might want to verify the impedance and sensitivity of those Polks, however. Depending on how loud you want to be able to play it, the Yamaha might run out of steam into 4 ohm speakers. Others may want to chime in, but it seems I have heard the Polks can require a lot of current. Are you going to be running a 5.1 system, or 7.1? I think the 1800 does pretty good into 5.1, but the wattage output per channel may drop significantly into 7.1 channels. I personally only have/want a 5.1 system, and I don't like to turn it up real loud, so the 1800 has plenty of power for me.

 

[rhuber]

Hi Marc,

Thanks for the reply. I will look into the impedance of the Polks as you suggested. As far as 5.1 vs.7.1...I think when all is said and done it will be a 5.1 setup due to the fact that the room is pre-wired for 5.1n and if I bi-amp the fronts I don't think I have much choice as the bi-amp putputs on the receiver are the rear surround outputs anyway.

Again, thanks for the reply.

 

[Jari K]

New firmware (march 2009) is available for the Yamaha V1800/V3800.

***
March, 2009
Subject: RX-V3800 Firmware Update V:O061

Yamaha is pleased to offer the following firmware to ensure the best possible
performance for your Yamaha RX-V3800 AV Receiver. This firmware
improves the video section to ensure RGB full range repeat through HDMI
connection.

***
So this finally fixes the "Blacker than Black (BtB)/Whiter than White (WtW) clipping"-issue (even when it´s not really a "problem" in most cases) via HDMI. More about the issue:
http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/ca...vels-xvycc-rgb

Euro-site (in English - search for the model number then go to "download"):
Yamaha Service

US-site:
RX-V1800

From avsforum user: "I checked the 1800 and 3800 firmware files on Yamaha.com and they are bit-for-bit identical with the ones from Yamaha-service.de."

So I guess they´re the same on both (Euro/US).

I did this yesterday (I have V1800) and I used my Toshiba HD DVD -player (even when there are reports that PS3 also works - if you choose "optical" and "bitstream" from the menu & "Music Settings/Audio CD Output Frequency" I guess, it didn´t work in my case). With Toshiba it went pretty smooth, if you follow the PDF-instructions (comes with the zip-file & new firmware).

Notes:

*You´ll need optical cable (I guess also coaxial works) with your player. This update WON´T work via HDMI. Remove the HDMI cable when you do this, just in case. No HDMI, so don´t even ask.

(new firmware to CD-R) *You´ll need to do a straight audio cd burn (WAV-file to CD-R). Do not use "data CD", nor any "tweaks" with your burning software when you burn the CD-R (I guess CD-RW also works).
I used Mac and Toast and it went fine (I guess it was AIFF-file with Mac, but it still worked).
! I read that with "Windows Media Player 11" & Windows XP, you need to go into Options/Burn and turn off "Apply volume levelling...", because that may modify the data.

*ALL current settings will be lost. Before the update, make detailed notes about your current settings, so that you can easily put them back when the update is done (it´s possible, that you still need to do the first set up with the mic etc, though). But your notes will help in any case.

*After the update (and before, if you want to compare later), if you want to be 100% sure, you can check the firmware version numbers via V1800 diagnostics mode (as you can see from the official PDF-file, you´ll need to check the new firmware in any case). Here are firmware numbers AFTER the update (I can confirm, that they´re correct):

29.ROM VER/SUM
VER.N076

29.ROM VER/SUM
A:7B11 P:273E

29.ROM VER/SUM
V-VER.N060

29.ROM VER/SUM
A:A6C7 C:BCD0

29.ROM VER/SUM
W:0000 P:99B9

29.ROM VER/SUM
TI-VER:05.13r4

29.ROM VER/SUM
TiSUM:0A1E047E

29.ROM VER/SUM
XM VER. A001

29.ROM VER/SUM
N.VER: ---

29.ROM VER/SUM
N.SUM: ---

29.ROM VER/SUM
T2-VER:03.24r0

! How to get to the "diagnostics mode", you ask? Read this (thanks to avsforum):

*Put your receiver at "OFF".
*Press and hold at the same time those two keys :
1) A/B/C/D/E
2) the RIGHT SIDE key of: PRESET/TUNING/CH
*Now press "ON", the menu will appear.
*The menu number for the firmware is 29. Browse up and down to get to it and browse right and left to see everything in the firmware.
*Turn "OFF" the receiver to get out.
*Do not change PRESET INHIBIT or you will lose your setting when you'll get out of the Self-Diagnostic menu.

NOTE (just in case): My update was done via Toshiba HD DVD -player and my CD-R was burned with Toast (Mac). I used optical cable and quality CD-R disc.
I can confirm, that the update worked fine for me (when the update starts, it´ll take only 6 minutes or so), BUT I can´t speak on the behalf of everybody. So of course, eventually do this at you own risk.
EDIT: I haven´t checked the actual BtB/WtW patterns (are they visible now etc) after the update, so please seek more info how to fully check these issues. At least in avsforum, there are several reports that BtB/WtW are now visible etc.