"Official" Yamaha RX-A1000/RX-A2000/RX-A3000 thread - Page 73

Hey all, I've been asking questions about this AVR in here for a couple weeks, and finally bought it and it arrived yesterday. Here are my first impressions:

Appearance - nice! I like the absence of buttons on the front. It has a very clean look. It's a lot heavier than my Pioneer VSX-920-K, and bigger, too (I had to cut a hole in the back of my shelf to accommodate the cables). The remote sucks, but I don't care about that because I have a Harmony One. Get one - it's awesome.

Setup - EASY. I had no trouble identifying the connections on the back for my Wii, the two subwoofers, and all the HDMI connections. One gripe - the HDMI ports don't hold my Monoprice cables as tightly as my Pioneer did. The YPAO was easy to do, and I love the GUI. It's so much nicer than what I had before (MCACC), and intuitive. It did get my speaker sizes wrong; it set my front L&R to Large, and I had to adjust all the crossover points to 80Hz, but that was easy. Having the subwoofer calibration was nice - MCACC doesn't do that. I didn't have to mess with level-matching with an SPL meter. It set my SVS subs to -5.5dB and -6dB, which I increased down by a couple decibels. Setting up a second zone for my deck speakers was a piece of cake, and I liked being able to name it. I plan too add a third zone in my garage soon. Oh, one other gripe - didn't like having to print the manual. I should have just left it on my laptop and saved some trees, but I didn't.

Sound - very nice. I know you have to double the wattage to get a 3dB increase in perceived volume, but this thing makes my inefficient SVS speakers scream. Pioneer gave me 80 wpc, or at least they said they did. I haven't seen a bench test to confirm this. Now I am not so sure. At -10dB on my Yamaha, stuff on the walls in my bedrooms are rattling. Time to put felt dampers on all my wall art! I used an SPL meter and it is coming out a few dB's higher than reference at 10 feet. I haven't played around with the various settings, but what I know right now is that this AVR has a lot more power than I had before and it does sound very nice and clean. I liked my Pioneer, too, but this is better. The on-screen volume display does not bother me. It is not huge, and goes away quickly. I watched Inception last night and my girlfriend couldn't handle going all the way to reference. The bass was punching us in the face.

Video - Wow, I can finally get the Cinema Smooth mode on my Samsung TV to work, and movies play at 24fps. This wasn't possible on my Pioneer AVR - the option wouldn't engage. It was automatic with the Yamaha. I did disengage it, however, until Samsung fixes the black level issue associated with their Cinema Smooth feature. The video converter seems to work better than the Pioneer, too. I have not played Wii yet, so i don't know what that upconversion will look like. I expect it to perform better than the Pioneer did. I guess the differences are probably slight, but there WAS a noticeable difference in video quality with this AVR.

I haven't played with it much, other than setting YPAO and programming my remote. Today I will tinker and find the settings I like, and customize my remote further. I am happy with my purchase. It was $800 more than I spent for the Pioneer, but well worth it, in my opinion. Just having ethernet for firmware updates is priceless. This AVR has more features than I will ever use, but I really wanted the dual subwoofer outputs and ethernet, so I had to go with this over the A1000. So far, so happy!


My setup:

• Yamaha RX-A2000
• Motorola DCX3400 STB
• Samsung BD-C6900 Blu-ray
• Samsung PN58C8000 plasma
• SVS SBS-02M (FCL, wall mounted)
• Polk RC60i in-ceiling surrounds
• Dual SVS PB10-NSD subwoofers
• The AVR, TV, and Blu-ray are wired to a Netgear router, which is daisychained to a router in my office.
• Monoprice

HDMI and LFE cables, and 14AWG speaker wire

I'm just wondering if many of you are using the scene modes, how you are using them and if you see the benefits.

Thanks cpaugh...I will do more experimenting/listening.

By the way i looked and there is a setting called "extra bass" on/off. This will send the LFE info to both your subwoofers and the front speakers.

I was playing around last night and have still have all my speakers set to small but changed the crossovers for the front and center speakers in my case which have powered subs in them to 40hz.

I'm really waiting on my new Epik Legend sub to arrive in a few weeks to really spent the time to ring the system out. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep my Velodyne as a second sub or donate it to my son. Probably the latter.

Enjoy!

I had already purchased a powered sub and then got one free from Crutchfield after I had bought a center channel and some back surrounds i have not hooked up yet. So I thought I would try both which led me down the confusion path...

I was wondering if it is possible to watch my video source from hdmi 1 and have audio which is from a differnt source that is digital/coax with the rx-a2000. Or even say the video from hdmi 1 and the audio from hdmi 2?

Onkyo HDMI output just died.... so NEW receiver time.

Without reading all 70+ pages.... does the RXA2000 output simultaneously to to both HDMI Outputs?

If so, can you select a different source for each HDMI Output? Or only the 1 souce?

Also, regarding zone 2 or zone 3 etc. does it only allow anolog sources or can digital sources be used too?

Sorry very BEGINNER here....

Thanks in advance.

Yes to both outputs.

No to different sources per out put.. there are no products out that can do that.

While you may not want to go through 70+ pages, I always find that downloading the manual and browsing it will give you great insight into a product.

Zone 2 and 3 only work with analog sources; the A3000 adds a 4th zone optical output that only works with digital sources.

In addition to analog audio, the "monitor out/zone out" video output group (composite, S-video, and component) can be assigned to either zone 2 or 3, so you can send a separate video source (and its analog audio) to one of the two zones; the remaining zone will be audio-only.

Party mode works with ALL sources, digital or analog.

Hi all,
I just got my RX-A2000 yesterday and spent the evening in bliss connecting everything. Once connected up, it told me of an firmware upgrade to 2.05 which went smoothly (in not slowly). As compared to my old Onkyo NX-TR801, it sounds fantastic... especially the subwoofer... the Onkyo never seemed to use the sub for music content, only for LFE...

However, the main reason for may posting here is that the Optical Output does not seem to work... regardless of the input selection (ie AV1, AV2, etc). One of my main reasons for getting the A2000 as compared to other models was the Optical Out which I use with my Sony Surround sound wireless headphones... Any suggestions on this? I haven't seen anything in the manual or online about this optical out...

The other thing is that the Zone 2 / 3 outputs do not seem to work. I have speakers in another room and this is another main feature of the system that is heavily used. So far, regardless of Amp assignment to Zone speakers they remain silent regardless of the source selection (ie AV1, AV2, Audio 3, 4, etc). I will note that the AV inputs are HDMI, but the Audios are conventional R/L analog... so should seem to work with Zone outputs. Any suggestions?

I really hope this is just operator error and not a defective unit.

Thanks for any help all!
Bud

Congratulations on your cool new toy! I think most of these issues are user based. Since the manual is not so good it goes without saying.

To turn on the zones, flip up the panel on the remote, down in the bottom right it says zone - press the zone button then the power button and that zone will be on, press zone again and you will be in zone three and press the power button. To turn off the zones just follow the same process.

If you can set it up on your computer it will be easier to control the zones (pg 79). The party mode works well too.

Now for the input assignment for the optical. On page 106 of the manual it shows how to configure the amp for the various inputs. If you have not assigned here the optical input or output the receiver will not know that it is there.

See, it comes down to the manual and how some of the important aspects are hidden in a little known place.

Have a lot of fun with this. It is a great receiver.

Cathy

Soo, never mind me getting the A2000. They botched my order, but the good news is they offered me the A3000 for just $75 more. I am now awaiting my new A3000, lol.

I have a Panasonic Viera VT25 plasma, which has some issues with fast moving scenes occasionally. If I turn off all processing in the TV, would the HQV chip be able to do anything for this, or is it more for just reducing noise and artifacts?

The optical output will only work with the optical digital and coaxial inputs. It sounds like you are only using the HDMI and the analogs.

I am about to pick-upmy Yamaha RX-A3000 from the dealer. This is replacement for the Denon 3808 (which I gave to my father). I would like to know the bi-amping options available with the RX-A3000.

In Denon 3808, (I am running a 5.1 setup) I can use the surround back channels to bi-amp the front R and L channels. I would like to know whether this option is feasible with Yamaha RX-A3000. I recently upgraded my speakers to KEF IQ90 and IQ60C and planning to bi-wire them also (if I am not doing the bi-amping).

-iknown

Best thing to do with the VT25 is set it to 60Hz. You could try letting the HQV chip do the pull-down on 24p blurays to 60Hz and see if that looks any better.

I have had experience with 4 Yamaha receivers, starting with the RX-V992, my first Dolby Digital receiver. I traded that in for a 995, because that also had DTS. I then traded the 995 for a V1000, since that had 7 channel stereo and 5.1 multichannel analog inputs for DVD Audio and SACD. Each succeeding Yamaha had sound quality a little worse than the one before it.
I then purchased a Denon 3802, which broke twice in the first year I had it, so I sold it and purchase a Yamaha 1400. I returned the 1400 to Tweeter, and purchased a Pioneer Elite VSX-54TX. By the time I had my last Yamaha, the 1400, I was extremely disillusioned. The very reason I loved the first Yamaha, the 992, the sweet and full sound, was gone from the succeeding models.
I have been very happy with Pioneer Elite, and just upgraded to the SC-35. I toyed with going back to Yamaha with the A2000, but stopped myself, since they really disappointed me in the past. The biggest problem that we have now is that it is usually impossible to demo any of these units at all, let alone do an a/b test on 2 or more of them. We often have to rely on the audio salespereson to steer us in the right direction. And their recommendations are often suspect, due to possible spiffs from one or the other manufacturer. That is why these forums are so valuable. I recommend buying locally, rather than online, so that you can exchange your purchase if it doesn't sound the way you want in your home.

I have a RX-V3067 and a pair of KEF iQ90 bi-amped. AFAIK you only can bi-amp the main L-R channels and you can get 5.1 with this configuration.

Take a look to the manuals, they explain a lot of configurations :-)

Thanks, I am going to do that. I am planning to use the 2 channels from surround back to bi-amp my front R and L and keep a 5.1 setup. Also, I am planning to bi-wire my center channel (Kef IQ60C).

Thanks,
-iknown

I'm not an audiophile or anything, but I switched from the Pioneer VSX-920-K to the A2000 and it is definitely an improvement in sound quality. At least to me. I am using flat SVS speakers.

Hi all. Looking for help with DLNA and the iPhone/iPod app.

I've mentioned some of this before, but in a general grumbling sort of way rather than a "what am I doing wrong?" way. Maybe it's me and not the app. Here's the problem:

I have the A2000, and speakers on my back deck assigned to Zone 2. I'm using my iPod touch almost exclusively to control the music coming out of there. If I'm using the tuner or Net Radio, everything's fine. When I switch to the PC input, I get very strange behavior. And it's inconsistent. It sees my PC. Good. I drill down into the PC, and I see a menu that lists 4 categories: Music, Video, Pictures, and Playlists. Well, aside from the fact that I can't see videos or pictures from my speakers, so far so good. All I care about here is music. So I select Music, and I get -- the same menu again. I select Music again, and I get -- THE SAME menu again. Sometimes I can go 7 or 8 levels before I see anything else, and then suddenly I'm in the list of what appears to be songs (skipped right past the artists/genres/songs menu).

Now, going back to the top level, where it shows my PC, if I choose Playlists, this usually works, but not always. Sometimes I get the same repeated level nonsense, sometimes it goes right into playlists, but when it does, it shows an outdated and incomplete list. Sometimes, it shows a "folders" menu, and if I select that, sometimes it shows all music folders, sometimes only one. And sometimes, after selecting "music," I have to then select "pictures" in order to get to the "artists/genres/songs" menu. ?????

Anyone else see this kind of thing? Is this a problem with my media library? Is it just a POS buggy app? Or is it (most likely) a combination? Is there an easy way to wipe my library and rebuild it? I guess part of the problem may also be that some of my tracks are not tagged properly. And another issue is that my library contains some local source folders, and some folders that are on a separate linux machine connected via Samba/Netbios. The main PC is Windows 7.

Love to hear any ideas or insight. Thanks. And sorry for the long post.

Thanks, I'll try that. How would I go about letting the HQV take care of that? I'm using a PS3 for Blu-Ray. Should I just disable the 3:2 pulldown on the PS3 menu and turn it on in the A3000 menu? And leave both the tv, receiver, and PS3 at 60hz?

IMHO if you're going to have to set everything to 60hz, it's theoretically better to set the PS3 to 60hz to handle the 3:2 Pulldown. In reality I don't see a discernible difference between letting the BD player do it versus the TV.

Just got the RX A1000 today, set up seemed to be going pretty good until I got a "decoder off" message on the display. Since then, absolutely no sound is coming out. I have read the manual and I am stuck! Please help.

Generally that should mean that it's not getting any input signal.

rdgrimes, Thanks for the response but I have a BD, TV tuner, ATV via HDMI as inputs. Even the FM radio does not work (no sound).

Thanks Cathy,
I finally got the zones working... turned out the problem was that I connected my back room speakers to the SP2 terminals instead of the the SP1 terminals. Both of these sets of terminals are confusingly marked as Zone2/Zone3. Then in the Manual Speaker configuration set up the amp assignment for Zone3/SP2. The thing is this sucker is so configurable that you really need to pay attention to all of the details. It's all good now and my wife is happy to have music again in the back room!

I got the A3000 today and I did the setup. I have upgraded the firmwire to 2.07 (I downloaded this one). I am planning to do bi-amping (for front R/L - I use a 5.1 setup, so I can take those surround backs for bi-amping), but have not done that yet, but other basic setting is done. Everyhing seems to be workings fine. I have the following questions:

1) I connected the subwoofer to the subwoofer 2 position (YAPO detected it as rear subwoofer). Does this matter? My sub is SVS PC-12 NSD.

2) I did YAPO on 4 positions only. Those 4 are main areas where I will use watching TV, listening music. Do I need to run the YAPO on all the 8 postions to get a complete setup or running 4 postions is fine?

I have not played with Video setup in detail, but it seems working fine (connections from my oppo 93, cable box are going through A3000, and it is giving no problem).

-iknown

Hi,

I am tweaking my setup and today morning I found that if I do the manual test tones, it is very light and the test tone to subwoofer is really not audiable. When I did the YAPO with 3 positions I was able to hear the test tones might louder and the test tones to sub was much louder (could very well hear).

I have a feeling that the Yamaha A3000 seems to be a little bit lighter in bass.

Anyone experienced these things. My sub is a new SVS PC-12 NSD

Could others please share their experiences?


-iknown

When you use manual test tones, the master volume control affects the loudness, but it doesn't for YPAO. So the only real issue is whether you want the sub to play louder. If so, just turn up the sub level a few dB. If you can't adjust it enough (because the max level for the sub is +10), then you'll need to turn up the sub's own gain (volume) knob instead. If you set the sub gain so that the sub level on the receiver is close to 0dB, then you'll have plenty of room to adjust it up or down in the future using only the receiver sub level.