The "official" Yamaha RX-V673 thread. 7.2-Channel Network AVR - Page 43

Is it possible for you to hook your old speakers up to the new receiver, or have you gotten rid of the whole thing? With no sub and a new speaker system, I think it will be impossible to compare just the receivers sound-wise. As I said, my feeling is that the speakers have more to do with the sound you hear than the receiver, so what you're comparing more than anything are the speakers.

A sub will make a big difference, too.

Good luck finding a sound you like.

To start with I would turn off YPAO EQ (set Parametric EQ to Through, instead of one of the YPAO modes). If that sounds better to you, then it's probably best to tweak from that starting point rather than from what YPAO came up with.

For the bass, make sure all speakers are set to small, set a suitable crossover frequency, then just turn up the subwoofer to where you like it. You might have to turn up the sub's own volume if there's not enough adjustment in the receiver (the Yamaha sub pre-out voltage may be lower than your old receiver).

UPDATE (if anyone is interested): I played around with YPAO for a while. I ran it a couple of times with different volume settings on my sub. The first time it was too low--all my sats were lowered and the sub was at +10dB. Anyway, I noticed something odd: it set the crossover to 110Hz, but it put big bumps in the center channel way below that, in the 65-100 Hz range, while still setting it as a 'small' speaker. I'm not sure why it was bumping frequencies way under the crossover point it set, except maybe that it's just doing individual speakers one at at time without putting the whole picture together.

Sadly, I can't crossover as low as 110 Hz. I have to increase it to 150, for which there isn't a setting, so it goes to 160 Hz (yeah, I need new speakers).

How does this relate to my original bass drop-out problem in 7 ch stereo? Well, Straight and 2 ch stereo don't use the center channel, but 7 ch stereo does. And the center channel has a big bass-bump EQ'ed into it (in the 3 YPAO EQ setups). Maybe this is being taken into consideration and the sub is getting a lower signal (maybe?). I experimented with making the center large and using different crossover points. It seems that adjusting the cross-over point and moving away from the YPAO settings to suit my little sats affects 7 ch stereo. Before I adjusted anything there was much less difference between 7 ch stereo and 2 ch stereo. I still think I need to set the crossover higher than YPAO set it, but at least I think I know what's going on.

Anyone know how to reset the protection circuit in the 673?

My 673 will not power on at all and appears to have tripped the protect circuit. The manual says it will need to be sent in for repair.
If I can't reset this myself I will have to return it to Newegg.

I found this info over in the 671 thread:

"
While pressing the "Tone Control" and "Info" keys, press the "Power" key to turn on the power and keep pressing those 2 keys for 3 seconds longer.

The self-diagnostic function mode is activated with the protection functions disabled.

In this mode, the "Sleep" segment of the Flourescent Display flashes to indicate that the mode is self-diagnostic function mode with the protection functions disabled."

This worked to power the unit on and I get sound from my speakers. It is in dome sort of Diagnostic mode however and I can't return it to normal mode.
On the display it says A1-1. and below that it says DSP MARGIN

Can anybody shed light?

ps. This all happened while I was trying to t/s a malfunctioning 60" Vizio TV. I am beginning to think I am SOL on both the TV and the Rcvr. This is what you call a BAD DAY.

Call Yamaha before you get in any deeper.

Actually, this was from Rakuten (Buy.com) not Newegg and it is less than 2 weeks old. I will be returning it for exchange if I can find no info on clearing this diagnostic mode myself.

The TV is the problem though..purchased through Amazon and my return window expired 3 weeks ago. Probably have to deal directly with Vizio on it for warranty.

I just ordered new speakers to finish this system and now I feel like I am starting from scratch. Seriously bummed!

Sorry to hear that. It will all be ok in the end.
Its unlikely to help but you could try to unplug the Yamaha for 15 minutes or so just to see what happens.

Simply turning it off exits self-diagnostic mode. But are you saying it will still not turn on normally after that?

Yes. I left it unplugged overnite. This morning it powered up normally. I turned it back off with the remote and then it wouldn't power on again.

Leaving it off for a while seems to allow it to reset ....until I try to power off and on again.

Sounds like junk to me. Return it.
The next question though is why did it turn off in the first place. How long did you use it before you had trouble? If you have something wired wrong or a bad electrical outlet then you may just destroy the replacement also.

I've had it for 2 weeks with no problems whatsoever. I got this thru the Rakuten(Buy.com) deal and it should be no problem exchanging it.
Just a hassle.

I understand. Good news is that it sounds like its just the receiver. When you get a new one you should be good to go.

Not sure yet how Rakuten will handle the exchange. Probably have to ship it back, wait for processing, and then after 2 weeks maybe I'll have a replacement.

It would be nice if they would cross ship, but I somehow doubt it. This almost makes me want to simply request a refund and buy another one someplace.

Anyone know of any good deals (I got this one for $399) for a comparable AVR? 8^)

The Denon 1913 is on sale at BB and Amazon for $399.

Hmmmm......

Looks comparable. Bought the Yamaha initially because I had experience with them in the past and reliablility seemed solid.

It may not seem like it right now and I am not trying to talk you into or out of anything but overall Denon has atleast as many reliability issues as Yamaha.

Oh I know.....and just to be sure I am a huge Yamaha fan. These things happen with any manufacturer.

I even have a few high end Yamaha guitars and a Yamaha electric piano.

About the only reason I would purchase something else is to avoid the 2-3 week turnaround on getting a replacement. I have a new set of speakers showing up within days and it is going to try my patience to wait to hear them! 8^)

Moot point now.....returning to Rakuten for exchange...hopefully it won't take too long. They are emailing prepaid UPS label and we will box it up and ship tomorrow.

I will say that this unit arrived 1 day after we placed the order with economy shipping....so hopefully this will be as quick!

I still have them but it's impossible to hook them up to Yamaha as they have different impedance, are much smaller in power and size, and have different connectors (also they are of much lower quality/price as compared to MA Bronze). To give you an idea, Pioneer DCS-585 (which has 5.1 speakers included in the box) draws 55 W of power, while Yamaha RX-673 330 W (the European model).
Also, the sub from Pioneer home cinema it's not active, so impossible to hook it to Yamaha.

I really hope the addition of a sub will greatly improve sound.

@kriktsemaj99: As I've mentioned, I have no sub for the moment - I plan to add one soon.
Yeah, I will try a manual calibration to check if there is a difference in sound.

Today I've noticed something else: while pressing repeatedly 'Surr decode' button on the remote control, I don't get to see/hear the Dolby ProLogic IIx setting. Does any of you has this problem? I've read in the manual that DPL IIx is available also for RX-673, and not only for RX-773.

DPLII and DPLIIx are basically identical. If you've got surround back speakers hooked up, you'll see DPLIIx, if you've just got a 5.1 or lower setup, you'll see DPLII.

Does it just indicate straight mode?

Mine does the same. In reading the manual, surround decode enables multichannel playback from 2 channel sources. When a multichannel source is input, it works the same as straight mode.

If you also read in the manual about the different audio decoding formats, like Dolby Pro Logic II, it says it enables 5 channel playback from 2 channel sources.

PL II provides "fake" surround for 2 channel sources. Thats why when the source is 5.1 it says "straight". Because it does not need to "fake" anything.

Oh I see, so DPL IIx is only available for 7.1 speakers.

Another issue that I've noticed last night: when trying to use DLNA capability (through Yamaha 673 server interface) to watch on TV some pictures stored on my laptop, I do get to see the icons of the pics, but they are greyed out and cannot be opened. Is it because the TV (I think) it's not DLNA compatible? It's an LG LH5000 and it's not a smart TV.
But if that's the case, then how come I still get to see the icons of the pics (greyed out as they are) on the TV screen?

About the sound: the coloration of the high frequencies (they sound metalic, not natural at all) is most perceivable on TV programs - is it because of cable broadcast sound issues? But my former Pioneer DCS didn't reveal this problem (I've listened to the same TV show just to make sure - I remember that the music and the voices sounded much more natural with the Pioneer system hooked up). Again, I do hope it's all due to the present lack of a subwoofer.

But I wonder if the presence of a sub will improve the high frequencies sounding, and not only adding bass depth.

I didnt get a chance to repeat the speaker calibration, I will do it today.

No, upon repeatedly pressing that button, it indicates all the surround modes, with the exception of DPL IIx. If I press straight mode, then I get 2 channels (when the sourse is stereo - which is normal)
So I do have DPL II, but not DPL IIx. But now I've learned that DPLIIx is only possible for those who have installed 7.1 (or more) speakers - which is not my case, I have 5.0.

Never mind, I returned the Yamaha today and ordered instead Denon 2113 - due to arrive tomorrow..
Fingers crossed.

Did you have any other problems with the Yamaha other than not being able to figure out how to use it?

Update: Last night after work I plugged the 673 back in and it appeared to work normally. Power on and off several times no problem.
Hooked it back up to the 60 "Vizio and there seemed to be no problem. After playing with it for a bit I went in and reconfigured the CEC/HDMI control to have the units simultaneously power off and on with 1 button. (Note: This is how I had it setup for the 2 weeks prior to having problems -Power up with the Scene button would turn on rcvr and tv together...Power off on the TV remote would shut down both TV and Rcvr).

As soon as I reconfigured CEC on TV and RCVR the Rcvr started having the shutdown/power up problem again. I don't know all the proper terms, but it seems something in the HDMI CEC handshaking is faulty/glitched. I know some here don't like to use this CEC HDMI control feature and I have been wondering why, but I want to stress that it did work fine for 2-3 weeks before this.

I wonder if there is some thing in this circuitry that can actually somehow trip the Protect mode circuitry and damage it. I know than when I receive the replacement I will be very leery of using this feature. After all, it's not that difficult to power up with 2 remotes

Dropping the RMA off at UPS today....

No, actually the only problem (be it subjective) was the bright/metalic sound - which in my view didnt make a good pairing with the bright sound of Monitor Audio Bronze speakers (but I cannot change those anymore).
I do hope Denon will be a better match.

Airplay issues

Does anyone use Airplay with their 673/773? Running iTunes (from my Windows laptop), it seems to have trouble finding the receiver. I have network standby on, but it won't pick it up. The only workaround I've found is to start iTunes, turn off network standby, turn the receiver off, then turn the receiver back on (and make sure the input is Airplay). At this point, the Airplay icon shows up in iTunes and it can see the receiver. Once I get it connected, I can turn network standby back on (although I'll likely have the same problem next time).

DLNA from my phone works fine. What I want to do is remote control iTunes on my laptop using my Android phone. I will try remoting Windows Media Player, but I prefer the iTunes interface.

On an unrelated note, if anyone is annoyed about the lack of component input transcoding to HDMI, I bought a component-to-HDMI converter from monoprice for $40 to connect a DVD player. I don't use the receiver to upconvert (TV does it slightly better), so all it's really saving me is another run of cables from the AVR to the TV, and that only if the DVD is outputting 480p and opposed to 480i, but still. To the AVR it's just another HDMI input--upconversion works, if I wanted to use it.