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The versatility of the Yamaha RX-A3020

post #1 of 8
7/4/12 at 3:16am
Thread Starter 
Hi Guys,
I'm new to this forum so this, my first post, may be a little longer than usual but I'm looking for some advice to solve a particular problem and this looks like the right place to come.

Firstly, to help you understand the scenario, I'll be moving into a new house in the next month or so. The new place currently has a NuVo Simplese (4 zone, 4 source audio distribution), unfortunately however the current owner is taking everything except the cables. My initial thought was that would be OK, because I'd like to upgrade the system anyway, but that was before I did I little research into what was available, what they costs and what the benefits of each of the other systems are i.e. NuVo Essentia, SpreakerCraft MZC-66, the various Elan models etc. I'll discuss those in another thread, but then I came across the new Yamaha RX-A3020 and this is where my question comes in.

The RX-A3020 is advertised as a 4Zone system but it's unclear, at least to me, exactly how I could use these 4 zones.

What I'd like to do is the following:
Zone 1 - TV room - 7.1 surround
Zone 2 - Main Bedroom - HDMI (pre-amp) out to the RX-V765, where I should be able to create an independent (from the main zone) video, 5.1 surround stage
Zone 3 - Patio - Component out, plus "zone 2" (pre-amp) out to the RX-V440, I should be able to watch whatever source is selected for that zone, or use the screen to navigate Music/Movie selection, this should also be independent from the main zone, especially for Audio.
Zone 4 - Kitchen (Powered zone) - to dive two in ceiling speakers in the kitchen area, this would typically be for whatever audio is on in Zone 1
Of course with "Party mode" I'd like the same audio in Zone1, 3, and 4, with independent audio control.

So..., who can tell me if that's all possible, or do I need to find yet another solution, any suggestions?

If it helps, here's the product page
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/aventage/rx-a3020_black_u/?mode=model

Front panel view
http://data.yamaha.jp/sdb/product/image/others/raw/r/rx-a3020_black_u/001A7E8EB2F94B22B1F1128F44C48FA7_12075.jpg

Rear view
http://data.yamaha.jp/sdb/product/image/others/raw/r/rx-a3020_black_u/9753407C66BF4EFAB55E242AC607EDF4_12075.jpg

PS - I would normally embed the images, but these are quite large.
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post #2 of 8
7/4/12 at 8:00am
You can probably do something like thatt but we don't currently know for sure what the multi-zone limitations of the new Yamaha receivers are yet.

Assuming it is possible then you'll likely have to swap zone 2 and 4 in your configuration. Only zone 2 and 3 are powered zones. Zone 4 is HDMI only. You'll need to hook up any device you want to hear in zone 2 or zone 3 with analogue audio cables. You'll need to hook up any device you want to be able to watch in zone 3 with component video cables, there won't be any conversion from HDMI, composite or S-Video in this zone. Any source you want to watch or listen to in zone 4 will need to be connected to using HDMI, again no conversion in this zone.

I'm not sure if party mode will work in zone 4. There will be no pre-amp output from zone 4 to your RX-V765, just HDMI. You'd connect your RX-V440 using the zone 3 pre-out jacks, but you should configure the zone 3 volume as fixed, effectively making this a line level output.
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post #3 of 8
7/4/12 at 9:38am
Thread Starter 
Thanks Ross.
So in theory, I would be able to use the Yamaha iPhone/iPad app from the zone4 (the bedroom), where the HDMI 2 out from the RX-A3020 is connected to HDMI in of the RX-V765, and select, watch or listen to any source connected to the RX-A3020... better yet, in theory I should be able to use AirPlay in Zone4 to look through, select and play anything from my networked iTunes library cool.gif
What we're talking about is depicted in the second part of this image.
136


I had another look at the back of the RX-A3020, according to the connections there are both powered and un-powered (pre-amp) outputs for Zone2 and Zone3. Using the powered output to the in-ceiling speakers in zone2 (the Kitchen) would be perfect.
This could done using this Intelligent Amp Design feature
855219C9BC8A436190ECFD2E0143843B_12074.jpg

That then only leaves Zone3(The Patio) for which I should be able to use the Zone3 pre-amp outs and assign the Component Video Out and use both of these as inputs for the RX-V440, which would then be connected to the Plasma in that Zone, which according to the literature is also possible:
Other Notable Zone Control
• Zone 2/3/4 on/off and control on front panel
• Zone GUI (song/station select, album cover art display, Zone tone controls/Zone balance, short message)
• Zone 2/3 video assign (component, S-Video, composite)
• System backup/recovery function
• Zone mono, Zone volume, tone controls and balance
• Party Mode


Man, this is going to be an awesome project if it all works as planned cool.gif

PS - to extend this project a little, I can also use the zone2 of the RX-V765, in Zone2 (the bedroom) to extend the Audio into the bathroom, or Study. AND use the Speaker B selection of the RX-V440 to extend Audio to the other end of the Patio...

Looks like I need to put my order in smile.gif
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post #4 of 8
7/4/12 at 5:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by YamahaJunkie View Post

So in theory, I would be able to use the Yamaha iPhone/iPad app from the zone4 (the bedroom), where the HDMI 2 out from the RX-A3020 is connected to HDMI in of the RX-V765, and select, watch or listen to any source connected to the RX-A3020... better yet, in theory I should be able to use AirPlay in Zone4 to look through, select and play anything from my networked iTunes library

You'd be watch and/or listen to any source connected by HDMI in zone 4. That may not include any of the receiver's internal sources, like AirPlay. It would work with an external HDMI connectect AirPlay capable device like an Apple TV, though.
Quote:
This could done using this Intelligent Amp Design feature

That feature shouldn't be necessary in your case. There are a total of nine power amplifiers in the RX-A3020, you'd use seven for the main zone and two for zone 2. The Intelligent Amp Design feature would be for certain cases where you've got more than nine speakers connected. In certain configurations like that the receiver is able to dynamically assign the amplifers to speakers depending on the circumstances. So in the example picture there are nine speakers in the main zone, the standard 7.1 configuration plus two presence speakers, and two in zone 2. While zone 2 is active the surround back speakers are disabled so that two amps can be used to drive the zone 2 speakers. When zone 2 is turned off the surround back speakers are automatically renabled.
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post #5 of 8
9/14/12 at 12:04am
Hello.

Just wondering how you have progressed with this project as I am interested in achieving a similar setup.

Thanks.
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post #6 of 8
11/28/12 at 5:03pm
not to derail the from the OP's question, I'm thinking of buying the 3020. I'm coming from a long line of Pioneer Elite receivers to Anthem receiver and may want to go back to Yamaha for its DSP program (I used to own the original DSP-1, DSP-1000 and DSP-E3000 of Dolby Pro Logic days).

so questions:

1. how is the YPAO with R.S.C (how many bands parametric EQ, etc; can't find the exact info on their sites)
2. how are the DSP HD3 programmes compared to the regular DSP 3D programmes (and what make them different)
3. will the DSP work with TrueHD and DTS-MA?
4. are the DSP programmes based on sampled data just like the old original DSP or are they now based on digital modelling?

Thank you very much beforhand.
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post #7 of 8
11/28/12 at 8:53pm
I can tell you that the DSP effects work when decoding DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD on the RX-A3020. The manual might give you some insight into your other questions that Yamaha's web site doesn't.
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post #8 of 8
11/29/12 at 1:42am
Thanks for the info! I'll try the manual.
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