Is it this new generation of receivers flat or what? I have a 9 year old Yamaha RXV670 and it is only 70 Watts. I bought the new Sony 5ES on recommendations. Ya, the movie effects are great, but compared to my 9 year old 670 it is flat when doing stereo music. What do I mean, the 670 has more dynamic range and picks up much more music (all the subtle background and vocal variations that the ES ignores). If I listen real hard I can hear some of the subtleties on the ES, but it is like I have pillows on my ears. As for the dynamic range, sometimes I need to turn down the 670 the range is so great - just the opposite for the 5ES. I do all my comparison with straight analog 2 channel - no DSP. The 670 has dolby pro logic and I seek 6.1 dolby digital. But it gets better. I just bought the new Yamaha RXV2200, auditioned it in analog and returned it within 3 hours because it was at least as flat. Back at the store, I then auditioned some Dennons, RXV3000, and kept comparing them against the ES5. The ES5 had the edge on all of them. The Dennon (can't remember the model #) was more muffled, the 3000 maybe not as good in the highs. Remember all listening is done in straight analog stereo.
Help!!! Somebody must be going through this. My wife and son agree with me that the old 670 picks up more music and has better dynamics. We can't all be nuts. What is out there that can do it all?
Thank you for the help.
Help!!! Somebody must be going through this. My wife and son agree with me that the old 670 picks up more music and has better dynamics. We can't all be nuts. What is out there that can do it all?
Thank you for the help.