So I've been playing with receivers in pursuit of a new one. I picked this up from Best Buy last week and played around a little more after a false start (a missing remote).
Specs (from Yamahas site):
Supported Surround Formats Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital EX
DTS Digital Surround
DTS 96/24
DTS-ES Matrix 6.1
DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
Dolby Pro Logic
Dolby Pro Logic II Music
Dolby Pro Logic II Movie
Dolby Pro Logic II Game
Dolby Pro Logic IIx Music
Dolby Pro Logic IIx Movie
Dolby Pro Logic IIx Game
DTS Neo:6 Music
DTS Neo:6 Cinema
Min. RMS Output Power
Main Ch.
110 W + 110 W (0.04% THD)
(8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz)
Centre Ch.
110 W (0.04% THD)
(8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz)
Rear Ch.
110 W + 110 W (0.04% THD)
(8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz)
Rear Centre Ch.
110 W + 110 W (0.04% THD)
Damping Factor (8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz)
140+ (Main)
Frequency Response (CD)
10 - 100,000 Hz -3 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion (20 - 20,000 Hz, CD)
CD (Main Speaker Out)
0.04%
Signal-to-Noise Ratio
(CD)
100 dB (250 mV)
Monitor Out Frequency Response
S-Video
5 Hz to 10 MHz -3 dB
Component Video
5Hz to -60 MHz -3 dB
Dimensions
(W x H x D)
435 x 171 x 434 mm
Weight
15.5 kg
My stuff (mis-matched speaker set (I know I know))
Mains Altec Lansing (circa 1970 something) Series 7 with upgraded mids (vifa drivers)
Center: Fluance
rears: Little Panasonic direct 50W surrounds
Player: Panasonic CV-50 + even crappier $30 (boxing day special) no-name player to read mpegs and burned discs.
Cans: Senns HD-570
Think of it as gear for the below average/average Joe
: I'm doing a test for the lowend-phile 
The Yamaha has pleased and disappointed all in one blow. It is fantastic on headphones. When I compare the Dolby Headphone soundtrack to Yamaha's silent cinema headphone dsp...the 2 are extremely similar. Thumbs up there. The dsp's enhance the sound and are fantastic for movies and general TV.
The video up-convert feature is very nice and makes the receiver a well-rounded AV station able to handle all your gear from one spot.
The remote is well laid out and easy to follow but not all the buttons are backlit which, well, sucks.
A few thumbs down though....not all features are accessible from the front panel (you lose the remote or it breaks and you're screwed).
Sound is a mixed bag....
Movies are loud, brash and in your face but a little harsh (maybe). Extremely dynamic...the pod race is a great scene (no doubt the Yamaha plays loud). Jurassic Park III (dino fight), Pearl Harbour bombing run performed very well.
Music...missing a certain warmth that I like. A couple of tracks from a jazz fusion band called YellowJackets was very clear and dynamic but was missing a certain "underbelly"
Same with my Marcus Roberts Gershwin for Lovers disc...his jazz piano sounded a little cold for my liking.
Bootsauce..a blast from the past, has a distinctive slap-bass that just doesn't seem get through and ring completely true.
Jurassic Park CD...orchestra was cold sounding (again).
On headphones the situation improved some so it just may be the receiver is a bad match-up for my current speakers....which surprised me a little but not unheard of.
YPAO ...Auto-eq was a hit and miss as well. It works pretty good and in terms of equalizing tonality between the fronts (I've always noticed a slight difference in tone between the front left and front right) The Yammie did a pretty good job in bringing them back to a common sound. However it decided to x-over the sub at 200Hz which was way too high. It's level choices were questionable as well....but overall a pretty useful feature if you have nothing else to fall back on (like me).
I'll hold on to it for a couple more days when I get the Denon to utilize the mic...
So far the HTR-5790 (RX-V1400 equivalent) is a mixed bag (which was a bit of a surprise....I was expecting a little more wow factor).
Moving on.
Surprising because many people have called these the warmest Yamaha's to date. I wouldn't use the word bright (as their pianos are often called, and I rather like that sound...heck I grew up on that piano sound at home, it's a nice upright trust me) Cold and distant for music (caveat: with my setup!!!! VERY IMPORTANT to NOTE)
I realize that my speakers have everything to do with this, but it was interesting none the less to note that my department store Sony (DE-525) and Panasonic CV50 (decoder inside player) hooked up with 5 analog cables seem to have more warmth than a digital coax to the Yammie. What the Sony gave up in clarity it made up in warmth. To my ears.
Specs (from Yamahas site):
Supported Surround Formats Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital EX
DTS Digital Surround
DTS 96/24
DTS-ES Matrix 6.1
DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
Dolby Pro Logic
Dolby Pro Logic II Music
Dolby Pro Logic II Movie
Dolby Pro Logic II Game
Dolby Pro Logic IIx Music
Dolby Pro Logic IIx Movie
Dolby Pro Logic IIx Game
DTS Neo:6 Music
DTS Neo:6 Cinema
Min. RMS Output Power
Main Ch.
110 W + 110 W (0.04% THD)
(8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz)
Centre Ch.
110 W (0.04% THD)
(8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz)
Rear Ch.
110 W + 110 W (0.04% THD)
(8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz)
Rear Centre Ch.
110 W + 110 W (0.04% THD)
Damping Factor (8 ohms, 20 - 20,000 Hz)
140+ (Main)
Frequency Response (CD)
10 - 100,000 Hz -3 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion (20 - 20,000 Hz, CD)
CD (Main Speaker Out)
0.04%
Signal-to-Noise Ratio
(CD)
100 dB (250 mV)
Monitor Out Frequency Response
S-Video
5 Hz to 10 MHz -3 dB
Component Video
5Hz to -60 MHz -3 dB
Dimensions
(W x H x D)
435 x 171 x 434 mm
Weight
15.5 kg
My stuff (mis-matched speaker set (I know I know))
Mains Altec Lansing (circa 1970 something) Series 7 with upgraded mids (vifa drivers)
Center: Fluance
rears: Little Panasonic direct 50W surrounds
Player: Panasonic CV-50 + even crappier $30 (boxing day special) no-name player to read mpegs and burned discs.
Cans: Senns HD-570
Think of it as gear for the below average/average Joe
: I'm doing a test for the lowend-phile The Yamaha has pleased and disappointed all in one blow. It is fantastic on headphones. When I compare the Dolby Headphone soundtrack to Yamaha's silent cinema headphone dsp...the 2 are extremely similar. Thumbs up there. The dsp's enhance the sound and are fantastic for movies and general TV.
The video up-convert feature is very nice and makes the receiver a well-rounded AV station able to handle all your gear from one spot.
The remote is well laid out and easy to follow but not all the buttons are backlit which, well, sucks.
A few thumbs down though....not all features are accessible from the front panel (you lose the remote or it breaks and you're screwed).
Sound is a mixed bag....
Movies are loud, brash and in your face but a little harsh (maybe). Extremely dynamic...the pod race is a great scene (no doubt the Yamaha plays loud). Jurassic Park III (dino fight), Pearl Harbour bombing run performed very well.
Music...missing a certain warmth that I like. A couple of tracks from a jazz fusion band called YellowJackets was very clear and dynamic but was missing a certain "underbelly"
Same with my Marcus Roberts Gershwin for Lovers disc...his jazz piano sounded a little cold for my liking.
Bootsauce..a blast from the past, has a distinctive slap-bass that just doesn't seem get through and ring completely true.
Jurassic Park CD...orchestra was cold sounding (again).
On headphones the situation improved some so it just may be the receiver is a bad match-up for my current speakers....which surprised me a little but not unheard of.
YPAO ...Auto-eq was a hit and miss as well. It works pretty good and in terms of equalizing tonality between the fronts (I've always noticed a slight difference in tone between the front left and front right) The Yammie did a pretty good job in bringing them back to a common sound. However it decided to x-over the sub at 200Hz which was way too high. It's level choices were questionable as well....but overall a pretty useful feature if you have nothing else to fall back on (like me).
I'll hold on to it for a couple more days when I get the Denon to utilize the mic...
So far the HTR-5790 (RX-V1400 equivalent) is a mixed bag (which was a bit of a surprise....I was expecting a little more wow factor).
Moving on.
Surprising because many people have called these the warmest Yamaha's to date. I wouldn't use the word bright (as their pianos are often called, and I rather like that sound...heck I grew up on that piano sound at home, it's a nice upright trust me) Cold and distant for music (caveat: with my setup!!!! VERY IMPORTANT to NOTE)
I realize that my speakers have everything to do with this, but it was interesting none the less to note that my department store Sony (DE-525) and Panasonic CV50 (decoder inside player) hooked up with 5 analog cables seem to have more warmth than a digital coax to the Yammie. What the Sony gave up in clarity it made up in warmth. To my ears.
