Detailed Review of Yamaha RX-A3010 Aventage Receiver

[Big Daddy]

You can find a funny story in Post #2 of this thread on why I bought this receiver.

REVIEW OF YAMAHA RX-A3010 AVENTAGE AV RECEIVER

The Yamaha Aventage receivers are meant to be distinguished from their regular receivers just like the Pioneer Elite and Sony ES receivers. They have much better build quality, use higher-end components, offer advanced options, and superior sound.


Equipment Used:

My HT room is a dedicated rectangular room. Its dimensions are 24ft x 21ft x 8.5ft. The room is treated extremely well. Almost all the walls and the ceiling are covered with foam. In addition, there are five (5) 24x48x4 acoustic bass traps from ATS Acoustics on the side walls, and thirty (30) corner traps from Auralex, Parts Express, and Foam factory covering all corners.

In addition to the Yamaha RX-A3010 AV receiver, the main equipment used in evaluating the new AVR consisted of the following:

• A Cinepro3K6 six-channel amplifier.
• A Proton DP1200 two-channel amplifier.
• One Velodyne SMS-1 equalizer/analyser.
• One Oppo BDP-83 blu-ray player.
• One Oppo DVD 980 player.
• One Mitsubishi HS U82 S-VHS VCR.

There are 12 speakers, six external subwoofers (two 15 inch four 12 inch) in the room. Also, there are a Clark Tactile Transducer and an 8 inch flat subwoofer under the main sofa. The speakers are described in the following:

• Front Speakers: Two Definitive Technology BP2000 with 15 inch built-in powered subwoofers.
• Center Speakers: One Martin Logan Logos and one Definitive Technology C/L/R2002 speakers.
• Side Surround: Two PSB Image S50 black bipolar speakers.
• Rear Surround: Two Bose 901 speakers.
• Front Presence: Two Cadence F-19 Mini Tower speakers.
• Rear Presence: Two Definitive Technology BPx bipolar speakers.

The setup of the speakers in the room closely resemble the following picture.

The Cinepro amplifier powers the two front and the two center speakers. Two of its channels are not used to give the amplifier more headroom to power the four speakers in the front. The Proton amplifier powers the two Bose 901 rear speakers and the Yamaha RX-A3010 receiver powers the two front and the two rear presence speakers. All the subwoofers are powered by external two-channel amplifiers (one Behringer EP4000, one EPX3000, one Behringer EPX4000, one TechnicalPro TA3250, and one Carver M-1.0t).


Build Quality:

The RX-A3010 is the top-of-the-line Aventage receiver from Yamaha. It uses quality components and its build quality and layout is first-class. In order to limit resonance and vibrations, Yamaha has added a fifth isolating foot to provide better isolation from external vibrations. Yamaha calls it A.R.T. (Anti Resonance Technology).

Directly above the fifth foot and in the center of the receiver is the massive power supply. It is located centrally to divide the left and right amplifier circuits to separate the left channels from the right channels. All of this is done to improve sound quality.


Appearance:

The Yamaha RX-A3010 is a very large receiver and is quite attractive. It has smartly hidden many of its options in front of the receiver under a flip-down panel door. The top front portion of the receiver is shinny black and the bottom half (the flip-down panel door) is finished in matte black. In my opinion, the Aventage receiver and my previous Denon AVR-4308CI receiver are among the more attractive receivers.

Features:

The RX-A3010 receiver is a very feature-rich receiver. It has more hardware and software options to satisfy even the most demanding users. The good news is that Yamaha has not ignored the owners of legacy components and has perhaps the most RCA and S-Video inputs in any modern receiver. In that respect, I am very happy because I still use older TVs, Laser Disc players, VCRs, Cassette Players, and CD Recorders. My previous Denon receiver did not offer as many inputs as the new Yamaha.

1. Hardware:
   • HDMI with 3D and Audio Return Channel
   • Eight (8) HDMI 1.4 inputs (one HDMI input is in the front under the flip-down panel)
   • Two (2) HDMI 1.4 outputs that work simultaneously
   • Four (4) component inputs
   • One component output
   • 7.1 multi-channel RCA inputs
   • One phono input
   • 11.2 pre-out for all the channels
   • Five S-video inputs
   • Five (5) composite RCA video inputs
   • Three optical in the back and one optical inputs in the front, three digital coaxial in the back and one input in the front
   • Four RCA Audio inputs (one with optical, one with digital coaxial, and two just RCA)
   • One AV output (one composite, one s-video, two RCA, one USB)
   • Antenna inputs for both AM and FM radio
   • One input for Sirius radio
   • One network input
   • Amplifiers for 9 channels: 150W per Channel (8 ohms, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 0.06 % THD, 2 ch driven); 165W per Channel (8 ohms, 1 kHz, 0.9 % THD, 2 ch driven)
   • Two subwoofer outputs (capability to calibrate left and right subwoofers or front and rear subwoofers). In case, more than two subwoofers are used, they should be connected to only the first subwoofer output.
   • HQV's high-performance VHD1900 chipset for video upconversion and scaling
   • 24-bit/192kHz Burr-Brown DACS for every channel
2. Sofware:
   1. Yamaha’s proprietary advanced YPAO
   2. Twenty Three (23) sound modes
      1. Movie Theater: Standard, Spectacle, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama, Mono Movie
      2. Entertainment: Sports, Action Game, Roleplaying Game, Music Video, Recital/Opera
      3. Classical: Hall in Munich, Hall in Vienna, Hall in Amsterdam, Church in Freiburg, Church in Royaumont, Chamber
      4. Live/Club: Village Vanguard, Warehouse Loft, Cellar Club, The Roxy Theatre, The Bottom Line
      5. Stereo: 2ch Stereo, 9ch Stereo

The Auto-Calibration Program:

As I mentioned before, Yamaha uses its own proprietary YPAO calibration program. The YPAO included in the RX-A3010 is their most advanced calibration program. It can calibrate up to eight (8) positions and also has a unique feature not found in other calibration programs. Yamaha calls it R.S.C. (Reflected Sound Control). Previously, they had used this successfully with their sound-bar systems. It allows the calibration program to make corrections for reflected sound and also measure speaker angles so that it can correct for speakers that are not lined up with each other and the walls.

To do this, Yamaha includes a three-armed plastic device to be placed on a tripod to allow the calibration program to take measurements from two positions with respect to the first (main) position. The idea behind this is to take measurements of reflections from all the boundaries that arrive to the microphone (ears) approximately 8 milliseconds after the arrival of the main sound.

The YPAO included in the RX-A3010 gives you 10 seconds to leave the room before it starts taking measurements from each position. It also works very fast. The difference in speed between YPAO and the Audyssey MultEQ XT included in my previous Denon AVR-4308CI is significant. I have already managed to run it about five times in the last couple of days without any fatigue. Running the Audyssey for 8 positions was a nightmare and took a very long time.

Overall, my impression of YPAO is that it works and helps the performance of the speakers, particularly by softening the higher frequencies. As far as the subwoofers are concerned, I believe YPAO does affect their performance. I own a Velodyne SMS-1 subwoofer equalizer/analyzer. I run it before I run YPAO and adjust the performance of the subwoofers by looking at the frequency response graph. After the calibration program is finished, I have noticed a significant shift in the FR graph. The ultra low frequencies below 50Hz are not affected as much as a boost in the upper bass frequencies. My impression is that the bass became a bit tighter.

The only concern that I had was that YPAO set my front speakers to Small with a crossover of 120Hz. All the other speakers were set to small with a crossover of 80Hz. That was a bit surprising. My front speakers have built-in 15" subwoofers that are run as part of the speakers and not as the separate LFE channel. I have measured their performance before and they easily go below 20Hz. A crossover of 120Hz for such huge super towers was a bit shocking. The Audyssey in the Denon always set the front speakers to large and I manually set them to small with a crossover of either 40Hz or 60Hz. In most cases, a crossover of 60Hz worked better as I have six (6) external subwoofers in the room in addition to a Clark Tactile Transducer and an 8" flat subwoofer under the sofa.

After running YPAO for eight positions and getting exactly the same results, I decided to run YPAO for only one position. This time, the crossover was set to 110Hz. Finally, I decided to increase the level of the subwoofers on my front speakers significantly and run YPAO for multiple positions. Voilà, they were set correctly to Large this time and the problem was solved.

Yamaha's calibration system is fast and works great: a significant improvement in audio quality compared to testing before calibration.


Sound Quality:

The RX-A3010 uses Burr-Brown 192kHz/24-bit DACs for all channels. In addition to superior DACs, it also offers Ultra Low Jitter PLL circuitry to optimize sound imaging. The DACs do a superb job and the sound quality (both musical notes and vocals) in Pure Direct or any of the DSP sound modes is excellent. If you close your eyes, you may imagine you are sitting in the middle of a live performance.

Even the phono input is much better than the majority of receivers, although it may not be as good as some of the reasonably priced phono pre-amps.


Picture Quality:

The RX-A3010 uses the HQV Vida chipset. It will upconvert and scale all analog video signals to HDMI 1080p. It can also upscale HD signals from HDMI to HDMI. Its video quality capability is outstanding. It makes the less than ideal signals from DVD players and satellite/cable TV boxes look stunning. I even used my old reliable VCR using S-video cable and there was a significant improvement in the picture quality. It appears as if I have upgraded my projector.

Graphical User Interface (GUI):

Yamaha’s graphical user interface (GUI) looks excellent and is very intuitive. It has a high resolution display with easy-to-use menus and also includes a selectable Status Bar that shows input source, volume level, DSP mode and audio format. The GUI provides a choice of six languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish, and can be displayed both normal and 3D pictures. Once you learn the function of each button on the remote control, you can you can easily navigate and use the menus. Additionally, you can change the display.

Network and Digital Media:

Yamaha supports a vast array of network and digital media features such as streaming from Napster, Sirius and Pandora internet radio, Rhapsody subscription music service, USB digital connection for iPod and iPhone (you can purchase the optional YDS-12 universal dock) and it will support a broad range of music formats, including WAV, MP3, WMA, AAC and FLAC 94/24. Yamaha’s network functions include compatibility with Windows7 and DLNA 1.5 and web browser control from a PC or PDA.

NAS stands for Network-Attached Storage

Yamaha does not have any provisions for wireless access to content. You can easily do that with the help of an Ethernet Bridge to use wi-fi to stream from the internet.

Yamaha has not included AirPlay because they prefer to promote their own AirWired technology to deliver the same experience, This requires the optional Yamaha YID-W10 wireless iPod dock.


Remote:

The Yamaha RX-A3010 comes with two remote controls. A larger full-featured remote and a smaller remote that can be used in a second zone or as the everyday remote after all the settings are made. The larger remote has a flip-down panel cover in the bottom that hides additional setup buttons underneath. The remote has a button on the right side to turn its light on in a dark room for a few seconds. It appears that the remote controls are well made and high quality. My only complaint is that the characters are too small and hard to read. Even with my glasses, I had a hard time reading the characters on top of some of the bottons.

Manual:

There is no printed manual in the box. Instead, a few sheets of the product literature and a CD-ROM with the manual on it are included. This is perhaps a move in the right direction. Instead of wasting paper, the manual on disk in PDF format offers some advantages. Searching a PDF file with indices is very fast. Additionally, you can find a copy of the manual and any updates or corrections on Yamaha’s Website. Although I believe the manual is well put together and better than many other receiver manuals, it is still not very helpful in some cases and simply rewrites what you see on the screen menus without much explanation. The manual of my previous Denon AVR-4308CI was not any better and in many cases, it was horrendous.

If you connect a cable to the Ethernet input of the receiver, any firmware updates will be performed automatically. During firmware updates, it is extremely important that you do not interrupt anything, particularly turning off the power.


Enjoyment and Fun Appeal:

The Yamaha RX-A3010 is an enjoyable receiver. Having had much experience with previous Yamha receiver in the 1990s, I found the numerous sound options on this flagship model very useful and fun to play with. You can spend hours or days playing with the different DSP options on this receivers. Almost all of them are enjoyable. I did not find the DSP options on my previous Denon receiver as enjoyable and rarely used them.


Value:

The Yamaha RX-A3010 receiver is very reasonably priced. Its price is much lower than the high-end receivers from other companies. You can buy this feature-rich receiver from local or online dealers for less than $2,000. In my case, I only paid $1,500 for an open-box receiver from an authorized dealer. The box that I received looked like an unopened box and its remote and other accessories were in original packaging and untouched.


Cons:

1. No AirPlay. Instead, you may have to purchase the Yamaha YID-W10 wireless iPod dock.
2. Some may assume the exclusion of Dolby IIz front height and Audyssey DSX front height/wide channels as a negative. However, Yamaha offers its own front and rear presence speakers technology. In this respect, Yamaha has far more experience than either Dolby or Audyssey.
3. Characters on the remote are hard to read. I suppose when you include so many options, this becomes inevitable, particularly if you want to keep the size of the remote relatively small.
4. The speaker terminal layout may be difficult for some people to understand. Perhaps, they can be rearranged or labeled better.
5. Although the manual is written better than many other receiver’s manual, there is more room for improvement.

Overall:

The Yamaha RX-A3010 is unbelievably feature rich. There is no doubt that this is a flagship AV receiver that can easily compete with top AV receivers from other companies. In addition to being an attractive receiver, it uses premium parts and its construction is top notch. Its graphical user interface (GUI) is superior. Moreover, its audio and video performance is excellent for both HD and older legacy equipment. It is also a fun receiver and offers a lot of DSP options that can enhance your enjoyment and entertain you.

In my opinion, it doesn’t really have any serious flaws that is worth wasting time over. Personally, I have no interest in using my home theater equipment for streaming audio. My dedicated HT and two-channel rooms are strictly to play HD/DVD movies/concerts and two-channel/multi-channel CD/LP/SACD albums. I have never cared for individual songs and prefer to listen to an entire album and look at the cover and read the inscriptions on the back. That is one reason I like LPs as opposed to CDs because they are large and usually have several pages of writings.

In conclusion, the Yamaha RX-A3010 Aventage AVR receives Big Daddy’s seal of approval with two enthusiastic thumbs up. I highly recommend this high-end receiver.