New Yamaha sounds a bit anemic

[RedZeppelin]

For years I used a Yamaha RX-V375 for my home theater and music listening, and really loved the sound. I recently upgraded to the RX-V385 in order to get 4K passthrough.

Movies sound even better than before, but my music sounds a bit weak. There isn't nearly as much low-end; it seems the sub is barely active. I listen to uncompressed audio from a DAC via RCA, using the Straight audio setting, and I have all inputs and settings the same way I had them on my 375, including crossover level.

I ran the YPAO upon initial setup, and it set my speaker levels almost exactly the way they were on the 375. Specifically, the subwoofer level is identical. But even when I jack up the level on the sub itself, it just seems to muddy up the sound rather than adding distinct bass.

The 385 does have a bass boost, which I don't think the 375 does. When I engage that the low end really comes to life, but it's a bit too much. Right now I'm adjusting the bass tone control +.5db at a time to see how it sounds. It's much more subtle than the bass boost but I've yet to find the sweet spot.

Anyone else have experience with the 385 and notice anything similar?

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by RedZeppelin

For years I used a Yamaha RX-V375 for my home theater and music listening, and really loved the sound. I recently upgraded to the RX-V385 in order to get 4K passthrough.

Movies sound even better than before, but my music sounds a bit weak. There isn't nearly as much low-end; it seems the sub is barely active. I listen to uncompressed audio from a DAC via RCA, using the Straight audio setting, and I have all inputs and settings the same way I had them on my 375, including crossover level.

I ran the YPAO upon initial setup, and it set my speaker levels almost exactly the way they were on the 375. Specifically, the subwoofer level is identical. But even when I jack up the level on the sub itself, it just seems to muddy up the sound rather than adding distinct bass.

The 385 does have a bass boost, which I don't think the 375 does. When I engage that the low end really comes to life, but it's a bit too much. Right now I'm adjusting the bass tone control +.5db at a time to see how it sounds. It's much more subtle than the bass boost but I've yet to find the sweet spot.

Anyone else have experience with the 385 and notice anything similar?

I do not have a Yamaha, but I will throw this out there....this kind of sounds like the Dynamic Range is set to Min/Auto....which is basically for night time listening/low volumes. It minimizes the subs impact when listening so as to not wake everyone up with the bass.

Have you checked this setting? For regular TV watching, you would want it set to Standard for regular listening.

[RedZeppelin]

Thanks, For*. I checked DR and it is set to maximum.

The strange thing is, when I'm watching movies there is plenty of low end. I get window-rattling sound as expected, just like with my old receiver. It's only with music that it feels weak.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by RedZeppelin

Thanks, For*. I checked DR and it is set to maximum.

The strange thing is, when I'm watching movies there is plenty of low end. I get window-rattling sound as expected, just like with my old receiver. It's only with music that it feels weak.

When listening to music, is the AVR set to Direct or Pure Direct? It is my understanding this could disable the subwoofer, depending on the source.

Also, I saw the following in your manual.....it references "Music Enhancer"...not quite sure how this sound mode works, but you might want to look into it.

https://manual.yamaha.com/av/18/rxv3...314183051.html

[RedZeppelin]

Originally Posted by Fors*

When listening to music, is the AVR set to Direct or Pure Direct? It is my understanding this could disable the subwoofer, depending on the source.

Also, I saw the following in your manual.....it references "Music Enhancer"...not quite sure how this sound mode works, but you might want to look into it.

https://manual.yamaha.com/av/18/rxv3...314183051.html

I'm using the Straight setting. Direct does bypass the sub, as indicated by the speaker icons on the Yamaha's display. With Straight, the sub is present.

Music Enhancer is designed for compressed music from low-res streamers and/or MP3s, for example. It's supposed to make it sound...less compressed. Since I'm listening to lossless, I definitely don't need or want that additional processing.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by RedZeppelin

I'm using the Straight setting. Direct does bypass the sub, as indicated by the speaker icons on the Yamaha's display. With Straight, the sub is present.

Music Enhancer is designed for compressed music from low-res streamers and/or MP3s, for example. It's supposed to make it sound...less compressed. Since I'm listening to lossless, I definitely don't need or want that additional processing.

Not sure what else you could do other than re-run YPAO and check out the results/sound?

[quickdraw]

There could be a couple things in play here. You're connecting your DAC source with RCA cables to one of several AV inputs. Try a different input and see if you get similar results. One of your inputs may be a dud. Also, you can try connecting to your coaxial input to see if you get a different result. If your receiver supports the MusicCast app, you can also set "scenes" for each of your inputs where you can customize each input to what ever sound level and DSP custom settings you want,

[loodibee]

I have both RX-V385 and TSR-7850 which is same as RX-V685. No issues with audio or bass. After running through the YPAO measurements, the only thing i adjustment i make is set subwoofer to +0.0db (which is adding quite a bit since it usually measures at -9 db or something like that) and then see if it's too loud, if not, then slowly turn down the subwoofer volume in the back of the woofer.