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.

[Big Daddy]

I have had a love affair with Yamaha for many years. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I had a Yamaha two-channel integrated amplifier, one of the first audio/video Dolby Surround (not Pro Logic, no center channel support) pre-amplifiers. In the early to mid 1990s, I purchased a Yamaha dual-deck cassette player/recorder, a Yamaha AM/FM tuner, and my first A/V DSP receiver. I still own the cassette player and the tuner. I absolutely loved the DSP receiver. As soon as Yamaha introduced the new updated version with Dolby Digital (AC3), I gave the receiver to a friend and bought the Yamaha DSP-A3090 AV Receiver. The receiver was a beast and very cool.

At that time, Yamaha was at the leading edge of manufacturing state-of-the-art products. I loved every aspect of the receiver, including all the DSP modes and the front presence speakers. One of the best features that AV receivers had back then is that they had the typical pre-outs for all the channels and also something you do not find on the back of the new AVRs, the Main Ins. The pre-outs were connected to the min-ins with jumpers. By removing the jumpers, you could re-route the built-in amplifiers from any channel to other channels. For example, you could re-route the amps for the front channels to bi-amp the surround channels and use an external amp to power the front channels. I still own the Yamaha DSP-A3090 receiver. It is sitting in the living room next to the big Mitsubishi TV and doesn’t get used often.

Anyway, after using the Yamaha for a few years, I upgraded to a Pioneer Elite A/V receiver and my first introduction to Component Video, a Mickey Mouse microphone and very basic auto calibration. At that time, the coolest audio codecs were Dolby Digital and occasional appearance of DTS Surround. Nobody had heard of DVI or HDMI. By the time DVI and HDMI were introduced and there were talks of blu-ray technology in audio/video magazines, I realized the need to upgrade my receiver. However, this time I was patient and waited until HDMI version 1.3 was introduced. At the same time Blu-ray and HD-DVD were at it like

[Show spoiler]two who$$s in a catfight

. Although I was biased toward blu-ray, it was not quite certain which technology was going to win.

This time around, I decided to go with a Denon receiver, based on its reputation and great reviews of its AVRs. I wanted to buy the Denon AVR 5308CI, but I could not justify the $5,000 price. So, I settled for the next level down, AVR-4308CI, at a bargain price of $2,400. At the time, the receiver offered two unique features. It had two HDMI outputs and it also supported four side surround speakers (two on the left and two on the right) in addition to the rear surround speakers. It calls them side surround A and side surround B. During calibration, Audyssey MultEQ XT goes through side surround A first, then B, and finally both A+B together and calibrates them. That is why calibrating using eight positions takes forever. Because of this option, I have installed four side surround speakers and enjoyed the results for the past couple of years.

The receiver has been flawless and has served me well. Almost a year ago, I paid one hundred dollars to Denon and upgraded the receiver’s firmware, in addition to Audyssey Dynamic EQ, Audyssey Dynamic Volume, Rhapsody Music Service, and SIRIUS Satellite Radio. You can read about the upgrade in the following thread:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/receivers/...ic-volume.html

After Dolby Labs introduced Dolby PLIIz and Audyssey introduced DSX Height and Wide channels, I decided to install two front height speakers and be ready for the new technologies. In the meantime, I periodically send the same signals for the front speakers to the front height speakers and I like the results. As a loyal customer, I have been waiting patiently for Denon to introduce their new AVR-4312CI. Unfortunately, due to the storm problems in Japan, it appears that the receiver will probably be introduced in the first or second quarter of 2012 at an expected price of close to $3,000.

I was being a good boy minding my own business and spending money like a hurricane in my two-channel room until the mailman started delivering his usual stack of very tempting monthly audio/video magazines. That is one of the problems when you subscribe to every A/V, computer, and photography magazines on this planet. I already have more equipment than Amazon and I still get tempted.

Among the ton of articles, ads, and reviews, there were several very positive reviews of the Yamaha’s new Aventage RX-A3010 A/V receiver. I tried very hard to ignore the temptations and decided to read my emails. Guess what. There was an email from Audioholics and a review of the Yamaha receiver. Of course, reading an email like that takes priority over emails from the pain-in-the-a$$ family members, credit card companies, or peni$ enlargement ads.

What I really liked about this receiver was that it supported both front and rear side presence speakers, a total of eleven (11) speakers in addition to two subwoofers. I already had eleven speakers exactly where Yamaha had suggested in their manual and there was no additional work involved except connecting and disconnecting cables.

The article from Audioholics encouraged me to get online and start searching. All the reviews were extremely positive and basically they said that receiver is as good as Yamaha’s $5,000 ultra high-end RX-Z11 receiver. The next thing, I started to search. I found a dealer on Ebay that was willing to sell it for $1,600 plus free shipping, but being in California, they wanted to charge me another $130 in sales tax. Additionally, I was worried that Yamaha would not honor the warranty because the dealer was not an authorized dealer. All reputable authorized dealers were selling it for $1,900. So, I decided to check Amazon. Their price was the same as the other authorized dealers. When I checked the offerings from their marketplace, I it the jackpot. There was an open box from OneCall, an authorized dealer, for $1,520. Amazon would give another discount of $20 because I had points on their Visa card. The total cost was $1,500 plus free shipping, including three-year warranty. When you throw such a good price in front of Big Daddy for such a top-level receiver, it is like throwing raw meat in front of a hungry lion. I couldn’t resist and jumped on the opportunity. OneCall is a classy joint and I don’t expect any problems from them.

God damn Audioholics. I plan to sue them for corrupting and tempting an under-aged and immature kid with no will.

By the end of next week, a huge AV receiver will be delivered to my house. If I am still alive and not murdered by my wife, I need to sell the beautiful Denon receiver. Help this poor soul as he may only have one week to live.

Denon AVR-4308CI Receiver for Sale.

[JamesN]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

...My current speakers setup (not the subwoofers) is exactly like the diagram. I expect the Yamaha receiver will take care of the rest...

You will need to add external amps to power the front and rear presence speakers. But I'm sure Big Daddy will have no trouble digging up some spare amps.

Congrats on the purchase!

Correction: It looks like you need external amps for only the rear presence channels.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by JamesN

You will need to add external amps to power the front and rear presence speakers. But I'm sure Big Daddy will have no trouble digging up some spare amps.

Congrats on the purchase!

Correction: It looks like you need external amps for only the rear presence channels.

Thank you. I paid a lot more for the two Yamaha DSP receivers that I bought in the 1990s. Technology products are the only products that have become cheaper over the years.

The RX-A3010 has nine built-in amplifiers, but I don't really need them. I have enough external amplifiers to power all eleven speakers. I may just use the Yamaha receiver to power the two rear presence speakers. Over the years, I have pretty much used all my receivers as pre/pro. I mainly like the RX-A3010 because it can handle eleven speakers. The amps are secondary.

[rpatt]

Congratulations BD. I still have a Yamaha DSP-A1. Right after I got home I burned up my Yamaha M-60 in my two channel system and used the DSP-A1 (through the "MAIN IN" connections) until my Yamaha B6 arrived.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by rpatt

Congratulations BD. I still have a Yamaha DSP-A1. Right after I got home I burned up my Yamaha M-60 in my two channel system and used the DSP-A1 (through the "MAIN IN" connections) until my Yamaha B6 arrived.

Thank you. I still believe the build quality on the DSP-A1 and DSP-A3090 was better than some of the receivers of today.

[CatBlu]

Big Daddy, that is awesome. I have had the RX-A2000 for a year now and the build quality is execlent. I am looking forward to the review when you have it set up!

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by CatBlu

Big Daddy, that is awesome. I have had the RX-A2000 for a year now and the build quality is execlent. I am looking forward to the review when you have it set up!

Thank you. After I spend a couple of weeks with it and tweak it to death, I will write my findings and compare them to the Denon and Audyssey.

[DBlackGT]

Congrats Big Daddy! Yamaha is definitely back kicking a$$ and taking names with their current top of the line receivers. I own the RX-A3000 and absolutely love it!

[CatBlu]

Welcome, you have a good gounding in this hobbie and the information has proved helpful at times.
Since you like to tweak, you should look into the receiver manager for the yamaha RX-A. Once you have the receiver hooked to your local network, you can use it to do some intitial settings on the receiver. It is a lot easier then drilling though the menus.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by DBlackGT

Congrats Big Daddy! Yamaha is definitely back kicking a$$ and taking names with their current top of the line receivers. I own the RX-A3000 and absolutely love it!

Thank you.

Originally Posted by CatBlu

Welcome, you have a good gounding in this hobbie and the information has proved helpful at times.
Since you like to tweak, you should look into the receiver manager for the yamaha RX-A. Once you have the receiver hooked to your local network, you can use it to do some intitial settings on the receiver. It is a lot easier then drilling though the menus.

It is good to know. I love tweaking. My wife accuses me of cheating on her with audio/video equipment.

[hometheatergeek]

Good Morning BD, I got a kick out of your story. I too still own the Yamaha DSP-A3090 receiver. I bought it brand new for the AC3 processing of Laserdisc audio. To be technical it is not a receiver....since it lacks radio function and was always considered a processor. In fact when I first bought it I overlooked the lack of a radio and had to add an older Denon Stereo receiver to the system to get FM radio. My unit is now in the master bedroom and gets very little use. I would sell it but I do not think I would get anything near the original price...in fact not even 40% of the original price. I think you will enjoy the new Yammy. Good luck with the sale of the Denon.

[HAMP]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

. I wish there was some quick way of moving from one receiver to the other and compare their room correction instantly.

This crossed my mind also, I wanted to compare the Onkyo 805 with my new Onkyo 5008 instantly, instead of relying on memory.

I was thinking of sitting both AVR's next to each other, and having the wires ready to plug into one or the other.

I already have a wallplate that I can go back and forth from AVR to AVR.
plugs1.jpg

I would plug one, run the calibration. Turn it off, and unplug
Plug the second one, run calibration. Turn it off, and unplug

I would go back and forth with unplugging and testing that way.

Yet, I been too lazy to do so.

[pab1219]

Daddy I'll wait for your review before I spent any $$$$$$$$$ for a new receiver.

[Don Corleone]

After 12 years my Sony receiver is starting to die. The center channel speaker will not produce sound. Is it possible for now to disconnect the two rear speakers and use one of the rear speaker slots (left or right) for my center speaker. The actual center speaker is fine but I think the circuit is blown for center.
If this is not possible can someone recommend a good a/v receiver priced between 300 to 400. I tried searching on amazon but I'm overwhelmed with all the features receivers have today. For example how does HDMI audio work? Some of these units have 4 hdmi slots in the back. So for example my directv unit has one hdmi slot , how would I get hdmi audio to work? One slot on the directv unit has a hdmi slot but it's used to connect to my TVs hdmi slot

[Emotiva]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

The following picture explains the main reason why I bought the Yamaha RX-A3010 receiver. My current speakers setup (not the subwoofers) is exactly like the diagram. I expect the Yamaha receiver will take care of the rest. Also, the $1,500 price was too good to be true.

Attachment 40546

I plan to do write a complete review of the Yamaha RX-A3010 receiver and compare it to the Denon receiver that I currently own. Also, I will try to compare Audyssey with YPAO, but I can only rely on my poor memory. I wish there was some quick way of moving from one receiver to the other and compare their room correction instantly.

Yamaha’s Website:
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio..._u/?mode=model

Hey Big Daddy,

I am super happy for you that you are getting the Yammy RXA-3010
Let me know what the differences are
I am also happy to announce that I just purchased the Yammy RXA-800 for my bedroom which is replacing my Denon AVR-1910.
I will also write a review of the RX-A800 and lets see what you and I come up with

In reality we both are replacing Denon with Yamaha Aventage series
Good luck and Enjoy

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Emotiva

Hey Big Daddy,

I am super happy for you that you are getting the Yammy RXA-3010
Let me know what the differences are
I am also happy to announce that I just purchased the Yammy RXA-800 for my bedroom which is replacing my Denon AVR-1910.
I will also write a review of the RX-A800 and lets see what you and I come up with

In reality we both are replacing Denon with Yamaha Aventage series
Good luck and Enjoy

Thank you.

I bought the Yamaha RX-A3010 mainly because of its support for 11.2 speakers. Why did you switch from Denon to Yamaha?

[ManUtd]

Hey BD, how does the Yamaha calibrate the dual subs? Is it similar to Audyssey's Sub EQ HT?

[Emotiva]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Thank you.

I bought the Yamaha RX-A3010 mainly because of its support for 11.2 speakers. Why did you switch from Denon to Yamaha?

Well I switched because I wanted something even better
I love the new Aventage series, plus I was getting tired of looking at my plastic front of this Denon! I still love my Denon AVR 2808CI which I use in the living room, but for my bedroom it was time to switch and move on.

After your review and my experience with the RX-A 800, I might switch the 2808CI to the RX-A 1010 or 2010

I wish I had $800, I would get your Denon in a heartbeat, but sadly I don't

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by hometheatergeek

Good Morning BD, I got a kick out of your story. I too still own the Yamaha DSP-A3090 receiver. I bought it brand new for the AC3 processing of Laserdisc audio. To be technical it is not a receiver....since it lacks radio function and was always considered a processor. In fact when I first bought it I overlooked the lack of a radio and had to add an older Denon Stereo receiver to the system to get FM radio. My unit is now in the master bedroom and gets very little use. I would sell it but I do not think I would get anything near the original price...in fact not even 40% of the original price. I think you will enjoy the new Yammy. Good luck with the sale of the Denon.

Thank you. I can't sell my Yamaha DSP-3090 because I am emotionally attached to it.

Originally Posted by HAMP

This crossed my mind also, I wanted to compare the Onkyo 805 with my new Onkyo 5008 instantly, instead of relying on memory.

I was thinking of sitting both AVR's next to each other, and having the wires ready to plug into one or the other.

I already have a wallplate that I can go back and forth from AVR to AVR.
Attachment 40567

I would plug one, run the calibration. Turn it off, and unplug
Plug the second one, run calibration. Turn it off, and unplug

I would go back and forth with unplugging and testing that way.

Yet, I been too lazy to do so.

If you are too lazy to do it, how do expect a man who is a few years older than you to it?

Originally Posted by pab1219

Daddy I'll wait for your review before I spent any $$$$$$$$$ for a new receiver.

I am pretty good in spendin other people's money.

Originally Posted by ManUtd

Hey BD, how does the Yamaha calibrate the dual subs? Is it similar to Audyssey's Sub EQ HT?

At this stage, I can't make many definite comments as I do not have any experience with it. My feeling is that it is not as sophisticated as the Audyssey.