Listening to this amp after completing the automatic setup process I was massively disappointed. The sound was very harsh, with little bass, and wasn't a patch on the aging Marantz SR4200 that I had replaced. So, deciding that with this many good reviews it must be something I had done and not the amp that had the problems I spent some time manually setting it up. Setting the equaliser to GEQ instead of PEQ (the automatic setting) instantly made a huge difference. Each speaker has its own 7 band graphic equaliser so I then spent some time increasing the lower frequencies while knocking the higher ones down a little. I also turned off the Adaptive DRC setting.
What a difference! I quickly changed from disappointed to enthusiastic as I listened to the freshly tweaked sounds. Soundwise, I would recommend this amp to anyone.
I've had the amp about a month now, so I'm getting to know it pretty well, and have discovered one major irritation that I haven't seen mentioned in any reviews. There is no option to stop the On Screen Display being sent to the TV when you access the setup or volume levels menu. So if for example I want to adjust the centre speaker volume after a film has started, the amp throws up the ugly grey OSD on the TV screen, when ideally I only want it to show on the small LCD screen on the front of the amp, so that my tweaking doesn't interrupt the film for anyone else that is watching it with me and make them shout at me... Note, that it is only when accessing the setup menu and the individual speaker volume settings that this occurs, you don't have to look at the OSD if you're just changing the master volume, or the sound modes.
I have emailed Yamaha support and they have confirmed that there is no way to stop the OSD coming up when the menu or level button is pressed, I can only hope for a firmware update at somepoint in the future to add this simple option.
It may seem like a small point, but despite the excellent sound performance of the amp, it would have been enough to stop me buying it if I had known about the OSD behaviour...
In response to Matrel, I agree that there should have been at least three HDMIs, as that appears to be the standard for budget / mid-range AV amplifiers and receivers. However, with LCD/Plasmas having three or four these days (the new Samsungs have got five), how many do people actually need, right now?
We use both HDMIs for our Blu-ray player and our multi region DVD/SACD player. There is no advantage of connecting Sky HD to the amp via HDMI (that's connected direct to our TV). Sky's HDMI only outputs stereo, so the optical is connected to the Yamaha.
Note: You can connect Sky HD to the Yamaha via compenent (as there are three of them).
Where the Yamaha scores over similarly priced AV amps/receivers like the Onkyo, Denon and Pioneer is the shear number of audio connections. We have nine AV components connected, including phono and DAB radio. Being able to assign the digital connections freely is much appreciated.
If there is one criticism, it must be that it's *only* 95 watts per channel. Our previous DSP-AX750 (2004 vintage) was 100 watts per channel. We have to turn the volume up slightly higher on the AX763 as a result. We also miss the Concert Hall and Stadium DSP modes (for live CDs), but overall, considering it can be purchased for under £300, it's a bargain!
I advised a friend (after reading the What Hifi review ) to audition the Yamaha DSP AX763. He subsequently bought it and wanted to assess it ( with some encouragement from me ) using my AV system. It temporarily substituted my Onkyo TX-NR905 and we had to do without the 905 video scaling facility. Using bluray, HD DVD, Sky HD, dvd & stereo sources, we listened & were very impressed with the Yamaha.
Using AVP2 requiem ( poor film, great surround sound )it was as capable as my 905 in revealing the alien face huggers surounding the hunter & his son the woods with unerving accuracy. Though not as powerful as the 905 with less bass weight, it
still stunned with its ability to create a believable claustophobic & terrifying atmosphere during the depth charge attack on the U571 dvd. The 300 hd dvd was convincing with the earthquake effect approach of the Persian army & the clang of metal clearly during the battle scenes .
I am still happy with the 905 performance but the Yamaha demonstrated that you do not need to spend a huge amount of money to get a very decent AV amp. He paid £299 at Richer Hifi for it - a bargain.
I have to be honest - I really struggle with this being awarded the best buy with only 2 HDMI sockets. This seriously limits its longevity moving forward for the average user. If it was an audio amplifier then fine, but a home cinema amp with only 2 HDMI sockets in this day and age is pretty slack. I would consider three a minimum and four a strong point.
It can be as fantastic as you like for sound quality, but if you can only connect a couple of devices using what is fast becoming (if it isn't already) the defacto connection for modern hardware then you're not going to be happy for long.
Having said that it is less than £300, so I think that it is being acknowledged in the real world pricing.
I bought this amp 12 months ago and have not looked back since. It replaced my Denon AVR2105 (which my son now has in his bedroom) and the sound quality was an instant upgrade, even the wife admitted it was money well spent (wow).
As for connectivity 2 Hdmi is enough I think.
Sky HD goes direct to the tv
Xbox goes into the amp and so will the ps3 or Blueray which ever I decide to purchase next.
I cant think of anything else that needs to go into it.
I am interested to know how to access each individual channel to upgrade/tweak the sound of each of my B&W 601's.
So I know what I will be doing this weekend, but I like the sound and like they say if it aint broke dont fix it
Comments
Listening to this amp after completing the automatic setup process I was massively disappointed. The sound was very harsh, with little bass, and wasn't a patch on the aging Marantz SR4200 that I had replaced. So, deciding that with this many good reviews it must be something I had done and not the amp that had the problems I spent some time manually setting it up. Setting the equaliser to GEQ instead of PEQ (the automatic setting) instantly made a huge difference. Each speaker has its own 7 band graphic equaliser so I then spent some time increasing the lower frequencies while knocking the higher ones down a little. I also turned off the Adaptive DRC setting.
What a difference! I quickly changed from disappointed to enthusiastic as I listened to the freshly tweaked sounds. Soundwise, I would recommend this amp to anyone.
I've had the amp about a month now, so I'm getting to know it pretty well, and have discovered one major irritation that I haven't seen mentioned in any reviews. There is no option to stop the On Screen Display being sent to the TV when you access the setup or volume levels menu. So if for example I want to adjust the centre speaker volume after a film has started, the amp throws up the ugly grey OSD on the TV screen, when ideally I only want it to show on the small LCD screen on the front of the amp, so that my tweaking doesn't interrupt the film for anyone else that is watching it with me and make them shout at me... Note, that it is only when accessing the setup menu and the individual speaker volume settings that this occurs, you don't have to look at the OSD if you're just changing the master volume, or the sound modes.
I have emailed Yamaha support and they have confirmed that there is no way to stop the OSD coming up when the menu or level button is pressed, I can only hope for a firmware update at somepoint in the future to add this simple option.
It may seem like a small point, but despite the excellent sound performance of the amp, it would have been enough to stop me buying it if I had known about the OSD behaviour...
In response to Matrel, I agree that there should have been at least three HDMIs, as that appears to be the standard for budget / mid-range AV amplifiers and receivers. However, with LCD/Plasmas having three or four these days (the new Samsungs have got five), how many do people actually need, right now?
We use both HDMIs for our Blu-ray player and our multi region DVD/SACD player. There is no advantage of connecting Sky HD to the amp via HDMI (that's connected direct to our TV). Sky's HDMI only outputs stereo, so the optical is connected to the Yamaha.
Note: You can connect Sky HD to the Yamaha via compenent (as there are three of them).
Where the Yamaha scores over similarly priced AV amps/receivers like the Onkyo, Denon and Pioneer is the shear number of audio connections. We have nine AV components connected, including phono and DAB radio. Being able to assign the digital connections freely is much appreciated.
If there is one criticism, it must be that it's *only* 95 watts per channel. Our previous DSP-AX750 (2004 vintage) was 100 watts per channel. We have to turn the volume up slightly higher on the AX763 as a result. We also miss the Concert Hall and Stadium DSP modes (for live CDs), but overall, considering it can be purchased for under £300, it's a bargain!
I advised a friend (after reading the What Hifi review ) to audition the Yamaha DSP AX763. He subsequently bought it and wanted to assess it ( with some encouragement from me ) using my AV system. It temporarily substituted my Onkyo TX-NR905 and we had to do without the 905 video scaling facility. Using bluray, HD DVD, Sky HD, dvd & stereo sources, we listened & were very impressed with the Yamaha.
Using AVP2 requiem ( poor film, great surround sound )it was as capable as my 905 in revealing the alien face huggers surounding the hunter & his son the woods with unerving accuracy. Though not as powerful as the 905 with less bass weight, it
still stunned with its ability to create a believable claustophobic & terrifying atmosphere during the depth charge attack on the U571 dvd. The 300 hd dvd was convincing with the earthquake effect approach of the Persian army & the clang of metal clearly during the battle scenes .
I am still happy with the 905 performance but the Yamaha demonstrated that you do not need to spend a huge amount of money to get a very decent AV amp. He paid £299 at Richer Hifi for it - a bargain.
As the tag line for the review states "This is a lot of receiver for £400 – if your budget is limited, you can’t get better"
As you can now get it for £279, it makes it a hell of a bargain.
As long as the combination of inputs suit your setup you can't go wrong.
I have to be honest - I really struggle with this being awarded the best buy with only 2 HDMI sockets. This seriously limits its longevity moving forward for the average user. If it was an audio amplifier then fine, but a home cinema amp with only 2 HDMI sockets in this day and age is pretty slack. I would consider three a minimum and four a strong point.
It can be as fantastic as you like for sound quality, but if you can only connect a couple of devices using what is fast becoming (if it isn't already) the defacto connection for modern hardware then you're not going to be happy for long.
Having said that it is less than £300, so I think that it is being acknowledged in the real world pricing.
I bought this amp 12 months ago and have not looked back since. It replaced my Denon AVR2105 (which my son now has in his bedroom) and the sound quality was an instant upgrade, even the wife admitted it was money well spent (wow).
As for connectivity 2 Hdmi is enough I think.
Sky HD goes direct to the tv
Xbox goes into the amp and so will the ps3 or Blueray which ever I decide to purchase next.
I cant think of anything else that needs to go into it.
I am interested to know how to access each individual channel to upgrade/tweak the sound of each of my B&W 601's.
So I know what I will be doing this weekend, but I like the sound and like they say if it aint broke dont fix it