Yamaha or Denon receiver, please help

chrisn

I have been auditioning the Yamaha RX V540 & the Denon 1604 to power my Rti 70's and appreciate any advice...

I recently received (as a gift) the RXV540 to replace an older Yamaha receiver due to some amp problems. I noticed that the CATV analog signal bleeds into the DVD input and is audible by -35dbl when the dvd is on pause or stopped. I have also tried the CATV signal through the V-Aux input and it then bleeds in the CATV input. I have also noticed significantly more amp hiss (without a signal being fed through) on the CATV, DVD, MD-CDR, & CD inputs than on V-AUX and VCR where the amp is silent no matter what the volume. I do have a ground loop isolator, dc blocker and 40dbl noise filter so thinking I had another bad machine I replaced it and found the same thing on the 2nd brand new machine.

Hoping to relieve my frustration, I swapped the 540 for a Denon 1604. The Denon has no hiss in the amp, but just doesn't seem to have nearly the soundstage or resonance the Yamaha had. I've only had the Denon a couple days but I just don't feel like I'm getting the detail and accoustic sound quality from the Denon.

Should I keep the Denon or try to ignore the seeping catv signal I'm getting with the Yamahas? Any comments or advice is appreciated.

Fireman99

Thats a tough call and realy a personal prefrence call. If your set on one of those 2 amps you will have to pick what is the lesser of 2 evils. If the Dennon sound stage is poor you might need to reconfigure your set up (speekers etc) to suit the new recever power etc.
Hope this helps a little
Dan

Tour2ma

no other options??? just hate to read that you are going to "settle" for one or the other...

if i had to choose, based on what you've said i'd pick the yammie. lesser of two evils...

chrisn

its not so much that I want to settle, but the receiver along with a maintenance plan (which is necessary due to owning 2 dogs & a cat and living next to the beach) was bought as a present and I can trade it in for 30 days. At the store the receiver was purchase, those two are the only real contenders in that particular price range. At the same store I could probably scrape up a little extra and add $100 and upgrade to the RXV 640 or the Denon 1804. I'm just not sure that would help as the difference between the 540 & 640 is pre-outs and the difference between the 1604 and 1804 is a couple of digital inputs/outputs and 15wpc extra.

I loved the sound fo the Yammie, but the signal seeping drove me crazy everytime I went to play cd or dvd.

The Denon's sound seems very clean, but I just don't seem to feel the same resonance and dynamic impact until the volume is awfully high. Maybe I'm missing something in the set-up?

russell55

I have owned a Yamaha RX-V995 for about 4 years now. I recently purchased a Denon AVR 3803 for a reduced price from 6th Avenue.com. I did so to up grade to 7.1 and because of the favorable reviews that were posted here and elsewhere. I have had the unit for about 2 weeks. My review of the Denon was quite harsh. I expected more. You are correct when you say the Denon does not have the dynamic impact of the Yamaha, not even close. You do have to turn the volume a lot to get loud, almost ridiculously so. However, that being said, I find the sound field in the Denon is very pleasing and it does sound much better, when kicking back and enjoying music in Stereo. The Yamaha is week in that area, but again if you are looking for impact, not in the Denon. Braking glass, sudden impacts, sound that jumps out at you, just isn’t there. The Yamaha flat out kicks its but.

I do plan to keep for several reasons. For one, I went over the 14-day return policy and their ridiculous restocking fee. And to be fair, the sound field is quite good. My disappointment is in the dynamic impact and having to turn the volume up so much, just to get loud. Something is odd there; I plan to contact Denon with that issue. If I had a second chance to purchase again, I would go with another Yamaha or maybe an Onkyo.

John K.

Chris, whatever you mean exactly by "resonance" and "dynamic impact", there wouldn't appear to be any technical reason why it should be any different between those two receivers at exactly the same volume level(assuming that a special processing mode wasn't on in the Yamaha). When you say that it's better with the higher volume are you sure that you're not just talking about the setting of the volume control rather than the actual in-room volume? The volume control setting is irrelevant to the ability of an amp; it just relates to the gain in the amp and the calibration of the control. What I'm suggesting(although I'm not familiar with the two)is that you consider whether the Denon simply requires a higher setting for the same actual volume and impact, which wouldn't be anything unusual.

russell55

"Dynamic Impact" Technical "Dynamic Range"

In audio, the difference in volume level between loud and soft sounds.

As discribed in Cruchfield's Audio/Video reference guide.

Dr. Spec

Hi Russell:

Nice to see you like the sound quality of the 3803 for stereo. Sorry you are still having problems with dynamic range.

There are dynamic limiters in the 3803 and in the DVD player. There is also an LFE channel level control in the 3803 (not to be confused with the sub level). What is the status of the dynamic limiters and LFE channel level in the 3803 when you are watching DVDs in DD or DTS?

Also, the Denon volume control goes well into the positive range. It is not uncommon (after calibration to Dolby Reference Level at Master Volume 00 with a calibration disc and sound level meter) for most people to watch DVDs at anywhere from -15 to -5 on the Master Volume control.

The relative setting of the Master Volume control is really meaningless when comparing two AVRs.