Another New Yamaha, And DOES NOT Disappoint...

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I know I might be alone here, but I love the crap otta this stuff, and when I'm blown away I just have to share.

I've been fighting with my old Denon in the shop for a couple years now, sound cutting out, didn't sound that great, played with EVERYTHING, cables, speaker wires, seemed to fix things only to have glitches happen again over and over again. Finally the other night I was listening to music and the left channel just took a crap, died out completely, hadn't done that before, but I rolled the volume knob around it popped back on, but that was the LAST STRAW. So, Best Buy website here I come, already had in mind what I wanted, and bought a new Yamaha RX-V685. Brand new model for 2020 and designed around playing hires streaming music. Well it came today and I got it hooked up, went into the menu, got things all dialed in and... well... I'm so blown away I can't put it into words, even for an old audiophile like me, it's just... THAT GOOD. The stereo imaging is like I've never heard on the old Denon, the detail, and it's PUNCHY, meaning it must have a big capacitors in it, the bass is fantastic, right there, doesn't lag, not muddy, and it's CRYSTAL CLEAR, and there's more channel separation than I ever thought there would be. I've been listening to it for hours now and just can't get enough of it. But two things here, one, it just goes to show the QUALITY of Yamaha, and two, that you don't have to break the bank to get AWESOME sound, I only paid $500 for this receiver, on sale right now, $100 off... but it's just INCREDIBLE! It's made the Amazon hires music streaming worth it's weight in gold. The point I want to make though is that this is NOT a HIGH END receiver, so you CAN get AWESOME sound from even a model that's not top of the line. But again, I'll repeat myself, BUY A YAMAHA!! I have THREE now, and love them ALL. I do have Yamaha's top of the line Aventage RX-3080 home theater receiver, and the Yamaha A-S801 Natural Sound Integrated Amplifier also. I've owned just about every popular make of receiver, Pioneer, Sony, Denon, Marantz, etc, and even their high end models, and NONE of them stack up to Yamaha. Yamaha is just doing something VERY RIGHT. I wish I'd have bought Yamaha long ago. But I only bought what I could afford, but still, in this old audiophiles opinion, Yamaha blows them all away.

So if there is ANYONE here on the board that likes music as much as I do, the reproduction of it anyway, as best as can be had, even on a budget, then please take my advice, YAMAHA, and for speakers, Bowers & Wilkins.

https://i.ibb.co/f8bjKPP/20200227-170315.jpg (https://ibb.co/5Ydbzff)

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I do bi-amplify my speakers though too, and I would recommend that to anyone, IF your speakers can be biamped... use gold plated banana plugs... that separates the signal from the amp to the speakers in your cabinet. The woofers draw 70% of the power, so when you separate the line coming into them, when the woofers are pounding drawing all the current, the tweeter and mids have their own source that's not getting depleted. Sounds much better...

https://i.ibb.co/LvxgNrJ/20200227-173335.jpg (https://ibb.co/25vMZSs)

[jimnyc]

Now THAT is something I can appreciate right there! I love Yamaha. My last good tuner/receiver was a Harman Kardon. It was a pretty old sucker but damn was it nice! Gotta have good music, and if spending money over the years, you may as well make it quality.

Even for my computer speakers I use Klipsch.

But I would love to have my good tuner up and running again. Kidda ruined that sucker like 15 years ago or so. Looked for a replacement but no dice. I bought a Sony a few years back but didn't like it, all plastic crap. I wish I could afford some Bose!

But for now I need me a new tuner before even looking at speakers or anything else.

Sooooo..... what were YOU using before the Yamaha's?

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Now THAT is something I can appreciate right there! I love Yamaha. My last good tuner/receiver was a Harman Kardon. It was a pretty old sucker but damn was it nice! Gotta have good music, and if spending money over the years, you may as well make it quality.

Even for my computer speakers I use Klipsch.

But I would love to have my good tuner up and running again. Kidda ruined that sucker like 15 years ago or so. Looked for a replacement but no dice. I bought a Sony a few years back but didn't like it, all plastic crap. I wish I could afford some Bose!

But for now I need me a new tuner before even looking at speakers or anything else.

Sooooo..... what were YOU using before the Yamaha's?
I was into Denon before my Yamahas. But they were old. I had the top of the line Denon, AVR-4810, and the one here in the shop, an AVR-2809, both getting very old, but they were both still manufactured by Denon of California before Harmon Audio bought them out and moved the plant to China. The big 4810 had problems and has been gone for a few years now, and the problems for that started when I bought my 4K TV and tried watching 4K content though it, wouldn't do it, not even bypass. But I milked the little 2809 until I couldn't take it anymore. The thing is, those old receivers just weren't designed around high bit rate streaming music. They just can't handle it. Don't know if this 2809 might be ok if someone was to use it for old analog music again or what, but it could NOT keep up with this new super high bit rate hires music. When they were made the highest bit rate was 44.1Khz from a CD. Amazon Unlimited Ultra HD streams at 1,440Khz, way WAY faster than anything the old receivers were ever built to handle. This new Yamaha is just ASTOUNDING, beyond anything I would have ever hoped for, and for $500, it was a STEAL! The CLARITY and separation of stereo channels is what just blows me away. Never heard anything like it. I think it might even be better than my Yamaha integrated amp in the house for that. Course I'm sitting right between the speakers, I'm going to hear it big time.

I had Harman Kardon long ago too. They used to be on the cutting edge, but I haven't kept up with anything they make anymore.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Best BANG FOR THE BUCK bookshelf speakers on the PLANET... Bowers & Wilkins DM-602 S3's... (IF you can ever find them for sale), close your eyes and listen to these little POWER HOUSES and you'd SWEAR they were FIVE TIMES BIGGER than they are... and VERY articulate... typical B&W...

https://i.ibb.co/ScFhr1b/20200227-181346.jpg (https://ibb.co/DY0xp6h)

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I kinda feel sorry for the little old Denon. It's actually been a damn good receiver. It didn't start having problems until I started streaming hires music, and I'm SURE that's 99% of the problem with it, it just isn't up to the task, but it's like saying goodbye to an old friend. I know... now I'm sounding ridiculous, but I love ALL my sound equipment, I'm a nut case when it comes to being an audiophile. From the very first little hand held AM/FM radio my Dad gave me and I discovered how much better FM sounded than AM, I've been on this quest to have the BEST sounding equipment I can afford ever since.

https://i.ibb.co/KKhtvQL/20200227-183519.jpg (https://ibb.co/kmBLCr9)

Just in recent years I have been dropping more money than ever before on stuff, and even then, what I've spent is a PITTANCE compared to the prices of the SUPER high end stuff. There are things out there that would boggle the mind how expensive they are... if only I was RICH... but... my pockets just aren't that deep...

https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/introducing-eu15m-15-tonne-160kw-amplifier

https://news.softpedia.com/news/Transmission-Audio-039-s-Ultimate-2mil-for-the-World-039-s-Most-Expensive-Speaker-System-118692.shtml

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I would settle for this for amps...

https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/amplifiers/MC2KW

https://i.ibb.co/9GsDpfq/MC2-KW-Output-Module-Front-Top.jpg (https://ibb.co/PtwLrb5)

... and these for speakers...

https://i.ibb.co/x1DLdd1/20160510121326-Bowers-Wilkins-Diamond800-D3-Construct-Web-1.jpg (https://ibb.co/GW0pNNW)

https://www.bowerswilkins.com/home-audio/800-d3

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Had it for a few days now, it's broken in, and absolutely outstanding. I wrote a message to Yamaha praising them on how incredibly good their receivers sound over others I've owned.

Best part is, having owned so many other brand receivers, I had experience and am able to compare. I would have thought they all were as good as Yamaha had I never owned anything else. Now I know better.

Like I said before, Yamaha is doing is something REALLY RIGHT with their circuitry design and quality, because their components stand head and shoulders above the competition at the price range.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Instead of starting a new thread, I'll just add to this one.

My sound system(s) are in a constant state of upgrade. It's never "good enough." I'm always looking for the next upgrade. Well, I went and took the system to the next level. Since the new Yamaha RX-A3080 I started this thread for had an XLR pre out for front LR, I had to take advantage of that. So... I popped on a new Rotel RB-1590 stereo amplifier, their flapship two channel amp. Got a deal on it as it was a demo in a studio of a guy I talk audio with. Sold as new with warranty, very little time on it, virtually just broken in, BUT, I won't go on and on with superlatives about how GOOD it sounds since I could go on and on. I'll just say it's mind blowing. It's the massive EIGHTY FOUR POUND SILVER VEHEMOTH in the rack. The little sticks in the rack are supports I had to put in there because the shelves were sagging, too much weight, even though they have metal supports underneath. Needless to say, it woke up my Bowers & Wilkins speakers like nothing I've ever heard. I've broken into the high end sound with this monster... OH... and I ran a new dedicated 20 amp circuit just for the home theater, and added the Panamax line conditioner...

https://i.ibb.co/TB8bCGF/20200601-151758.jpg

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Bidding on a new(er), newest model, of B&W on ebay. If I win them I'll replace my older DM series surrounds with them. They have the new carbon tweeter and continuum woofer, will match the HTM71 center channel. Then just replace the CM fronts with the new 702's to match and I'm done... (ya right... :laugh:)...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bowers-Wilkins-707-S2-bookshelf-speakers/193507630760?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1431.l2649