After browsing this forum for months, I joined two weeks ago just to buy an RX-A810 from AD ;D
My last significant upgrade was in 2007 when I redid my TV room and upgraded my system to Marantz SR7500 receiver, Marantz DV6400 Universal Player, B&W ASW600 sub, Panasonic TH37-PWD8 Plasma and an Epson TW10 projector. The only items not changed were my Mission M3, M2 and M2C speakers.
Recently I have been itching to upgrade as the system does not support HD. The RX-A810 offerd by AD was at a very good price and before getting the Marantz I had only had Yamaha equipment (receivers, dvd player and sub), so I was familiar with the brand. The ordering process was effortless and from doing the EFT on a Tuesday, I had the receiver in my hands in Cape Town the following Monday morning. This was with a public holiday in the mix.
I was a bit apprehensive when I lifted the receiver as it felt extremely light. My Marantz is a bit of a back breaker. Comparing the specs there is a 5kg difference between the two. Removing the RX-A810 from its box made me frown a bit and wonder if I did the correct thing. The Yamaha was not only lighter but looked puny in comparison to the Marantz. The perceived build quality of the Marantz was also way better.
Moving to the back of the receiver I had another WTF moment. The back panel of the Marantz is as busy as a Boeing instrument panel with just about every input for every source. Every source section has optical, co-ax, s-video, composite, component etc. The Yamaha on the other hand is very, very sparse. AV1 has component and optical, AV2 has component and co-ax etc.
Where the Yamaha does shine is with the number of HDMI inputs/outputs. There are 7 inputs on the rear and 1 on the front panel. One of the main reasons I bought the Yamaha was for the two HDMI outputs. This allows me to run HDMI to Plasma/LCD and projector without the need for a splitter. A Marantz with the same functionality would have cost me nearly R7k more than what I paid for the Yamaha.
Moving on to the remote, things are not that rosy compared to the Marantz. The Marantz has a proper universal remote with full macro capabilities (very useful for kids and wife). In fact when I redid my system I bought a Sony RM-AV300 remote which is still in its box unused. The Yamaha has no macros, does not support direct access of components (you have to press source before operating component on that source), and worst of all, no back light for buttons. This is a pain when watching movies in a dark room. I could not get DSTV and the Marantz DVD to work with the remote.
Now for the interesting stuff, the sound ;D. Out of the box with no setup I immediately noticed that the bass was more noticeable. Running the Yamaha auto setup was less painful than the Marantz's. The setup on the Marantz is super sensitive and if a car drives past while running it, it would throw an error. This with my TV room being at the back of the house!! The Yamaha's setup also took half the time. Interestingly the values were very similar for the speaker levels and size to what the Marantz used to get. As with the Marantz, the auto setup identified my fronts and center as large. Unlike the Marantz though it actually sounds far better this way with crossover set at 80hz. I use to override the setting on the Marantz and set all to small as its bass was very lacking if set to large. This could be due to the Marantz being a THX-Select amp and THX recommending small speakers. In my opinion I like the Yamaha's bass management far better.
The first couple of nights I was a bit underwhelmed with the sound. As mentioned previously the bass was more pronounced. I don't think the B&W ever worked this hard in it's life. This was in line with my previous experience with Yamaha amps. I used to compare the Yamahas to an American V8, loud, brash and in your face. In contrast, my experience with Marantz and Denon, made me compare them to a German V6. Smooth, subtle, and you only realise what speed you doing when you look at the speedometer.
What was worrying me about the Yamaha was that their was a lot of sibilance on both female and male vocals. It was extremely annoying especially when watching DSTV. I don't have much love for DSP programs but use Neo:6 Cinema for TV and Standard for movies. Did the same with the Marantz, sometimes switching to Straight or Pure Direct. The sibilance thing though was annoying and spoiling my experience. Playing with the built in equalizer settings did not do much of a difference. At higher volumes the sound started to get very harsh as well.
Now I am not sure if there is a run in period for amps. Since I hooked it up last week Monday the amp has been doing duty since kids wake up at 8:30 am until I go to sleep just before 11:30pm. Over this weekend I noticed an improvement in the sound. In fact I have not noticed the sibilance sincel. I think I am in love :clap:
First of all the Yamaha is LOUD. My Marantz is rated at 5W per channel more but I did not get the same levels out of it. My wife actually started complaining that it is too loud. On Friday two friends were over and we watched Warrior. The first thing the wife said was "Wow, your sound is amazing." I have known them for 18 years and they never once commented on the sound. In the fight scenes when someone is slammed to the floor you hear a proper slam. Punches have a nice thwack and thud to them. My "reference" movie has always been Saving Private Ryan (I have a US DTS copy). In the opening beach scene it felt as if the waves were crashing in my TV room and the water running out of the screen. The surround sound was more pronounced than the Marantz. There is a better blend between the centre and fronts. The front soundstage is like one huge speaker and not three individual speakers. The most impressive thing though is the bass. Real punch and weight. I might have to dial back the sub's gain a bit. I followed the manual and it recommends setting the sub gain at 50% on the sub. The auto setup has the sub level at -10db (the scale runs from -10db - +10db). I think it can go down another -1db to 1.5db. On scenes where there is rumbling bass it tends to get a bit boomy and overwhelming. Overall this is the closest I have ever been to having true cinema sound in my room.
Things are not so good in stereo mode when listening to music. This is where the Marantz has got the Yamaha beaten hands down. The stereo image is very narrow and it sounds as if the band is standing shoulder to shoulder at the centre between the speakers. Any slight movement of my head and the stereo image is lost. This could be due to me having the main speakers firing straight into the room with no toe-in - this worked with the Marantz. I played a few CDs and not once did I feel like listening to the whole CD. The one plus is that the Yamaha uses the sub when in stereo mode whereas I could never get the sub to work with the Marantz. I need to splay around with the Yamaha some more in stereo mode before I can get a better opinion and still need to try sending an analog signal from the Marantz DVD to see if it makes a difference. With music DVDs it was not as impressive as well. I watched Sting's All This Time live DVD and skipped through songs as I did not find it listen-able. This was during the period where I experienced the sibilance issue so would have to recheck. Will also put on Hotel California to hear how that sounds (another favourite demo scene
).
In conclusion I would highly recommend the RX-A810 purely for home theatre where the majority of the sources have HDMI and if you willing to replace the remote with a universal one. It really shines on the bass side and surround sound field. With vocals it does not sound as full as the Marantz and highs can tend to sound harsh at loud volumes. I have not bought movies in years and this week I ended up buying six movies I like just to hear them on the Yamaha :thumbs:
My last significant upgrade was in 2007 when I redid my TV room and upgraded my system to Marantz SR7500 receiver, Marantz DV6400 Universal Player, B&W ASW600 sub, Panasonic TH37-PWD8 Plasma and an Epson TW10 projector. The only items not changed were my Mission M3, M2 and M2C speakers.
Recently I have been itching to upgrade as the system does not support HD. The RX-A810 offerd by AD was at a very good price and before getting the Marantz I had only had Yamaha equipment (receivers, dvd player and sub), so I was familiar with the brand. The ordering process was effortless and from doing the EFT on a Tuesday, I had the receiver in my hands in Cape Town the following Monday morning. This was with a public holiday in the mix.
I was a bit apprehensive when I lifted the receiver as it felt extremely light. My Marantz is a bit of a back breaker. Comparing the specs there is a 5kg difference between the two. Removing the RX-A810 from its box made me frown a bit and wonder if I did the correct thing. The Yamaha was not only lighter but looked puny in comparison to the Marantz. The perceived build quality of the Marantz was also way better.
Moving to the back of the receiver I had another WTF moment. The back panel of the Marantz is as busy as a Boeing instrument panel with just about every input for every source. Every source section has optical, co-ax, s-video, composite, component etc. The Yamaha on the other hand is very, very sparse. AV1 has component and optical, AV2 has component and co-ax etc.
Where the Yamaha does shine is with the number of HDMI inputs/outputs. There are 7 inputs on the rear and 1 on the front panel. One of the main reasons I bought the Yamaha was for the two HDMI outputs. This allows me to run HDMI to Plasma/LCD and projector without the need for a splitter. A Marantz with the same functionality would have cost me nearly R7k more than what I paid for the Yamaha.
Moving on to the remote, things are not that rosy compared to the Marantz. The Marantz has a proper universal remote with full macro capabilities (very useful for kids and wife). In fact when I redid my system I bought a Sony RM-AV300 remote which is still in its box unused. The Yamaha has no macros, does not support direct access of components (you have to press source before operating component on that source), and worst of all, no back light for buttons. This is a pain when watching movies in a dark room. I could not get DSTV and the Marantz DVD to work with the remote.
Now for the interesting stuff, the sound ;D. Out of the box with no setup I immediately noticed that the bass was more noticeable. Running the Yamaha auto setup was less painful than the Marantz's. The setup on the Marantz is super sensitive and if a car drives past while running it, it would throw an error. This with my TV room being at the back of the house!! The Yamaha's setup also took half the time. Interestingly the values were very similar for the speaker levels and size to what the Marantz used to get. As with the Marantz, the auto setup identified my fronts and center as large. Unlike the Marantz though it actually sounds far better this way with crossover set at 80hz. I use to override the setting on the Marantz and set all to small as its bass was very lacking if set to large. This could be due to the Marantz being a THX-Select amp and THX recommending small speakers. In my opinion I like the Yamaha's bass management far better.
The first couple of nights I was a bit underwhelmed with the sound. As mentioned previously the bass was more pronounced. I don't think the B&W ever worked this hard in it's life. This was in line with my previous experience with Yamaha amps. I used to compare the Yamahas to an American V8, loud, brash and in your face. In contrast, my experience with Marantz and Denon, made me compare them to a German V6. Smooth, subtle, and you only realise what speed you doing when you look at the speedometer.
What was worrying me about the Yamaha was that their was a lot of sibilance on both female and male vocals. It was extremely annoying especially when watching DSTV. I don't have much love for DSP programs but use Neo:6 Cinema for TV and Standard for movies. Did the same with the Marantz, sometimes switching to Straight or Pure Direct. The sibilance thing though was annoying and spoiling my experience. Playing with the built in equalizer settings did not do much of a difference. At higher volumes the sound started to get very harsh as well.
Now I am not sure if there is a run in period for amps. Since I hooked it up last week Monday the amp has been doing duty since kids wake up at 8:30 am until I go to sleep just before 11:30pm. Over this weekend I noticed an improvement in the sound. In fact I have not noticed the sibilance sincel. I think I am in love :clap:
First of all the Yamaha is LOUD. My Marantz is rated at 5W per channel more but I did not get the same levels out of it. My wife actually started complaining that it is too loud. On Friday two friends were over and we watched Warrior. The first thing the wife said was "Wow, your sound is amazing." I have known them for 18 years and they never once commented on the sound. In the fight scenes when someone is slammed to the floor you hear a proper slam. Punches have a nice thwack and thud to them. My "reference" movie has always been Saving Private Ryan (I have a US DTS copy). In the opening beach scene it felt as if the waves were crashing in my TV room and the water running out of the screen. The surround sound was more pronounced than the Marantz. There is a better blend between the centre and fronts. The front soundstage is like one huge speaker and not three individual speakers. The most impressive thing though is the bass. Real punch and weight. I might have to dial back the sub's gain a bit. I followed the manual and it recommends setting the sub gain at 50% on the sub. The auto setup has the sub level at -10db (the scale runs from -10db - +10db). I think it can go down another -1db to 1.5db. On scenes where there is rumbling bass it tends to get a bit boomy and overwhelming. Overall this is the closest I have ever been to having true cinema sound in my room.
Things are not so good in stereo mode when listening to music. This is where the Marantz has got the Yamaha beaten hands down. The stereo image is very narrow and it sounds as if the band is standing shoulder to shoulder at the centre between the speakers. Any slight movement of my head and the stereo image is lost. This could be due to me having the main speakers firing straight into the room with no toe-in - this worked with the Marantz. I played a few CDs and not once did I feel like listening to the whole CD. The one plus is that the Yamaha uses the sub when in stereo mode whereas I could never get the sub to work with the Marantz. I need to splay around with the Yamaha some more in stereo mode before I can get a better opinion and still need to try sending an analog signal from the Marantz DVD to see if it makes a difference. With music DVDs it was not as impressive as well. I watched Sting's All This Time live DVD and skipped through songs as I did not find it listen-able. This was during the period where I experienced the sibilance issue so would have to recheck. Will also put on Hotel California to hear how that sounds (another favourite demo scene
).In conclusion I would highly recommend the RX-A810 purely for home theatre where the majority of the sources have HDMI and if you willing to replace the remote with a universal one. It really shines on the bass side and surround sound field. With vocals it does not sound as full as the Marantz and highs can tend to sound harsh at loud volumes. I have not bought movies in years and this week I ended up buying six movies I like just to hear them on the Yamaha :thumbs:
