FR100s as fronts on Yamaha RXA-860. Am I missing something?

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ipodmusicman

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Hi folks,

I made the transition from a 20 year old Yamaha RXV-795a to a RXA-860 which I picked up second hand earlier this year.  The upgrade was revolutionary as my old receiver didn't even have HDMI so I had to get creative with my TV's HDMI inputs, SPDIF and a Harmony One remote.

The receiver is working fine and I'm very happy with it.  Due to my room layout in my new home, I cannot have surrounds, so at present, I have two 20 year old Mission speakers as my fronts, no sub and I'm not using my centre at present.  The Missions were ok and I am planning on upgrading them in 2020.  I have my receiver set to "2-channel stereo".

I recently purchased bookshelf speakers for my stereo set-up.  I have a pair of Bentley Acoustics FR100 bookshelf speakers connected to a Yamaha AX-470 amp.  On other threads, I've already praised these speakers, so it goes without saying that I am 110% happy with the sound on my stereo set up.

Last night I decided to connect them to my Yamaha RXA-860 receiver as a test as fronts just to hear what they sound like and I was a bit disappointed.  The only reference that I have was for music, so if I could get the same performance and sound that I have with my stereo amp with these connected to my receiver, then I can set myself up for a level playing field.

On the receiver, the sub is disabled as I don't have one, so for my fronts, I could not select between large and small speakers any more.  Granted, that is expected.  I tweaked the bass and other settings, but still could not produce the sound that I have on my stereo amp with the Bentleys connected.  Is there something I am missing in terms of settings on the receiver?

The bass isn't as pronounced and the highs aren't as detailed either.

The "A" series from Yamaha is far superior to the "V" series and I set my expectations rather high - actually, I expected better performance from the receiver than my 30 year old Yamaha amp.

I am planning on upgrading the fronts to FS120s in 2020.

Is it a case that the FR100s are the wrong tool for the job for this receiver or is it that my receiver isn't set up correctly?  I know what the FR100s are capable of, so I tend to think that the receiver is just not set up correctly.

I do not plan to keep the FR100s on my lounge at all.  They are going back to the listening lounge today where they belong and can do duty for my music listening pleasure, but I want to at least know that my receiver is set up correctly so that when I do upgrade, I am ready.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

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