I'd like to talk to: Yamaha Stereo Receiver owners who purchased Yamaha AV Receivers.
 

I'm interested in your comments regarding this subject: how your existing Yamaha AV receiver sounds vs. your Yamaha Stereo receiver when playing CD's.

My current Sony STR-DB930 may need replacing. I have never been very happy with how it sounded when playing CD's. No amount of eq tweaking has ever produced Yamaha-Stereo-Receiver sound . . . in my opinion anyway. The Sony sounds great playing DVD's.

I have a couple of circa mid 1970's Yamaha receivers (still going 'strong') which have always sounded great when playing CD's or the stereo audio feed from the TV/VHS audio source.

So I am 'thinking' about a Yamaha AV receiver as a replacement for the Sony STR-DB930. I would be interested in your comments regarding your satisfaction with the CD sound produced by your Yamaha AV receiver especially when compared to the CD sound reproduced by your Yamaha Stereo receiver .

Thanks, in advance, for your replies.

I can tell you I got the Yamaha 595a and am happy with it for CD's and my Uncle who is an audiophile and SONY lover just upgraded to Yamaha and he is happy with the results as well. I know this isn't exactly what you asked but I hope it helps.

JimRochester: your input is indeed helpful. Thanks for your feedback.

This is a generalization, but it's my shake on things. Most 70's electronics sound a lot warmer than current offerings. I'd try and listen and see what you think. The Sony you have is pretty forward sounding to me, but current Yamaha's also seem to have this similar sound. What don't you like about the CD sound? Your speakers may be part of the problem, a lot of stuff out there sounds great on DVD's, ie Klipsch comes to mind and Def Tech, but when you are looking for something musical they don't really do it for music. I'd listen to a Yamaha and then check out a Denon or Marantz or Elite and see what you think. I'd like to know what your speakers though first. Ever hear a tube amplifier? That'd be a fun thing to have around and just use for CD's...very warm and fuzy sound.

I used to own an Adcom preamp/NAD amp combination with a Magnavox cd player. I sold it all when I bought my Yamaha Rv-1105 and Toshiba dvd. The sweet sound really arrived when I bought a Denon DCM-370 (hdcd, dual burr-brown dacs) and some good analog interconnects. The 'bright' sound of the Yamaha paired with the 'warm' sound of the BB based cd is like butter. The Yamaha produces significantly better sound than the Adcom ever did.

svadas: I'm using Bose 901's as my front speakers, Bose VCS-10 for center, Bose 321's for rear, and Audio-Source LWS-15 Sub.

I've had the 901's also since the mid 70's. I noticed a big difference the first time I ever powered up the 901's on the Sony AV receiver.

My biggest concern when making the connection the first time was the inability to get my Bose Active Equalizer into the 'mix.' My old Yamaha(s) had a Pre-out/Main-In set of RF outputs/inputs which allowed for the proper implementation/connection of the Bose Active Equalizer.

The missing Bose Active Equalizer is, what I think, makes such a big difference between the Yamaha sound and the Sony sound. While the Sony has equalization settings for the front channel they appear to not fully 'cook' the sound like the Bose Active Equalizer does. It sounds ok . . . just not as good as it used to . . . it's hard to explain. It sure seems to me like those Bose 901's used to sound better on the old Yamaha receivers going through the Bose Active Equalizer. The sound is just not as 'full.' Now 'bright' and 'tinny' with virtually no real bass to speak of.

I looked at some Yamaha AV receivers last Saturday night at BB. All the way up to the top-of-the-line on their shelf ($899), no Pre-Out/Main-In RF connections on the back of these receivers either.

I wonder if there are any AV receivers with Pre-Out/Main-In RF connections for at least the front set of speakers? I would really like to get that Bose Active Equalizer back into the 'mix.'

MichaelBlanton: The DCM-370 certainly may sound great although I did not want to really 'attack' this problem via new CD player hardware at this time.

My current CD player used to sound much better, to me, on the Yamaha receiver than it now does on the Sony AV receiver. I am more interested in 'dicsovering' whether AV receivers can sound like Stereo receivers when identical equipment is used on both. In other words: is it 'normal' for a Stereo receiver to sound different than an AV receiver when playing the same source material on the same equipment through the same speakers? Right now I would have to answer: definitely yes . . . if you are using Bose 901's! But, I am not sure if that is true for everyone.

Thanks for the feedback.