New Anthem models 1140, 740, 540 possibly introduced at end of year! Similar story as with the leaked Yamaha 2020 receivers, no verification from manufacturer yet. Picture was linked to AVSForum.
Thanks! I really only need 5.2 channels. The Yamaha CX-A5100 does, indeed, look interesting, though I note a lack of ability to do room EQ below 62 Hz, which is a primary consideration for me. It seems AH measured the CX-A5000 (and that performance looked pretty good), but not the C5100? I guess they have been replaced by the 5200, but it (still?) has problems with high level output on it's main (L&R) XLR ouputs?
I wanted to verify if this problem plagued the CX-A5100 so I measured them side by side before swapping out my old CX-A5100 to review the CX-A5200. I ran identical tests on the CX-A5100 and CX-A5200 to show illustrate the differences in distortion at 2.7Vrms output for XLR and Unbalanced. As a reference, 2.7Vrms is almost the full voltage required for the MX-A5200 to reach max rated power.
CX-A5100:
Brown: Unbal - 90dB @ 1kHz
Red: Bal -95dB @ 1kHz
CX-A5200:
Purple: Unbal -88dB @ 1kHz
Blue: Bal -72dB @ 1kHz
As you can see there's actually about a 23dB difference in distortion between the CX-A5100 and CX-A5200 at the same drive level and test conditions via the XLR outputs. The difference in distortion between the CX-A5100 and CX-A5200 unbalanced outputs was only 2dB in this comparison.
Yamaha confirmed my measurements and discovered the culprit to this increased distortion had something to do with how the volume control IC interacts with the XLR outputs. This is something they plan to resolve in future models but cannot make a hardware change to this current model.
I appreciate your additional information and I see your points. This would lead me to couple it with a relatively high gain external amp, to avoid excess distortion, and live with higher noise. That is the trade-off I am trying to balance.
Is it correct that th CX-5100 can't do eq below 62hz? Is it they just can't do automated eq or it can't even do manual peq below that point?
I read that there are 'manual' adjustments that one can make. Others here can likely provide more details and opinions on actual use.
Got it. I wonder if you can run YPAO, then copy them over to manual PEQ and add EQ manually below those points. Any idea @peng ? What a strange restriction on YPAO though if that is the case.
Preamplifier Measurements
The SR8012 is capable of outputting 4.5Vrms unclipped from the multi-ch preamp outputs which is more than 2X voltage drive needed to make most external amplifiers reach full unclipped power.
Editorial Note about Preamp Mode:I was unable to do a preamp frequency sweep exceeding 1.2Vrms as it tripped the protection circuits since the power amps were still engaged and exceeded full rated power (140 watt/ch, 8 ohms, Av = 29dB). Unfortunately, Marantz doesn't offer a preamp only mode to disconnect the power amp from the circuit if you're using only external amplification. This is something I'd like to see ALL receiver manufacturers offer that include preouts to avoid this very problem I noted. It would also be more energy efficient as well. We will be testing this on receivers going forward and lobbying the manufacturers to include a preamp mode if they already don't. Please note it's unlikely you will ever run into a problem driving external amplification as normal program material doesn't behave like continuous sinusoidal sweeps like what was used on my bench tests.At 1Vrms, the FFT of the SR8012 was good but I was surprised at the 3rd order harmonic byproduct that was about 3dB higher than I observed on the Denon AVR-X3300W prior but it was very low at .0018% THD. Still the noise floor (-140dB) of the SR8012 was exceptional as you can see in the FFT below, almost -20dB lower than I measured on the Denon AVR-X3300W.
1. Go to AVR`s setup menu
2. Select “Speakers”, enter “Amp Assign”
3. Select “11.1ch” for “Assign Mode” setting
4. Select “Front” for “Preout” setting. The other option is “Height”.
Connect an external 2CH amplifier to the Front L and R preouts, connect the rest of speakers (9.0) to the remaining receiver`s speaker terminals (C, SL, SR, SLB, SRB and 4 height channels) for a full 7.1.4 speaker configuration.
With the AVR-X3600H configured to reroute the main front L/R internal amplifiers, the preamp is physically disconnected from the power amp. This allows the preamp stage full capability of delivering up to 4Vrms unclipped when connected to external amplification as can be seen in the following output vs distortion plot courtesy of Sound United Engineering.
Editorial Note about Front L/R Channels Preamp DisconnectFront L/R channel preamp disconnect ONLY happens in a 11CH speaker configuration. If you have simply 9.1 channel configuration (5.1.4) or less, and you want to drive front L/R speakers out of external amplifier, or L/R/C, or L/R/C/SL/SR speakers out of external 5 channel amplifiers, internal amplifiers will not be disconnected. There is no selecting or sensing mechanism to allow that unless you activate 11.1 channel Amp Assign mode and select Front L and R for preouts.
My guess is the Denon x8500 will better the SR8012 but quite as well in preamp mode as well. What I am interested in is how it compares to the Marantz AV7705 in preamp mode (or if it also produces about the same results as the 8805). If one can get by without balanced connections, it makes it a great value if you want external amps for your front 3 channels for example and use the internal amps for everything else. I'm running it right now with 3 JBL 308p MKII's for L/C/R and DIYSG Volt Coaxials for surrounds/atmos. Enjoying it quite a bit. My plan is to still send in the X8500 for Amir to test but haven't had time to get it sent in yet.
Thanks for digging that up. I'm not looking to change now, as Audyssey does pretty well with multiple subs below 500hz, But if I did, it would either be a move back to Dirac with Dirac Bass management or something with manual PEQ like the Yamaha.
