JBL MA7100HP AV Receiver Review

[kyuu]

I thought the Yamaha also had room correction?

It does, but Yamaha's YPAO is not well regarded. The higher-tier Audyssey and Dirac are considered to be far better. I consider high-quality room correction to be a must-have, but if you really like the Yamaha then you needn't have the same opinion. At the least, it should set your speaker levels and distances just fine.

I was considering a frontal speaker (not sure how they're called) because apparently (from what I heard), it might be worth it when watching films with dialogues that are not super well-recorded.

I think you're referring to a center channel speaker? I mean yeah, those are nice to have for movies but certainly not mandatory. Many people happily watch movies with a stereo system. I presume you've been doing your movie watching with a stereo system up to this point? Do you have any complaints about the intelligibility of the dialogue?

Just have it demonstrated to you. He will probably speak from experience.

You have far more faith in salespeople than I do.

 

[GXAlan]

I thought the Yamaha also had room correction?

I was considering a frontal speaker (not sure how they're called) because apparently (from what I heard), it might be worth it when watching films with dialogues that are not super well-recorded.

Yamaha has YPAO which works great. People criticized it in the past since it doesn’t do a lot on the subwoofer and focuses primarily on the frequencies below the transition frequency. It is cautious.

Dirac is capable of more but it may not be necessary.

The Yamaha is a good choice in my opinion especially since the Vestia 4 is 92 dB efficient.

That said, I didn’t love the Vestia’s that I purchased in the past and returned them.

Focal Vestia No. 1 - First Impressions

1) First impression is that Vestia No. 1 has a much more rolled off treble than the previous generation of Focal tweeters (original Cobalt era) or the JBL 708P. 2) The light wood color is a yellow cream/beige. It’s definitely not as white as the marketing pictures suggest. 3) The bass...

www.audiosciencereview.com

And Dirac would give you more ability to fine tune the audio. Yamaha should have loudness but I don’t recall if this works with YPAO room correction.

 

[Des Esseintes]

They have the Vestia 3 at €1500 and the Vestia 4 at €1700 a pair (it's a store clearance), which seems to be a lot less than the normal asking price. I might just get the speakers and do a little bit of thinking about the amp.

Yes, I've been watching movies with a stereo system my whole life.

 

[kyuu]

They have the Vestia 3 at €1500 and the Vestia 4 at €1700 a pair (it's a store clearance), which seems to be a lot less than the normal asking price. I might just get the speakers and do a little bit of thinking about the amp.

Hopefully they have a good return policy, so you can try them out without committing that much money.

Yes, I've been watching movies with a stereo system my whole life.

If you're happy with that and don't want to move to a full surround system, then I wouldn't worry too much about adding a center channel.

 

[GXAlan]

It does, but Yamaha's YPAO is not well regarded. The higher-tier Audyssey and Dirac are considered to be far better.

For the record, I have an Trinnov Altitude 32, Monolith HTP-1 (gave to my brother), and Yamaha CX-A5100 (had two, gave one to my cousin and the one I gave to my brother, I took back in exchange for the HTP-1).

YPAO works great *if* you do the whole thing including YPAO volume for the dynamic loudness. YPAO does not get aggressive with subwoofer correction, which is where people say it’s worse, but it is because even the latest versions will tell you what’s wrong but have you fix it. It’s not automatic. If you talk with Floyd Toole, he talks about the limitations of full range correction and the disadvantages of trying to correct things to have ruler flat in room measurements at MLP (or perfect matching to a “Target Curve”.). The Yamaha YPAO actually is one of the most thoughtful room correction tools for the main speakers and you can get stunning results with subwoofer control.

For the 2 channel version of Yamaha YPAO, it gets trickier because it is even more conservative than the cinema version from what I understand. That said, it does have both user configurable loudness (the dial) and YPAO Volume (algorithmic version).

 

[kyuu]

YPAO works great *if* you do the whole thing including YPAO volume for the dynamic loudness. YPAO does not get aggressive with subwoofer correction, which is where people say it’s worse, but it is because even the latest versions will tell you what’s wrong but have you fix it. It’s not automatic. If you talk with Floyd Toole, he talks about the limitations of full range correction and the disadvantages of trying to correct things to have ruler flat in room measurements at MLP (or perfect matching to a “Target Curve”.).

Oh I totally agree about not doing full range correction (assuming the speakers are good). I only plan on getting the limited Dirac license as there shouldn't be any need for correction above 500Hz. But that seems to be orthogonal to correcting in the subwoofer region, which generally do fall in the <500Hz range.

Interesting that YPAO has you do manual corrections. I assume this is with a PEQ? Seems like you certainly could get good results with enough effort, but I think many people are probably looking for their room correction to be a little more automated.

 

[pogo]

The Yamaha has an impedance selector switch and is less suitable for the 3 ohm load, which is not purely ohmic.
I would prefer the JBL.

 

[GXAlan]

The Yamaha has an impedance selector switch and is less suitable for the 3 ohm load, which is not purely ohmic.
I would prefer the JBL.

Yamaha A-S701 Stereo Amplifier Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yamaha A-S701 stereo integrated amplifier with included DAC and Phono stage. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $800. The A-S701 is one of the best looking amplifiers I have tested. Yes the controls are plastic unlike the glory days...

www.audiosciencereview.com

This budget Yamaha has an impedance selector switch and handled Amir’s 2 ohm tests handily.

Definitely not a straight forward easy answer. Look at the frequency versus distortion curves. The Yamaha is better than the JBL.

Oh I totally agree about not doing full range correction (assuming the speakers are good). I only plan on getting the limited Dirac license as there shouldn't be any need for correction above 500Hz. But that seems to be orthogonal to correcting in the subwoofer region, which generally do fall in the <500Hz range.

Interesting that YPAO has you do manual corrections. I assume this is with a PEQ? Seems like you certainly could get good results with enough effort, but I think many people are probably looking for their room correction to be a little more automated.

+1

For sure, Dirac and Audyssey are more automated. Only the latest generation YPAO does subwoofer correction, which is one reason the older units were not as well liked. Still, the “current generation” is 4 years old. The older ones did set crossover and levels but I don’t believe it was as good as the new mode in the current models.

[RX-A8A/A6A/A4A] What kind of equalizer is the YPAO: Low Frequency?

usa.yamaha.com

Biggest problem is that I am not sure what is actually used in the 2 channel modes.

 

[pogo]

The Yamaha is better than the JBL.

Really.
The reactive load test is only carried out for a short time. I wouldn't want to do that to the Yamaha over a longer period of time in the 8ohm setting.
Do you also have measured values for the 1000?

 

[GXAlan]

Really.
The reactive load test is only carried out for a short time. I wouldn't want to do that to the Yamaha over a longer period of time in the 8ohm setting.
Do you also have measured values for the 1000?

Edit: I should clarify that the Yamaha is better than the JBL in those two graphs. I am not saying that the Yamaha product is better than the JBL product, just that there are reasons to go for either and it’s not an obvious good versus bad choice.

The R1000 is supposed to have the amp section from the 801 model, which is identical to the 701 model measured by Amir except for a DAC that handles DSD and stuff like that. The 1000 adds room correction and music cast.

Yamaha R-N1000A Network Receiver Bench Test Results

The Yamaha R-N1000A is a 2CH Network AV receiver rated at 100 watts/ch and has features most stereo receivers don’t. Our bench test report determines if it lives up to their prestigious Top-Art reputation.

www.audioholics.com

There are plenty of reasons to go with the JBL (multichannel decoding/amplifiers/hdmi switching for three!) but also plenty of reasons to go with the Yamaha that are audible, like YPAO Volume and user configurable loudness, and some may like the appearance.

Short term power, for two channels, the Yamaha does quite well at 4 ohms despite the switch on the back. The difference may not fully be audible but the smoother distortion curves might make a difference in some scenarios.

I am a big fan of JBL speakers and Yamaha electronics, and was pretty happy with my Arcam gear. My speakers are all Class D Meyer Soujd now. Just playing internet armchair quarterback here….

Just saying that there is nothing wrong with the Yamaha, and some people find Music Cast pretty useful.

 

[Ncesar]

For what it's worth, I've been very happy with the Flex HT + Apple TV 4K combo. Zero bugs unlike the Canton Smart Connect

Im curious about your setup. Could you describe it?

 

[jaakkopetteri]

Im curious about your setup. Could you describe it?

What should I describe? You need a TV or an HDMI splitter to pass the LPCM from the Apple TV to the Flex HT, that's about it.

 

[Ncesar]

What should I describe? You need a TV or an HDMI splitter to pass the LPCM from the Apple TV to the Flex HT, that's about it.

And the Flex HT is connected to poweramps?

 

[jaakkopetteri]

And the Flex HT is connected to poweramps?

For mains, yeah. I have actives for surrounds

 

[Ncesar]

Thank you.

 

[Head_Unit]

that sinad does not scream greatness or even adequacy but i think as a living room bing bang boom box it should be ok... ie. same as everyone else in the class and a fair bit above the likes of Onkyo Pioneer for example.

For $1200 it doesn't seem OK to me. Onkyo and Pioneer really measure this poorly? I haven't looked at those tests to be honest...@amirm's test of the $1400 Onkyo TX-RZ50 is much cleaner than this JBL. TX-NR7100 = barf. $2300 PR-RZ5100 Audio/Video Processor = vomit. Pioneer VSX-LX505 seems good, $1700.

 

[kyuu]

For $1200 it doesn't seem OK to me. Onkyo and Pioneer really measure this poorly? I haven't looked at those tests to be honest...@amirm's test of the $1400 Onkyo TX-RZ50 is much cleaner than this JBL.

Yes, they do measure similarly or worse than this JBL. The RZ50 is not much cleaner. If anything it's worse. You'll notice its very slightly better SiNAD only applies in pure mode (no processing). With processing on, which is how AVRs are typically used, it actually does worse. Factor in the power limiting that kicks on with all these Pioneer and Onkyo receivers based on the same underlying platform and I consider the JBL to be better no question.

IMO, in the mass market AVR arena I consider only Denon (and Marantz's derivative models) to be better. But those are bulkier and hotter, and less attractive.

 

[yllanos]

Hi @kyuu

If you stream Tidal Connect to AVR, will it show album art/info on my TV?


Thanks

 

[kyuu]

Hi @kyuu

If you stream Tidal Connect to AVR, will it show album art/info on my TV?


Thanks

It shows the album art and info on the AVR's screen, but not on the TV.

 

[andrewskaterrr]

Wow this is slightly worse than the Onkyo NR7100, and doesn't even come with Dirac. Like 1dB better SINAD, but every other measurement is worse.