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Review NaN of
, from Smyrna, Ga. USA
Price Paid:
$1500.00
from Hi Fi Buys Summary:
I bought this receiver when I got my first DVD player in 1997. I got it as much for its video switching capability as its 5.1 DD. It replaced an old Denon receiver that put too much noise into the video signal--not to mention what it did to audio.
First off, I was very impressed with the number of inputs. It covered everything I wanted it to do. The amp seemed solid, well built and powerful. It was also fairly noiseless in both audio and video signals. I am running two Quart rear speakers, a Polk center channel and Jamo 400 Professional fronts. A seperate 15" JBL Sub is powered by a Carver amp. They seem to match fairly well through this receiver. The Yamaha can really power it out, maintaining significant headroom at higher than normal volume levels. Sound is clean and impressive during movies. The amp always runs cool and never seems to break a sweat.
All in all, I was very pleased. The amp has been a forget about it piece of equipment--No problems and good performance.
But I also noticed another personal trend. I've not sat and actually listened to music in quite a while. The digital sound fields were originally fun to play with, but now I've settled to only using a theater setting during DVD movies. I don't use any of the other sound fields at all, except for the stadium mode during a big sports game.
Still, I was curious that with all these features, why wasn't I critically listening to music anymore? I finally hooked up a Nakamichi PA-7 amp and Nakamichi CA-5 preamp with no tone controls and mostly straight through signal path. I then hooked up a set of very demanding Accoustat 2MH electrostatics and ran just that setup using my Meridian DVD/CD player. It was clear why I hadn't been listening to music much lately. Although the Yamaha was great for watching movies and DVD concerts, it fell flat reproducing music.
When playing through the Yamaha 2092, I found the sound slightly warmly colored with fair imaging and depth. Instruments tended to get lost in the mix and all of it was covered over with a very muddy, unfocused bass. Highs tended to be a little more defined, but the bass was loose and overbearing and would smear through the performance. This is using straight 2 channel, effects off listening. It performed better with the Jamo 400's, but still exhibited the same problems. Strengths:
Great power for 5.1 and good receiver when used in that context. Surprisingly, it was able to drive very difficult electrostatics along with the other channels and not stumble during even very intense action sequences. I may keep using these old Accoustats for a while because of this. I expected the Yamaha to click off at the first sign of trouble and it held its own, producing room rattling sound levels. Weaknesses:
No replacement for separates. Doesn't produce 2 channel stereo music cleanly. It would be fine for casual listening, parties, etc., but very disappointing for critical listening. Still, quite good for a receiver and also better than the Denon 3200 I auditioned before deciding on this one.
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