RX-V4600 Listening Tests

First up was my usual listening sessions with my trusted Patricia Barber SACD's Café Blue and Modern Cool. With i.LINK engaged between the RX-V4600 and my Denon DVD-5900 it was smooth sailing. I enjoyed her melodic overtures and the bands instrumentals with full bass management. I didn't detect any noise issues like I did on the Integra Research RDC-7.1 , nor did any distracting artifacts present themselves. Kicking off my shoes and opening a nice Belgium Lambic I popped in some Michael Franks Burchfield Nines which quickly evaporated my worries of daily life activities. The RX-V4600 had no qualms driving my reference speakers and did especially well at low listening levels indicating very good Signal to Noise (SNR) system performance.

I also tried two-channel sources in Circle Surround (CS) II Music Mode and found my results to vary depending on source material. In best case scenarios it added vocal clarity and expansiveness to two-channel sources. On the flip side, it either added no discernable improvement or a slight loss in stereo separation. CSII is certainly a value added tool in setups having only a primary pair of speakers for stereo. However, in the end I either listened to two-channel music sources in "Source Direct" or in PLIIx Music Mode. Had I only been using the RX-V4600 with two speakers, I would have likely taken more advantage of this processing feature.

A couple of months ago, I had the distinct honor of interviewing one of my all time progressive rock bands - Marillion. During our interview of the band , we learned many insightful things such as the history of their music, the inside stories surrounding the meaning of the lyrics and much more. You could imagine I was tickled pink to get a signed copy of their latest concert tour titled Marbles on the Road.

I switched off the Surround Back channels in favor of the Presence channels knowing I would want to take advantage of Yamaha's Cinema DSP modes, which in my opinion truly shine for concert videos and DVDs. I toggled between The Roxy Theatre and The Bottom Line music DSP modes but settled on the latter after toning down some of its adjustable parameters. It provided the most spacious sound field without sounding artificial or overbearing.

The first track "The Invisible Man" is a strong opening for this DVD. It really demonstrates the versatility of the band's music and the power of Steve H's vocals. With Cinema DSP engaged, it brought me closer to the "live" experience providing a very expansive and reverberant surround field while still maintaining a great deal of vocal intelligibility and focus. Listening to the live rendition of " Bridge", the title track from the album Brave, was truly an awesome experience. The enveloping surround effect, of course the passion in Steve H's voice, prompted me to pop in the Brave CD after he finished this performance. I found myself halfway into this CD before I realized it was nearly 2am! I actually preferred listening to the studio CD of Brave in PLIIx Music Mode. As with prior Yamaha receivers, I have found their music DSP modes to work best with live reverberant program material such as concert videos, but for normal music, I usually prefer either stereo or PLIIx Music Mode. In any event, Cinema DSP is a good tool to have in your audio bag of tricks which can enhance your listening experience with the right source material. For all other scenarios, Yamaha sports the standard surround processing or plain vanilla stereo bypass.

I know The Fifth Element isn't exactly a "current" title, but come on, this movie is a classic. It's funny, surprising, loaded with cool visual effects and action and best of all it has Milla Jovovich. Adventure Mode overlaid with PLIIx Movie was most enjoyable. Though, I wished Yamaha would have provided an independent preamp output for the Presence channels so I could have engaged a full 7.1 + 2 speaker configuration with an additional two-channel amp. Engaging the Presence channels really makes Cinema DSP modes shine. As with their previous 7.1 receivers (i.e. RX-V2400/2500) Yamaha missed the boat on this. The only current Yamaha receiver that can engage 7.1 EX with the additional two Presence channels is their $4,500 super receiver - The RX-Z9.

Space battles from The Fifth Element and flight scenes from The Aviator sounded spectacular on the RX-V4600. Channel to channel separation was excellent, panning fluid, and surround field envelopment a hallmark of Yamaha since the days of their first Dolby Digital-enabled receivers. Power and dynamics were never an issue in my listening experiences, especially since I had all reasonably efficient speakers ( > 89dB SPL @ 1meter) crossed over at 80Hz with the very potent Axiom Audio EP500 subwoofer handling all of the starship and airplane explosions.

Whether I listened to straight DDEX, PLIIx or Cinema DSP, the RX-V4600 provided a 'better than movie theater' surround experience allowing me to enjoy my favorite movies in the comfort of my home theater room and absence of a crowed and sticky cinemaplex with overpriced and over-salted popcorn.

As good as the Yamaha RX-V4600 is, there is definitely margin for improvement which we would like to see in future model iterations such as:

• Single button toggle ability to engage/disengage PEQ
• More accurate and consistent auto speaker size and crossover configuration
• Subwoofer PEQ or an adjustable notch filter with variable gain and Q.
• Analog video upconversion to HDMI with OSD Display
• Easier accessibility of channel trim adjustments via the remote
• Fully-backlit remote control with standard keypad layout