RX-V4600 Setup, Configuration and YPAO

Just as most of the latest generation Yamaha receivers, the RX-V4600 features their YPAO system which automatically checks and/or configures:

• Wiring
• Distance
• Size
• Equalizing
• Level

YPAO allows you to set equalizing to the following parameters intended to aid in correcting the system for both room anomalies and differences in loudspeaker frequency response. One thing I found odd was the wording of the EQ modes. Wording in the manual almost suggests that Yamaha's YPAO is focused on taming the anomalies associated with mismatched and non-flat speakers, rather than compensating for room deficiencies. This is largely semantics as 50% of what reaches the microphone is coming from the room. However in our desire to educate consumers, it's always important to maintain the perspective that EQ is attempting to compensate for the loudspeaker to room interaction and not solely to attempt to linearize the loudspeakers' response. The available modes are:

• Check: Natural
  This mode averages out the frequency response of all speakers so that higher frequencies are less emphasized. This setting is only recommended if the Flat setting (or EQ off) seems too subjectively bright for your tastes.
  
  Evaluation Summary: This mode seemed to provide a warmer sound quality to my system, with more emphasis in the lower bass region, but at the expense of sounding a bit bass heavy and compromising vocal intelligibility.

• Check: Flat
  This mode is supposed to average the frequency response of all the speakers and is recommended to be used if all of the speakers within your system are of equal quality.

  Evaluation Summary: This EQ mode seemed to provide a more aggressive sound quality in my system, depending on source material, sounding a bit forward and sibilant in the highs.

• Check: Front
  If your main speakers are of significantly better quality than the rest of the system this setting will attempt to adjust the frequency response of the other speakers to more closely blend in with the front channels.

  Evaluation Summary: This mode preserved the front soundstage but seemed to make the center channel sound a bit nasally or congested.

I didn't particularly care for the system response I was hearing with any EQ mode and was a bit disappointed in how little YPAO has evolved since its inception in the RX-Z9 . While PEQ seemed to evoke a more intimate listening experience, it made the sound seem more forced and unnatural. The Natural response seemed to muddy up the mid-bass while the Flat setting seemed to sound overly bright with too much bass boost which caused some source material to overload the woofers in my satellite speakers since YPAO incorrectly identified them as large and didn't apply bass management to them.

Depending on your room characteristics, linearity of your speakers and listening preferences, you may have different preferences than what I noted here. Ultimately, I felt that no PEQ worked best in my setup since every EQ mode seemed to compress the soundstage or compromise the very open nature that my reference loudspeakers exhibit. As with any auto EQ, I recommend experimenting to determine what works best for your situation.

What really took me by surprise was the difficulty of defeating the PEQ. With prior YPAO Yamaha products it was a relatively easy matter of toggling between PEQ, GEQ or no EQ. In contrast with the RX-V4600 you had to enter each particular channel's audio setup and select "reset" to disengage the PEQ settings making it virtually impossible to do an A-B comparison and even more difficult for audiophytes to determine if it is even enabled or not. I even tried to engage the "Straight" mode to see if that would disable PEQ, but unfortunately t did not. In the end I did find a decent work around. By using the System Memory Settings feature (up to 6 storable allocations) of the RX-V4600, you can store independent Sound field program parameters, PEQ, Dynamic Range, LFE and speaker configuration settings. At this point it was a matter of toggling between Memory settings (#1 and #2 accessible on the remote) to do on-the-fly comparisons, though I would have preferred a single button toggle on the remote without the need to engage different memory banks.

Comparing the auto level trim settings via the internal test tones, I found channel to channel balance to be matched within +-0.5dB, while speaker distances were pretty much dead on or closer than I could have gotten with a tape measure. But double check the subwoofer distance is accurate within a few feet as I have often found auto systems tend to incorrectly set the distance, especially if the sub is placed in close proximity to the listening position. YPAO was no exception and set my subwoofer distance to 22ft when it was actually only about 12ft away. Speaker sizes and crossover settings varied each time I ran the auto setup, thus I recommend taking your results with a grain of salt. Know your speakers and determine if the size and crossover settings are appropriate or not. If you aren't sure, consult your dealer and/ or loudspeaker manufacturer. At the very minimum, I would suggest using the auto setup feature for speaker level and distances since for the most part, they are at best relatively accurate and a good starting point for tweaking more accurate system performance. If you decide on using PEQ, Yamaha provides user flexibility to contour its response to your liking (a new feature not found on previous generation YPAO enabled receivers).

Editorial Note on YPAO
It's important to note that the YPAO system does not perform any corrections to frequencies below 62.5Hz, and does no correction whatsoever to the subwoofer channel meaning that it really cannot correct for many bass peaks caused by room modes. The best methods of dealing with room modes are: speaker/subwoofer location, listener location, adjustable PEQ. For more speaker calibration tips, please check out our System Set-Up and Configuration Tips.