The majority of Yamaha Receivers, the RX-Z1 included, have a dreaded impedance selector switch. As always I recommend never setting this switch to the "Eight Ohms or Less" setting as it may significantly limit the available power and overall dynamics of the internal power amps. For more information on this, refer to the "Impedance Selector Switches" section of the Audioholics.com Receiver Buying Guidelines .

Before evaluating, I recalibrated the entire system using my handy Radio Shack SPL meter and the internal test tones of the RX-Z1. I was a bit concerned with the RX-Z1 driving my speaker system since my front and center channels are 4 ohm nominal impedance, and none of my speakers are particularly efficient loads to drive. My concerns were soon subdued after listening to a few two-channel SACD's and multi-channel DVD-A discs. I was in awe that the Yamaha amps were delivering such solid amplification performance typically found in much costlier and bulkier separates. I never recalled the DSP-A1 sounding quite this good via its internal amps. Don't get me wrong, the DSP A1 was no slouch, but the RX-Z1 to me sounded as good as many high end rigs I have evaluated in the past. I was shocked by the refined and authoritative bass reproduced by my large floor standing speakers when driven by the RX-Z1's internal amps. All of the subtleties and nuances were equally conveyed, demonstrating a very low noise floor and excellent linearity. Grant it my reference amps did yield a bit more slam and dynamics when driven to the limits of comfortable listening levels, but the RX-Z1 never sounded bright or fatiguing to me like many other Receivers typically do.

Multi-channel DVD Audio discs proved equally satisfying. Channel separation was excellent and tonal consistency and dynamics was also impressive. However, when pushed very hard, I did hear the RX-Z1 amps start to run out of gas, but they did so quite gracefully and at levels I measured with an SPL meter beyond 110dB in a 16 x 20 living room running inefficient 4 ohm loudspeakers.

In movie theater modes, the RX-Z1, when driving my reference speaker system, did a bang up job at turning my living room into a state of the art surround sound theater rivaling a majority of THX Cineplex's I have recently visited.

Living with the Yamaha RX-Z1 for the past four months was quite an enjoyable experience. It's rare that I dread boxing up product to send back to the manufacturer after my evaluation has been completed. I was very much so dreading sending the RX-Z1 back. The RX-Z1 really enhanced my movie viewing enjoyment and also taught me that a Receiver can provide high end fidelity equaling and sometimes rivaling costlier separates. This flagship proved itself in so many ways and earned my respect as a magnificent "one box" solution for home theater and multi channel playback. Its endless features, state of the art processing, outstanding fidelity, and user friendly interface, makes it an uncommon value that only a few years ago was unheard of.

In fact this flagship Receiver offers two advantages over all separate Processors currently available, that I know, of: DTS 96/24 processing and 100MHz Component Video Bandwidth switching. I undeservedly recommend adding the Yamaha RX-Z1 to your shopping list if a state of the art, one box, high performance; reliable and reasonably priced home theater Receiver is in your future. The extended five year warranty is another nicety not commonly found in other products.

I suppose all good things must come to an end. And, with this end I can only look forward to Yamaha's next concoction, which I sincerely hope will address the issues I outlined earlier making it so irresistible to me that I will be forced to sell off my reference gear. Anyone who wants to start bidding, email me now ;-)