Yamaha RX-A1010 AVENTAGE A/V Receiver Listening Tests

I took the Yamaha RX-A1010 A/V receiver over to my sister-in-law’s house to test it out with her new EMPtek Speaker line which consists of 2 x E55Ti towers, 1 x E56Ci center, 2 x E55WI wallmount side surrounds,  2 x RBH AC-615 in-wall back surround speakers and 2 x ES1010i subwoofers.  All analog and HDMI cables were furnished by Bluejeans Cable.  The source device was the Oppo BDP-93 feeding a new 55” Samsung LED display.  I was a bit concerned driving all of these speakers on the Yamaha receiver since the front channels and center channel dip down in the 4-ohm region but they are also quite efficient and the towers represent a high impedance at low frequencies which hogs the most amplifier power.  The room is roughly 20’ x 25’ and open to a kitchen and den so it’s a rather large and lively space with no passive room treatments other than a throw rug over the tile floor and some heavy couches.

Blu-ray: Steve Wilson – Grace for Drowning

Steve Wilson is mostly known as the lead singer/guitarist of Progressive Rock/Metal band Porcupine Tree.  He has also been known to collaborate with bands such as Blackfield, and Opeth and Marillion.  His latest solo project “Grace for Drowning” is his most ambitious effort yet.  This album is dedicated to his recently deceased farther and pays tribute to late 60s early 70s era progressive rock.  It’s the first multi channel Blu-ray music release of its kind and the sound quality is simply stunning.  Track #1 “Grave for Drowning” starts off with a beautiful piano medley, the kind rock music used to have in droves back in the day.  It has an almost poppy showtune kinda feel to it and the EMP speakers did a wonderful job conveying the realism of the high resolution recording powered by the RX-A1010.  Track #2 “Sectarian” has a very King Crimson feel to it.  It starts out acoustic but goes electric psychedelic quite quickly.  The drum off beats remind me of the stick work of legendary drum man Bill Bruford.  There is a lot going on in this song instrumentally with tons of dynamics.  The RX-A1010 did commendably well preserving the dynamics and the EMP speakers simply absorbed its power begging to be played ever louder.  The surround envelope effect was excellent and the background noise was virtually non-existent which really made me appreciate the contrast between soft and loud.  “Track #3 “Deform to Form a Star” is my favorite track on this entire album. Wilson pours so much emotion into this song that you feel like you know him. “Oh once in a while, I learn how to smile”  a memorable excerpt from this song that had me smiling in sonic bliss listening on the EMP /Yamaha combo.  This entire album is, in my opinion an instant classic and sonic marvel.  It in a way reboots the music industry giving it back to Audioholics that crave quality sound and content all wrapped into one neat package with supportive video.  Pop this Blu-ray in and test the dynamics of your system and reinvent your musical imagination.  Yamaha will take you there if you connect a quality speaker system like the EMP speakers I used during this demo.

Blu-ray: Transformers III -  Dark of the Moon

The acting is sometimes cheesy, the storyline weak and often unbelievable, but you gotta love giant metal crunching robots slugging it peppered with plenty of LFE effects to rattle your spine to place you in the action.  That is just what the latest Michael Bay Transformers movie did in my experience when watching it using the Yamaha RX-A1010 and EMP speaker system.  Though this setup didn’t quite have the bass impact and overall slam of my reference system, it did provide a very satisfying result.  Dialogue was always dynamic and clear thanks to the very potent new E56Ci center channel from EMP.  The Yamaha RX-A1010 never seemed to sound strained in the vocals even during slug outs between the bots and cons.  The surround channels remained dead quite until called upon.  For fun I experimented with some of Yamaha’s proprietary DSP modes and felt Movie Theater Adventure produced the most palatable results after I toned down some of the parameters such as DSP level, Room size and Liveliness.  You will want to experiment here and fine tune the various parameters to suite your listening tastes and room conditions.  Set the levels too high and you wind up listening in a simulated acoustical space of a stadium bathroom rather than a fine concert venue.  Any way you dice it, the Yamaha RX-A1010 was the Allspark of the show providing plenty of Energon to power the EMP speaker system to reach satisfying listening levels in a moderately large listening space.