Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Yamaha RX-V2400 - 9.1 channels/amp hook up

Hi Everyone;

I just purchased a yamaha rx-v2400 receiver and I have a couple of questions that the manual doesn't seem to address. I thought some of you might be able to help me. Thanks.

The receiver has 7 channels of amplification but seems to have the capacity for 9 speakers (by adding yamaha's 'presence' speakers to the front). I'm not sure how to hook up my old integrated 2-channel amp so that it can drive the presence channels. Cables from the tape outs into the preouts on the new receiver? (I really have no idea...) Also; would I set the volume to full and let the receiver control the volume level from there or would that be ridiculously loud?

Thanks in advance.
Rob in Ottawa

Hello Rob,

If you really want to use the Yamaha's "presence" channels (hardly necessary in this era of 5.1/6.1 discrete channel reproduction), check to see if the Yamaha has pre-outs that you can feed to one of the line-level inputs on your old receiver. That way, you'd control the levels of all 9.1 channels with the Yamaha's main volume control.

If it doesn't have pre-outs for presence, then you could use the tape outputs, but they would bypass the Yamaha's volume control circuit (tape outputs are fixed-level outputs) so you'd have to adjust the presence-channel levels every time you changed the main volume on the Yamaha--a big hassle.

In the early days of surround sound, before discrete Dolby Digital/dts decoding, the extra Yamaha presence channels signicantly improved realism (I had a complete Yamaha setup with their many DSP soundfield modes). Now, they are not necessary, and may serve to make the front soundstage murkier or less precise than was intended in the mix. And they are not part of any playback standard. The info fed to them is derived from the other channels.

No harm in trying them, of course. You might like them, but from a purist's point of view, soundtracks and music recordings are not mixed using extra "presence" channels at the front.

Regards,

Rob,
Check this out. While the presence channels, as Alan says, are "hardly necessary", it sure does change the experience and is quite fun. I use matched speakers for the "presence" and main channels and in my system and IMHO, it does not make the soundstage murkey nor does it seem less precise(however, I do recommend matched speakers). To me, it does create a larger soundstage(creates the illusion of being in a bigger space such as a theater) while not sounding gimicky(like those stupid DSP modes).

I do feel that the "back surround" channels are a waste of good amp power for what little benifit they bring. I personally believe that the "presence" channels offer a much bigger bang for the buck than the rears.

Try it, you might like it.