Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Yamaha RX-V1500 Receiver with Axiom Speakers

I really like the features and specs of the Yamaha RX-V1500 Receiver, but I'm not sure if it goes well with Axiom Speakers. A lot of people say that Axiom Speakers are "bright", and that they need a "warm" receiver, but the Yamaha Receivers apparently are "bright" as well.

Can you describe what have been your experiences with the sound of Yamaha Receivers and Axiom Speakers. Are they "Bright", "Warm", "Neutral", etc.... Have you compared different kinds of receivers such as Denon, Harman Kardon, Pioneer, or Sherwood?

I'm also considering Paradigm and Phase Technology Speakers, which are considered "warm" speakers to go along with the Yamaha RX-V1500 Receiver.

Please help me decide. Thank You.

i can give you this word of advice, take Sherwood off your list immediately.

stick with Denon, H/K, Onkyo, Yamaha, Sony ES series, and Pioneer elite series. any receiver from those brands will work just fine with the 60's.

and all those terms you used are specific to each individual. what you hear as bright, someone else may hear as neutral. ALL receivers are adjustable, so you can tweak the sound as you see fit.

bigjohn

there are many Axiom owners on here that like Yammy's, and the sound is wonderful. I'm sure they will chime in here

As a Yamaha RX-V540 owner... I'm not overly impressed with the receiver. The DSPs are pretty cheesy (I use the direct decodes only), it lacks a settable LFE rolloff (does the 1400 have it?), the YPAO (which I don't have) as most will attest to, doesn't work nearly as well as hand tweaking with an SPL meter. The 540 only has one coaxial digital input (the rest are all optical/TOSlink). The power rating is fine for my use, it does what I need it to - an A/V switcher, amplifier, but to actually suggest that it's a must-have over other receivers in the same class? Nah.

Between the Yammie receiver and the pair of Toshiba DVD-Ps I've had, they've been the biggest disappointments.

I'll be looking Denon, H/K or Onkyo next time around.

Bren R.

Chime I will!
I've got a 2500, and I think it is terrific with the Axioms.
Lots and lots of very good gear out there to choose from, and as long as you stick with the ones that seem to get mentioned the most (above list is a pretty good start), I cannot imagine that you would end up with an inferior product.

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i can give you this word of advice, take Sherwood off your list immediately.

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Hey John,

Why the swipe at Sherwood? One bite you one time or something?

WhatFurrer

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Why the swipe at Sherwood

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i have no personal experience with sherwood, but i know some friends that have.

my main reasoning would be that when i see a sherwood product on the same shelf as an apex or audiovox product, it has already lost all credibility. and IMO, there is no way sherwood should even be on the same list as yamaha/onkyo/denon/etc. thats like having a hyundai and a ferrari on the same list...? just dont make sense.

but, as always, this is just my opinion. i would not buy a sherwood product.

bigjohn

Sherwood Forest is ok.

Sherwood made a good hockey stick, too!! But I've switched to CCM.

nothing better than a Sherwood 5030, Chelios curve, sweet!

Having PREVIOUSLY owned the Yamaha RX-V1500 I can tell you...its not a marriage made in heaven. Because the Axiom's are so "revealing" you will hear all of the Yamaha's "digital nuances". Meaning...it don't sound too analog. Now, if digital is your thing, by all means, get the Yamaha. Plenty of DSPs for the whole family. And by whole family I mean extended family and their extended family. But as has already been pointed out, you will soon find yourself drawn to the basics...and not dancing to the boogie woogie of the Disco beat.

In fact, Straight mode was my favorite. What mode is that? Where all the DSPs get out of the damn way. Great clean, sound. Ashamed to pay all that money for 5000 DSPs and never use one. But...Straight was where it was at for me. Needless to say I wanted to play A LITTLE...but when I did I found myself cringing at the digital sound, compressed sound. So sad.

I am now a happy Arcam AVR-300 owner.

But in that price range, I'd look towards H/K or Denon.

Ya, I used one of those for years (Sherwood 5030 - Chelios)!

I am not dissing on yamaha at all, they have excellent recievers from the 1400 on up, but I have no idea why anyone uses those DSP modes. What a waste!!! I enjoy the Denon 6 channel stereo when I am around the house or having a party, but not for true music listening. I listen to stereo or direct only for that. I owned a Yamaha as my first receiver and thought the listening modes (Disco? Theater?) were terrible. Then when I got my first Denon, was so impressed with the 5 channel mode. But I still think stereo is the way to go with stereo music.

OK, I'm going to ring in here with a (Small) defence of the Yam DSPs.
Yes, most of them are a complete waste of time.
And, on my 2500, they seem to be even a bit more aggressive than they were on my old 2092.
But I have found that, just as tweaking things is essential on the rest of the system, tweaking the DSP settings is pretty important.
I use them (and by "them" I mean just the "Hall" and Whatever they have changed the name of the "Jazz" to) on about 15% of my listening. I NEVER use them when listening to straight stereo recordings made in a studio. But I do use them SOMETIMES when listening to things recorded live, especially live Jazz.
And I agree, the rest of them are- to me- pretty useless.
I wonder, are there people who listen to a lot of Church Recordings and think those DSPs sound good?
But I have found it important to lower the levels of the front effects speakers a bit, and I certainly have to turn the delay WAY down on the surround speakers. (I got a huge laugh from someone else here who decribed that they were still waiting for the sounds to bounce back from the back walls in the Rock mode! ;-)
But, back to the point. When listening to live music, it is nice to add in that "Live" ambience into the mix sometimes.
And since reading more about it in another post regarding the differences between DSPs and 5ch. / 7 ch. stereo, I have started playing around a bit with those, but again, only for music recorded live. But to my ears those do not add in as much of a feeling of being in a live setting. They just spread the signal around the room a bit more.
I see no reason to use anything but 2 speakers when listening to straight stereo recordings. I will totally agree on that point. I have no need to see what Kind of Blue would sound like had he recorded it in a concert hall in Munich, as oppossed to a (somewhat) small studio in Manhattan. Or what Blue Trane would sound like had they been in a Church in Vienna instead of Rudy vanGelder's livingroom/studio in Engelwood NJ!
And there, the "Pure Direct" or "Straight" modes really do shine. No Doubt.
But drop in Trane's Live at the Village Vanguard, or Miles' Live at the Plugged Nickel, with the DSP settings tamed a bit, you really get a sense of the rooms they were in while recording those records.
YMMV!!!

So, for me, it was something that I was willing to pay for. Even if I only use a couple of them very little of the time, when I do use them I am glad to have them availavble. But you do have to take the edge off of them somewhat- but that is doable.
And, as to the rest of the equation, I think the Yamaha sounds fantastic with my Axioms. Nothing "digital" about it at all.
And, for movies, I stick strickly with DD or DTS.
And since this is about the 6th or 7th one that I have owned, or spent lots of time around, I can attest to the fact that they are rock solid units that rarely break down.
But, as I said, Your Ears Will Decide. These are just mine!
Just had to stick up for my Yammie a bit!

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I got a huge laugh from someone else here who decribed that they were still waiting for the sounds to bounce back from the back walls in the Rock mode!

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That was me, and I'm told that I missed the blessed event... unfortunately the surrounds kicked in while the S/O was listening to Kelly Clarkson... so from the mains, she had:
"I know that you’re true to me
You’re always there, you say you care
I know that you wanna be mine"

And from the surrounds, Bootsauce's Touching Cloth:
"My blue angel, stands me up, delivers my payload"

She thought maybe Ms. Clarkson was a fecalphiliac.

Bren R.

It's even funnier the second time around, and I'm not even sure why!
TjB