Quote:

when I got to the store I also asked about the Yamaha 2600 and the salesman just smiled at me. Well, they had both receivers side by side, perfect for a comparison. To my ears and to my taste the Yamaha just sounded better.



I promise, I'm not looking to start trouble here, but have to ask:
Were both receivers set to "flat" in terms of bass, treble, EQ functions, and volume? It's so easy to have them set differently via some internal menu that I believe most receiver comparisons in a store are pointless. I could be wrong and I'm not trying to cast doubt on your purchase (I'm sure the Yamaha is a fine product and very well could be superior to the Denon...I don't know).

But it seems as though so many people do an A/B test of receivers or separates in a store, and I wonder how many reset them to absolute flat with all the menu settings. Hell I think my Denon 3805 offers a "direct" and a "pure direct" mode with the first still allowing some EQ changes. I could see someone coming in and the salesman saying "let's put them both in "Direct Mode" knowing full well that although one is now bypassing all the "modification possibilities" the other one still has some EQ of their choosing applied to skew the tests.

I've even heard people say that they've gone into a store to compare the sound of receivers and made their choice even though the receivers were hooked up to different speakers....sometimes in another room! This to me is ludicrous, because I don't think anyone would deny that the speakers and the room are going to have a much bigger impact on the sound than the receivers...even if there ARE differences in how receivers sound!

So how does one determine this in a showroom? Let's say you are a believer that electronics sound different or at least open to that possibility. Do you ask that each receiver have a factory reset then and there before the listening test?

I'm not sure if this might have been better if I started a new thread. It's in response to the OP, but I guess it's a bit of a hijack too!

::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::