Yamaha RX-V679 AV-receiver
It is not complete support across the board. That is undoubtedly enough for now, but perhaps not in the future.
The receiver is a seven-station layout, with electricity rated at 90W per channel (8 Ohms, 20Hz-20kHz, two channel measurement). As one of the Absolute Purity Theory layouts of the brand, it uses an anti-vibration building, individual electricity supplies to the analogue and digital circuits to suppress sound that is erroneous, and amps that are distinct.
That front panel is a little button-fest, however. AV Holics with trigger happy kids be warned.
Those seven stations of welly can be configured in different manners (5.1 plus stereo zone, 7.1, etc), but Atmos/DTS:X is not on offer.
Incoming soon is a new RX-V581 receiver that decodes DTS's complex combinations and Dolby. Which will start with a cost of £500.
With Atmos off the cards with the RX-V679, I suspect some buyers WOn't ever use those channels that are sixth and seventh. 7.1 BD combinations have been around for yonks but affiliated affordable loudspeaker bundles are not that common, and while a 5.1 set can be fairly readily installed in a standard living room, adding two bottoms usually needs some seating reconfiguration.
Not that the RX-V679 is fully height measurement unlearned. The unit's rear-back loudspeaker terminals can be reassigned for front existence obligations, where loudspeakers are mounted high. Similar in a way to DTS Neo:X, exclusively using Yamaha's inhouse Cinema DSP.
Setup isn't simple. Actually, compared to higher-end AVRs, it is absolutely not complex. As expected, Yamaha's YPAO room EQ/loudspeaker calibration is to, theoretically, get the amp seeming the best it can in your theater tailoring the parameters of the plethora of DSP styles of Yamaha. Whack on the puck-shaped mic into the front-panel input signal, flee the room and allow it to get to work. It is not multiple -point measurement just, and takes about a minute. After done, it is worth checking the measurements (speaker size, amount, crossover, space) to see if you are happy with the investigation.
In addition to what you are seeing it's possible for you to overlay many of the adjustment menus. It is only when you dig deep the UI becomes full screen.
The remote is pretty family-friendly - definitely more so as opposed to science calculator confusion made available from competing Pioneer. Yamaha's management app, if you are that way inclined, is enjoyable and smart to use, particularly on a tablet PC/phablet.
HDMI passthrough in Standby is an attribute that is useful, but notice this is set to 'Off' in the user menus. One- sonic tweaks contain Enhancer and Extra Bass. The former is self explanatory, the latter works to return some of the nuance to lowres sources.
A sprightly, efficient station demo was offered by the Yamaha, proffering to dialogue and zipping audio effects.
If requested to sum it up in one word, I Had say 'Sleek.'
When Will Smith declares 'I believe I done only got angry' and shoots down a handful of dope-smugglers with his machine gun that was hand-held, my listening room was peppered with bullet-fire while the backdrop score swelled with threat. The following shootout sequence that was wraparound produced more snappy FX positioning. It is a clear, assured operation.
The Yamaha is not the most snarling of AV amps, however. Lightness of wide soundstaging and feet is the headline attribute here, rather than gut-hitting weight and midrange push. Which will read like an obvious remark, but the RX-V679 appears to unfurl its wings when requested to do more. At lower levels it seems somewhat safe. Shoved too high and it lost composure.
Treble details are light and clear. The RX-V679 seems somewhat skewed to that end of the spectrum, really. It is a characteristic that creates delight but a smoother edge would be valued with music and more easy on the ear.
It is still a pleasure receiver with music, however. Choosing the Enhancer function teased out more bass impact; tipping the AVR into loudspeaker stereo mode created a fantastic room-filling soundscape. And there are lots of other post-processing styles to play with.
Back with pictures, the creature mayhem of Pacific Rim again demonstrated fire for audio steering and the Yamaha's imaging strengths. Differences between the three curves were small in my system, but I chosen Front, as it beefed up conversation presentation and appeared to give a much better equilibrium. Having said that, the audio signature did not radically change.
Appealing, the RX-V679 can seem like a small bargain, especially with newer versions expected that have pushed down its cost. The attribute set is not unhealthy, and many of the things which are not have - a second HDMI output signal, phonograph record- phono input signal that is friendly - are not deal breakers. Usability is good; this is not an AV headscratcher.
