Yamaha DSPAX750 POOR SOUND

N

nam78

Guest
Hi to everyone (myself being a newbie),

After looking at the reviews and posts on here I decided to buy the Yamie ax750 to replace my ageing denon midi system and gain 7.1 sound. I have been using some B&W 601's with the denon so hooked them up to the yamaha last night for a listen. BOY WAS I DISAPOINTED!
The amplifier sounds extremely clean when playing 2 channel music but very flat in the mid range. In pure direct mode the music is unlistenable, extremely flat and harsh! the only way to improve the sound is by having the amp in two channel stereo mode and increasing the bass to +3db or more. Even then with the improved bass the midrange seems to be lacking somewhat.

I actually prefer the sound of my old denon system, anyone here have any ideas or found similar because this is not what i expected from a highley rated amp for stereo?
 
Anyone there for some advice,
Im seriously thinking of returning the yamaha dspax750 and geting a denon 2105 instead, any thoughts on this? will the denon sound better?
 
Before taking it back, I would double check all your connections and settings.

I have the older, cheaper model 640SE, and I would say this isnt far behind my old Arcam Alpha 5+ (£250 10 years ago), which was a hell of a stereo amp. To be honest, when I decided to change to a multi-channel setup, I never thought I would get such a high standard CD playback from a budget AV amp!

Or maybe it's a faulty 750 you have. Before changing to the Denon, try and get the Yamaha replaced. From what I have read, the 750 is very competitive musically, so I wouldnt give up on it just yet.
 
Thanks for your reply ms-yam,
this reasures me a bit as I did think it should sound as good if not better than my old denon amp. Could it be the amp needs time to run in or am I talking rubbish?
 
I wouldn't have thought that running in would produce a huge improvement in quality. I have the DSP750, but don't have anything to compare it to, to me it sounds great, a huge leap forward from my old prologic amp. Your 601's should have more bass to them than my Genies, so I'm guessing you have a set up issue or a faulty amp. (either that or I like bright tinny music?)

Ian
 
I think buying a receiver thats good for movies and music is a real tricky task!. A few months ago, I purchased a Harman Kardon AVR 630 in a bid to improve on my old Yamaha amp, which sounded pretty good with film soundtracks but was hopeless with music.

After reading several reviews and listening to comments on these forums, I went for a demo at my local dealer. I was reasonably impressed with what I heard, but I have to say, on getting my new toy home I was quite disappointed with the sound quality - at least for music. Films sounded far better then with my old Yamaha, but music, while improved over my old amp still sounded quite flat and lifeless. This has continued to be my experience with the unit and my old 'cheap' Mission music amp knocks the HK into a cocked hat in straight stereo.

In my experience - its horses for courses. My AV amp is great for films, but mediocre for movies. I've come to accept this as just another fact of life!.
 
Look wiring. If you loose bass, it could be that you have exchanged the + and - of one of the speakers...
The other possibility is that you need to read the "booklet" (Bible, I would say), and learn how to do all the bass management thing. It could well be that you have all the bass sent to sub, but you didn't say you have one...
Another possibility is that you regard as "flat" what is "good"... In my case, I changed from some terrible magnat entry-level floorstanders to a nice Castle Richmond 3i pair of speakers (that actually go as low as the floorstanders), and at first "sight", it looks like the Castle are flat, without bass. The point is that the other speakers were overloading the 80Hz region, giving a sense of "loudness" and filling the room with sound. But in the long term, they are unlistenable, because it goes deep into your head and it doesn't let you appreciate the different bass notes. This is what I experienced, but maybe it is not that, and you are already a experienced listener... I have just started!
Good luck! I have a Yam rx-v530, which should be much worse than yours, and I do not notice about such effects. The last possibility is that you got a faulty unit, but check first all that, specially bass management. I have read already about people who were loosing all the bass with dolby digital, but the stereo sound was ok. That also sounds like a bass management problem.
 
You should have a serious listen to the Marantz SR7400, ok, so it won't beat a dedicated stereo amp in the same price bracket, but is more than a match for budget stereo amps, and I would say it would give many mid priced amps a run for their money too :D

The sacrifice, it loses a little slam with movies, but, the dialogue and vocals are much clearer and sound better. If you only have space for one amp, the SR7400 is hard to beat.

Most other AV amps I have heard in the same price bracket have not measured up musically imho.
 
Thanks to all who posted a reply,

After returning home from an easier day at work and fresher ears, here's what I found.
Going back to the denon amp and playing cd's etc I have to say it sounded fantastic (to my ears). I then switched back to the yamie 750, the difference between the two is amazing, the detail of the music is huge when compaired to the old denon! I think as it was late last night I was unable to listen to the amp at a decent volume, with the old denon amp at low volumes a lot of the higher frequency noises where lost and that is not the case at all with the 750!

I think the problem is more with what I am used too aposed to the amplifier, having said that though I still think it is a little on the bright side, but this can be easily rectified by tweaking the bass up a bit.

What the main problem is 'change' we all get used to listening to certain amp or speakers with our favourite music, when we change, even for the better it does not seem an improvement as the sound created is different to what we get used to and percieve as normal.

I have bought a Kef KHT2005 set to use as my surround speakers, which I'll set up properly over the weekend. I thought I'd give them a quick go and listen to them in stereo. All I can say is that people who use these as there main front speakers are mad! and missing out big time, wouldn't swap ten of them for my old 601's!

Any thougts on a good dvd/sacd player to complemant the ax750? was looking at the dvds1500 but after the test in what hifi it's put me off the idea. Was thinking of the Denon 2910, but then do I need to spend as much as that, when for the price difference between that and the pioneer dv-575 you could have a damn good weekend. Anyone tried the pioneer with the 750 amp, will I be happy with the extra money I save or will I be better of going for something a bit more?

Thanks for your help
 
nam78 said:
I have bought a Kef KHT2005 set to use as my surround speakers, which I'll set up properly over the weekend. I thought I'd give them a quick go and listen to them in stereo. All I can say is that people who use these as there main front speakers are mad! and missing out big time, wouldn't swap ten of them for my old 601's!

I have seen a lot of owners who realise the centre or all 3 are weak on the kefs and end up buying a new centre or bigger main speakers


I do feel the Yamaha's need a few days running in to get the best out of them. My 1400 took a few days to 'loosen up'.

The pioneer should be a good match for the 750 but there has been a few comments about the build quality of the pioneer.
 
Yamaha is no good match to B&W...

I should try a Marantz SR4500/5500... or 5400/7400...

I also have a Denon mini system and know what you're saying...
 
Well isn't that always the way, was torn between the yamaha and the marantz sr7400. It's just im not so keen on the looks of the marantz, does the marantz sound a bit warmer?
 
Hi,
I find my Yamaha to be poor with music too, Great with DVD, but poor with music.
I'm thinking of replacing it with a Denon 3805
 
The only truly musical AVReceiver at this kind of budget are Marantz, NAD, Denon and Arcam... maybe H/K too

In pure music I prefer the Marantz 7400 over the Denon 3805...
 
Check the "Level" settings on the 750 also, I had a very similar problem before finding out the level setting (it's a button on the front of the amp and also the top left button on the arrow grouping on the remote) is not accessable from the normal "Manual" menu.

When I ran auto-setup on my 750 it took 5db off the front speakers in stereo mode. The level setting is different in multi-channel, 2-channel and straight modes so you have to set them correctly in all three modes. Btw I'm not talking about the level you access in the "Manual" settings - it's a separate setting you can use to raise/lower speaker groups individually for each amplification mode.

Put the amp into pure direct and press level - check what it's doing to your front speakers, mine were set to -5db and had no bass/midrange at all. I now have them on +3db and it sounds lovely. You can't access the manual menu in pure direct, but the level button will still work. Then do the same in Straight and whatever flavour of multichannel you prefer. I think the settings in the manual menu options affect only the multi-channel levels, not the stereo levels.

I've got all speakers set to small, crossover at 80Hz and the LFE is set to "Both" as I've got floorstanding fronts - you may get better results with LFE all to the sub if you connect up satellites.

I initially thought the amp was :censored: in stereo but agree with Dfour, it seemed much improved after a few days. After fixing the low front volume in stereo it started to sound awesome!
 
I agree with Mango Bob. I'm perfectly happy with the Yammie 750 in pure direct stereo as I've said previously. To my ears, it easily outperformed other entry-level but reputable dedicated stereo amps (in particular the Cambridge Audio Azur 640A) such that I was happy to sell the Azur.

reservoir51
 
reservoir51


Which speakers are you using? Both with the Cambridge and the Yamaha?
 
Falp, I was using Mission M5 series speakers (M53 fronts, M5c centre, M5ds rears & M5as sub) with a pair of old Mission M73 as surround backs. The Cambridge Azur 640A sounded dull, bland and uninspiring on the M53s compared with the Yammie RX-V650 and subsequently Yammie DSPAX750. I also purchased an Azur 540R as an upgrade to my ageing Pioneer multi-channel receiver and it sounded awful on stereo, which was why I went for the Yammie 650, and for it to outperform the Azur 640A - a dedicated stereo amp - was surprising and unexpected. I always thought that multichannel amps (like my THX Pioneer) would possess second-rate stereo capabilities, but with the new Yammie group of multichannel amps/receivers, this doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I don't know how well the Yammies would compare to mid-range dedicated stereo amps, as for all intents and purposes the Azurs are all but entry level, albeit with a good reputation, but I would have thought they would compare quite favourably.

reservoir51
 
Thanks 'mango bob' you were right -4dbs was taken away from the rears and to make matters worse LFE was set to sub only. As another member said the book is so important there are just so many settings! Now that the speakers are set correctly and the amp seems to have loosened up, I find the amp to be very good and extremely detailed in stereo :thumbsup:. However I do not find the Yamaha menu system 'user friendly' nor the remote :thumbsdow It will sure take some getting used to!!

I have a problem though when I connect the sub to the amlifier it 'buzzes', the strange thing is it will do this when disconected and weather the amp is on/off makes no difference! Any ideas is this an amp or sub problem??

Also I dont know weather to set the speaker distances to the correct measured distances, as the distances displayed from auto setup are a long way out? Im unsure wheather to leave them as it must be realitive as to what the mic picked up during setup?
 
nam78, glad things are going better with the amp. Have you decided on a DVD player yet?
 
thanks, still undecided, was thinking of maybe the yamaha DVDS-550 as its supposed to be ok musically?? and will match the amp. But having said that im still a little unhappy with amp, for a start the remote and manual are for the tuner version as well. Not that the manual matters but the remote I find to be poor.

The thing that the buzzing sub is annoying me, will even buzz when amp is disconected from the mains!!
 
Glad to hear that's sorted :D

I really would advise anyone with a DSP-AX750 to check these level settings out - they're not in the main menu and are at different levels in stereo and multichannel.

You've gotta love the 1980s remote! Seriously, I find it a bit clunky too. It's a good learning remote - I've taught it all my other bits of kit. But it's a fiddle changing remote mode between devices all the time. I tend to leave it in "amp" mode as the dvd buttons work also. I then just taught it my sky box and TV on signals on the TV and AV power buttons - that way you can turn everything on and off without changing mode. When it's on and set up I just use my sky remote.

Can't help with the buzzing sub I'm afraid, what model is it? Possibly some kind of earthing/electrical problem - it's probably not the '750. Do a search for "sub buzz" or something like that as there've been threads about that before. You could try looking in the sub forum specifically for your sub too.
 
I had the same problem! Had a Yam963 9and still have if anybody wants one) and bought the 750 to get component, lip sync etc. Liked the sound of the 963 but 750 sounds flat. Have realised that to get the full benefit I need to push the amp but due to the extra power and concern from the neighbours unable to do it. So its either new speakers or use it on night mode which I find improves the sound.
 
Hope you don't think I'm trying to change the topic here, but I have a query. I currently have an old Yammy (prologic machine) which i'm considering replacing with a 750. I have a set of Mission FS1 speakers (5.1) with all the cabling built into the walls of my living room. Can I run the 750 with 5.1 speakers or will I lose a vital part of the soundstage? If I do need the extra 2 speakers how should I fit them as the subwoofer only connects to the 5 satellites (and how would i feed the cabling to them)?

Cheers !

:smashin:
 

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