RMcKenny

E Allard, My problem with the new Yamaha's was not a brightness problem. If anything, I thought the RX-V3000 and the RX-V1 had muted highs to the point that dialog was hard to understand. My older Yamaha RX-V2095 sounds great with all of my klipsch speakers. It is currently driving my second system which is all Klipsch (KG2.2V and KG 1.2s). It previously drove my main system with the KLF-C7 center and Chorus II mains. I too have heard that some of the lower end Yamaha's can sound overly bright or harsh. Not sure where the breakover point is in their lineup though. Relative to your question on burn-in. Speakers definately require break in time. They will sound more musical as time progresses. Not too sure about electronics, however, since there is no moving parts there is really nothing to break in. I'm sure there are differing opinions though. I brought up the receiver issue because I always had thought that amps/receivers sounded pretty similar and that the main difference is speakers. While speakers do make the biggest difference, there is also a huge difference in amps/receivers. If your dealer has a liberal exchange policy you may want to try some swaps until you get the sound you like (speakers and receivers). I have made all of my purchases in the last several years at Tweeter and they have been extremely flexible. Good Luck! Bob

Are you sure it is the sound of the speakers you don't like and not the Yamaha? I have had Yamaha and Klipsch speakers for years and always loved the way they sounded together until I purchased one of the new Yamaha line, the RX-V3000. All of the sudden my trusty old Klipsch KLF-C7 which used to sound great sounded like it was comming out of a hole or something. Also, dialog was no longer clear. I originally thought I had blown something in my center channel. As it turned out, nothing was wrong with the speaker. I just didn't like the sound of the new Yamaha. For this and other reasons I decided to upgrade to the their flagship RX-V1. Same closed in sound and poor dialog inteligibility. Not good. I finally took the RX-V1 back to my dealer and tried a Denon AVR-4802. Bingo! Solved my problem. All sounds great! Dialog is crystal clear and the soundstage is totally open. Bottom line... You may want to try a Denon AVR-3802 or 2802 which are somewhat equivalent to the RX-V1000. Also, you made a comment that your Yamaha sounded underpowered. As efficient as Klipsch speakers you should be able to crank them louder than you can ever listen to with 100 WPC. Not sure what is going on there. Bob

Thanks guys! Sounds like I should try the RB-3's first. Bob

I have recently purchased a Denon AVR-4802 and am trying to decide which type of speakers will be most appropriate for my THX EX surround back L & R. My home theater is rectangular with a width of 13' and a length of 18'. My mains are Chorus II and my center is a KLF-C7. I currently have a pair of RB-5's mounted in the rear corners about 7' up on the walls for my rear surrounds. I am looking at adding RS-3's on the sides and either RS-3's or RB-3's for the back surrounds. My plan would be to keep the RB-5's for use with music and then switch to the RS-3's(or RS-3's/RB-3's) for movies. I notice that THX's newest recommendation is for direct radiating speakers for the back surrounds which would favor the RB-3's. Denon's manual with the receiver shows dipoles for the back surrounds which would favor the RS-3's. Anyone have any knowledge or experience they could share? Thanks! Bob

Kain, The 3000 is not bright at all IMHO. See my other post. Feature wise the Denon blows it away: Denon AVR-4802 125W X 7 No front effect speakers for DSP modes THX Ultra Certified THX Modes DTS Discrete/Matrix & THX EX 2 Surround Back channels (THX recommends) Dolby Prologic II DTS NEO Supports two sets of surround speakers in addition to 2 back surrounds - 1 direct radiating set for music - 1 set dipole set for movies Atkis touch screen remote Yamaha RXV-3000 100W X 6, 25 X 2 for front effects Front Effects speakers for DSP modes No THX certification or modes Matrix decoding of back surround channel only Supports only one surround back channel Dolby Prologic - no DPL II No DTS Neo Only supports one set of surround speakers Standard button remote Bob

Kain, I just purchased a 4802 and hooked it up to my system about 1 1/2 weeks ago. I am extremely impressed. I converted my upstairs game room to a dedicated home theater with a 110" Stewart grayhawk screen and a Sony VPL-VW10HT. My downstairs system consisted of Klipsch Chorus II mains and a KLF-C7 center driven by a Yamaha RXV-2095. I have always been very happy with this combination so I moved my speakers and reciever to my new dedicated home theater along with some new RB-5's for my surrounds and was still very pleased with the sound. Well I then got the upgrade bug since I needed a new receiver for my downstairs system so I first bought a RXV-3000 for the new dedicated home theater upstairs with the 2095 going downstairs. This was my 4th Yamaha AV receiver. I have 3 others that still work great. The first RXV-3000 that I brought home from Tweeter had center channel problems so I exchanged it for another. The second one had audio dropout problems as did the third one with my Sony 9000ES DVD player. I also noticed that the dialog from my center channel just didn't seem right anymore. So I ordered and replaced both my tweeter diaphram and my crossover in my KLF-C7. After going thru three 3000's I finally upgraded to a RX-V1 (which now lists for $400 dollars less than the Denon 4802). The RX-V1 upgrade fixed the dropout problem but I still noticed that the center channel didn't sound quite right. I would find myself missing words here and there in movies which never happend before the upgrade. I finally unhooked my 2095 from my downstairs system and did an A-B comparison between it and the V1. The A-B comparison yielded some interesting results. The RX-V1 clearly sounded better on music using it's internal DAC's vs the 2095 but dialog from the 2095 was much clearer and more natural sounding -- I didn't have a center channel speaker problem at all it was just the way the new Yamaha's sounded. The V1 is not "bright" at all. In fact it sounds very dull to me on dialog like the voices are comming out of a hole or something. I think this is a speaker dependant thing. Bottom line is I don't like the sound of the new Yamaha's for movies with my Klipsch. I then brought home a new Denon AVR-4802 to compare to the Yamaha. No comparison on movies. The dialog on the Denon is much clearer than the RX-V1 or RXV-3000 and even slightly clearer than my older RXV-2095. On music however the RX-V1 does sound better than the 4802. Also the RX-V1 build quality appears to be better but my main application is home theater, therefore the Denon wins. Plus the Yamaha's dialog shortfalls are much greater than the difference in music quality between the two IMO. It is taking me a little getting used to the Denon after using Yamaha for all of these years but I am extremely impressed and happy with it's performance. I recommend it highly over the new Yamaha's (with Klipsch speakers). The Denon's DPLII is also a major improvement vs standard DPL. Now I'm looking at buying 4 RS-3's to balance out my surround duties with the Denon. Bob

I just purchased a RX-V3000 but after going through three of them with audio dropout problems I finally upgraded to the RX-V1. It works perfectly. Feature wise the only thing that you lose going to the V1 is two optical outs vs one, all channel stereo mode and assignable digital inputs. The binding posts are the same as far as I can tell with the exception that the ones on the V1 are gold plated. The V1 has many-many features that the 3000 does not including L,R,& Mono subwoofer outputs, Cinema EQ, a Free Pronto remote (RAV-2000), built in RF demodulator for LD's, major copper shielding, more inputs, more power, lower distortion, more DSP modes, superior DSP processing, burr-brown dac's for all 10 channels (including one for each of the L & R subwoofer outs), 100 MHZ bandwidth component video switching (vs. 30 MHZ for V3000), a better FM tuner, etc. I would have been happy with the V3000 if I could have gotten one that was glitch free. The dropout problem I having was with my Sony DVP-9000ES DVD player on dolby digital material. About every two hours or so the receiver would drop the audio for a split second. I tried another 9000ES and still had the same problem so the issue was with the V3000s. Also, my older receiver that I upgraded from was a RX-V2095 and it was perfect with the 9000ES as is the RX-V1. Bob