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switched to a surroundsound amp and lost all fidelity


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I have two cornwallS which sounded great until I replaced the Onkio amp with a yamaha surround sound amp rxv480. Now music sounds awful. Can someone recomend a good mid range surround sound amp for my cornwalls.

CURRENT SYSTEM

FRONT SPEAKERS KLISPCH CORNEWALLS.

CENTER SPEAKER KLIPSCH KV-3

REAR SPEAKERS KLIPSCH KG-5

WOOFER DEFINITY POWERFIELD 15

RECEIVER YAMAHA RXV 480

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Well, isn't one of the problems that it IS cheap? Not only are HT receivers tuners and 6/7 channel preamps, but they must have a pretty high performance computer system and 5 to 7 high performance power amplifiers inside. If you apply $200 per section you get $1600 to $2000 minimum. Notice that a $200 computer, a $200 preamp and a $400 stereo power amp are not expensive pieces. That's why $2500 to $4000 HT recievers are common.

I believe the "weak" surrounds is just a setup problem.

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plus it sounds like you are trying to listen to your music in 5-7 channel stereo, for cornwalls that is a no no!! those corns require clean signal, when you matrix the stereo sound into 5-7 channels you loose part of the signal to the other speakers, do ht, i 5-7 channel but go back to 2 channel for music, unless of course you are listening to sacd, dvd-a, where you are getting good dedicated signal to every channel, treat your corns like the kings they are12.gif

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as far as stereo vs 6 speaker or 7 speaker, Yamaha receivers, at least most of mine, have at least 6 channel stereo. It puts stereo mirrored from the front speakers to the rear and then a mono channel in the front and rear center. this sounds much better, to me, than ProLogic or ProLogic II for music.

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If all you are doing is listening to music then just get a 2 channel amp. Get seperates if you can afford it. It is more expensive but you get much better sound. More headroom more power quiter everything if they are good componets. Look for some good used stuff if you are on a budget. I have a denon 4802 receiver and it sounds good in both stereo and ht but it is expensive for alot of people.

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Most Yamahas (I had the 2070 AV unit) are harsh on the mids and especially the highs. I bought the Dennon 3802..and everything is warm and beautiful. I suggest trying a few different amps out on your system. Yamaha makes great stuff, some of the older stuff (I also have a Yamaha 610 II..Separate amp and Tuner, from around what 1980?? That, just in stereo, kicks the 2070 AV receivers a**.) But I think like a lot of people are saying on this topic... You can get a AV/Home Theatre reciever for 200 dollars today but you also get what you pay for. If you have the older heritage speakers you need something that is in the .05 watts to 15 watts area especially that is clean, dynamic, and gives you the thump your expecting to get. With a lot of todays speakers being less efficient and cheaper and cheaper to make. The low end dirty amps of 75 watts to 300 watts don't do our Klipsch speakers justice.

(I do not claim to know everything about audio or speakers. I am 41, and have heard a lot of systems and setups. Some very cheap, to really outlandish megga bucs!! What I think, more importantly, is what do you like? Rather than reading or listening to some 18 yr. old kid in a hi end audio store be-little you, on what some test in a magazine has to say, is the best. Just my 2 cents.)

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Sum of use younger bucks have been around the block once or twice too you know. Just because we are young doesn't mean that we don't know what we are talking about. Don't let a few bad apples reck it for all of use. There is alot of 40 sumthing guys out there that give more bad advice than some of use younger guys. I am sorry for taking this personaly but I have been defending myself from older so called wiser guys my whole life.

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Sheesh, for a grand, dunno...you may have to go "used" to get anything "decent". 15.gif

Part of the problem (I suspect) is you got one of the cheapo Yamahas. One gets the sound one pays for (except as pertains to maybe subwoofers).

I'm using a Yamaha DSP-A1 for music & HT and think it sounds just FINE. 3.gif No, not fine, GREAT. It was the top-of-the-line Yamaha at the time, was getting RAVE reviews in all the HT mags (which is why I got it), not to mention all the DSP modes which can make music sound MUCHO better than 2-channel mode (to me, at least). Plus you can dial BACK all the "echoes" associated with all surround sound modalities 'till you virtually can't hear 'em anymore....9.gif

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I don't even see a RX V480 listed on the Yamaha site.

http://yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/gAVR00010

The RX-V line is separated into 2 groups;

the 1300, 2300, 3300 are the higher end group with the 3300 at the top running 130W X 6 channels + 25W X 2 effect channels.

The 430, 530, 630 & 730 are the bottom half with the 430 the very bottom of the barrel. So, if that's the one you have, I'm not too surprised that it lacks something.

I'd suggest looking for a good used 2 channel amp for your stereo needs and relegate that RX_V to movies. With the plethora of people upgrading from 2 channel to 6 or 7 channel systems, there are plenty of choices on good 2 cahnnel amps on the used market at very cheap prices. Just do the research and know what you are buying.

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I recently bought a Denon 3803 A/V receiver to use for HT and 2channel. The sound is clean and smooth. It has a nice 2 channel mode that takes all the HT circuitry out and sounds great in HiFi 2 channel. It also fits nicely in the $1000 range.

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if you look around you should be able to find yamaha's last flagship receiver, the RX-V1 for around $1,000-1,100 new. Which is a steal considering it retailed for $2,700 when it first came out(this was the replacement for the DSP-A1). This processor is clean, powerful, and has excellent processing characteristics.

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I also use Yamaha and Cornwalls and can address your problem. As mentioned, surround sound amps have lots of goodies that take away from the manufacturers $ to put high quality components in low-mid priced units. One problem is that your signal is being routed through the digital domain for the purpose of adding 'effects'. Both of these will add 'grain' and reverb (multiple sound sources) which will muddy your pure sound. Many HT receivers also have horrendous damping factors, like 50 or 80, whereas most audiophile recognize that values of 150-300 are much better. In laymans terms damping factor is the ability of the amp to stop the woofer from 'ringing' after the sound pulse has ended. This would be particularly important with a speaker system with large heavy woofers like the Cornwall. Lastly is the lack of good tone controls. My Yamaha 850 has main in/out jacks which I use to interconnect a good dual 10 band eq to account for oddities in the way my Cornwalls interact with my room acoustics.

If you like Yamaha features, perhaps try a higher grade stereo amp, which will give you the damping factor you need. Also 2300 and 3300 HT units are better, with the 3300 allowing you to hook up auxilary equipment like EQ's. Both units have 'direct' modes, which allow you to take a stereo sound source and bypass all the DIGITAL processing, rendering a purer sound. You also get PHONO inputs on these units, unlike many other mid-priced HT receivers.

Hope this helps!

Michael

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