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I plan on a theatre room in the basement and that is where unit will be kept, but want to have in-ceiling speakers in the upstairs rooms. I've been using this unit for close to a year with fantasitic results using Klipsch speakers and a sony display(PS3 and Xbox 360). I'm building a house and want to wire areas for multizone listening. Anyone with similar setup. Would like to know how well it works with unit so far from other listening areas.
The Yamaha 3800 is a mulitasking beast. Sound reproduction is great. With it's 3 zone capability, I can, foir exampl, simultaneously listen to my USB thumbdrive on my porch, radio/tuner in the kitchen and a movie on 7.1 stereo in the family room. It's a breeze to hook up by using its array of HDMI ports. Remote control is slightly confusing but not overwhelming. I would recommend this to my friends and have sold this unit to my customers.
The receiver is basically now the equal to the newer 1900 less a few features that you may or may not need. Edit.
I did upgrade my receiver to the latest firmware and did test with one of the BD titles known to have the pop issue, passed. I also tested with a full rgb source to look at the btb/wtw issue but if you do calibrate our tv/monitor correctly it is not a really big deal and the bd titles I have tried do not show any issues nor via my pc in most situations but I can produce problems if I tried to increase gamma or brightness to high on subject matter that uses full rgb.
I recently upgraded to the Yamaha 6190 ( same as the 1800 ) a week ago from another Yamaha receiver, I have previously owned other brand receivers like the onkyo 604 and pioneers as well.right off the speaker connections are very close together and using premade speaker wires bare or with gold crimp on connectors is difficult, banana plugs are the way to go here. I did increase the levels to compensate for the loudness and that seemed to help but it was a slight letdown in what seems a generally fine unit.
So next I popped in a music cd and immediately noticed that the difference in loudness between this and some older units, the 1800's inputs are slightly less sensitive than some other receivers and does not sound as loud. While not as loud it is alot clearer and supports all the latest audio formats that you will generally need.
Yamaha has released a firmware update to fix the BTB/WTW clipping issue, the receiver now passes full rgb via hdmi or component, it still will not upscale any signal input via hdmi or do OSD via HDMI but this is not really needed if your feeding it an HD signal ( why mess with the clean HD signal ). There is still an issue with the presence speakers not outputting any sound when bitstreaming dts master audio to the receiver but if you choose any of the matrix modes they work.So I have my sony 42" 1080p lcd, my bluray player, directtv, PC and cable box all into the receiver, no sync issues and no problems, it does get a bit hot with the volume cranked up loud ( I mean really loud ) but no worse than any other receiver so far ( alot cooler than an onkyo ).So now what was a great bargain just got even better.
This is perfect for next-gen AV, as it can decode/handle any advanced multichannel format there is, including Blu-ray, HD-DVD, SACD, DVD-A, etc. For me, this isn't an issue - I have that functionality with the PS3 - but for some, it may be a requirement and hopefully this will eliminate some of the confusion due to the misleading product description on this page. I also haven't thoroughly tested out this receiver's video upconversion, but it seems OK not great. It seems (at least to me) to have a fuller sound than the RX-V659 did, which I attribute to the additional reserve power this unit has under most conditions. But of the most importance to potential buyers is the RX-V1800's ability to decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, along with any older encoding method you can think of. I had been planning to replace the old unit a few months down the road, but when I stumbled into one of these brand-new-in-box at a large electronics superstore for an almost surreal $599, I took the plunge. It has multichannel analog inputs for SACD/DVD-A.
A metal faceplate hides many of the on-deck controls when closed, giving the item a smooth and uncluttered profile.I have thoroughly enjoyed this receiver thus far, especially playing SACDs and Blu-rays in lossless 5.1 multichannel sound. The RX-V1800 has every connection type you can think of, highlighted by 4 HDMI inputs/1 output and 4 optical inputs/2 outputs. The vertical layout of the terminals can make it difficult to use traditional wiring, and for many banana cables will be an easier way to go. but I still haven't figured out how to control the finer points via remote. After hooking up my Yamaha DVD-S1800 upscaling universal DVD/DVD-A/SACD player with component video in to the RX-V1800, I can safely tell you the upscaling to 1080p is very, very good.Look and feel is actually quite nice (this is sometimes a problem for Yamaha as their products tend to be built for function above form), with a black brushed aluminum front and ample ventilation grilling on top. This is perfect for me: I can run my PS3 through a single HDMI cable to the receiver out to the TV in full 1080p video, with Linear PCM/TrueHD multichannel audio humming through my Polks when I play Blu-rays. There's an iPod jack for the optional Yamaha YDS-11SL iPod Dock, which I also purchased. It also supports HDMI 1.3a and can pass full 1080p.
It can pump out 130W x 7 RMS, which is as much power as most normal people will ever need. There are still plenty of component inputs and analog inputs for those with older devices that do not support digital connections. I don't have space for 7.1 right now, but when I do I feel pretty good about bringing this receiver along with me. It's a pretty big piece of equipment, measuring 17" W x 17" D x 7" H. Pulling it out of the box, the build quality is exceptional; the RX-V1800 weighs a good 40 lbs.
You can wire a total of 9 speakers + sub using this receiver, which is basically standard 7.1 with 2 additional "presence" speakers added to the left and right fronts (only 7 can play simultaneously, however).Just to clarify - this receiver is NOT network ready. The speaker terminals are made of metal; they are well-built and feel solid. If not, you can get much of the same functionality with slightly less output from a Yamaha RX-V863 for a lot less. I haven't used the second "zone" remote, so I won't comment on that.
And this is coming from a someone who has owned (and liked) Yamaha components in the past. In addition, there's a port for XM connection (I do not have XM so I can't comment on it). I recently replaced my old surround set up with a Polk 5.1 configuration, using RTI-A7 fronts, RTI-A3 rears, a CSI-A6 center and a PSW505 sub. It offers just about any features you could possibly want, and it was an unbelievable value for me considering the deal I stumbled into.
Everything feels very solid, and Yamaha claims its ToP-ART design technique creates virtually no additional signal distortion to incoming/outgoing signals. I had been running these through a Yamaha RX-V659, which is a very nice receiver, but I wanted something with a bit more high-current ability to drive the new speakers. For an amateur audiophile like me, it's fantastic. DVDs played through the PS3 connected via HDMI to the RX-V1800 to my Samsung LN46A550 46" 1080p LCD HDTV appear to be of similar quality as compared to connecting the PS3 via HDMI straight into my TV (the TV also has a decent upconverter). Setup itself is not very difficult (setting levels, speaker distance, etc).
As with the speakers, I plan on keeping this receiver for the foreseeable future, as it's somewhat future-proofed and can be scaled to any size room (or rooms) I would ever need. As such it's perfectly equipped to run multizone, configured with either one (7.1), two (5.1 in zone 1, stereo in zone 2) or three different zones (3.1 in zone 1, stereo in zones 2 & 3). There are a host of sound field settings available on the RX-V1800, some of which emulate concert halls, arenas, and clubs, others which are specifically tailored to TV/Movies/Video Games. There is no ethernet port, and there isn't a USB port for connecting external hard drives, etc. Make sure you have space for this. I really like the fact that the different zones are powered by separate amps.The remote control is standard Yamaha - in other words a mess.
I did a lot of research on a number of different products from Denon, Onkyo, HK, Pioneer and the like, but I ended up settling on this one. In terms of power, the RX-V1800 is a beast. The different settings are too numerous to list, and I haven't had the item long enough to finish reading the entire manual (which is just as monstrous as this receiver). Overall this receiver is excellent. This setting really makes SACDs and DVD-As shine. I also wanted a receiver with HDMI inputs that handle both audio and video for the best possible sound and picture for HD A/V sources.
EDIT: 1/9/09 - after carefully examining the manual, the upscaling only works if you hook the incoming device up with component, S-video or analog connections. HDMI passes signal as-is. This shuts down all other processes (including the display) except the amplifier and sends the signal direct to the speakers with no additional processing. I typically only use these programs with jazz and classical CDs - the Concert Hall and Jazz Club sound field programs are numerous and quite nice, adding surround ambience to stereo discs, which I like. My favorite settings however are Straight for AV and especially Pure Direct for Audio only signals. Looking at the back of this thing may cause headaches for some.
I know I'm not taking full advantage of all of this receiver's capabilities, but I consider that a good thing. It can handle incoming decoded high-resolution PCM. These are marginally useful. It's really let my Polks show off their large dynamic range in a new way. Recommended, especially if you can get it for below list.
i will write more on this soon.Guys if anyone can help me setup my mono woofer on this, i would appreciate it. Can't get it to work.
been waiting forever for it. i had just got my hands on this unit finally.
i am struggling a bit with the woofer still. My initial thoughts are: awesome.
the images on my Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 720 720P HD 1600 Lumens look just amazing via the V1800. BUt overall i like it.
The following are the items i am using with this AV:Yamaha RX-V1800BL 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black)Polk Audio Monitor Series CS2 Center Channel Speaker (Single, Cherry)Yamaha YST-SW325 8-Inch Advanced YST II and QD-Bass Subwoofer, BlackFront and rear channels are still stock Panasonic speakers Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD - Blu-Ray disc player - upscalingVenturer HD DVD Player - SHD7000OPPO DV-980H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI and 7.1CH AudioApple MA711LL/A TV with 40GB Hard Drive
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