How to set up your AV receiver and get the best sound

[What Hi-Fi?]

Bought a new AV receiver? We're here to gsfopjeyWrziDF2dVkT524e you through the whole set-up process to get your home cinema up and running.

How to set up your AV receiver and get the best sound : Read more

 

[Arron]

Once you've done what the article suggests, get yourself a good soundstage. Put the following video on loop:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N02Y7vaVDNo


Now toe (angle) your speakers in so they are pointing directly at your ears in your no.1 sweet spot. Sit and listen.
Toe your speakers out a few degrees. Sit and listen.
Keep doing this until you get a sharp focus on the audio soundstage. You might go past the best point so toe in/out as needed. Go with equal toe-in and only use different angles if you can't find the stage. -- If you cannot get the stage to focus, the speakers normally want equal toe in/out but room reflections could mean you have to play around with different angles. Sit, close your eyes and listen. If the "centre" sounds to the left, toe the left speaker out a tiny bit and vice versa.
Re-run the amp calibration (because you will have changed the room reflections).

For me, the focus is with a toe out of about 10 degrees. Your speakers might be different. My system was already a seriously good listen but this made a genuine leap forward in audio enjoyment and made me want to listen to a ton of music. Total time spent adjusting was less than 15mins.

"We're here to gsfopjeyWrziDF2dVkT524e you through" -- phew! I needed a gsfopjeyWrziDF2dVkT524e 🙂

 

[nick.knp]

Hi Arron,
I bought yamaha yht 1840 AVR in india 2 years back. It comes without bluetooth and YPAO (Automatic audio calibration).
There is another version which comes with these features missing in 1840.

Is it possible to add these features(bluetooth, usb and automatic caliberation) in YHT-1840?
I'm providing the links for both AVRs of amazon.in.

Yamaha YHT 1840, Yamaha YHT 3072

Please help.

 

[Arron]

Hi Nick,
I'm probably the wrong person to ask in some senses but...

Bluetooth: think sideways. What do you want to connect? Is there a different way to connect it? E.g. if it's a phone, get an Aux cable to connect it to the amp.
YPAO: don't worry, YPAO isn't much use on the cheaper Yamaha amps. It takes a bit longer but put on some audio with a high dynamic range that you know well (I often use Pink Floyd - Time) and use your ears. Don't bother trying to make it "right", concentrate on making it right for you.
USB: again, it depends what you're trying to connect. Would a lot of what you want be fixed by getting a "smart" Blu-Ray player or a streaming device? E.g. if you want to watch movies off a USB stick, maybe you can stream them from your PC to the player or streaming device using Plex. (Plex is awesome and free.)

Hope this helps,
Arron

 

[Scaadoo]

Is there a Dolby Atmos av receiver with mostly HDMI inputs that isn't a big & heavy object? It'd surely be a big seller with those having soundbar systems

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Is there a Dolby Atmos av receiver with mostly HDMI inputs that isn't a big & heavy object? It'd surely be a big seller with those having soundbar systems

Please start another thread in the relevant section - this is over a year old and the sub-forum is not much visited.

 

[Scaadoo]

Please start another thread in the relevant section - this is over a year old and the sub-forum is not much visited.

These comments are coming up under a WhatHiFi? piece posted today

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/how-to-set-your-av-receiver-and-get-best-sound

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

These comments are coming up under a WhatHiFi? piece posted today

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/how-to-set-your-av-receiver-and-get-best-sound

Clearly they've updated it, I see. But point 2 stands - you are unlikely to get a reply here. Up to you.

 

[Arron]

Is there a Dolby Atmos av receiver with mostly HDMI inputs that isn't a big & heavy object? It'd surely be a big seller with those having soundbar systems

What you're asking for is something that defies the laws of physics. Amps are big and heavy. At least, the good ones are. And you need eleven of them for an Atmos receiver. And a transformer big enough to power them. And the circuits to direct all that power. And a backplane big enough to hold all the connections. And a case strong enough to house it all.