My Yamaha RX-A2020 review

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Oldboy

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RobinKidderminster said:
CA not listing 2020 now. 2010 at £999. Best price Ive found around £1500. You have a real bargain.

Yep I had a quick look over the weekend and they are only showing the 1020 and 3020 now. At £799 I know I got a real bargain and I'm so glad I bought it despite the month long delay, If I had not acted that day and placed a deposit I would be kicking myself now for sure! Got to say that the 2020 just gets better with extended listening and there is only one thing I would change...it doesn't carry the latest Dolby or DTS codecs such as Dolby Pro Logic 2 Z or DTS Neo X as all you get is Pro Logic 2 and Neo: 6 Cinema which is a shame but it's the only gripe I can find. In every other area i'm extremely happy with the receiver...still strange ommisions though, no?
 

Son_of_SJ

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Hello Oldboy,

Did you ever try using the Front high speakers in Bi-Amp mode rather than in Presence mode? No physical unplugging is needed, it's in the Configuration menu under Setup. Just a thought, you may well prefer the Presence mode anyway.

Oldboy said:
Got to say that the 2020 just gets better with extended listening and there is only one thing I would change...it doesn't carry the latest Dolby or DTS codecs such as Dolby Pro Logic 2 Z or DTS Neo X as all you get is Pro Logic 2 and Neo: 6 Cinema which is a shame but it's the only gripe I can find. In every other area i'm extremely happy with the receiver...still strange ommisions though, no?

For some reason best known to themselves over the last two or three years Yamaha have steadfastly refused to implement Dolby 2z or Audyssey, both of which have the front height mode. The same goes for the new Neo X. I guess they want you to use Yamaha's own Presence mode, as you yourself have been doing!
 

Oldboy

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Son_of_SJ said:
Hello Oldboy,

Did you ever try using the Front high speakers in Bi-Amp mode rather than in Presence mode? No physical unplugging is needed, it's in the Configuration menu under Setup. Just a thought, you may well prefer the Presence mode anyway.

For some reason best known to themselves over the last two or three years Yamaha have steadfastly refused to implement Dolby 2z or Audyssey, both of which have the front height mode. The same goes for the new Neo X. I guess they want you to use Yamaha's own Presence mode, as you yourself have been doing!

No I didn't Son_of_SJ and to be completely honest I forgot all about it...memory of a goldfish i'm afraid. I will give it a go at the weekend as I've got some DIY on the go at the moment so not got much free time but I will make a point of trying it out and report back, thanks for the reminder though as it may well sound better although I have to say i'm still over the moon with the effect of the presence setting as it makes the front soundstage huge and involving and really helps with surround integration.

I have no idea why Yamaha don't integrate the latest Dolby, DTS or Audyssey sound formats as they are designed for front presence set ups but I have to say the Yamaha sound formats do a very good job with the front presence speakers and are very convincing so it's not a major loss just a bit confusing why they don't offer consumers the choice of using other processing options???

Will report back when I get the chance to test the Bi-Amp mode presuming I can work out how to switch it of course :grin:
 
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BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW

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Finally, I've found a bit of time to start playing with the 2020 to see what this baby can really do, and already, it's driving me bonkers. The instructions leave me baffled, and that's when I can actually find the section I need on this paperless pain in the a*se.

I can see I'll have to have a good read through this thread to try and find some help, and if that fails, I'll be back to ask loads of annoying questions.

Setting Scene........
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Oldboy

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BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW said:
Finally, I've found a bit of time to start playing with the 2020 to see what this baby can really do, and already, it's driving me bonkers. The instructions leave me baffled, and that's when I can actually find the section I need on this paperless pain in the a*se.

I can see I'll have to have a good read through this thread to try and find some help, and if that fails, I'll be back to ask loads of annoying questions.

Setting Scene........
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Don't worry BBB I'm well up to speed now and have got my head round it so ask away and I'm certain I can help you figure it out, you are right about the manual though as even the most basic of operations are hidden away in simply ridiculous places but it's far better than my previous Dennon and Onkyo manuals that were simply useless and had no structure to them and were obviously translated from Google Translate or similar. They made the Yamaha seem like a breeze believe me.

Happy to help if I can mate so just post here ;)
 

Oldboy

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Son_of_SJ said:
Hello Oldboy,

Did you ever try using the Front high speakers in Bi-Amp mode rather than in Presence mode? No physical unplugging is needed, it's in the Configuration menu under Setup. Just a thought, you may well prefer the Presence mode anyway.

To my eternal shame Son_of_SJ I completely forgot about the bi-amp mode until BBB posted about his woes with the amp and have now switched it over in the speaker set up menu, it was strange as there was a lound click when I switched it over so I presume I'm using the right setting...7ch BI-AMP in the power amp assign menu?? I can't find any other option so I presume it's correct as it's in the speaker manual setup menu.

Going to fire up a few movies this evening and switch between the two modes to see which is better and will report back with my findings.
 
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BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW

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Thanks Oldboy, but I finally managed to work out the Scene problem for myself, though the manual only helped slightly.

I have a theory, that the more expensive an electrical item is, the more complicated it is, and the less help you get from the manual (if you even get one).

There's so much to this receiver that I haven't even touched yet, but I'm more or less up to speed on the things I need at the moment

Two questions though, what does VIDEO ADJUSTMENT actually do, and how can I watch the tv while playing a vinyl record?
 

Oldboy

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BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW said:
Thanks Oldboy, but I finally managed to work out the Scene problem for myself, though the manual only helped slightly.

I have a theory, that the more expensive an electrical item is, the more complicated it is, and the less help you get from the manual (if you even get one).

There's so much to this receiver that I haven't even touched yet, but I'm more or less up to speed on the things I need at the moment

Two questions though, what does VIDEO ADJUSTMENT actually do, and how can I watch the tv while playing a vinyl record?

Yes I'm afraid some patience is required here as the answers are there in the manual but there are so many settings that it becomes a matter of trial and error in the end. The scene stuff is actually very easy once you get used to it and gives you a one button press for each input.

For video adjustment refer to page 101 in the manual for a full description (and page 120) but basically it means that if you are using the amps video processing (I don't as I try to have as little processing of sound and video as possible) then you can select a preset to any individual input, you can adjust these to your taste first then apply them to each input individually.

As for watching TV and playing a record I presume this is the same as when I want to listen to a CD and have the TV on, I don't use vinyl but I presume the same principal applies...turn off HDMI control on the amp for this and you should be able to do both with no issue just remember to turn it back on for movies as it helps with lip sync.

You may also be able to use the audio select option in the options menu although I've yet to try it myself, if you select the apropriate input (analog I presume) then that should work also and is far easier if it does.
 

RobinKidderminster

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You will be telling us next that you can tap yr head and rub yr tummy.

I wish Yamaha (and no doubt others) could.explain how to use the more complex settings such as room size, reverb & liveliness. Whilst their function is explained, I have no idea how they can be successfully adjusted in my particular room. At the same time, like you oldboy, I mostly try the least processed signal path. Conversly, it makes u wonder why these settings are available.
 

Oldboy

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RobinKidderminster said:
You will be telling us next that you can tap yr head and rub yr tummy.

I wish Yamaha (and no doubt others) could.explain how to use the more complex settings such as room size, reverb & liveliness. Whilst their function is explained, I have no idea how they can be successfully adjusted in my particular room. At the same time, like you oldboy, I mostly try the least processed signal path. Conversly, it makes u wonder why these settings are available.

Nope still can't do that...It takes enough of my concentration just to type on the forum let alone multi task :grin:

Totally agree with those sound field settings, the effect of them is explained in the manual but nowhere near enough detail to get them just right for your particular room or taste...I wonder if the YPAO auto calibration adjusts these though and therefore renders any tweaking to be minor??

The route of least processed has always been my preferred route with anything AV but some things do have their place, for example currently I'm switching between Parametric EQ settings to see which is best...I left it on YPAO Flat when I first set the amp up as I'm sure I read somewhere that Flat was the best setting but YPAO Natural seems a bit better to me so far although I've yet to give my test discs a run.

I think some of the settings are really useful with my front presence set up as the sound programs do a great job of using them and integrating them into a soundtrack so you get the extra height of the surround field, when I watched Star Trek Into Darkness the other night it did sound brilliant with the front presence speakers and the sound program set to sci-fi. As a rule I think alot of the settings are there to accommodate a miriad of different rooms and speaker set ups so that you get a better sense of surround sound although alot of it seems pointless and just introduces processing where it's not needed...it does sell units though as you can paste it all over advertising and in store display material ;)
 

Oldboy

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RobinKidderminster said:
All agreed. Ill keep eyes on the thread to share some more. Nice to see BB too. See u have a WD TV too. I recon it jas good sq with flac. Agreed?

Cheers

Please do share some more. Yep got a WD TV too and it's been the most useful £60 I ever spent as it means I can get all that lovely US TV to watch well before it hits the UK (if ever) and has meant I have been able to watch Breaking Bad, it was worth the £60 just to see the final season of that in all honesty.

I can't say I've listened to anything FLAC based on it though, I do use FLAC files on my Nexus 4 phone as it's the best way to listen to high quality music without the files getting too large (I'm limited to 16gb) so I'm very familiar with the format. Will give it a listen at some point and see how it performs if I can get it to play ball with my PC, if not I will throw a few files onto the NAS drive and try it that way.
 

RobinKidderminster

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Guess ob we use the wdtvlive in different ways. I have no idea about US tv but use SkyHD. I rip cds to the wdtv in flac and all my photos and videos from my camera. A little video editing, convert to wmv and drop them onto the wdtv. As far as the Yamaha is concerned, although I am happy, I can't break a lifetime habit of tweaking, trying to extract the last gram of performance. I maintain that the room/acoustics always imposes an upper limit on any system. I figure that reproducing an orchestra or band in a typical domestic room is as much about 'fooling' the brain as reproducing true fidelity.

I'll stay tooned! Cheers
 

Oldboy

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Yes we certainly do use them very differently but it just goes to show how versatile a device it is. I can't post on here just how I go about getting all that delicious US TV as it's very much frowned upon if you see what I mean and mods would delete it.

You are not alone when it comes to tweaking though, just lately I've been diving in with more determination to squeeze out the last drop of performance from the Yamaha. I did a quite thorough install when I got it but I've now gone back to see what else I can do to get a bit more out of it and once I've done that I will report back and hopefully between both of our tweaking we can get it singing a bit more.
 

Mtenga

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I'm currently using 5, 8ohm monitor audio apex speakers with my 2020. Does anyone use 4 ohm floorstanders? Presumably this amp will drive those easily. I'm musing adding the monitor audio silver series as fronts specifically.
 
Mtenga said:
MUSICRAFT said:
Hi Mtenga

Which Silver Series model please?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

I'm considering 8 or 10. Precious little info around on the 10 at the moment.

Hi Mtenga

Thanks for your reply.

I haven't used Silver 8's or Silver 10's with an Aventage RX-A2020 however i have used an Aventage RX-A1020 with both models without issues. Therefore i would say the superior Aventage RX-A2020 will also be fine Silver 8's and Silver 10's.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft
 

Mtenga

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MUSICRAFT said:
Mtenga said:
MUSICRAFT said:
Hi Mtenga

Which Silver Series model please?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

I'm considering 8 or 10. Precious little info around on the 10 at the moment.

Hi Mtenga

Thanks for your reply.

I haven't used Silver 8's or Silver 10's with an Aventage RX-A2020 however i have used an Aventage RX-A1020 with both models without issues. Therefore i would say the superior Aventage RX-A2020 will also be fine Silver 8's and Silver 10's.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

I've read the 8 is quite an improvement over the 6 but what about the 10 over the 8? The 10 seems to be a new unknown quantity.
 
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BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW

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@ Oldboy

The scene buttons are still causing me trouble.

I set all the settings I wanted for playing records, then held down the scene 4 button until it said the settings were set, but if I watch Sky tv (where I have changed the settings to increase the dialogue level and turned adaptive DRC on) and then press scene 4 to listen to records again, it keeps the adaptive DRC on, and dialogue level at +3, even though I set scene 4 without those levels. Can I get over this?

Another problem I have, is I occasionally get little split second gaps of no sound when watching Sky tv, but only on Sky tv. It's infrequent, but when it does happen, it keeps happening every minute or so, but then it can go days without happening at all. :?

Any help would be appreciated.
 

Oldboy

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BBB,

With the scene buttons I can help...I never use the hold down the button method so try setting the scenes by using the scene menu when you press the on screen menu button on the remote. Select the scene you wish to save or load and press the arrow up key on the remote where you will see the option to save, load or rename a scene. I have never had an issue when using the scene function in this way so give it a try this way, make your changes as required then save it this way, if the changes don't stick then try loading them from the same screen and see if that helps. If none of that works then I have no idea what's happening, is the firmware up to date and running version 1.60?

The Sky issue sounds like an issue with the Sky box to me, either the box isn't sending the audio correctly to the amp or there is some sort of conflict between the two units. How is the audio sent to the amp, via optical or HDMI? I know there have been some issues with Sky boxes and the way they deal with sound but I thought they were all resolved, have you contacted Sky for advice? If it was the 2020 at fault here I would expect the issue to continue across all sources, of course the usual things should be tried like changing connections and leads etc but I'm sure you have tried all that eh.
 
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BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW

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Thanks for the advice Oldboy, will work through your suggestions tomorrow.
 
B

BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW

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Thanks Oldboy

I think I've sorted the Scene problem (though it still confuses me a bit), I've used a combination of your way and pressing and holding the Scene button, and I think I've got there.

What I have managed to sort, is a problem I had with getting sound to pass through so I could watch the tv without turning the receiver on, which will please my wife.

Now to try and sort out bookmarking radio stations. :?
 
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BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW

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BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW said:
Now to try and sort out bookmarking radio stations. :?

OK, I've managed to do that, though it seems a stupid system.
 

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