Yamaha RXV-1065 upgrade

[litesport]

After at least 12 faithful years I would like to retire my Yamaha RXV-1065 receiver.
Do I need to… No. Do I want to, yes. I am getting FoMO with regards to new technology.

Budget is say £1000 max. I will be using my equally old KEF Eggs and subwoofer.

So as I am out of touch and trying to quickly catch up my reading and researching, what sort of bells and whistles should I be looking for?
Do phones connect now via wifi or bluetooth to stream music?
Can phones/ipads stream movies?

Yes, I am that out of touch.

Looking forward to your recommendations.

 

[Arron]

After at least 12 faithful years I would like to retire my Yamaha RXV-1065 receiver.
Do I need to… No. Do I want to, yes. I am getting FoMO with regards to new technology.

Budget is say £1000 max. I will be using my equally old KEF Eggs and subwoofer.

Anything that costs only £1000 will not sound as good as your 1065

I bought a Yam 765 new when they came out for ~£500. Many years later I bought a Denon 2800 for ~£700 on the idea that it was nearly a decade newer, more expensive and amp tech should be better. It sounded crap in comparison

The current equivalent to your 1065 is the Yamaha RX-A4A which is ~£1300.

 

[litesport]

Anything that costs only £1000 will not sound as good as your 1065

I bought a Yam 765 new when they came out for ~£500. Many years later I bought a Denon 2800 for ~£700 on the idea that it was nearly a decade newer, more expensive and amp tech should be better. It sounded crap in comparison

The current equivalent to your 1065 is the Yamaha RX-A4A which is ~£1300.

Thank you for your reply. Rather stupid of me to think of bells and whistles and NOT think about sound quality. I just assumed that after 10 years technology must have moved on so far that the sound of a new amp would be so much better than my current. Well, as there is nothing wrong with my current set up, maybe I should wait for another 10 or so years and see how things progress.

Out of my budget, but how good are these? Denon AVC-X3800H AV receiver review: refined and future-proofed | What Hi-Fi? (whathifi.com)

 

[Arron]

Yeah, I made the same assumption about sound quality and it bit me bad. That 2800 sounded good in part but there was something cheap and awful about the treble. Couldn't even sit through a whole album it was that bad. My big mistake was to buy without auditioning first. Though the problem might not have shown up in store unless I'd take along some specific CDs. Pink Floyd's Louder Than Words was the Denon's kryptonite -- like nails on a blackboard.

However, lots of people love the 2800 so maybe I'm just extra picky after two previous Yam amps. Which is where I ended up again after sending back the 2800. It was out of my price range but a Yam 3080 came up as a factory refurb so I only ate beans on toast for a few months

Would the Denon 3800 suit you? Maybe. The Denon sound is fairly different from the Yam sound -- where the 765 was polite and erred on the warm side, the 2800 emphasised bass and treble. The best thing is probably to hunt around for a retailer who'll let you try out an amp at home or has a no-quibble 30-day money back guarantee.

From my perspective, your Kefs are well below the level of your amp. The usual guide is the front Left-Right stereo speakers should cost the same or more as your amp. So you're already in overkill territory with your amp and maybe you should look at better speakers instead? On the bright side, if you get a 3800 or an RXA4A, you can hit Ebay for some more eggs and have a very balanced Atmos system

 

[litesport]

My current thinking is stick to what I have.
Daughter has just started uni so really I don't have as much spare cash (any really) as I like to pretend I have.
And the boy starts uni in two years time so I shouldn't be looking at wants or desires. But it is fun to window shop.
And… I am currently living and working in Beijing (school teacher) so getting this stuff can be bloody expensive.

 

[Arron]

Sometimes we just get the itch

Starting with the baseline, your amp is good unless you want 4K. Even then, you could probably get the TV to output the sound via HDMI to your amp. So my take would be to leave the amp alone. It's already well above spec for your speakers.

Maybe you could look at some Left-Centre-Right speakers? There's a big audiophile industry in China so you could have some fun looking local. Which could be much cheaper than importing.

Or maybe you could up your total experience with something like an Apple TV? (I have no idea if that will work in China but there are probably equivalents.)

One thing that might help is making sure your setup is right. E.g. do you have a good phantom centre? If not, I did a short tutorial on how to get one:

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

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

forums.whathifi.com

You can put the video on loop by right-clicking on it.

 

[John Duncan]

If there is one area of hifi where depreciation is precipitous, it’s AV amplifiers. I got a Yamaha Avantage A850 (I think?) for 300 quid which gave me oodles more power and new codecs/atmos (not that I use them but still).

 

[Al ears]

If there is one area of hifi where depreciation is precipitous, it’s AV amplifiers. I got a Yamaha Avantage A850 (I think?) for 300 quid which gave me oodles more power and new codecs/atmos (not that I use them but still).

I'd quite agree, huge depreciation because everyone needs that latest codec...... Not.