Home Theatre Audio Q

J

jc100

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So I currently have a bit of a dream system (for me anyway) with a Yamaha Aventage rx a720 home theatre AV receiver and a full Paradigm speaker set up. Tower left and right, big honking centre chanel and some sturdy surrounds and a big ass subwoofer. I also have the receiver powering a zone 2 outside with 2 Yamaha weatherproof speakers (that's important for us). Last week we had a power cut and when the power came back on everything went a bit loopy. Pops and crackles randomly from the speakers and sound cutting out every now and then. Luckily (although still pricey) it looks like the receiver is the issue and not the speakers as the signal input keeps flickering around on the display on the receiver. Doesn't matter what the input is...Netflix from the smart TV, or on the NVidia shield, Kodi etc etc. The receiver is the common culprit.

We bought a brand new tv just around Xmas last year and it’s way more modern than the aventage. The yamaha is nearly 10 years old I think.

Thought about getting the Yamaha repaired but I’d need to send it away to Ottawa and then the bill looks like it would be $400 to replace a board. It’s also missing the new encoding protocols and it doesn’t play well with the new TVs HDMI and 4K content.

The new Yamaha RXV6A receiver looks very futureproof but I was in Costco today and for the same sort of price I could get a Sonos playbar and two surround speakers. No subwoofer at that price though but everything would be wireless. My paradigm set up is wired (don’t really mind it though). For a zone 2 I would have to pony up some more cash and I don’t know if the Sonos are weatherproof either.

Don't really want to lose the paradigm speakers. I got a smoking deal on them 10 years ago when a local audio store closed and they sound great and can wake the dead if I need them to. But maybe tech has moved on?

Anyone got one of the wireless set ups? Advice?

Edit: whatever I do, I’m going to get a power conditioner surge bar that’s better than the ****** belkin thing that obviously didn’t do it’s job
 
jc100 said:
So I currently have a bit of a dream system (for me anyway) with a Yamaha Aventage rx a720 home theatre AV receiver and a full Paradigm speaker set up. Tower left and right, big honking centre chanel and some sturdy surrounds and a big ass subwoofer. I also have the receiver powering a zone 2 outside with 2 Yamaha weatherproof speakers (that's important for us). Last week we had a power cut and when the power came back on everything went a bit loopy. Pops and crackles randomly from the speakers and sound cutting out every now and then. Luckily (although still pricey) it looks like the receiver is the issue and not the speakers as the signal input keeps flickering around on the display on the receiver. Doesn't matter what the input is...Netflix from the smart TV, or on the NVidia shield, Kodi etc etc. The receiver is the common culprit.

We bought a brand new tv just around Xmas last year and it’s way more modern than the aventage. The yamaha is nearly 10 years old I think.

Thought about getting the Yamaha repaired but I’d need to send it away to Ottawa and then the bill looks like it would be $400 to replace a board. It’s also missing the new encoding protocols and it doesn’t play well with the new TVs HDMI and 4K content.

The new Yamaha RXV6A receiver looks very futureproof but I was in Costco today and for the same sort of price I could get a Sonos playbar and two surround speakers. No subwoofer at that price though but everything would be wireless. My paradigm set up is wired (don’t really mind it though). For a zone 2 I would have to pony up some more cash and I don’t know if the Sonos are weatherproof either.

Don't really want to lose the paradigm speakers. I got a smoking deal on them 10 years ago when a local audio store closed and they sound great and can wake the dead if I need them to. But maybe tech has moved on?

Anyone got one of the wireless set ups? Advice?

Edit: whatever I do, I’m going to get a power conditioner surge bar that’s better than the ****** belkin thing that obviously didn’t do it’s job
Click to expand...
I would not be paying that much to fix a 10 year old receiver (with a a few exceptions like an AVR-5805). You already have a wired setup that you are happy with. I would buy a new receiver and continue to enjoy troublefree performance.

I have never used sonos. I believe @Hardwrkr13 had sonos at his last house and went with hard wired at the new house.
 
No, I think the repair price is to get people to buy new. I think I’ll go the receiver route. I hope I can get another 9-10 years out of it but I have my doubts with the newer stuff.
 
jc100 said:
No, I think the repair price is to get people to buy new. I think I’ll go the receiver route. I hope I can get another 9-10 years out of it but I have my doubts with the newer stuff.
Click to expand...
I expect most solid state electronics to last almost forever in the absence of power issues. Often you end up upgrading because you want to use the receiver to switch a new standard. I am contemplated going a lot older with my receiver as I love the sound of an older one but it is S-Video era. I am currently running a Pioneer Elite which does HDMI switching and is theoretcially better but sounds like poop.

I would be ecstatic if most receivers gave you channel inputs and outputs so you could easily keep an amp in service after the processing/switching technology contained within was rendered obsolete.
 
GreyGhost said:
I expect most solid state electronics to last almost forever in the absence of power issues. Often you end up upgrading because you want to use the receiver to switch a new standard. I am contemplated going a lot older with my receiver as I love the sound of an older one but it is S-Video era. I am currently running a Pioneer Elite which does HDMI switching and is theoretcially better but sounds like poop.

I would be ecstatic if most receivers gave you channel inputs and outputs so you could easily keep an amp in service after the processing/switching technology contained within was rendered obsolete.
Click to expand...

I like the Yamaha sound and build quality and the new receiver is just as good for sound apparently. One thing I will do is maybe spend a lot more on a reliable surge protector and conditioner. I am more than ticked that a stupid power cut got past my current one and screwed the receiver.
 
jc100 said:
I like the Yamaha sound and build quality and the new receiver is just as good for sound apparently. One thing I will do is maybe spend a lot more on a reliable surge protector and conditioner. I am more than ticked that a stupid power cut got past my current one and screwed the receiver.
Click to expand...
How old was the belkin? Most surge protectors just use some MOV's that can only absorb so many hits in their life. The safe approach would be for the power bar to die when the MOV's did but the vast majority do not do that. They continue working even though the protection has expired (again, the vast majority do not even have any indication that protection has failed). I have most important things running off APC surge protectors or UPS's (or UPS's with dead batteries acting as surge protectors). I put a whole-home protector in the last house, I haven't added one to this house yet.
 
GreyGhost said:
How old was the belkin? Most surge protectors just use some MOV's that can only absorb so many hits in their life. The safe approach would be for the power bar to die when the MOV's did but the vast majority do not do that. They continue working even though the protection has expired (again, the vast majority do not even have any indication that protection has failed). I have most important things running off APC surge protectors or UPS's (or UPS's with dead batteries acting as surge protectors). I put a whole-home protector in the last house, I haven't added one to this house yet.
Click to expand...

Belkin was about 7 years old. Kingston gets hit with a lot of brown outs and flickers with the number of trees above the lines in the old neighbourhoods. The past few years they have been on a blitz clearing the growth but they can’t keep up. I’ll look at options.
 
I went through this last year. I had a almost 10yr old Yamaha htr1065 that was excellent but I wanted to upgrade so I could control it and a powered outdoor deck zone via my smartphone and as well wanted to upgrade my main speakers.
I put in a full Sonos system Bar/Sub/Ones (in kitchen and garage as well) and it was sonically disappointing. It didn’t have the room-filling sound and impact my wired had and although the Sonos sub it has good low frequency extension it really has little output below 40hz which isn’t overly noticeable on most music it is very noticeable on theatre.
I gave it a month or so with Sonos then sold it all and bought an Onkyo RZ630 receiver and a full Klipsch towers, sub, center and it was an immediate and huge improvement. The Onkyo has less power than the Yamaha I had but the Klipsch are so efficient that they are perfect with that power. I also bought KEF ceiling speakers to use as rear fill and for a separate zone in kitchen off the receiver.
I haven’t figured what to do in deck and garage yet. I have a couple Amazon Echo’s around the house currently doing music in bedroom and gym so I will add a Dot to my Onkyo and may do Amazon Studio’s for deck and garage that way every room is voice/smartphone controllable and all can play whole-home Spotify or Prime Music.
Regarding upgrading your speakers, not much has changed in ten years there. If your Paradigms are a good set (and most were) then keep them.
Lots of good receivers are available. Can save a lot of cash by getting a refurb at Gibbys Electronics as well. Pick the one with the options you want. I got the Onkyo as it works with Sonos as I still had a few Sonos pieces at that point and was considering keeping some for future. Onkyo owns Pioneer btw so features are similar. The Yamaha’s are still great and a great option is the Sony’s these days so do a search on that.
Anything else feel free to ask as I did a lot of research lately on all that.
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
I went through this last year. I had a almost 10yr old Yamaha htr1065 that was excellent but I wanted to upgrade so I could control it and a powered outdoor deck zone via my smartphone and as well wanted to upgrade my main speakers.
I put in a full Sonos system Bar/Sub/Ones (in kitchen and garage as well) and it was sonically disappointing. It didn’t have the room-filling sound and impact my wired had and although the Sonos sub it has good low frequency extension it really has little output below 40hz which isn’t overly noticeable on most music it is very noticeable on theatre.
I gave it a month or so with Sonos then sold it all and bought an Onkyo RZ630 receiver and a full Klipsch towers, sub, center and it was an immediate and huge improvement. The Onkyo has less power than the Yamaha I had but the Klipsch are so efficient that they are perfect with that power. I also bought KEF ceiling speakers to use as rear fill and for a separate zone in kitchen off the receiver.
I haven’t figured what to do in deck and garage yet. I have a couple Amazon Echo’s around the house currently doing music in bedroom and gym so I will add a Dot to my Onkyo and may do Amazon Studio’s for deck and garage that way every room is voice/smartphone controllable and all can play whole-home Spotify or Prime Music.
Regarding upgrading your speakers, not much has changed in ten years there. If your Paradigms are a good set (and most were) then keep them.
Lots of good receivers are available. Can save a lot of cash by getting a refurb at Gibbys Electronics as well. Pick the one with the options you want. I got the Onkyo as it works with Sonos as I still had a few Sonos pieces at that point and was considering keeping some for future. Onkyo owns Pioneer btw so features are similar. The Yamaha’s are still great and a great option is the Sony’s these days so do a search on that.
Anything else feel free to ask as I did a lot of research lately on all that.
Click to expand...

thanks for that!

I'm kind of taken with the paradigms and they are built like tanks. Sound and look amazing too. The Yamaha receiver I’m looking at has a lot of promised functions coming via firmware to keep it futureproof for a while. I’m looking forward to having proper HDMI compatibility so I don’t have to juggle remotes. I can get everything back onto one harmony remote. I wanted an aventage range receiver from a Yamaha but they haven’t been updated for 3 years it looks like and the latest updates are still on the horizon. The RXV6A looks like a decent replacement.
 
jc100 said:
thanks for that!

I'm kind of taken with the paradigms and they are built like tanks. Sound and look amazing too. The Yamaha receiver I’m looking at has a lot of promised functions coming via firmware to keep it futureproof for a while. I’m looking forward to having proper HDMI compatibility so I don’t have to juggle remotes. I can get everything back onto one harmony remote. I wanted an aventage range receiver from a Yamaha but they haven’t been updated for 3 years it looks like and the latest updates are still on the horizon. The RXV6A looks like a decent replacement.
Click to expand...
Assume anything "coming" never will. Make sure it does what you need now and if it gets better, that's a bonus.
 
Last edited:
jc100 said:
thanks for that!

I'm kind of taken with the paradigms and they are built like tanks. Sound and look amazing too. The Yamaha receiver I’m looking at has a lot of promised functions coming via firmware to keep it futureproof for a while. I’m looking forward to having proper HDMI compatibility so I don’t have to juggle remotes. I can get everything back onto one harmony remote. I wanted an aventage range receiver from a Yamaha but they haven’t been updated for 3 years it looks like and the latest updates are still on the horizon. The RXV6A looks like a decent replacement.
Click to expand...
www.the-home-cinema-guide.com

Experience Luxury Audio on a Budget: Our Picks for the Top AV Receivers Under $1000

Discover affordable audio excellence with our guide to the top AV receivers under $1000. Experience high-end sound without the high-end price.
www.the-home-cinema-guide.com www.the-home-cinema-guide.com

That link comparison is a solid read. Personally I'd opt for the Onkyo RZ840 for similar as it's a powerhouse (IIRC the better/larger Paradigms were never known as high-sensitivity speakers), is a 9ch instead of a 7 which gives you some more zone options, does everything the RXV6 does plus more (and personally I feel the EQ in the Onkyo does a better job).
Don't think you'd be going wrong with the Yamaha either though, I just think there's better options.
 
jc100 said:
So I currently have a bit of a dream system (for me anyway) with a Yamaha Aventage rx a720 home theatre AV receiver and a full Paradigm speaker set up. Tower left and right, big honking centre chanel and some sturdy surrounds and a big ass subwoofer. I also have the receiver powering a zone 2 outside with 2 Yamaha weatherproof speakers (that's important for us). Last week we had a power cut and when the power came back on everything went a bit loopy. Pops and crackles randomly from the speakers and sound cutting out every now and then. Luckily (although still pricey) it looks like the receiver is the issue and not the speakers as the signal input keeps flickering around on the display on the receiver. Doesn't matter what the input is...Netflix from the smart TV, or on the NVidia shield, Kodi etc etc. The receiver is the common culprit.

We bought a brand new tv just around Xmas last year and it’s way more modern than the aventage. The yamaha is nearly 10 years old I think.

Thought about getting the Yamaha repaired but I’d need to send it away to Ottawa and then the bill looks like it would be $400 to replace a board. It’s also missing the new encoding protocols and it doesn’t play well with the new TVs HDMI and 4K content.

The new Yamaha RXV6A receiver looks very futureproof but I was in Costco today and for the same sort of price I could get a Sonos playbar and two surround speakers. No subwoofer at that price though but everything would be wireless. My paradigm set up is wired (don’t really mind it though). For a zone 2 I would have to pony up some more cash and I don’t know if the Sonos are weatherproof either.

Don't really want to lose the paradigm speakers. I got a smoking deal on them 10 years ago when a local audio store closed and they sound great and can wake the dead if I need them to. But maybe tech has moved on?

Anyone got one of the wireless set ups? Advice?

Edit: whatever I do, I’m going to get a power conditioner surge bar that’s better than the ****** belkin thing that obviously didn’t do it’s job
Click to expand...

Did you try a reset/reboot of the receiver?
Hold down Main Zone power button for more than 10 seconds.
Might be worth a try if you haven’t already.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
www.the-home-cinema-guide.com

Experience Luxury Audio on a Budget: Our Picks for the Top AV Receivers Under $1000

Discover affordable audio excellence with our guide to the top AV receivers under $1000. Experience high-end sound without the high-end price.
www.the-home-cinema-guide.com www.the-home-cinema-guide.com

That link comparison is a solid read. Personally I'd opt for the Onkyo RZ840 for similar as it's a powerhouse (IIRC the better/larger Paradigms were never known as high-sensitivity speakers), is a 9ch instead of a 7 which gives you some more zone options, does everything the RXV6 does plus more (and personally I feel the EQ in the Onkyo does a better job).
Don't think you'd be going wrong with the Yamaha either though, I just think there's better options.
Click to expand...
Before I got the Yamaha I had an Onkyo that I had to return as it had some issues so it shook my confidence a bit. It was really well specced for the price for sure. The old Aventage drove the speakers fine and the new Yamaha has similar specs it seems.
 
Robbo said:
Did you try a reset/reboot of the receiver?
Hold down Main Zone power button for more than 10 seconds.
Might be worth a try if you haven’t already.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks,..haven’t done that yet and I totally should have. Does it wipe any settings?
 
Robbo said:
Not sure...I was bored and started looking at the online manual.


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Click to expand...

not bad so far but I need to let the receiver warm up...it’s been hard to reproduce the issue at times and seems to be more likely to happen when the receiver's been running for a while.
 
jc100 said:
not bad so far but I need to let the receiver warm up...it’s been hard to reproduce the issue at times and seems to be more likely to happen when the receiver's been running for a while.
Click to expand...
Be careful, you don't want a flakey receiver to smoke your speakers. I would disconnect them until you sort it out. You can hear the crackling and popping and know something is wrong, but if it starts dumping DC through the speakers, you wont hear it and the smoke could come out.
 
Lol...receiver has behaved itself for the day so far. @Robbo may have saved me spending out for a while.

I followed the Yamaha procedure that was suggested for the symptoms I had which was unplugging everything, checking connections, leaving the power disconnected for a while, checking for system updates etc etc. That didn’t seem to work.
 
jc100 said:
Lol...receiver has behaved itself for the day so far. @Robbo may have saved me spending out for a while.

I followed the Yamaha procedure that was suggested for the symptoms I had which was unplugging everything, checking connections, leaving the power disconnected for a while, checking for system updates etc etc. That didn’t seem to work.
Click to expand...
I didn't know about that kind of reset either until last month when my ARC stopped working. Pulling the plug on the receiver for a few minutes was the only thing that fixed it (of course I didn't find out about that trick until after taking tv off wall, swapping hdmi's through the wall conduits etc).
 
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