AV receiver upgrade

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weasel13

38 posts

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#317546 25-Oct-2024 08:30

Good morning,

Im looking for advice to replace my 15 year old Yamaha AV receiver.

Is there any benefit to having it built in chromecast versus connecting a chromecast to one of the inputs. I'm never going to use up all the inputs so don't need to worry about that. For those that have chromecast built in, do you control your receiver through Google assistant or your phone? I'm wondering if I would regret not having that feature.

My current one requires 2 remotes as it doesn't have audio return via hdmi. I have heard about unreliability of ARC and that it doesn't always work. How do most people find it and can you ditch the second remote or will I still need it for when ARC doesn't work

Thanks

networkn

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#3301297 25-Oct-2024 08:37

Pretty much all modern amps have this capability now along with piles of other stuff.

My first two were Marantz and Pioneer and my last 5 in a row have been Yamaha. I am a fan of the house sound (warm) of the Yamaha and they are pretty predictable for what you get. I highly recommend them as a brand, though I will say, for my last 3, I've had some hdmi handshaking issues, but that I believe is related to the long distance between my amp and projector, despite having a HDMI over fibre solution which is supposed to be as good as you can get. They have good support locally. The cheapest place I've found to get them is Paul Money HiFi in Mt Eden, John is pretty good to deal with.

Marantz are also apparently warm, but I felt they lagged behind in putting in technology, iE they were two generations behind Pioneer and Yamaha for network features. I don't believe that is the same problem it used to be.

For me, it would take a lot to make me move from Yamaha, though their recent price hikes stung a bit.

JPNZ

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#3301311 25-Oct-2024 09:06

ARC works fine on my last 2 amps. I only upgraded to my current one to get 4K inputs/outputs. Ive had Pioneer (x2), Yamaha & Onkyo currently. All have been fine although the network reliability of Yamaha was the best. Onkyo is pretty dam good too though.

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Kim587

128 posts

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#3301333 25-Oct-2024 09:50

Probably the main advantages of the build-in chromecast is one less device/fewer cables lying around, and the receiver will probably have ethernet where most chromecasts don't. Neither are total dealbreakers. My Marantz doesn't have Chromecast but effectively has the same funcitonality just with a different name, Heos from memory. Even if I could control it through google assistant I'm not sure if I'd miss that feature at all because once the initial setup was complete and the amp was all configured, I almost never have any reason to go into the control menu. The TV controls the Amp through ARC and if I'm casting music I can control all that through the spotify/apple music app.

For me the ARC experience has correlated with the TV brand. Our LG tv really did not like the ARC connection, constant handshake issues and headaches. When we connected a Sony TV to the same amp through ARC it was rock solid. At some stage it went through a stage of making clicking sounds which seemed to be related to constantly cycling through different dolby formats, for some reason connecting an optical cable resolved the issue even though everything was still running over ARC. If I were you I would experiment with ARC because it is a really good system 99% of the time but having an optical cable on standby wouldn't hurt.

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#3301367 25-Oct-2024 11:19

I've had no problems with my ARC to LG TV with my Onkyo, and that's getting on a bit (TX-NR609). Was a little bit of user error in setting it up first, but works faultlessly ever day. Turning on the TV, auto turn's on the receiver, and you're good.

Following this thread with interest as I'd like to upgrade the receiver as well.

In the Wellington Region, there are some good prices on Yamaha Aventage series AV Receivers

Listening Post (also in Christchurch):

https://listeningpost.co.nz/brand/yamaha/

Soundline also carry the Mid Range Yamaha Aventage, and do also have Marantz.

https://soundline.co.nz/collections/home-theatre-1/products/yamaha-rx-a4a-home-theatre-receiver

Dunnersfella

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#3301605 25-Oct-2024 22:57

ARC and eARC have improved markedly over recent years and I would now actually recommend people run with it, and not simply avoid it and default to optical.

A Chromecast video HDMI streamer connected to one of the HDMI inputs of an AVR will automatically switch when required if you have HDMI CEC on and will give you an advantage over 'Chromecast built in' AVR's as it will offer you audio and video, whereas 'Chromecast built in' will only offer you audio.

Re: reliability.

To be fair, a lot of AVR's now share the same Panasonic HDMI chipsets (it's not actually Panasonic, but a company who purchased a division from Panasonic and never changed the name)...

You're really looking to compare power, sound, ease of use, room EQ capabilities and connectivity requirements for your devices.

My summary of brands would be...

Yamaha - strong history in NZ, but their newest AVR is 4 years old, the oldest 6 years... making for a dated line-up that has fallen behind a little bit due to a lack of 4ohm compatibility and room EQ that doesn't handle bass overly well (if at all).

Denon - good room EQ and user-interface. Streaming + multi-room being re-invested in, some reliability issues for units made during COVID.

Marantz - sister company but with a different sounding pre-amp and now a very different aesthetic from Denon. Again, good room EQ and user-interface. 70% power guarantee means you get 70% of what is listed across 5 x channels.

Pioneer - some clearance deals possible, but it appears as if they are now gone-burger as Pioneer will no longer allow the current manufacturers to bolt units together under license as of the end of 2024.

Onkyo - newer higher spec units seem good, with built-in Dirac. However it's tricky to run and even harder to get a perfect result from. Can be found cheap, but sometimes it's simply because no one actually wants it...

Sony - one range with minor changes up the range. Cool UI, interesting room EQ but not much of a following in NZ due to interesting decisions re: what to carry here.

Anthem - cool room EQ but a pretty painful user experience if you ever need to dive into the menus. Average streaming experience, but well regarded sonic performance... certainly not the last word in 'affordable performance'.

My question - what speakers are you looking to drive and how many are there?

Kim587

128 posts

Master Geek

#3301663 25-Oct-2024 23:55

JBL have also hit the market recently with some new AVR’s which look pretty cool and good value. But I don’t have any first hand experience with them.

networkn

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#3301713 26-Oct-2024 10:10

Kim587: JBL have also hit the market recently with some new AVR’s which look pretty cool and good value. But I don’t have any first hand experience with them.

That's an interesting move. JBL are pretty underrated for their audio products which punch pretty well above their weight.

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Technofreak

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#3301719 26-Oct-2024 10:44

I bought the Yamaha RX-V6A earlier this year and am pretty happy with it. We use it mainly with the TV and just the TV remote is needed when used like this. The remote turns on/off the TV and the AVR and controls the volume.

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Dunnersfella

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#3301740 26-Oct-2024 11:40

Kim587: JBL have also hit the market recently with some new AVR’s which look pretty cool and good value. But I don’t have any first hand experience with them.

I actually thought it was a great market to approach when JBL started hyping their AVR's.

Ease of use, pretty looking boxes with digital amplification etc.

However in reality they are a dog to use. The menus look like they're from the 1980's, the room EQ is convoluted as can be... "You want me to manually enter my speakers natural roll off point? Are you kidding?" and the lack of pre-outs isn't a 'ease of use' feature, it's just limiting in the long run.

So no, I think the aesthetic was a cool way to go, but the user experience and interface design is frustrating TBH. It's like the marketing people and the engineers never actually sat down to talk things through.