Intro
Contents
We don’t review AV receivers very often at Alpha Audio. The reason is that testing AV equipment is quite difficult. Different rules apply than with stereo systems. For example: AV-equipment also processes video. And with video there is a lot to be tested. Then there are countless codecs to deal with. In short: it’s a speciality. We take a look at the new – price friendly – Yamaha RX-V6A. An av-receiver of just under 750 Euro.
With seven channels, a separate second zone and no less than seven HDMI inputs (with HDR and 8K video), the Yamaha RX-V6A is no average device. Certainly not if you look at the price: 739 euros. That is unbelievable. Then we see streaming audio via either wifi / bluetooth, or a wired connection and room correction. What’s the catch, you could think. Well … we were searching as well.
All in one
When a manufacturer wants to pack so many features into one device and reach such a price point, concessions have to be made of course. You will not get Yamaha A-S2200 quality for this money. Who expected that, must understand that the world works differently. And just looking at watts and features doesn’t work at all. You may think that this V6A sounds equivalent. After all, in terms of power the A-S2200 is almost equal. But well; watts differ in terms of quality.
This Yamaha RX-V6A delivers 100 watts on two channels. What the power is when all channels are driven, is not mentioned in the specifications. Now we have mainly tested with the Sopra’s – because of the determination of playback quality – and we found that this Yamaha can drive them without problems. And that in itself is an achievement considering the class in which both components are.
The build is fine considering the price. The display is still just readable for your editor at about 2.5 meters, although the contrast is a bit low and the display does not scroll smoothly (it is not oled, but some kind of matrix display). The volume knob is a bit strange. It just runs very stiffly and feels cheap. They could have done a better job, we think. The input switch feels fine, by the way. The remote offers everything you need. It’s not backlit which is handy in a cinema situation.
Web interface
What’s handy about the Yamaha RX-V6A – and other MusicCast devices – is that you get into the web interface via the ip address. There you can do some useful things like set a fixed-ip address, set standby functions, perform updates and enter passwords for Airplay, for example.
Inputs
As previously reported, the Yamaha offers a huge amount of inputs and outputs. There are seven HDMI inputs and one output. In other words: the Yamaha acts as a hub and passes the hdmi-signal on to the TV. Convenient.
Besides HDMI, we see digital inputs: optical and coaxial, three single ended and phono. For those who like to listen to radio: there is an FM/DAB tuner on board. Then there is a zone-2 output, pre-out and two sub-outputs (cinch). Who would like to bi-amplify: that is also possible with this Yamaha. The advantage is that you can then drive slightly more difficult speakers a bit better. Nice option. You share this bi-amp option with the second zone. So it is either / or. Not and / and.
