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Trying to fix specific issues with my listening area

90% of time I feel my RX-A3060 is a fine performer on daily tasks. Unfortunately, the other 10% of the time when I want some more extreme forms of music at much louder volumes, I feel like it's missing the magic was contained in my first Yamaha from the 90s (I don't remember the model). It's really hard to quantify without using flowery and poetic language. My current setup is as follows.

Yamaha RX-A3060
2 Klipsch RF-7 II
1 Klipsch RC-64 II
2 Klipsch RP-250S
2 SVS PC-2000 

Like many homes, our floor plan is not ideal for critical listening so we are making due with what we have. There is no perfect seat in our living room.It's designed to entertain 4 people with games,movies and music with a fair amount of compromises. This is a very common floor plan in South Florida.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KFEgtukOSNj59e6Dz9Q_73dMvEyO-L66w7hzK138V4E/edit?usp=sharing

When sitting on "Couch 1" (see Google doc), it sounds good until you increase the volume on the receiver to "-16.5 dB" and then it starts sounding harsh.I measured the volume at that seating position at 76 dB. I would like to get to 85 dB every once in a while when I'm in the mood for something loud.I think the harshness is coming from the Yamaha/Speaker combo but I'm not 100% sure of it.The room has a massive rug on the tiled floor plus there is a couch facing the "wrong way" in front of one of the speakers. I'm leaning towards the Yamaha/Speaker/Room combo having a timbre that kicks in once you hit -18 to -16 dB on the display.It's like I turned on an instant "Make it sound harsh" button when hitting that volume.

Here's some of the things I'm doing to correct the issue.

I'm ordering some room treatments for the areas I can fit treatments from GIK.
https://www.gikacoustics.com/product-category/acoustic-art-panels/

I turned off YPAO by using the Yamaha Pure Direct feature.
I got some interesting results.
The bottom end was a little less refined but the harshness was reduced a fair amount.
I'm going to try to manually fix the TPAO results using the built in EQ.

Here's what I'm planning to do in the future
I'm going to buy an external amp at some point just so I can off the av receiver hamster wheel
and get an amp that I can count on for years.
I'm going to look at various Tekton speakers if I'm still having issues after resolving everything else.
I haven't added any gear yet because I don't want to buy more gear and still have the same issues.
Hopefully this helps someone else.





djfalstaff
soix
9,456 posts
 
I’d normally agree with the AVR comments, but I worked for Magnolia for a bit and spent a lot of time with your AVR driving the B&W 804D3, which is not the easiest load for an amp. The 804s sounded sublime with the 3060 — which, frankly, surprised the hell out of me — even when cranked to very loud levels. Many people left that room shaking their heads in disbelief of what they heard (along with the price of the speakers). Your speakers are a relatively easy load that I highly doubt the 3060 would have any problem driving cleanly to near deafening levels. However, it is possible the Yamaha’s inherent character just doesn’t work for you in combination with the Klipsch.  BTW, it would be interesting to know what speakers you were using with the old Yammy if they were not what you’re using now. 

Moving on, If you don’t have anything draped over the TV that could be a big part of the problem as it will emphasize first reflections from the left speaker and possibly reflections from the right speaker as well. That might also explain why the sound degrades as the volume increases. If the TV is exposed, try throwing a blanket or comforter over it and see if that helps. Anyway, hope this helps and best of luck.
Post removed 
djfalstaff OP
5 posts
 
The Klipsch RF-7 II loudspeakers are 101db/8 ohm. It takes only 1 watt to produce 101dB at 1 meter from the speakers, 95dB at 2 meters, 89dB at 3 meters. How far from the speakers is your listening position at the sofa?

With such sensitive loudspeakers, it’s unlikely the amplifier is running out of steam...let alone being pushed moderately hard.

What’s the source component?
FLAC files played thru the AVR DAC.
Around 12 feet away
Post removed 
bkeske's avatar
bkeske
5,597 posts
 
Just my 2 cents.

MC is correct about AV receivers for critical listening. I have one, a Yamaha V781. As it has pre-outs, first I finally tried a separate B&K amp to power the fronts, that helped sweeten the sound when in two channel, but I was being bothered by many to get a 2 channel preamp as well. I didn’t want to believe I needed to do that, heck, the B&K had 135 wpc and was a nice improvement and sounded pretty good using the Yamaha as the preamp. Then I replaced the B&K with an old Belles 400A, with 200 wpc. Very very nicer still. But again, everyone said ‘get a good preamp’!

Well, I finally did. Got a Parasound preamp with a pass-thru to run my Yamaha though when in HT mode, but all my 2 channel runs through the Parasound pre and Belles amp.

I was wrong, they were right, it sounds incredibly better for 2 channel, and I was shocked at the difference.

No matter what I did to the Yamaha, I could not make it sound like the Parasound/Belles combo. Yamaha Pure Direct? That may have been the worst sound of all.

So, now I have a very nice 2 channel set-up, and with a push of the Parasound remote, can go pass-through and have my HT as well via the Yamaha, albeit in my case, the fronts are still powered by the Belles. You could consider a nice integrated with a pass-through and do the same, your Yamaha has pre-outs for the front channel. Beyond that, you may have other issues, but I can tell you, you won’t get what you are looking for with your Yamaha as a 2 channel ‘integrated’ or ‘pre’. May as well start there.

I can be stubborn, but finally learned that didn’t get me what I wanted. Much happier now.


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