Yamaha RX-V1500 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver Reviewed

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HTR Product Rating

Performance: 4 Stars
Value: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

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Whether it's one-button auto-convergence on your television or the preprogrammed functions on your universal remote control, automatic setup programs are everywhere. Unfortunately, these "push of a button" conveniences rarely deliver on what they promise. Auto-convergence often seems to do more harm than good (if it does anything at all) and universal remotes always require manual tinkering and programming before they behave properly. If there's one area of home theater in dire need of turnkey simplification, it's the setup of a digital A/V receiver and a 5.1 set of speakers.

Additional Resources
• Read more AV receiver reviews from HomeTheaterReview.com.
• Find audiophile grade source components to connect to the RX-V1500.

Yamaha seems to have come to the rescue with their YPAO technology, present in their new RX-V1500 receiver. With the RX-V1500, Yamaha has combined the latest and greatest surround sound decoding with remarkably intelligent software to help you calibrate your system. Every room is different and those differences can greatly affect the recommended settings for a digital surround sound receiver. Yamaha knows this, so the RX-V1500 can do much of the thinking for you and let you focus on the fun stuff: enjoying your system. With power to drive seven speakers, the RX-V1500 is ready for anything you're apt to throw at it.

Unique Features
Although Yamaha's YPAO technology is definitely unique, I'll discuss that in more detail in the "Installation" section below. Worthy of note here is the RX-V1500's wide-bandwidth component video switching and upconversion. The RX-V1500 will upconvert all composite and S-Video inputs to use its component video output. In addition to gaining a small increase in picture quality, the primary benefit here is simplified connection to your display device. If you're using the component video output on your DVD player, the component video output on your HDTV receiver and the S-Video output on your cable box or DVR, the RX-V1500 can take all of those inputs and send them to your display using a single component video cable. The RX-V1500 is HDTV-compatible and can pass 720p and 1080i signals using this method. It should be noted that while this feature is definitely welcome, it will begin to lose its luster once DVI and/or HDMI become standard outputs on all digital source devices.

One thing Yamaha has long been known for is a wide variety of DSP modes available on their A/V receivers. A total of sixteen DSP modes are available on the RX-V1500 and they range in style from "Jazz Club" to "Game" to "Spectacle." Spectacle is what Yamaha considers to be its "largest" sound field and is intended to improve the perceived size of your surround speakers during epic motion pictures. Although Yamaha clearly invests considerable time and energy to offer this gaggle of "enhanced" surround modes, they are wasted on this reviewer. I prefer my sound straight, no ice, no curly straws and no little blue umbrellas. That being said, the RX-V1500 does offer something to fit my stricter tastes: a "Pure Direct" mode for unadulterated audio performance. In this mode, all non-essential systems -- including the video circuits and front-panel display are shut down to minimize all potential sources of signal interference. Nice.

Installation/Setup/Ease of Use
Is it just me, or does "YPAO" make you think of Adam West? I think I saw that word flash across the screen a few times whenever Batman and Robin did battle with The Penguin's evil henchmen. In this case, it stands for Yamaha Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer. Available only on a select few models in Yamaha's receiver lineup, Yamaha's YPAO technology uses a (supplied) microphone to test and calibrate your speaker system to sound its best in your room.

After plugging in the mic, I set it on the table beside my primary listening position. (One side note here -- I'd love to see future iterations of this technology use a retractable cord on the microphone. Its LONG cord is a big, tangled mess just waiting to happen.) With the mic connected, I launched the Auto Setup from the Main Menu. In a matter of minutes, the RX-V1500 had checked my speaker wiring (polarity) and adjusted my settings for distance, size, equalization, and sound level.

Read more about the performance of the RX-V1500 on Page 2.

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