Yamaha RX-A 60 AVENTAGE AV Receivers Compared & Important New Feature!

In a major announcement this week, Yamaha unveiled their new and updated premium Aventage RX-A 60 Series network AV receivers. Since the Aventage series is one our favorite lines of AV receivers on the market, Audioholics is extremely excited about this new lineup.  What is significant is that ALL models in the RX-A 60 series (starting at $649) support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersive surround formats. Previously, you'd have to jump up to the RX-A850 ($999) to get into Atmos and DTS:X. 

The Aventage series debuted in 2010 and since then has been known for its high-quality components and engineered using short signal path runs, grounded circuit boards and secure anchoring by a sturdy frame-and-beam chassis design.

“The Aventage RX-A 60 Series AV receivers put the home theater enthusiast in the center of the action as never before. It provides the absolute cutting-edge in advanced audio technologies, truly lifelike musicality and the best wireless multiroom audio solution in the industry.  This new line of premium AV receivers provides the ease and accessibility for control of multi-zone audio installations that custom integrators will applaud.”

Bob Goedken General manager, AV division, Yamaha Corporation of America.

Be sure to check out our YouTube video discussion below for a breakdown of all the new AVENTAGE AV receiver models and our personal picks.

Yamaha AVENTAGE YouTube Video Discussion

Video

4K Ultra HD video and HDMI ports capable of high dynamic range (HDR) pass through are included in all six AVENTAGE RX-A 60 Series models. This ensures the ability to see pictures with eight-times higher resolution than 1080p full HD and the widest possible contrast ratio, ranging from nearly perfect black to more than 1,000 nits of peak brightness. This 4K Ultra HD video supports: 3840 x 2160p resolution; up to 60 Hz high frame rates; coverage of the BT.2020 wide color gamut; 10 / 12-bit color; 4:4:4 chroma subsampling and HDCP 2.2 copy protection.

Home Theater Capabilities

Yamaha placed DSP processors throughout the AVENTAGE RX-A 60 Series line enabling out-of-the-box support for a wide assortment of surround sound formats including the latest Dolby Atmos and DTS:X object-based sound formats. These formats should provide immersive theatrical experiences with over-head height channels that will have the audience ducking from roaring dragons flying overhead.

Like other Yamaha products, the AVENTAGE RX-A 60 Series AV receivers will include the ability to play and distribute the exclusive MusicCast wireless multiroom audio system. MusicCast offers built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for added connectivity to music services and to smartphones or tablets to easily stream music through the AV receiver.

Additionally, all models support high-resolution audio music files including: ALAC at 96 kHz / 24 bit, WAV, AIFF, FLAC up to 192 kHz / 24 bit, DSD to 5.6 MHz. Vinyl music aficionados will find that AVENTAGE AV receivers, starting with the RX-A760 through the RX-A3060, have a phono input with preamp support for Vinyl lowers that own a turntable. With MusicCast, these AV receivers can even send music from a turntable wirelessly to MusicCast-enabled products in other rooms in the house. The MusicCast app ties it all together with simple-to-use operation using iOS or Android smart devices.

DSP, YPAO and PEQ Update

Lovers of Yamaha DSP and its ability to transform your living room into the halls of a German cathedral or washroom can rejoice as you can now overlay DSP over Atmos and DTS:X on the RX-A3060 flagship model. The RX-A3060 is able to overlay DSP to object based formats NOT because of its new 64-bit resolution but because of the fact it employs three DSP processors vs two for the lower models that can't do this. That's a lot of horsepower for an AV receiver!

All AVENTAGE RX-A 60 Series AV receivers include the YPAO sound optimization system to automatically analyze speaker placements, then tune and calibrate sound levels to the dynamics of the specific listening environment. AVENTAGE AV receivers ensure the sound experience is tailored to the unique conditions of each home

Yamaha claims the new 64-bit processing has also significantly upped the quality of YPAO auto-room EQ and it allows audiophiles to preserve native sample rates of high resolution audio even with YPAO engaged.  We've found many competitor systems lack the processing power to do this and simply downsample  high resolution audio to 48kHz. This is NOT the case with YPAO on the latest generation of Yamaha RX-A 60 AVENTAGE AV receivers. Very cool.

But what about bass frequency correction?

Historically YPAO has been ineffective for subwoofer correction as we've found when reviewing the CX-A5000, RX-Z7 and RX-A1010 models. We 're hoping YPAO algorithms have been improved since then and plan on testing this in a future formal review.  What is exciting however is Yamaha's upgrade to the manual PEQ function for ALL new models.

"We are pleased to see that Yamaha put in a significant upgrade per my repeated suggestions.  Last year when I met with their engineers at CEDIA to consult about the benefits of low frequency EQ correction, I knew they were serious about making this change. As a result, Yamaha's manual PEQ now works down to 15Hz.  In the past it was limited to 31Hz which was ineffective for dealing with very low frequency modal issues that plague most home theater rooms.  With this change, Yamaha is enabling advanced users with useful subwoofer EQ correction."

Gene DellaSala - President Audioholics

Subwoofer equalization (EQ) is supported in all AVENTAGE RX-A 60 Series AV receivers and the RX-A760 model on up benefit from subwoofer parametric EQ down to 15.6 Hz. Note, this is only for manual PEQ function. YPAO correction is still limited to 31Hz which is likely due to limitations of the accuracy of microphone being used.

Further, the Yamaha Compressed Music Enhancer is now optimized for Bluetooth audio transmission to ensure wirelessly delivered music remains clean, crisp and complete with a full range of sound.

Multi-Zone Updates

Starting with the RX-A1060 model, the following upgrades have been made on the RX A 60 series for ALL Zones:

• Compressed music enhancer
  
• Zone Volume EQ
• Extra Bass
  

The AVENTAGE RX-A 60 Lineup

RX-A660

The RX-A660 is the base-level model this year. Featuring 7.2-channel surround, the network AV receiver includes four HDMI inputs and one output with HDCP 2.2 copy protection supporting 4K Ultra HD video resolution with HDR and BT.2020; Dolby Atmos and DTS:X object-based surround sound speaker setups of 5.1.2 channels; built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity and YPAO sound optimization. The AV receiver outputs 80 W per channel and includes an Extra Bass feature to enrich sound even with small speakers and high-resolution audio playback. As noted earlier, it's a pretty significant step up in their game this year that Yamaha is offering Atmos/DTS:X in an AV receiver at this price point.  If you wanted the latest in surround codec last year in the AVENTAGE line, you'd have to shell out $999 for their RX-A850 model. The RX-A660 does NOT have manual PEQ function but it does have dual subwoofer outputs (parallel connection).

    

RX-A760

The AVENTAGE RX-A760 features 7.2 channels with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X set up to 5.1.2 channels or can output 5.1 channels plus Zone 2 with auto switching. The AV receiver steps up to 90 W per channel; six HDMI inputs (three with HDCP 2.2); one HDMI/HDCP 2.2 output and includes: phono input; Rhapsody and Sirius XM Internet Radio; YPAO with Reflected Sound Control (R.S.C.) and intelligent assignable amps. Manual PEQ is also added in this model as are dual subwoofer outputs (parallel connection).

    

RX-A860

The AVENTAGE RX-A860 is a 7.2-channel network AV receiver that enables Dolby Atmos and DTS:X setups of 5.1.2 channels or a 5.1 channel plus Zone 2 with auto switching. The AV receiver steps up to 100 W per channel; eight HDMI inputs (three with HDCP 2.2) and dual HDMI/HDCP 2.2 outputs. The receiver includes: YPAO R.S.C. with multipoint measurement and a vanity door front panel. Also included are intelligent assignable amplifiers with the user’s choice of surround back or front presence channels. Another very important feature that differentiates this model from the lower ones is the inclusion of 7.2 channel analog preamp outputs. This allows future expandability should you ever want to add more power to your system via external amplification. That feature alone makes the $150 jump in price over the RX-A760 model well worth it.

    

RX-A1060

The AVENTAGE RX-A1060 features 7.2 channels and enables a Dolby Atmos and DTS:X setup of 5.1.2 channels or can output 5.1 channels plus Zone 2 with auto switching. The AV receiver steps up to 110 W per channel; eight HDMI inputs (seven with HDCP 2.2) and dual HDMI/HDCP 2.2 outputs. The AV receiver also features: symmetrical amp layout; advanced dual ESS SABRE DACs for state of the art noise floor and high resolution support and YPAO R.S.C. with multipoint measurement with a 7.1-channel equalizer. Other features include: advanced HDMI zone switching that allows all sources to be output via HDMI to a second zone and Zone 2 features including Zone Volume EQ, Zone Extra Bass and Zone Enhancer.

    

RX-A2060

The AVENTAGE RX-A2060 boasts 9.2 channels in a network AV receiver that enables Dolby Atmos and DTS:X speaker setups of 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 channels. The AV receiver steps up to 140 W per channel and includes dual ESS SABRE DACs and YPAO R.S.C. with 3D, multipoint and angle measurement and 9.2-channel equalizer. To add icing to the cake, the RX-A2060 is the first model in the lineup that gets you dual subwoofer outputs with independent delay and level settings.

    

RX-A3060

The flagship AVENTAGE RX-A3060 features 11-channel processing in a network AV receiver and enables Dolby Atmos and DTS:X setups of 5.1.4 channels, 7.1.2 channels or 7.1.4 channels (with an external 2-channel amplifier). The AV receiver steps up to 150 W per channel; ESS SABRE 32-bit DAC with the ability to fine-tune ultra-low jitter phase lock loop (PLL) mode to exactly the desired level; and YPAO R.S.C. with 3D, multipoint, 11.2-channel precision equalizer and 64-bit calculation resolution. The RX-A3060 is the cream of the crop, on par processing wise with the  CX-A5100 AV Processor (though the CX-A5100 PEQ is limited to 31Hz).

    

Model	RX-A660	RX-A760	RX-A860
Channels	7.2	7.2	7.2
Power (2Ch driven)	80 W	90 W	100 W
Atmos Ready	5.1.2 channels	5.1.2 channels or a 5.1 channel plus Zone 2 with auto switching.	5.1.2 channels or a 5.1 channel plus Zone 2 with auto switching
DTS:X Ready	yes	yes	yes
Integrated Wireless	yes	yes	yes
HDMI Zone Switching	yes	yes	yes
YPAO	yes	yes	yes
Preamp Outputs	sub only	sub only	yes, 7.2-ch

 

Model	RX-A1060	RX-A2060	RX-A3060
Channels	7.2	9.2	11
Power (2Ch driven)	110	140 W	150 W
Atmos Ready	5.1.2 channels or a 5.1 channel plus Zone 2 with auto switching	5.1.4 or 7.1.2 channels	5.1.4 channels, 7.1.2 channels or 7.1.4 channels (with an external 2-channel amplifier)
DTS:X Ready	yes	yes	yes
Integrated Wireless	yes	yes	yes
HDMI Zone Switching	yes	yes	yes
YPAO	yes	yes	yes
Preamp Outputs	yes, 7.2-ch	yes, 7.2-ch	yes, 11.2-ch

 

Pricing and Availability

The new Yamaha Aventage models will be available exclusively at authorized Yamaha AV dealers with the following MSRPs:

• RX-A660 ($649.95; June availability)
• RX-A760 ($749.95; May availability)
• RX-A860 ($999.95; June availability)
• RX-A1060 ($1,299.95; June availability)
• RX-A2060 ($1,699.95; July availability)
• RX-A3060 ($2,199.95; July availability)

About Yamaha
Yamaha Corporation of America (YCA) is one of the largest subsidiaries of Yamaha Corporation, Japan and offers a full line of award-winning musical instruments, sound reinforcement, commercial installation and home entertainment products to the U.S. market. Products include: Yamaha acoustic, digital and hybrid pianos, portable keyboards, guitars, acoustic and electronic drums, band and orchestral instruments, marching percussion products, synthesizers, professional digital and analog audio equipment, Steinberg recording products and NEXO commercial audio products, as well as AV receivers, amplifiers, MusicCast wireless multiroom audio systems, Blu-ray/CD players, earphones, headphones, home-theater-in-a-box systems, sound bars and its exclusive line of Digital Sound Projectors. YCA markets innovative, finely crafted technology and entertainment products and musical instruments targeted to the hobbyist, education, worship, music, professional audio installation and consumer markets.

 

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.