Yamaha RX-A3000 Aventage Receiver Review

AV receivers are constantly changing, constantly leap-frogging one another in features and capabilities. This year Yamaha announced its Aventage line and, in the process, jumped over a lot of the competition. And not a little jump, more like an Olympic gold medal long jump. There are five receivers in the Aventage lineup and this one, the Yamaha RX-A3000  - she's the flagship.

Back in 2008 Yamaha released its top of the line RX-Z7 AV receiver. It had 7 channels of amplification with 140 watts each. All manner of video upscaling (analogue and digital), 5 HDMI inputs, 2 outputs... It even supported an advanced room calibration system and 4 Zones of audio. It weighed just over 40 pounds and cost $2700.

Two years later, Yamaha has released the RX-A3000 Aventage receiver. It too has 7 channels of 140Watts each, the same analogue and digital upconversion. But it has 8 HDMI inputs and 2 outputs, all 3D compatible and supporting the latest features like Audio Return Channel. It can bypass HDMI while in standby, so you can use your TV without having to turn on the receiver. It has the same advanced room correction system and network features and the 4 Zones of audio. It adds another component video input, bringing the total to 4 - which is more than enough in our opinion. It does remove one digital audio input and output. It also removed the two switched outlets on the back. But here's the kicker. It weighs over 45 pounds and costs just $1800. Now we're not going to say that the amplifier section is exactly the same as the Z7, but given the feature set, weight and $900 cost savings, Yamaha's RX-A3000 just became the big man on campus and it's going to take quite a bit to topple this Goliath.

We'll be running a full suite of amplifier tests on this receiver shortly, but for now let's talk some more about features - cause there's a LOT of them (too many to cover in this video). One of the things we really like about the RX-A3000 is its new and improved GUI with snappy, animated menus that can also superimpose itself over video. Earlier menu systems were gussied up text-based interfaces - this is more like an app.

Speaking of apps, Yamaha also released an Aventage iPhone app which allows user control over features like Zone volume and source selection and even controlling the tuner section of the receiver. We have to be honest, the app is a bit of a dog, with slow feedback and a quirky interface, but it's a great start - and for free it's hard to complain. Particularly with respect to using multiple Zones, it's almost a life-saver.

Within the system menu we found that the RX-A3000 unlocks an almost limitless amount of options for the amplifiers, inputs, HDMI and DSP. We're talking a massive amount of configurability, and the visual representation of what you are doing makes it easy to understand the settings. There are both Front and Rear Presence channels that can be assigned, and the way the 11-PAIRS of speaker connections are laid out on the rear of the receiver, you can bet that you are going to be able to find a configuration that that works for your whole home. Look, there is so much to say about the Yamaha that we're just going to have to stop talking and force you to wait for the full review to see how it measured, and how it performed in our listening tests.

Read our comprehensive review of the Yamaha RX-A3000 11.2 CH A/V Receiver

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