Yamaha, Sony or Denon?

Posted by Rob Loewy [IP: 198.133.22.68] on March 31, 1999 at 12:38:38
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In Reply to: Yamaha, Sony or Denon? posted by B. O'Brien on March 29, 1999 at 21:35:30:

Each has its characteristics. Beware of a few.

The Yamaha and Sony (I'm pretty sure) have built-in DTS (in Denon, you have to go up to the 3600 model to get DTS) although most folks dismiss it as a technology that is going to lose out in the long run to AC3. But if DTS does begin to emerge as a more prominent technology, at least with Y and S you won't have to buy a decoder - but read the next paragraph regarding S.

The Yamaha and Denon (I think) have a set of 6-channel inputs, which means when the next audio technology beyond AC3 and DTS comes along, you can plug in an external decoder and away you go (what the hell, it's only money, right?). Sony does not have these inputs. Although who's to say that the next generation audio won't require 8 or 10 inputs, rendering 6-channel inputs useless. Hmmmm....

Sony has the most (41 I think) DSPs but a remote that many folks complain about. A hard-to-see battery hog. For that matter, folks complain about the limited programmability/memory of the Yamaha remote, although I think I've there's a replacement in the works. You can also buy an after-market remote (several hundred bucks for a good one) that is far more capable than anything an OEM is likely to include in the box with the receiver.

Be sure to test drive the remotes in the store along with listening to the receivers. I've noticed that salespeople almost never use the remote when demonstrating a receiver. Since all of the HT receiver remotes are designed to control multiple pieces of gear, they are quite busy. The Denon's is the most straightforward looking, but I can't say I've actually compared it in actual use against the Y or the S.

Yamaha is said to be quite "bright" sounding, particularly with small speakers like the T5s. Listen and decide for yourself. I only heard the T5s with Denon and Rotel machines and I didn't like them (the T5s) at all, but I have no experience with a T5/Yamaha combination.

The other thing to think about is whether you're buying too much receiver for what are relatively modest speakers. You might want to consider the Sony ES30 and/or Yamaha 795 instead and save yourself about $200 - which you could throw at better speakers and continue this decision nightmare for many months more!

Denon has a really cool one button "5 channel stereo" mode - I think the 2700 has it; I know the 3200 and up models do. Denon may have fewer s-video inputs than either the Sony or Yamaha, which have about 5 or 6 each.

All of these maddening factoids fueled my decision, after months of research, to buy nothing for a year or so, in the hopes that things in the industry, however unlikely, might settle down a bit. At the moment, I'm limping along with a 10 year old Onkyo mid-grade receiver and 25 year old ESS (long defunct company) speakers.

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