Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A1020 - User Manual

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TEST

Receivers

Y

amaha’s third generation of its

premium ‘Aventage’ range is here.

Now consisting of five models, the

RX-A1020 is right in the middle,

but shares some of the higher end features.

EQUIPMENT

For example, it has the ‘Anti-resonance wedge’

— a fifth foot right in the middle of the base

plate. It also has eight HDMI inputs with two

HDMI outputs.

Unlike the higher two models, though, it

has seven rather than nine amplifiers. Highly

configurable (including the ability to drive a

pair of ‘Zone 2’ speakers), each of these is rated

at 110W into 8 ohms, full audible spectrum,

distortion at 0.06%, two channels driven.

This being Yamaha, it does not implement

Dolby Pro Logic IIz — which adds front height

channels — but instead has its own high

quality processing modes which use similarly

placed front ‘Presence’ speakers.

YAMAHA

AVENTAGE RX-A1020

In addition to the support for audio in a

second zone, you can also deliver analogue

video in the form of composite, S-Video or

component video.

The unit has full 7.1-channel analogue

inputs and full 7.1-channel analogue outputs

(the subwoofer socket is also doubled up, but

the signal is the same for both). In addition

to composite and component video, it also

supports S-Video, an increasingly rare

inclusion these days. Plus it comes with a

built-in phono preamplifier (for moving

magnet cartridges).

Obviously it has network capabilities with

an Ethernet port, but it is also supplied with a

Wi-Fi adaptor, freeing you from the necessity

of having a nearby connection to your home

network (if you have Wi-Fi, of course).

PERFORMANCE

Yamaha’s approach to WiFi networking is

interesting, but it can be quite challenging

Setting up the Wi-Fi networking was, for me,

a little bit like going back in time. Rather than

being a USB Wi-Fi dongle it is a standalone

Wi-Fi access box with two Ethernet ports. It

draws power from a USB-style socket on the

back of the receiver and one of its ports is

plugged into the receiver’s Ethernet port.

If you have press-button WPS set-up on

your Wi-Fi network then the unit is easy to

install. I don’t. Fortunately the instructions

FIRMWARE VERSION:

1.10

POWER:

7 x 110W, 8 ohms, 20-20,000kHz,

0.06% THD (two channels driven)

INPUTS:

8 x HDMI, 4 x component video,

4 x S-Video, 5 x composite video,
9 x analogue stereo, 1 x phono,
1 x 7.1 analogue, 4 x optical digital,
3 x coaxial digital, 1 x USB, 1 x Ethernet,
1 x WiFi adaptor (supplied)

OUTPUTS:

2 x HDMI, 1 x component video,

2 x S-Video, 2 x composite video,
1 x analogue stereo, 1 x 7.1 pre-out,
9 pairs speaker binding posts

ZONE:

1 x analogue stereo, 1 x composite

video (redirectable from main output),
1 x S-Video (redirectable from main
output), 1 x component video (redirectable
from main output), assignable amplifiers

OTHER:

1 x Remote In, 1 x Remote Out,

2 x Trigger, 1 x RS-232C, 1 x USB-style 5V
power

DIMENSIONS (whd):

435 x 182 x 432mm

WEIGHT:

15.1kg

WARRANTY:

Four years

CONTACT:

Yamaha Music Australia

TEL:

1300 739 411

WEB:

www.yamahamusic.com.au

•

Excellent performance

•

GUI overlay

•

Excellent network support
and performance

•

No separate crossover
frequencies for ‘Small’ speakers

•

Have to choose between
scaling and nifty GUI

VERDICT

Yamaha Aventage

RX-A1020 networked

AV receiver

Price: $1799

Yamaha Aventage

RX-A1020

networked AV receiver

Price: $1799

with the AAC and regular WMA (but not the

lossless version) and WAV and MP3 material

on my test memory sticks, plus FLAC at

24-bit/96kHz, but not at 24-bit/192kHz. It had

a manful go at 24/96 FLAC in 5.1 channels but

interpreted it as 2.0 and kept dropping out. It

read cover art from my iPod touch and iPhone

and once again allowed quick movement

through lists, one or ten pages at a time.

For online content you get internet radio

via the very capable vTuner. As usual with

this you can set up favourites via the website,

and get access thousands of podcasts as well.

The omissions are only the various online

subscription music sources, such as Spotify,

offered by others, but you can always access

these via a smartphone or tablet and then

stream them to the Yamaha.

CONCLUSION

The Yamaha Aventage RX-A1020 is an

excellent all round networked AV receiver,

although at this price it really ought to

implement multiple crossovers for different

speaker positions.

Stephen Dawson

are clear, but do be aware that you will have

to first plug the unit into the Ethernet port

on a computer and open a browser interface

to enter the necessary details (including your

Wi-Fi password) into the unit.

So for me it was harder than usual to set

up. But while I often find USB Wi-Fi dongles

problematic in my review environment, this

Wi-Fi interface worked almost perfectly at all

times. The receiver supplies power to it even

when switched off, so you can use it with the

Yamaha iPhone remote app to switch on the

system. And with two additional Ethernet

connections, you may find it convenient in

providing Wi-Fi access to a nearby

Blu-ray player or TV.

The only relative weakness

was that Apple AirPlay was a

little less reliable in my office via

Wi-Fi that it was with a wired

Ethernet connection (note,

though, this was using a 802.11g

Wi-Fi network; the adaptor does

support 802.11n).

Even though AirPlay is

provided, Yamaha’s own iOS

and Android control apps

also include music streaming

functions which more or less

replicate this, and have the added

advantage of leaving the remote

control functions handy.

Speaking of these apps, or at least the iOS

version, a useful set of controls is provided.

The app also works on an iPad with a slightly

different layout which makes good use of the

larger screen area. If you also have a Yamaha

Blu-ray player, as I do, then the app auto-

matically switches on a full set of controls for it

when its input is selected.

The only oddity was that while you can

change the names for the inputs within the

app, these are not fed through to the unit itself,

which maintains its own renaming facility

with a maximum of nine characters available.

If you use that feature then the names are

reflected in the app’s names for the inputs.

The receiver also provides a web interface

which allows some degree of control, but is

useful primarily for allowing you to back up all

the receiver’s settings to computer, and later

restore them. The backup file was only 42kB.

Setting up the receiver was surprisingly

fast with Yamaha’s YMAO speaker and

room calibration system whizzing though

the procedure. While you can have the unit

do multipoint measurements, it defaults to a

single measurement. There was no apparent

way to lock any pre-determined settings, such

as speaker size. With my system the YPAO

auto calibration chose 80Hz, but left the front

speakers on ‘Large’. My centre speaker, while

very capable, should not properly considered

‘Large’. I changed it to ‘Small’ after the calibra-

tion, and the sound didn’t seem to suffer for

the change.

Given how advanced this receiver is in so

many ways, it was surprising that its auto set-up

capabilities do not provide different crossover

frequencies for the different speakers. You can

adjust the single crossover a long way (40 to

200Hz), but it can be useful to apply a 40Hz

crossover, say, to your front speakers and a

100Hz crossover to the rear ones.

With only that size change, the receiver

sounded excellent all round with a smooth

and natural sound. You can select from several

different EQ curves (it defaulted to ‘Flat’ but

also offered ‘Natural’, ‘Off’ and ‘Front’, which

makes the other speakers sound like the front

stereo pair. Its room calibration functions

include adjustments for early boundary reflec-

tions from the loudspeakers.

The video handling was generally very

good, and most certainly extremely convenient

if you abide by one simple condition. That

is: do not use the receiver’s ability to upscale

HDMI video inputs. You may well want to use

it to process analogue inputs, but if you want

to use it for HDMI upscaling then this will

come at the cost of quick menu overlays.

At native resolution — including 1080p/24

and full-HD 3D (I was unable to check 4K) —

the receiver overlays its menus over the video,

which makes for exceptional responsiveness. It

also has some useful information for the tech

nerd (e.g. me), disclosing the supported video

resolutions on HDMI connected displays, and

showing in numbers what the auto lip sync

delay is for attached displays (0 for my little

Samsung monitor TV, and 123ms for a big

JVC projector).

But if you use the video scaling capabilities

of the receiver, then invoking the GUI makes

the receiver switch off the scaling before

displaying the menus. Quick

ad hoc

displays

of information or use of the ‘Option’ menu

to change some setting become exercises in

waiting as the TV resyncs with the new signal

standard whenever you press those keys.

The new media functions of the receiver

were a slightly mixed bag. What it does offer,

it offers very nicely. We’ve already mentioned

the Apple AirPlay support, and the streaming

capability of the mobile app. There is also

traditional DLNA support, which is driven

from the receiver rather than the network

music source. Good facilities are provided

for scooting through long lists of Artists

and Albums and Songs using the on-screen

display, while using the iOS App was even

faster and more convenient.

The receiver also supports music from

USB devices plugged into the front port

(remember the rear one is only a 5V power

socket, not a proper USB port at all). It worked