RX-V800 or RX-V740??

[nikejordan]

I had a Yamaha RX-V800, after 1 1/2 years of use, it went bad and now yamaha want to give me a RX-V740 since they dont make RX-V800 anymore. According to the yamaha guy, RX-V740 is better than RX-V800. I disagree with him. The only good thing about 740 is that its a 6.1 while 800 is 5.1 (but 800 has this technology to deliver the newest 6-channel formats Dolby Digital Matrix 6.1 and DTS ES). The amp of 800 is better than the 740 with minimum 100W RMS per channel compared to 90W per channel. Plus the 800 have a bass extension thing while 740 dont have one. The dynamnic power ( what ever that is) of 800 is better than 740 as well. That being said, is it worth getting a 740 rather than 800 or those numbers are decieving? i can push yamaha to get me RX-V750 instead or repair me the 800. Plus I have cerwin vega speakers ( the old RX series) 400W which worked great with the 800 that i never bought a sub. Can somebody tell me if they would work as good with the 740? Any suggestion....

[Woochifer]

I think the main difference is that the 800 has a better amp section, while the 740 has a better preamp section. The 740 is two years newer than the 800, so it has more advanced decoding capabilities and better video switching than the 800. Keep in mind that a rated output difference of 10 watts per channel probably won't make any audible difference whatsoever, and the "dynamic output" spec is fairly useless. Plus, the functionality of the bass extension button can be duplicated by simply boosting the bass with the tone controls.

And the 800 is a 5.1 receiver. The matrix 6.1 and ES decoding on that receiver create a virtual back surround channel. With the 740, you get that same kind of virtual back surround functionality by just switching off the back surround speaker output using the setup menu. However, because the 740 is a discrete 6.1 receiver, you have the option of either a discrete back surround channel with an actual speaker or a virtual channel.

Bottom line is don't get too caught up in the numbers. In general, 6.1 receivers have lower all channels driven output than 5.1 receivers, but they have the capability of driving six speakers rather than five. For Cerwin Vegas, I doubt that the extra power on the 800 will make much of an audible difference because those speakers are not difficult to drive.

[kexodusc]

Hard to say...I believe the RX-V740 is actually a bit better receiver than the 800...it has a larger (but lighter weight) power supply unit, and all the digital processing goodies...the 800 has the heavier chassis, but that's not really a performance affecting feature.
The 740 uses the newer lighter-weight and more efficient power supplies than the older Yamaha's (my RX-V795a had a very similar power supply to the 800 - heavy, and generated a lot of heat)...I was told by some Yamaha authorized repair-technicians that newer power supplies have become less expensive, lighter weight and generate less heat than those of a few years back. Two in particular told me that the increased demand for home computers (which have similar sized power supplies) is driving that trend for home electronic power supplies...

Your Cerwin Vegas are pretty efficient speakers, and the 740 should be more than enough power for them anyway...how loud do you usually play those? Street party loud, or anger the wife loud?

[nikejordan]

I dont play those speakers really loud..The thing of it is that the 800 produced that deep bass that i never had the need to get a sub. Before 800 i had a denon reciever and the denon never produced that kind of deep bass. The loudest i have gone is 30-db and thats about it. I guess the 800 was a better match for the cerwin vegas than the denon..so that makes me wonder if the 740 is going to be a good match with the cerwin vegas. Like woochifer said that the 800 has a better amp section than the 740.

[kexodusc]

I'm not sure "better" is the right term...The 800's amps section is certainly bigger, capable of delivering more max power than 740, but in 2-channel mode there's only 5 watts or so difference very negligible...with 5 channels driven, the difference is a bit more, but still not drastic enough that one would expect a change in output performance...If bigger means "better" to you than yes, it's better. More power is always nice to have, but if you don't use it, there's better things to concentrate on. As Woochifer said, you won't notice the power difference at all in terms of sound quality or power requirements with your speakers...especially if -30 dB the loudest you push it...
And, it's not uncommon for smaller amps to sound as good or better than larger amps...I believe the level of quality of the components in the 740 is not inferior, it's just a smaller capacity...Since both of these receivers are capable of driving your speakers very easily (and most likely the Denon too), I'm more inclined to believe the difference in "deep bass" you might hear has much more to do with the pre-amp stage...the amplifier is just making the signal from the pre-amp louder, the pre-amp stage would have as much an effect on the bass, tonality, and over-all sound quality you hear, maybe even more than the amp section. I could be wrong and it could be directly the result of the amp. Unfortunately, the only way to know if the 740 will sound nice with your speakers is to test it out...perhaps you could try it in home?