Newbie needs advice!

[charlee]

I am a novice in this home theatre setup.
I have a limited budget to buy a AV receiver for my DVD player with 4 - 6 ohms 5.1 channel speaker system.

Now Yamaha AV receivers are on sale and I found one model Yamaha RX-V340 which is in my budget range.

I am plan to buy this RX-V340 but I would like to know to make sure that it can be used with my 4 ohms speaker system.

And it has Dolby Digital Matrix 6.1 and DTS Matrix 6.1.
Are these Matrix systems also compatible with Dolby 5.1 and DTS surround system?
My DVD player has Dolby 5.1 and DTS decoder.

I use the HT system 70% on music listening (SACD, DVD-Audio etc.)

Do you think this RX-V340 is suitable for me?
Some say that Yamaha is better for movie and some says it is better for music.
I am comfuse with this.

Please suggest me before I buy this receiver.
Thanks.

[Wireworm5]

I am a novice in this home theatre setup.
I have a limited budget to buy a AV receiver for my DVD player with 4 - 6 ohms 5.1 channel speaker system.

Now Yamaha AV receivers are on sale and I found one model Yamaha RX-V340 which is in my budget range.

I am plan to buy this RX-V340 but I would like to know to make sure that it can be used with my 4 ohms speaker system.

And it has Dolby Digital Matrix 6.1 and DTS Matrix 6.1.
Are these Matrix systems also compatible with Dolby 5.1 and DTS surround system?
My DVD player has Dolby 5.1 and DTS decoder.

I use the HT system 70% on music listening (SACD, DVD-Audio etc.)

Do you think this RX-V340 is suitable for me?
Some say that Yamaha is better for movie and some says it is better for music.
I am comfuse with this.

Please suggest me before I buy this receiver.
Thanks.

If it has a 4 ohm switch on the back then its probably ok. The specs for this unit is no longer posted on the Yamaha site. What seperates the cheaper RX-V's from the more expensive ones appears to be watts per channel and features. I'm guessing the 340 is around 65 watts per channel.
If you can get it cheap then I would take a chance on it, if it has the 4 ohm switch you want. The newer models 750 and up have Parameter adjustmests to help compensate for room acoustics. You may want to upgrade someday to one of these, so keep this in mind.
Compared to my other brand HT receiver the Yamaha sounfields sound real not phoney. But what I like about the Yamaha is the multi-channel stereo mode. I prefer this mode even for watching movies. Also check to see if you can adjust the tone controls for headphones. My RX-V2200 has this feature. If you want to use headphones you will be happy to have this feature.
my .02 cents

[charlee]

If it has a 4 ohm switch on the back then its probably ok. The specs for this unit is no longer posted on the Yamaha site. What seperates the cheaper RX-V's from the more expensive ones appears to be watts per channel and features. I'm guessing the 340 is around 65 watts per channel.
If you can get it cheap then I would take a chance on it, if it has the 4 ohm switch you want. The newer models 750 and up have Parameter adjustmests to help compensate for room acoustics. You may want to upgrade someday to one of these, so keep this in mind.
Compared to my other brand HT receiver the Yamaha sounfields sound real not phoney. But what I like about the Yamaha is the multi-channel stereo mode. I prefer this mode even for watching movies. Also check to see if you can adjust the tone controls for headphones. My RX-V2200 has this feature. If you want to use headphones you will be happy to have this feature.
my .02 cents


Ww5,

Thank you very much for your suggestion. RX-V340 has 80 watts per channel.
Dynamic Power/Channel are:
6 ohms 75 W
4 ohms 95 W
2 ohms 105 W
At the real panel has 6 ohms speaker connectors only.
It doesn't has 4 ohm switch. I asked the sale person and he said it can drive 4 ohms to 8 ohms with no problem. Yamaha can drive low impadance he said.

They have another model Rx-V640 which is 200 $ more. It has pre out for all channels. Max power is 125 watt per channel.
Dynamic Power/Channel
8 ohms 115w
6 ohms 140 W
4 ohms 180 W
2 ohms 225 W

It has impedance selector switch. But it says main A or B 4 ohms / A+B 8 ohms and center,real are 6 ohm in one mode and in other mode all speakers in 8 ohms .

My multi channel amplifier has the following spec.

Subwoofer output power: 50W
Front output power: 30W + 30W (4 ohms)
Center output power: 30W(4 ohms)
Surround output power: 30W + 30W (4 ohms)
Total harmonic distortion: <= 0.5%
Input Impedance: 47k
Input Sensibility: <= 300mv
Max input signal: 5Vp-p
Signal-to-noise: >=80dB
Freq response: 20 Hz-20 Hz (+/- 3dB)

I have some questions :
1) Because a power rating of most AV receivers is 80 W per channel or more on Dynamic Power/Channel or on Main/Centre/Real channels, could I buy one of them and connect to my multichannels amplifier which has only 30W/Channel?
2) As Multichannels output wattage is lower than AV receiver output wattage, is this workable?
3) Would the multich amplifier (with 4 ohms speakers and subwf) or AV receiver or the speakers blow up if I connect these multi ch amp and av reciver?
4) If not, could I enjoy the advantage of receiver output quality from the multi ch amplifier output?
5) Or does it degrade its output sound quality?

From the above two models RX-V340 and RX-V640 which is suitable for me?
Because right now I couldn't afford to buy the newer models RX-Vx50 series or later.

Harman kardon AVR 230 is same price as RX-V640. Do you think HK is better than Yamaha?

Sorry for my long post.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[paul_pci]

Two things:

If you connect an external amplifier through a receiver's pre-outs, then it bypasses the receivers amplifier for those channels. The wattage your speakers would be drawing from would be the external amps, not the receivers.

Second, I'd buy the proposed Yamaha receiver from a retailer that has a liberal return policy, so that if you find that the receiver is not powering your speakers to your satisfaction then you can return and resume a search for a receiver with adequate power.

Good luck.

[charlee]

Two things:

If you connect an external amplifier through a receiver's pre-outs, then it bypasses the receivers amplifier for those channels. The wattage your speakers would be drawing from would be the external amps, not the receivers.

Second, I'd buy the proposed Yamaha receiver from a retailer that has a liberal return policy, so that if you find that the receiver is not powering your speakers to your satisfaction then you can return and resume a search for a receiver with adequate power.

Good luck.

Thank you all of you for your information and suggestion.
RX-V640 and HK AVR 230 are far from my budget so I considered RX-V340 and RX-V440.
RX-V440 has 4 ohms (main) switch so it can use with my speakers.
But it has no preout for all chs but because of my low wattage external amplifier, the output from the amplifier is lower than the receiver. So it is not a good idea to hook up the receiver and amplifier. Thanks to paul_pci for pointing this to me.
So I bought RX-V440 and hooked up to my existing speakers (4-6 ohms) and it has no problem.
Very very good for watching movies and music listening.
This is what I am looking for and I am very pleased with it.

Thanks again to all of you.