On the Bench

The first five graphs used Dolby Digital test signals, recorded at - 10 dB, input via one of the Toslink optical digital input jacks, and the output taken from a pre-out jack.

At 1 kHz input, THD+N was about 0.02%. Notice that there was only one harmonic, the second harmonic, at 2 kHz.

Using 1 kHz and 1.5 kHz input signals, for IMD, the A+B peak at 3 kHz was very low. So was the B-A peak at 500 Hz.

Again, for IMD tests, 5 kHz and 6 kHz input signals were used. A+B at 11 kHz was very low as was the B-A peak at 1 kHz.

For 10 kHz input, the second harmonic, at 20 kHz, was larger than the third, at 30 kHz.

Using 10 kHz and 11 kHz, the A+B peak, at 21 kHz, was again, very low. The B-A peak, at 1 kHz, was also quite low.

The following five graphs used a speaker output instead of a pre-out. Signals were generated by the PC sound card.

At 1 kHz and 5 volts RMS output, THD+N was less than 0.02%. This is a bit higher than specification, but still quite acceptable.

With 1 kHz and 1.5 kHz input, the A+B peak at 3 kHz was very low, as was the B-A peak at 500 Hz.

For 5 kHz and 6 kHz signals, A+B at 11 kHz and B-A at 1 kHz were low.

A 10 kHz signal resulted in low THD+N, although higher than spec, and the second harmonic at 20 kHz is lower than the third, at 30 kHz, which is good.

Main IMD peaks for 10 kHz and 11 kHz inputs were low, one at 21 kHz and the other at 1 kHz.

The maximum pre-out voltage, maintaining stability, was 1.72 volts RMS. THD+N was 0.1%. The volume control for this output voltage was 0.0 dB.

Here is the measured frequency response, with all the speakers set to Small, and measured at a speaker output terminal. The crossover was set to 80 Hz. Notice that it starts rolling off at about 200 Hz.

Using one of the 5.1 pre-in jacks, and setting it to Pure Direct, the frequency response was 20 Hz to 20 kHz ± 0.25 dB. It was down 3 dB at 88 kHz.

Conclusions

Yamaha raises the bar with the RX-V4600 receiver by adding HDMI and iLink (which let you play DVD-A and SACD digital signals from universal DVD players), as well as HD Radio and two extra zones, all for less than $2,000.

Although the receiver could use a little more amplifier power, the processor section has absolutely everything you could want, and the later addition of a three-channel power amplifier would give you an awesome home entertainment control center.

- John E. Johnson, Jr. -

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