Product Review -
Yamaha Pro Logic/AC-3 Home Theater Electronics - October, 1996
By John E. Johnson, Jr.
Yamaha Electronics Corporation USA, 6660 Orangethorpe Avenue |
Buena Park, California 90620-1345 |
Phone 714-522-9105; Fax 800-782-8484 |
Yamaha CDV-W901 Laserdisc Player; Outputs:
two composite video (RCA jacks), two S-Video jacks, one optical
digital audio, two sets of stereo analog audio (four RCA jacks),
one AC-3 RF jack (RCA); Separate drawer for CDs; Karaoke
built-in; Remote control; Size 5"H x 17"W x 15
1/2"D; Weight 15 1/2 pounds; $899
Yamaha RX-V990 Surround Sound Receiver; Power output: front
left/right 100 w/ch into 8 Ohms, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.015% THD;
center 100 w into 8 Ohms, 1 kHz, 0.015% THD; rear left/right 25
w/each into 8 Ohms, 1 kHz, 0.08% THD; Damping factor 200; Output
impedance of pre-outs 1.5 kOhms; Tone controls + or - 10 dB;
Inputs: Tape 1, Tuner, CD, Phono (MM), Video Aux, VCR 1, VCR 2,
LD/TV; Surround sound fields: Pro Logic, Pro Logic Enhanced, 70
mm Movie Theater, TV Theater, Sports, Stadium, Rock Concert, Jazz
Club, Church, Concert Hall; Four sets of S-Video/Composite
Video/Stereo Audio inputs; Pre-out jacks (RCA) for all channels;
Pre-in jacks (RCA) for all channels; Discrete input jacks for all
channels (for connection to AC-3 processor audio outputs);AM/FM
Tuner with presets; Headphone output jack; Size 7"H x
17"W x 17"D; Weight 32 pounds; $999
Yamaha's *90 series of receivers has been extremely popular over
the years. They are well built, and they sound good. A number of
receivers from various manufacturers have recently hit the
marketplace with AC-3 capability built in (the AC-3 processor is
part of the receiver), or they have the ability to be connected
to AC-3 processors. They are all quite expensive. However, the
new Yamaha RX-V990 is the first one to be priced at less than
$1,000. Pre-outs, Pre-ins, and Discrete inputs for all five
amplifier sections are integral to this receiver, and if you are
planning to get AC-3, DTS, or any other 5.1 type of audio that
comes down the road, these features MUST be present on the
receiver you buy now. Forward compatibility is the buzz term
here, and the RX-V990 has it.
Of course, in order to have AC-3, you need an AC-3 source. DVD
will have it, and probably Digital Tape players, but for now,
only laserdiscs have AC-3. Since components from the same
manufacturer generally are designed to work best with each other,
we decided to review the Yamaha CDV-W901 laserdisc player, which
has an AC-3 RF output, with the 990. For AC-3 decoding, we used
the Yamaha DDP-1, which we reviewed previously [click here to
see review].
The 901 is Yamaha's top of the line laserdisc player. One of the
things we liked best about it, is that the front panel is easy to
use. The plethora of buttons to accidentally push is not there.
Some buttons have multiple functions, such as the search
forward/backward. If you just tap it, nothing happens. But if you
hold it down, about 1/2 second later search forward or backward
will start. Tap it twice and the disc is forwarded or reversed
one chapter. The 1/2 second delay is for a purpose. The pause and
stop buttons are nearby, and they only need to be tapped for
activation, so if you hit the forward or reverse by accident,
they won't send the movie action elsewhere. There is a jog wheel
(for stepping through individual frames), but it is on the remote
control along with other functions not found on the player panel,
such as a numeric keypad for programming CDs, and multi-speed
control. There is no digital video noise reduction on this
player. Two sets of outputs for everything except the AC-3 RF and
optical digital are on the back panel. This allows connection to
a TV and to a VCR directly if you wish. Although the 990 has very
nice switching for video inputs, we always prefer to connect our
video sources directly to their recipients. We aren't able to use
the on-screen programming capability that the 990 has when we do
this, but interrupting the video signal with jacks in between the
source and destination will always degrade the image, even if it
just a bit. That goes for any receiver.
Karaoke is a feature found on many laserdisc players. When I
visited Tokyo in the early 1980's, singing along with the music
was already very popular there. We got up on a stage and selected
a cassette tape, inserted it into a player, and sang along with
the music using printed sheets that had the words. Now, Karaoke
is found in many bars in the USA. The music is on karaoke
laserdiscs that have images on the TV to go with the music. The
901 is fully equipped for this, with two microphone inputs, echo,
and pitch control. I can't sing worth a hoot, so Karaoke is not
my thing, but a lot of people are nuts about it. You can even use
a regular CD, and the 901 will reduce the level of the voices.
The CD drawer comes out separately from the LD drawer. The 901 CD
sound (and FM tuner performance of the 990 for that matter) is
good but not extraordinary. However, keeping in mind that these
are mass consumer products and very reasonably priced, I was
quite comfortable with the quality. The optical digital output on
the 901 could be connected to an outboard DAC, but I don't
particularly care for optical digital transport-to-DAC
connections, and I prefer separate CD players anyway. CDs and FM
music, when played with Pro Logic and the other sound fields
really sold me on home theater environment for music-only
listening (two channel stereo is always available by pushing the
"Effect Off" button). The "Enhanced" and
"70 mm Movie Theater" alter the content to each
speaker, and add some reverberation. The other sound fields do a
variety of things that are hard to explain without actually
demonstrating them. Suffice it to say that an extensive portfolio
of sound manipulation is available in the digital domain with the
RX-V990. I like this unit very much.
The image quality of the 901 is excellent. Clear, sharp, good
delineation of color, no jitter with freeze-frame. Choice of
using the composite video output or the S-Video output depends on
the quality of your TV. If it is one of the $599 types, then
probably the S-Video output (obviously the TV has to have an
S-Video input), but if your TV is one of the really good ones,
say a 35" direct view priced around $3,000, then the
composite video will probably be better. There appears to be an
assumption that the S-Video connection is always best. Not so. If
the comb filter is better in the player than the TV, then
S-Video. If the comb filter is better in the TV, then composite.
Ironically, the best TVs often have multiple S-Video inputs. Ours
has three sets, and it is an extremely good monitor, so we found
that there was a slight improvement in image definition using the
composite video connection. The comb filter separates the chroma
(the color signal), or C, from the luminance (the brightness), or
Y. If you use the S-Video connection, the comb filter of the
player separates C from Y, while using the composite video
connection allows the TV's comb filter to do this. In any case,
if you are buying a TV, get one that has an S-Video input. They
are available in the <$1,000 range, and this should allow you
to select between inputs, so that you can connect the video
outputs of the laserdisc player as well as the VCR directly to
the TV.
As I mentioned above, we used the Yamaha DDP-1 AC-3 processor
with the 901 and 990. The DDP-1 is connected between the player
and receiver. The AC-3 RF output from the player is connected to
the DDP-1, using either a standard coax audio cable or a 75 Ohm
digital cable if desired, and then the analog audio outputs of
the DDP-1 are connected to the discrete inputs of the 990. The
standard two channel analog audio outputs from the 901 are
connected to the laserdisc inputs of the 990. This allows one to
switch between Pro Logic and AC-3 sound by pushing the same
button on the remote control (you KNOW you are going to be doing
that for comparison purposes, and so does Yamaha). Now here is
where the pre-outs and pre-ins of the 990 come in handy. Although
the 990 is rated at 100 w/ch for the front left/center/right, the
front left/right amps each have four bipolar output devices,
while the center has just two. You can see the effect of this on
the specifications. The rear uses a stereo IC rather than bipolar
transistors. The power supply has 15,000 microfarads, which is
not very much. 60,000 microfarads, plus four bipolars in the
center channel amp, and two for each of the rear amps would have
been much better, but it would have substantially increased the
price. So, what we did was to take the pre-outs from the rear
left/right and plug them into the pre-ins of the front
left/right, and did not use the power amp outputs from any of the
other channels except for the front left/right (which were
connected to the rear speakers). Then we connected the pre-outs
of the front left/center/right to a three channel power amplifier
delivering 200 watts/ch into 8 Ohms. This gave us 200 w/ch across
the front, and 100 watts to each of the rear speakers. If you
can't afford a good three channel power amp, the inboard amps of
the 901 will do in the meantime, but for maximum dynamics with
AC-3, get an outboard amp later on. For the subwoofer, we had an
interesting setup. We connected the LFE (Low Frequency Effects)
output of the DDP-1 to one of the line-level inputs of the
subwoofer, and the subwoofer output of the 990 to the other line
level input of the 990, rather than routing the LFE through the
main AC-3 outputs. This gave us a choice of using the DDP-1 LFE
or 990 subwoofer outputs regardless of whether we were using the
Pro Logic or AC-3 sound tracks. [Click
here for diagram.] The price for
this flexibility is lots of cables (and, since the DDP-1 LFE
output is line level, you have to set the volume control on the
subwoofer manually). As usual in this type of situation, we
pulled out our big bag of Tandy Gold Patch. We went a step
further and connected our entire home theater system, using four
subwoofers and a three channel crossover, as well as a home
theater equalizer and phase coupled activator (creates sub
harmonics). [Click
here to see list of reference components.] The front left/center/right pre-outs were channeled
through the crossover, and > 50 Hz was sent to the equalizer
and then to the three channel amp, while < 50 Hz went to three
subs. The LFE-out from the DDP-1 as well as the subwoofer-out
from the RX-V990 went to the phase coupled activator and then to
the fourth sub. With one sub, the sound was great, but with four
. . . fantastic. Some may ask, "why four subs . . . won't
that blow the walls out?" With multiple subs, the volume is
set much lower, so that each sub is not working very hard. The
result? Clean, low distortion bass, even when the jets pass
overhead. There was a slight attenuation of the high frequencies
with so many cables in the sound chain, but the ultimate effect
was worth it. (Alas, but the tone controls only affect the front
right/left channels.)
The front of the 990 has full featured controls. On/off, Speaker
set A/B, Input selector (each has a button), Digital sound fields
(each has a button), Rotary volume control, Tone Controls,
Balance, Selector for input to the recorder, Tuning and presets
for AM/FM, Bass Extension, Tone Bypass, Center channel mode with
delay time, and a very easy to read display. The rear of the 990
has lots and lots of RCA jacks, and all speaker outputs are
binding posts (adios to those spring clips). The 990 also has a
very nice remote control. It is neatly laid out and easy to use.
The inputs are all selectable, along with sound fields and volume
of all channels (the master volume control is motorized). It is
also a learning remote, meaning that you can set it up to control
most or all of the other components in the surround sound system
(components that have a remote control function). So, it can turn
on the TV, the 990, the 901, VCR, fast forward, pause, etc. Most
any function on the other remote controls can be learned by the
990 remote. This is performed by setting the 990 remote to
"Learn", pushing the desired button that you want to
program, then pointing the other remote control into the 990
remote and pushing the button of the function on the other remote
that you want learned. When the red LED on the 990 remote goes
out, it's done. Very simple, and very handy.
The Yamaha combination, even with the inboard amps powering all
channels, has a very clean sound. Pro Logic and AC-3 are decoded
and accurately channeled. There is always a little noise from the
rear speakers with Pro Logic, but it was less than average from
the 990. Being able to switch from Pro Logic to AC-3 on the same
laserdisc as the movie is playing provides a good contrast in the
quality of the mix. Our observations on comparing Pro Logic to
AC-3, based on experiences so far, are (1) AC-3 is not
necessarily harsh compared to Pro Logic as has been suggested. It
can have more emphasis in the high frequencies, but on some
discs, the Pro Logic had more high frequency emphasis. If there
is harshness in any of the sound, it is probably more a factor of
the sound track itself, rather than the processor. (2) Sometimes
the bass is better in the Pro Logic sound track than in the AC-3.
(3) Some AC-3 sound tracks are TOO discrete in the rear. A Police
radio suddenly coming directly from one rear speaker can be
distracting compared to the more ambient surround effect produced
by Pro Logic. On the other hand, AC-3, when properly mixed, can
result in spectacular sound staging, including the rear. (4) The
quality of the AC-3 mix is more variable than the corresponding
Pro Logic. This is probably a result of a lack of experience with
mixing AC-3 tracks, and should improve dramatically. So, don't
make a decision about AC-3 based on just one AC-3 disc
experience.
In summary, the Yamaha CDV-W901, DDP-1, and RX-V990 make a very
sweet package. Because of the great flexibility in connecting
outboard equipment, this system can be purchased now, add a more
powerful three (or five) channel amp later, plug the digital AC-3
output of a DVD player into the DDP-1 (the DDP-1 has digital
optical and digital coax inputs along with the RF input), and use
Y connectors to add a DTS decoder parallel to the DDP-1 (DTS will
use the two digital channels that are already present, so DTS is
backward compatible). The 990 lets us have AC-3 now, with
complete forward compatibility to the future.
John E. Johnson, Jr.
Editor
© Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997
Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity
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