- Full HD 1080p upscaling
- Zone 2/3/4 on/ off control from front panel
- HD Radio, Easy to use GUI on screen menu
- Easy to use GUI on screen menu
- HD Radio
[Begin Update 10/4/2011]
3010 Temperature Measurements
Ambient: 78F
Top of Unit
Laser thermometer: 105F
Digital thermometer: 105F
Compared to my Denon 2807
Ambient: 76F
Laser thermometer: 105F
Both units have good ventilation (open front/rear at least 3" space above).
Sound quality continues to impress. Web-based remote control has been very useful in practice.
[End Update 10/4/2011]
Buy Yamaha RX-A3010BL 9.2-Channel Network AV Receiver Now
My philosophy in buying a receiver 15 years ago was the same as it was today, go for the best you can find with the most power and flexibility so it can keep pace with technology and time. Certainly for 15 years my old receiver did just that so it was a real heart-felt moment when it died and needed replacement recently.I went to a variety of stores and did my homework and decided to go with this model from Yamaha for the aforementioned reasons as well as the reputation of Yamaha for very accurate and clean sound quality and durability. My unit arrived two days ago and I admit I was a bit intimidated by all the features, but it did not take too long to get reasonably familiar with this model. What absolutely blew me away was not only the low THD that the 9 separate amplifiers put out, but it operates at relatively low heat output. The setup steps out of the box are fairly simple. Two of the key steps are updating the firmware which turned out to be easy to do and the speaker acoustic setup. The receiver comes with a microphone that tests volume at ear level where you sit... amazing. It knows the characteristics of the speakers, how far apart they are from each other and in relation to you, and the sound is precisely tuned. Sound is utterly exceptional.
I am still playing around with it learning all it does but the sound quality while driving my Bose speaker array is delightful. Clear and precise, it creates sound in such a way that you need to check the volume to see how loud it is because you almost can't tell, it is that smooth. I have been so pleased with it, I think I will get the IPOD adapter to try it out.
Other things to note about this product: it's a beast. It weighs in at around 40 pounds so the box it arrives in is big and this thing is pretty heavy. The packing was really good so there was no damage to the unit. Another factor to consider is to get out the measuring tape and see how much depth your media cabinet has... this one is pretty big so ensure you remember to measure to avoid unnecessary disappointment or hassle. This model can drive a ton of speakers, in up to 4 zones so a house an separate events will be easy to control once the controls are learned I imagine. Additionally, with the tons of clean power it deliver per channel, it will not starve your speakers for energy trying to deliver performance... something to be sure to keep in mind.
I wish you all the best of luck with your model, I am loving mine and will add updates as time goes by should I discover anything else good or bad worth mentioning.
Read Best Reviews of Yamaha RX-A3010BL 9.2-Channel Network AV Receiver Here
Update: December 4th adding some web and iPhone screen shots (see above in pictures) to ensure that you have ample information before making decision from user interface front as well.Orig Review
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Please don't take me wrong when I say affordable price, I was just comparing the Yamaha Z11 at $5K price point to RX-A3010 at less than half the cost with added features and/or upgraded technology. Price or the affordability is a point of reference based on passion, need and things you sacrifice (your kids inheritance as example) in life to have that passion based on your priority.
Having clarified that back to the main review :-)
Difference between 3000 and 3010: Two extra "POWERED" channels period (other than 10W per channel increase and possibly some internal upgrades that we may never know). Case you're looking for zoning your system and/or want to make real 9.2 system (or 7.2+ 1 stereo zone without added amp) 3010 should be on your list my humble opinion
Summary: Great system with too many configurable options which sounds great as well just marry this with nice speakers.
Background: I have been a hardcore Denon person so far but defected to Yasmaha purely because of value for money reasons, among few more things as features while keeping quality high "enough".
My Experience: 3+ weeks or so. I had 3000 before that I used for 2-3 weeks before upgraded to this one with my gratitude to the vendor for facilitating me to do so as always Thank You. Was worth $128 price difference especially when I keep the system for at least 5 years and usually move to other room for more years of mileage.
Digging (slightly) Deeeeper
Built nicely balanced, heavy, tonnes of connectivity options with most configurable ports
Heat generates less heat than some other models in previous years
Display Front display is good but still you can not see if your audio source is actually producing DTSHD. You have to press few buttons to get that info on TV. This can be a good thing for people like me who love to hide box controlled by some RF remote
Soft Upgrades Can connect directly to INTERNET to download and upgrade firmware, takes less than 10-15 minutes overall. Also have option to use USB. Few extra steps to thru front panel buttons via admin console
Configuration: This is good and really bad as well. Little too many options to choose to make you really confused at times but great thing is there are several checks built-in and box does protect itself. Worst you need to do is reset everything and lose all the settings as factory default. So you need time to play with this device for advanced operation but basic level is piece of cake and can be up and running in less than 30 minutes including basic fine tuning
Sound Calibration: Comes with a Yapo setup (mic and position piece of plastic), helps you calibrate/check phases/determine angles of speakers for single or multi seat position much better than earlier models and seems it does work quite good. You can also save and recall special settings on demand based on calibration(s) you did and saved
On Screen: Most of the (except admin console) settings and information can be accessed on screen right on your TV and changes can be made accordingly on the fly helpful and convenient
Picture: has settings to enhance your picture even from 1080P source and saves the settings in Video Select memory for you to quickly choose
Sound (finally): I am not an Audiophile person by far but love music of all kinds, listen to podcasts (vocal) and watch Drama to Action movies. Having said that so far I did like this product at times it impresses me too much that overwhelms the experience but at times its just OK. This could be because of 11 years old speakers that I bought from craigslist till I figure out which ones should I really buy. So please don't take my word for it for now (my "honest" disclaimer) bottom line sounds great as overall
Logitech Remote friendly has database field in harmony so no worries
Good to have banana plugs as the case little too tight space for so many connectors
HDMI pass thru control for devices that use BDWise (samsung) so no worries no that front as well
Support: Was getting some kind of "snow" on TV while watching cable, called Yamaha, very friendly supportive front line support, walked me thru several steps that did not resolve but swapping the HDMI (both amazon same model) did the trick I am still confused :-) possibly a lose connect as my conclusion
Case I missed anything or need to ask a question please drop me a line in feedback/comment will happy to help as always.
Wish you my best for great hunting for your search though
Update: November 14th 2011
==========================
Air-Play (sort of) for FREE and better
Found another feature where in I can play even unsuported formats of Audio content via Network, now this will be an interesting part, using my iPhone/iPad wirelessly (I know need to switch to android in time).
Steps:
1. iPhone Open AV Link app, power on your Yamaha 3010. Choose PC as input. (Choose a zone case you have one as well).
2. iPhone/iPad Open any thirdparty app that supports "Play to" feature example "mediafly". In my case I use synology Disk Station's "DS Audio" App. Choose Yamaha 3010 as "play to" device
3. iPhone/iPad: in same App: Pick any file to play including FLAC files as desired
4. Case you have zones, you can also control it via Av Link App
5. One more reason not to leave your couch even to pick your remote .. another priceless potato :-).....
### Love this feature specifically during my morning dress-up routine where in I can play all the news of the world starting from WSJ, BBC, ABC etc keeps things interesting. WAF is a different matter though ;-)
Want Yamaha RX-A3010BL 9.2-Channel Network AV Receiver Discount?
This is my second Yamaha receiver in 12 years. If it wasn't for HDMI and 11.2 audio, etc. I would still be using my Yamaha DSP-A1. Truly amazing receiver which the RX-A3010 surpasses by orders of magnitude. Others have reviewed this receiver and I agree with all the accolades and sound quality so I won't repeat it here.The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because their deceptive advertising regarding the alleged DLNA 1.5 compatibility. It does not work for anything other than music via DLNA! No video streaming! I called their 24/7 tech support at (714)522-9105 (Select option 5) and I actually spoke to a live human being at 11:30 on a Thursday night! (He never asked for serial number, date of purchase, etc. He was just there to help me! Amazing!) I asked about the DLNA capability and in less than a blink of an eye, he said it's only for music, not video streaming. I guess I was not the first person to complain about this.
The receiver is linked to my PC through a wired network connection and I was able to see all the folders and the hundreds of videos on my PC using Serviio server software (free) using Windows 7. Unfortunately all the video titles are grayed out! I have all variety of file types (wmv, avi, mpg, mov, flv, etc.) and none showed up as playable!
I use a Sharp Aquos 80" LED TV which DLNA works fine and I also have an $80 Sony Bluray player which also works fine on the DLNA link to my computer. I'm able to watch all videos on my PC with either of these two. But I though I would use only the receiver's remote, but now I'm force to continue using one of the others just to watch videos on my PC.
In my opinion, this is a flagrant totally deceptive advertising claiming to be DLNA 1.5 compatible. It's not!
Update 9-24-2012:
Still 110% satisfied with this receiver after having lived with it for over 8 months. Finally completed the setup of the 9.2 speaker system (a small matter of cost).
I have all my speaker wires connected directly to the speaker terminals on the back. As I kept adding and using more space for each pair of wires, it started to become a jungle. This is complicated further by the use of 14 gauge wires which are really thick. I decided to remove all the speaker wires and start fresh by adding dual bananas plugs to each set of wires and plugging them into the bananas jacks on the back.
WRONG! Would you believe the distance between the plus and minus parts of the banana jacks are not the industry standard spacing of 3/4"! It's about another 1/8" more, thus making the use of the standard dual banana plugs impossible! I ended up using individual banana plugs, one for + and another for which is ridiculous!
I guess the Yamaha engineers forgot that there is an industry spacing standard of 3/4" that the whole world uses, which is used in thousands of other electronic devices like test equipment as well.
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I'm fairly selective and typically spend a lot of time researching before I purchase something. My decision to purchase the Yamaha RX-A3010 was no different. This Yamaha beat out Onkyo and Denon based on my criteria, and I was pretty excited about setting it all up.That's when the trouble started.
Setup was fairly painless, but I did take my time as I was trying to keep all the cabling in some semblance of order. When I was finally done, I turned it on, only to find out the front panel display was defective. After a call to Yamaha Tech support, they confirmed that I was not doing anything wrong, and agreed that the front panel display was indeed defective.
I started the return process w/ Amazon that was mostly pain free; and they one day shipped my replacement receiver. I went through the whole setup process again, only to find out that the HDMI outputs were not functioning correctly... I spent an hour online with Yamaha Tech support (the rep was fantastic), and we tried everything, only to come to the conclusion that the second unit was also defective. I traded emails with the Yamaha Tech support Tier 2 for the next two days, and they eventually agreed that the unit was defective.
Back to Amazon to return it. Ran into some issues with trying to return it, but a call with the Amazon's support staff quickly resolved it. Both units were returned to Amazon oddly enough they were reluctant to ship a 3rd out to me...
For all of the issues that I experienced, I did enjoy what I could out of the receivers, and had the option been available, I likely would have stuck it out. Third time is a charm, right?
I am now the happy owner of an Onkyo TX-NR3009.
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