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Yamaha’s potent V12
Yamaha's newest receiver
By Michael Jones
May 2002
Yamaha RX-V1200 AV receiver. $2699
Left out in the cold. That’s how Yamaha appeared several months ago. They had released a range of AV receivers just before Pro Logic II arrived and, while many other manufacturers jumped on the PL2 bandwagon, the Yamaha receivers were quickly left looking old.
The RX-V1200 and bigger brother V2200 aim to rectify this. For the 1200 is one fully packed AV receiver. It’s rated at 80 watts per channel into six channels (including a centre rear).
For home theatre use the 1200 has the expected Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound formats, of course. The 1200 adds Pro Logic II, DTS -ES Discrete and Matrix (they are the DTS versions of a centre-rear channel add-on) and DTS Neo:6 (a DTS version of PL2).
Although not formally listed, the 1200, like many other receivers, also offers a non-badged version of Dolby Surround EX, the additional channel (centre-rear) version of Dolby Digital that was introduced with Star Wars The Phantom Menace movie. EX was tied into THX certification, which added costs and - I understand - philosophical problems to Yamaha having EX.
However, EX was simply the same matrix circuits as was found in Pro Logic, and triflingly easy to implement. So like many manufacturers, Yamaha offers EX under a non-EX banner.
In addition to the movie surround formats, Yamaha is well known for their own DSP (digital signal processing) modes. The 1200 offers 22 such modes, with some 44 variations. This writer has always disliked such DSP modes (I like my music and movies unmolested!) so my music listening was straight stereo and movies were straight Dolby Digital or DTS.
Well connected
With all the devices needing to be connected to AV receivers these days,
some receivers seem really stingy with their connections. Not so the 1200.
It has five optical and 2 coaxial digital inputs for connecting digital
devices, such as DVD players or even Playstation 2 devices.
There are six AV inputs (which mean that they have video connections as
well as audio) and four audio-only inputs., plus a six-channel external
input for future use.
The V1200 includes pre-outs for all channels, a nice touch if you later want to add separate power amps. All speaker terminals are banana plug compatible, rather than spring-clips.
Sound and vision
Potent. That’s the word that sprang to mind immediately with the
1200. The Yamaha gave the impression of being very powerful and in control.
I’m not talking about sheer volume here, but (to use an analogy)
in the way that an eight or 12 cylinder car can seem incredibly powerful
and ready for anything, even when idling.
But there’s more to the 1200 than just power. In previous years I’ve disliked Yamaha receivers, finding them amusical and aggravating to listen to - to the extent that I couldn’t have them in-house. I’m glad to see that Yamaha have made tremendous strides with the ability of their AV receivers to reproduce music.
With the 1200, the previous aggressive approach has been considerably toned down. The 1200 was by no means mild and wimpy. Instead, the former aggressiveness has been ameliorated to an assertive behaviour.
But most Yamaha enthusiasts buy their products because of movies. Using the straight DD and DTS theatre modes, the Yamaha was a fine performer. The potency to the sound translated across to movies in an excellent and involving way.
This didn’t matter whether watching (and listening to) blockbusters such as Gladiator, or quieter, more intimate movies such as the (surprisingly straight to video) Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her , with the A-list cast of Cameron Diaz, Glenn Close, Holly Hunter and Calistra Flokhert.
Yamaha
have a winner with the V1200. It will appeal to the vast number of Yamaha
fans and even appeal to those who were never enamoured of Yamaha previously.
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