Yamaha RX-V1400

A truly stunning AV receiver

By Tony Davey

August 2004

Yamaha RX-V1400. $2199

My father can beat up your father. That is a call that may be heard in a children’s playground, and it is also a call often made by audio equipment manufacturers as they try and convince consumers that their products are better than their competitors at twice the price. As with anything subjectivity plays a lot whether or not you accept this point of view.

This was not a stance that Yamaha has taken with their latest range of receivers, but after having it in home for the last few weeks, I think they could.

The RX-V1400 is a middle of the road home theatre receiver with the usual list of goodies you would expect to see including the usual digital home theatre modes, Dolby’s latest Pro Logic II, DTS’s Neo:6 (their answer to PL2) and Yamaha’s usual 4000 or so surround modes for both music and movies.

Quite unusually for Yamaha, this is amongst their first receivers to “boast” THX certification (how much weight you put on that is open for intense debate) as Yamaha have finally given in to the dark side, and earned Mr Luca$e$ seal of approval.

Power rating is an adequate 110 watts RMS, and in practice, this was certainly sufficient for even my moderately large theatre.

Where Yamaha is able to stand ahead of other receivers I have reviewed is with the set up. The RX-V1400 includes their YPAO (Yamaha Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer). What this does is auto calibrates itself using an enclosed microphone to get perfect volume levels and timing for all surround channels at your listening spot. It also has an inbuilt graphic equaliser that adjust frequencies, minimising the effects that a room can have on sound, making for a flatter, more accurate frequency range from speakers.

Other notable changes with the receiver include video conversion, the ability to convert a composite or s-video signal to component output, potentially minimising cabling, plus the addition of a 7th channel for split “back surround” speakers (previous Yamaha receivers stayed with the more accurate (if less popular) single centre rear channel rather than splitting back surround speakers into left and right on THX-EX and DTS-ES material).

This thing can handle it all

I would strongly recommend listeners use the straight mode when auditioning this receiver on music. To my ears, when using the stereo mode, the sound was somewhat veiled and lacked dynamics and it would be a pity to be put off by this impression.

Using the “straight” mode (bypassing all tone controls and video circuitry) immediately (and quite noticeably) opened up the soundstage for music with a tremendous range and dynamic sound. Highs were present but not peaky, the midrange was solid and bass had excellent extension – at times made me forget that I had turned my sub off. The Yamaha did not seem biased towards any particular genre of music, rather just faithfully reproducing the tone from my rather wide ranging (if not small) collection of CDs.

One good sign from a receiver is when you don’t know that it is loud and this was certainly true in this case after waking the kids more than once. But the RX-V1400 was equally adept at low volume listening, not losing any quality of sound at night time levels.

The Yamaha is also a solid performer for home theatre. They might be shallow, but good old action movies always provide a workout for components and none were better in their time than True Lies.

As with music, the sound from the Yamaha was open, detailed and full bodied. From the sound of bullets whizzing past your head to the thunderous deep bass from explosions, the Yamaha had authority and control over the sound. Bass was tight and clean without the “wobble” from lesser components, and even the musical score was rich in sound. This receiver really was difficult to fault at this price point.

When asked if would I swap my Denon AVC-A1 for this unit, I (somewhat sheepishly) admitted I would. Technology has advanced significantly in recent years to a point where quality componentry is available cheaper than ever before. Add into this, the auto set up and auto EQ functions, and you have a truly stunning amplifier for not many more dollars than the “mass market” rubbish peddled by many chain-stores.

Highly recommended.

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