Yamaha RX-V1500

One nerd I don't mind having around!

By Jamie Gemming

March 2005 issue

Yamaha RX-V1500 AV receiver. $1999

When I was growing up, no matter what subject, there were always these study-hard geeks who sat at the front of the class. At this stage I feel I must apologize to you if I caused you any grief when I was young and immature. I found out that the Yamaha RX-V1500 is a bit like some of my geeky former classmates; it's smart as hell and doesn't mind telling you when you are wrong.

Yamaha's YPAO automated set up is a wonderful thing. Just plug in the supplied microphone, set it off and you're done. When I got this receiver home, like any normal kiwi male, the first thing I did was place the instruction booklet safely to one side and then proceeded to connect all my speakers and component cables from my projector into the receiver. Then I plugged in the calibration mike and followed the simple on-screen menus for auto set-up.

After a couple of minutes it informed me that my surround-back-left was connected in the wrong polarity. Disbelieving, I checked the connections and then re-ran the set-up assuming it was some sort of brand new receiver glitch. Again, the machine told me that I could not tell the difference between black and red. I swore at the machine, not for a second believing I could be wrong. At this point my partner told me to stop having a "bloke's look".

Well, what did you know - my surround-back-left speaker was in fact plugged in wrong. While some may argue that they can improve the sound quality by doing it manually, I thought the Yamaha auto set-up was brilliantly clever, not to mention a time-saving device. One thing I would advise, other than of course connecting things properly, is that you follow the owner's manual instructions and turn the sub volume down. Way down!

Vital statistics

Now if you are a stats man then you would be pretty impressed with this machine. It has 7x120 Watts with all the decoding options under the sun, including the newish Pro Logic IIx. Unlike previous Yamaha ranges, the RX-V1500 includes THX Select certification. The receiver itself is a pretty decent size, it is certainly taller than most receivers and at 15.5kg it's certainly heavy enough to suggest some grunty internals.

The receiver could never be recognized as anything other than a Yamaha product with its big volume knob on the right hand side flanking the amber lit display. The front panel features a large door which tidily hides a lot of messy buttons and inputs which scar the face of many receivers. Where the front is good-looking the rear panel is entirely covered with inputs and outputs. The guts of the spec sheet reads as follows: seven A/V inputs, two A/V outputs, two component inputs, one HDTV component output, component video up-conversion, eight digital audio inputs, 7.1 audio inputs for DVD-Audio and SACD and pre-outs for a 2 nd and 3 rd zone.

Going both ways

Late last year I reviewed the RX-V750, the model which sits directly below this one and was thoroughly impressed with its performance. The RX-V1500 easily surpasses its little brother, my B&W 603's have never been driven so well. The RX-V1500 will rough you up when the director intended, such as when the two Terminators are battling with the crane in T3. I was impressed with the detailed sounds on the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi, though Imperial Speeder Bikes and blaster fire often shatter the tranquility. And one of my favourites, Saving Private Ryan, was more harrowing than ever.

What surprised me was how fantastic the RX-V1500 sounds with music. Like a lot of guys, my partner has not yet unlocked the funds to have a hi-fi system separate from my theatre system, so it's important to me that my receiver sounds great with music well as movies. When listening to music, the "Pure Direct" mode should be employed to get the most out of the receiver. Pure Direct bypasses all of the receiver's decoders and processors to reduce any factors that may interfere and reduce the quality and it actually makes a real audible difference. The most memorable performance was listening to Neil Finn and friends playing live at the St James, with the receiver delivering nice warm vocals, excellent definition and clear separation of instruments.

All in all the RX-V1500 is a superb piece of kit. It's big, chunky and good looking. Sounds great with movies and music and at $1999 I can't think of a better specified receiver for the money.

For your nearest Yamaha dealer