Denon 4802 has it, Yamaha rx v3000 does not

[Dire McCain]

Beating dead horse, sort of, I have mentioned this before. But I am still befuddled.
The Denon 4802,as has been my experience with other Denons, presents a more refined, somewhat laid back sound. The RX V3000 seems more dynamic, more in your face. Or as they say it really rocks.

However..apples to apples, cd player to cd player, speaker to speaker, the Denon lays out greater detail. That is, certain details in the RX V3000 seem 'buried'...they are present but you have to struggle to hear them, while with the Denon, they are clear and forward. Distinct and certain.

I would have expected the opposite. Am I missing a tweak on the Yamaha? Is there a weak cap or resistor or whatever? Or have others found this to be the nature of the beast???

 

[SoCal Sam]

Nature of the beast. AVR's are good at a lot of things but not great at any single function. As for tweaks, turn off signal processing by setting to Direct mode. Also bypass tone controls. That's the best that can be done for Stereo.

IME, the top Denon from late 2000's and older were the best sounding. Had a 4806 which was second from TOTL and it was a gem. It had a huge toroidal transformer and banks of output transistors mounted to dual extruded Aluminum heat sinks. IIRC, it was 7x140W. If all that hardware could have been used for a simple stereo receiver or integrated amp, it could have been a super power monster.

 

[hopeless]

Interesting, I was a Yamaha rep when the 1000 series launched. I wasn't very impressed with the "Yamaha sound" prior to this until you get back to the early stuff. I found the receivers to be thin and bright. The 1000 series was a game changer. About two years later, Pioneer upgraded their Elite line. Denon did similar starting with the 07 series.
Kind of a golden age for HT receivers.