Yamaha RX-V4A 5.2 CH AV Receiver (80W)

Purchased because of its ability to be configured for bi-amping speakers, ( stereo hi fi setup )and supporting 2 subwoofers, not for AV or surround sound etc. It does not come with a user manual, you download this from the Yamaha website. The set up instructions overall are a bit vague and unhelpful.

You need to connect the amp to a TV ( via HDMI ) to set it up fully, as most set up options can only be accessed this way. Including bi-amping. Actually using or navigating the menus is not well documented. Once you have hit the "enter" button on your TV remote, you'll need to use the "left & right " and "up and down " buttons on your TV remote to select options ( like bi amping!). It took me a while to work this out.

Subwoofer/s - When playing via a CD player connected to a Line In, be advised : in the "Speaker set up " menu, you select your speaker ( driver )size. If you select "large" drivers, NO signal is output to the subwoofer/s! You must select "small" to get those subwoofers working. It took me much trial and error to work this out. Grr! But you do get to select the crossover frequency for your subwoofer. Nice. ( The subwoofer works on either speaker selection for wireless sources, just to confuse the issue).

The display on the unit is well integrated. The whole front of the unit is gloss plastic and the display emerges from it... no obvious separate LED panel. It is all let down by the very blocky and dated display itself. Straight out of the 1990's.

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