Good start on a home theator system

Lacking in sonic quality for critical music listening

I purchased my used 2092 on ebay for a good price from someone upgrading to adcom equipment. When it arrived I was amazed at how it blew away my old Sony Prologic system, especially when playing an AC3 DVD.

After 3 months of listening to this receiver I was unhappy with my Advent speakers. They didn't deliver the sound quality I expected, especially with music. I went down to my local high-fi store and listened to the Magnapan model 20 planer speakers. WOW! This was exactly what I was looking for! Incredible musical clarity and detail! They were kind enough let me bring in my 2092 and Sony CD player to see how my system matched the Magnapans. WOW! It SUCKED!!!

They were nice enough to humor me and connect a Rotel and Marantz CD player through the 2092 to drive the Magnapans. It all sucked! After replacing my 2092 with an Adcom amp then a Rotel amp the difference was night and day. Basically my 2092 sucked as an amp. We tried a half dozen other speakers with my system, they all sucked!

Now to be fair the 2092 is a definite step up from a Sony of Pioneer but it is definitely 1.5 to 2 steps down from a solid mid-fi Adcom or Rotel system.

If you are looking for a solid start on a home theater system you will have a hard time beating a 2092 or any of it's sisters. If you are coming from a Sony, Pioneer, JVC or Kenwood I am sure you will be impressed with Yamaha’s superiority over these systems. But if you are looking for high quality music renditions you will be very disappointed!

I tested all these amps on a variety of music from classical to metal. I found the new Metalica CD, Metalica and the NewYork symphony (not my taste in music but very revealing) to exercise an amp better than any other CD. It humiliated my 2092 making the speakers sound like they were buried under an inch of mud. It brought the 2092 down to the level of my old Sony. To be fair the Rotel and Adcom were only just able to keep up with myriad of sounds this CD produced. It wasn’t until the CD was played on the $20K store reference system before it was at all impressive.

To sum it up the Yamaha amps don’t measure up to a solid mid-fi system like a Rotel or Adcom for music but if for a respectable start in home theater it is a good start. One last note, after a week of playing with the “sound fields” their uniqueness wears off and they just make any (theater and especially music) sound awful. I use my amp in three modes AC3 and Pro Logic for movies and 2 channel stereo for music. If you want to experience the “sound fields” on your non Yamaha system just lay the speaker down on it’s face and turn up the volume, you will get the same effect.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom 555, Rotel 950

Incredible sound, blows away rivals like Sony, Onkyo, etc. and the leseer yamaha models. Listened to the newer 2095 and A2, sounds more recessed, so sticking to my faithful 2092. Best buy!