Yamaha RX-V473 as only audio receiver.

Hi everyone, it's been awhile.

I've recently purchased a Yamaha RX-V473 AV Receiver. While it is advertised as an audio-video receiver, I'd like to use it as simply an audio receiver for my Hi-Fi system (overkill much). My question for you guys is whether or not the system will work for JUST audio. No video at all.

Here's the website so you guys can take a look: http://ca.yamaha.com/en/products/au...s-amps/rxv-series/rx-v473_black_u/?mode=model

Any stereo receiver will work for audio-only. Simply connect your source to it, and from that, to your speakers and you should be good to go

A/V receivers are designed for home theater use typically, but are not required to use both. From seeing the back panel of that unit, there are several ways to connect an audio source using either AV 5 or 6, or the "Audio" channel using RCA connectors.

AV 1 and 4 also appear to to have digital optical audio connectors as well, assuming your source has these outputs.

Example:

CD Player >> receiver input (channel AV 5 or 6 or "Audio" using RCA cables) >> output to speakers, front left/right (unless you're running 5.1, each speaker will be connected accordingly)

It'll even biamp the fronts, assuming your speakers are capable.

Thank you Audio Trench for the information. I'll keep the receiver and make a nice setup. Also, you mention a source as if it would be required outside of its AirPlay capabilities and FM/AM tuner. What else do you mean?

Now on what you said Dysfunction. What would be the benefit of biamping a simple 2 speaker hi fi system? What kind of speakers would I need?

Your source can be anything from an external CD deck, tape deck, external AM/FM tuner, iPod, MP3 player, DVD/Blu-ray player, PS3/Xbox, etc.. Those are your "source" devices where the audio/video signals come from. In your case, this receiver does support AirPlay (using an iPod Touch for example), which is also considered a source.

Your receiver does exactly what it's titled, to "receive" these sources (essentially acts like a hub), and sends the audio/video signals to wherever you designate them. Typically, audio goes out of the receiver to your speakers, and the video would go out of your receiver to your TV.

Bi-amping in its simplest terms means "two amps" .. That being said, what it does is "dedicate" a certain amount of power (in the form of watts), sending power to your low-ends or "woofers", and a separate dedicated amount of power, sending power to your high-ends or "tweeters."

Eg. Source Signal >> Receiver >> Speakers (with internal crossover) >> signal gets split into 2 separate paths inside the speaker, low-fi (woofers) and hi-fi (tweeters)

Alternatively, in your case, each input on the speakers would be coming from a separate output on the receiver, in turn having a dedicated amplifier powering each side of the speaker.

Page 16 of your user's manual explains how to setup your front speakers in a bi-amped setup. In this instance, you use one each of the front and surround back goes to each of the left and right speakers.

Any decent speakers that can use bi-amping will have an internal cross-over and two sets of input terminals. You're basically using one terminal with its own amp to power the hi-end of things, and another terminal and separate amp to power the low-end of things. Keep in mind that when using a bi-amped setup with your receiver, surround sound options are not available.

A cross-over basically works by splitting the signal at what's called a "centred frequency," and anything below that within a certain range (eg. 45hz -80hz, 80hz being the "centred frequency") will get sent to the woofers, and anything above 80hz, to say 22khz, will get sent to the tweeters.

Here's a good article on bi-amping that makes it simple to understand: http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/biamping.html
Hope this helps, and good luck!

Thank you very much. I'll look into it.

For anybody curious, I went and purchased a pair of PSB Alpha T1's. They were on sale for $499CAD for the pair. I do not believe they are bi-ampiable, but I'm OK with that. They look great, and the in-store preview sounded fantastic.

The bottom of Page 4/top of Page 5 of the Alpha Series user manual explains how bi-amping can be achieved. Also explains that the T1's are the only model capable of bi-amping.

If you follow the "bi-wire" hookup diagram in the manual, it's pretty much the same as what your receiver's manual dictates to setup bi-amping.

"True" bi-amping requires two physically separate amps, whereas in your case, bi-wiring uses four of five total output channels of your receiver to setup bi-amping. The physical setup is different, but the end results are very similar, if not the same.

http://www.psbspeakers.com/content/110616091538-PSB_Alpha_Series_English_Manual.pdf