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Gizmo Guy: Caution: Yamaha's RX-A3060 might break up your marriage

Unless you drop it off the roof, a well-built audio/video receiver pretty much lasts forever. And yet your gadfly of a Gizmo Guy has flitted through a bunch of receivers in his adult life - serially dating models both domestic and foreign - from a hand-me-down Fisher 500 and made-in-Philly (by my father and me) Dynaco Stereo 35 kit amp to exotic lovelies with such names as Sansui, Onkyo and Sony.

Yamaha's flagship Aventage RX-A3060 exemplifies the technology needed to keep up with today's digital and streaming audio.
Yamaha's flagship Aventage RX-A3060 exemplifies the technology needed to keep up with today's digital and streaming audio.Read more

Unless you drop it off the roof, a well-built audio/video receiver pretty much lasts forever.

And yet your gadfly of a Gizmo Guy has flitted through a bunch of receivers in his adult life - serially dating models both domestic and foreign - from a hand-me-down Fisher 500 and made-in-Philly (by my father and me) Dynaco Stereo 35 kit amp to exotic lovelies with such names as Sansui, Onkyo and Sony.

Now your shallow pal has done it again, kicking a still vibrant 2006 vintage Integra receiver to the curb, so he can get down with Yamaha's new Aventage RX-A3060 A/V beauty queen.

So what crime did those past loves commit? Sadly, they couldn't keep up with the evolution of audio and video hardware and software, the curse of planned obsolescence! They couldn't cope as the A/V world has shifted from analog audio and video formats to ever higher resolution digital and streaming media.

Today, an audio and video savant craves a receiver that can handle sharper, brighter and more colorful 4K/ultra-high-definition imagery - signals sourced from UHD Blu-ray players and new cable/satellite/streaming set-top boxes - then move that content to an adept 4K TV.

Shopping for this creature? Make sure its HDMI inputs have been upgraded to HDMI 2.0a (the "a" acknowledges it can pass high-dynamic-range color and contrast enhancements) and can handle HDCP 2.2 copy protection.

Gizmo Guy also needed a new playmate like the Yamaha RX-A3060 to make sense of the latest Dolby Atmos and DTS:X coded movie soundtracks. Already prominent in big budget action flicks at theaters and on Blu-ray discs, Atmos and DTS:X pack on extra "height" channels targeted to side wall, upward-firing or ceiling-mounted (down-firing) speakers. With a heavily scored and effects-laden soundtrack - as found on the new Tarzan and Ghostbusters sequels - these extra speaker locations can fill out the soundscape, making the room shake.

Already near your decorative limits with a 5.1 channel speaker setup? The Yamaha's processing lets you get away with just one extra pair (left/right) of side wall speakers (Dolby suggests you need two sets) by simulating another pair of "phantom" speakers. Side mount the real ones just in front of your sweet seat.

Because they've been losing customers to streaming- centric soundbars and wireless sound systems such as Sonos and Bose SoundTouch, most A/V receiver makers now pack in streaming music services and home network music access. A Yamaha app lets you steer the whole show on a tablet or phone, as an alternative to their small button remote working with an on-screen menu.

Better yet, moderate bit rate internet radio channels and other streaming music services (such as Spotify and Rhapsody/Napster) found on the receivers earn a nice buffing with sound enhancement circuitry. (Yamaha puts great care into tuning gear for a warm, natural sound.)

AirPlay streaming from Apple devices also sounded sweet on the RX-A3060. Even cooler, Bluetooth signals can stream in two directions with the Yamaha, from apps on your mobile phone or tablet and also out from the receiver to Bluetooth wireless headphones and speakers. I used the latter with a football-sized UE Megaboom speaker to move last Sunday's Eagles/Redskins game narration a good 10 yards into the garage, not that it did the team any good.

Yamahas also pack a proprietary wireless technology called MusicCast that transmits sound sources to multiple MusicCast speakers around the house. Their small WX-030 speakers are on a sonic par with rivals. But activating MusicCast disables the receiver's lip synchronization adjustment, which keeps the audio and video together - not nice!

I've put off sharing the Yamaha pricing because there's actually a wide range of Aventage RX-A-60 series receivers that can handle these feats.

At the bottom end - the RX-A660 ($649.95) and RX-A760 ($749.95), you must make do with lower wattage (80 or 90 per channel), and fewer surround or zone channels and HDMI inputs (4 or 6). The starter model also lacks a phono input.

The RX-A860 ($999.95) steps up to 100 watts per channel, 8 HDMI inputs (three with HDCP 2.2); the RX-A1060 ($1,299.95) boasts 110 watts per channel, 7 of 8 HDMI inputs with HDCP 2.2 and better ESS Sabre DACs (digital-to-analog converter) chips.

I was initially ready to go with the 9.2 channel RX-A2060 ($1,699), which offers 140 watts per channel, then decided to go for broke with the 150 watts per channel RX-A3060 for its extra "headroom." This queen of the brood lists for $2,199.95, gulp, but actually can be had for a couple hundred less. One hopes she'll hang with me for 10 more years. And if we do break up, there won't be alimony. Just regrets.

takiffj@phillynews.com

215-854-5960

@JTakiff