Just thought of sharing some shots I took during the DSP-Z9 analysis. Here are a selected few:
My Yamaha DSP-Z9
The DSP-Z9 is hopelessly good-looking and appears every bit as expensive as it truly is, the craftsmanship of the casework is of very high quality, especially for an A/V amplifier, and is more indicative of a higher-end separate component. The feel is solid & it looks like being carved out of a solid titanium metal block.
The faceplate is formed from a 10 mm thick piece of beautifully machined extruded aluminum, finished in a striking brushed titanium treatment reminiscent of Krell amps. The faceplate & side panel quality are above reproach and beyond anything I have seen on an A/V amplifier. In fact, it felt much more like a handcrafted high-end component than a mass-produced one.
The upper center of the face is dominated by a decidedly high-tech orange dot-matrix display, which is not only extremely legible but also quite stylish. Just below it is a solid 10mm thick oil damped front panel which gently folds out by pressing the lower part of the panel. The titanium finished billeted aluminum knobs & button layouts are intuitive with the rotary source input selector knob located on the left side of the front panel. The feel from this famous Alps knob is just right, providing a gentle push in the clockwise/ anticlockwise direction is rewarded with an assured & precise click which feels simply fantastic. Above the source selector is the Pure Direct button that illuminates in blue/ green when this mode is enabled and special 2-channel/ multi-channel pure direct analog audio input signal paths are used. To the left of the source selector reside the standby/ on button. Last but not least is a large digitally controlled analog volume knob is right where it ought to be, on the right hand side of the Z-9's facade.
Continuing the theme of quality, all of the buttons operate with a solid, direct feel, and the Accurate Touch volume knob rotates with an absolute precise motion in +/- 0.5 dB steps.
The bottom of the receiver included substantial vibration damping feet, again seeming out of place on an A/V amplifier.
The sheet metal seemed a lot thicker than the competitors and it was finished to a higher standard too. The top of the unit is covered with ventilation slots that serve to help ventilate radiant heat.
Needless to say, I was very impressed with the level of build quality and refinement the DSP-Z9 offered.
A glimpse behind the front panel.
The DSP-Z9 includes two remote controls, a stylish silver GUI remote control with commonly used glow-in-the-dark buttons and a Direct Access Remote Control.
Back in 2004, Yamaha DSP-Z9 was the first A/V amplifier ever to adorn a GUI (Graphical User Interface). It really started a new trend which was immediately cached, copied & followed by its competitors.
With Direct Access Remote Control one can use every conceivable feature of the amplifier and comes with a handy bright yellow/ orange backlighting, which would be quite useful in a dark environment. Both remotes have a solid feel and fits well in the hand. This remote control can learn the functions of other components, so you can use it as a single remote for the entire system. It has quite large memory capacity and comes pre-encoded with many television and component codes. The buttons though quite cluttered are logically laid out and are easy to use. In the component control area have different functions for each type of component, selected by pressing the input button. The input name is shown in the LCD window, and I can change each name. Frequently used functions are easily accessible on the front, while others are located under the sliding panel. Finally, 15 different macros (multi-command) functions can be programmed.
While using DSP-Z9 GUI, I really came to appreciate one of the best looking and easiest to use on-screen display. With this second remote control having large round cursor control in the centre dedicated to GUI use, it very easy to navigate the on-screen menus and enter desired commands. It also has power, volume and mute buttons. This GUI includes extensive yet easily understandable setup menus and has been designed to make it easy to select and adjust desired functions. With the new graphic user interface (GUI) to make set-up as straightforward as possible, assigned the sources to our chosen inputs and set up the video side. The menus were clean, beautiful laid out and very easy to work through. They were simple, yet elegantly done and easy to navigate, taking only a few minutes to set up everything as I wished it to be.
Pure Direct ON display off, dsp off, decoder off, ., ., ALL off. You just get a big volume knob. While Pure Direct, Direct & Straight modes are prevalent even on low end A/V amplifiers, the improvement in sound quality is rarely noticeable. On this Yamaha, however, engaging these modes significantly improved the sound quality. At this price point, it makes sense that Yamaha offers this feature as I suspect most people will use it, or at least try it.
Turning one's attention to the rear of the unit, the most obvious and unexpected feature are the extra-large 24-carat hard gold plated extruded 2-way speaker terminals, which are well constructed and mounted on the upper region of the rear panel. This type of high quality speaker terminals were previously available only on separates. The rear of the chassis was equally well finished and logically laid out. An A/V enthusiasts dream.
The Z-9 audio connections are equipped with eleven two-channel analog, one pure direct analog, one phono, one 7.1 channel analog, three digital coax, one RF-AC3 digital coax & eight digital optical inputs. Analog video connections include eight composite, eight s-video, and six component inputs. Being an A/V amplifier of 2004 the most important high-resolution digital connection namely HDMI is sorely missing, however it offers analog video up-conversion to HDTV compatible 1080i resolution via component video out. Special rejoice for LP users with built in Phono stage.
Power amp in allows only left, right & center channels, but you get a complete 9.2 channel pre out.
The only chink in the armor. The DVD optical in socket closing door seems to be broken. This DVD input still works ok, but the auto closing door is broken. Removed the spring though.
One look and it says solid engineering. Lifting the DSP-Z9, I immediately felt that this unit was of higher grade than I normally expect from an A/V amplifier due to its sheer 30 kilo weight. The six chambered low resonance enclosure to provide an acoustically damped environment, for additional sonic performance.
It looks like a battleship ready to gun down its enemy. Those two unique anodized heatsinks on both sides looks like two hefty cannons.
These unique heatsinks are truly pieces of art.
Close analysis revels these uniquely designed space efficient twin sided horizontally mounted anodized extruded aluminum anti-resonant heatsinks have cooling fins on both the upper & lower sides. In result one gets an equal surface area of a normal horizontal heatsink at half the size. Microcosm everywhere.
The juicer, 1500VA, low flux, 10 kilo toroidal transformer. The only Yamaha A/V amp ever to adorn a toroid and also the most powerful ever, capable of pumping 15 amperes of current to power amp section. And yes it looks small in picture but is actually 15 cm (1/2 foot) in diameter & very deep.
Those Red Bull cans!!! Huge Nichicon 28,000uF, 80V power capacitors.
The DSP-Z9's power supply unit is 300 watts more powerful than the dedicated Emotiva XPA-5, 5-channel power amplifier!!!
One of the four power amp PCB boards. These are really thick PCB boards designed to last forever.
Two pairs of discrete power transistors does duty per channel in Darlington pair topology. DSP-Z9's competitors instead use only a single pair to save cost. No other Yamaha A/V amp have this rare design architecture.
The concept of high current flow to the speakers is being truly followed here.
Quality speaks!!! The DSP-Z-9s pre & power amplifier circuit design architectures & PCB layout are exotic in nature and are found on US $10,000 plus separates. The pre-amplifier section uses a fully balanced wiring with high quality gold plated relays to achieve low noise & distortion and feeds the symmetrical driven fully discrete push-full power amplifier circuit configuration with a complementary FET input stage. This ensures fully balanced power output with no signal interference and highest slew rate (rate at which signal changes; affects high frequency response) and balanced clipping.
Furthermore, the massive 1,500 watts low impedance toroidal transformer and a pair of high-grade Nichicon 28,000uF/ 80 volts power capacitors ensure a consistently stable power supply.
Those high quality, thick 1.6mm diameter copper jumper cables can be rarely found on any A/V amplifier. Red, blue, orange, violet,... and the counting goes on
I am just amazed by the quality of wiring used in this A/V amp. Just impeccable!!! These wires carrying electrical impulses have huge impact on the ultimate SQ.
The absolute best quality
Nichicon Gold Tune capacitors specifically designed for high end audio are used in
ALL circuit boards.
Look at those PCB board wiring!!! So thick.
The secondary transformer for DSP-Z9s micro computer & protection circuits.
A tiny glimpse of the pre-amplifier circuit board through those electromagnetically shielded chambers. Japan engraved everywhere.
Some of those gold plated speaker relays. Not cheap.
