Yamaha releases Aventage Series III range of AV receivers

Both AirPlay and 4K support are standard across the entire range of the new Yamaha AV receivers (AVR).

Yamaha has unveiled its Aventage Series III line up of AV receivers, just ahead of further product launches at IFA 2012 in Berlin, Germany. In all, the new range is comprised of five receivers and a Blu-ray player.

The RX-A3020 ($2699) is the flagship of Aventage, featuring 9.2 channels, expandable to 11.2, and supporting 4K upscaling and pass-through. Designed to be used as the centrepiece of a full home theatre installation, the RX-A3020 has HDMI Zone 2 technology, which allows the AVR to deliver two different HD video sources to two separate home areas. For example, a home theatre room could be showing Foxtel via a projector, while the bedroom TV shows a Blu-ray.

The RX-A720 is a more affordable $1199, and is pitched at the entry level of the market. The AVR is 7.2 channel with 6-in/1-out HDMI, but still has more advanced features, such as Zone 2 audio (two different audio streams to two different areas of a house), and the aforementioned 4K upscaling and pass through. Both network streaming and AirPlay allow for the device to stream music from networked sources or access Internet radio stations.

All of the Aventage Series III range ships with the YWA-10 adapter, which has two Ethernet ports, allowing users to connect the AVR and a second network capable device. This is part of Yamaha's push of its free AV Controller app, which allows wireless remote control from an iOS or Android device.

We'll have more information on Friday regarding other Yamaha products being launched .