Today Yamaha announced a new flagship receiver called the RX-Z11 that has 11.2 channel output. This beast of a receiver carries a MSRP of $5499.95 and is intended to deliver the ultimate audio experience.

The receiver carries an industry-first THX Ultra2 Plus certification, full HSMI 1.3a capabilities, network capabilities and lots of customization options and multi-zone options.

The 11.2 channel amp uses Yamaha’s proprietary cinema DSP HD3 processing which uses the front and read speakers’ algorithms to achieve 3-D surround sound height realism. It sounds to me that would mean you could hear fro instance if a helicopter in a movie was above you to the right or left as rather than simply left or right.

The RX-Z11 supports Dolby TruHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, 30/36 bit Deep color, xvYCC, 120 and 24Hz refresh rate and auto lip-sync. Five HDMI ports are included, including one on the front panel and two HDMI outputs.

Analog scaling to HDMI 1080p and HDMI audio upconversion are featured as well. Network capabilities include Windows Vista and PlaysForSure support allowing you to play back digital music formats including MP3, WMA, WAV and AAC stored on your PC or a NAS drive. USB ports are also included for direct connection of PMP devices.