More new retro Yamaha

Plastic paddles AND massed produced in Malaysia for Best Buy stores. Hmmm, $549 is starting to look pricey.
 
does anybody know if the A-S300 will be available in US market? im interested in the r-s300 but could maybe do without the tuner
 
Plastic paddles AND massed produced in Malaysia for Best Buy stores. Hmmm, $549 is starting to look pricey.
Did speak with the reseller who has the A-S2000 in stock in silver. He is asking $1199 for the 'open-box' and $1399 for new. But, as you've mentioned, made in Malaysia. Guess I'm just not ready for the "world economy". Yamaha to me is made in Japan. Ah, well.........future is looking more and more like a McIntosh MA6600.
 
Well, for me, I'm going for the A-S700, T-S500 and the C-S600 (??) CD changer for my new 2 channel audio system.

Yes, I'll test them out before locking myself into the deal, but for the last 25+ years, I've never been let down by Yamaha.

Again, I'm truly happy that Yamaha came through with retro styled gear vs. the ultra modern/spacey looking stuff.

I currently have tons of audio gear from the late 70s to the early 90s in various condition and to be honest, I think I bought my last piece of classic gear (Yamaha CD-1110) since the cosmetics of most of my stuff is far from great, so simply buying new gear with the "classic" looks and feel is far more practical... In my eyes, than buying used stuff off of the many auction sites.

Next spring, I'm going to start chucking items that are truly junk and have no value since I no room for all my stuff and I'm now starting to agree with the wife that I have some issues.

This post struck a nerve with me, hence my "Let's just say" thread.:scratch2:
 
Hmm... "ToP-ART technology and ART Base chassis construction", sounds like they dusted off the good "old" CX-1 and MX-1 design for another run?
 
these things are officially on the market, anybody have one yet?

also, I'm interested in the A-S500 amp as opposed to the R-S500 and was wondering what the $50 price mark up accounts for. the only thing i can distinguish are gold plated headphone in's
 
I haven't seen either the A-S500 or the R-S500 anywhere, but I've seen the A-S700 and I wasn't impressed with the quality at all... I'm going to end up with the A-S2000.

My impressions on the A-S700 was posted here earlier... You might want to check it out in person and pay the $50 difference before buying it off the internet.

Good luck!!
 
I just auditioned an A-S700 at home and returned it. I purchased with the intention of keeping it if I liked it because it had a phono stage and the price at BB/Magnolia was incredible for an open-box demo unit. I read all the reviews first and tried to read between the lines but the reviewers were spot on. Its weakness lies in the bass. The midrange, treble, clarity, and imaging were great if a tiny bit soft, but the bass was undefined, slow and lacked pace. The low notes were there, but they sounded like they were a half-beat behind the rest of the music and had NO impact. The phono section was quiet and sounded pretty good too aside from the lack of bass. Even at the great price I got it for, I felt it wasn't worth keeping. If the A-S1000 has bass slam and power with the atributes of the A-S700 midrange and treble response, it may very well be a great integrated and worth giving a try. I can't find one to try.
 
Am guessing that the A-S1000 is a big step up and would not suffer those problems. It weighs ~twice as much as the A-S700 and most of that is likely in the power supply (larger transformer, filter caps, etc.). Check with the stereo shop who advertises the A-S2000 for $1199 on Audiogon. Perhaps he also has an A-S1000 for a good price.
 
A-S700 wow!

I picked up an A-S700 at Best Buy here open box. I think this unit sounds incredible for what I paid for it. I read a few reviews knocking it but I don't see it at all. I just picked this up to use in a third setup with some crappy speakers and a 5 disc CD changer where I have a HK stereo receiver now. I went ahead and hooked it into my main 2ch setup and was blown away how good this sounds. I played some SACD and other hi rez audio discs using the CD Direct option and could not believe how amazing this sounds.

I have even left it here in my 2ch system to enjoy for a while. I am sure I will be switch back to my Rotel separates but now I need to upgrade to some decent bookshelf speakers in my third system to do this Yamaha justice.

One thing I do not like about the higher end units like the A-S1000 and A-S2000 is the very limited inputs. Only 4 line level inputs is just not enough.
 
Anyone else get one of these new Yamaha receivers/integrated amps? So far there it looks like a 50/50 spread on opinions here.

Also, the prices between the receivers and integrated amps are very close, with the receivers coming in just 10w behind (which should be pretty much imperceptible). I don't see that much of a difference in specs... it does seem like the receiver is a better deal, especially for someone who listens to the radio only occasionally (no need for bothering with a separate tuner).
 
Anyone else get one of these new Yamaha receivers/integrated amps? So far there it looks like a 50/50 spread on opinions here.

Also, the prices between the receivers and integrated amps are very close, with the receivers coming in just 10w behind (which should be pretty much imperceptible). I don't see that much of a difference in specs... it does seem like the receiver is a better deal, especially for someone who listens to the radio only occasionally (no need for bothering with a separate tuner).
I got the RX-797 in Dec. 2009, before the R-Sx00 receivers and A-Sy00 amps came out. The tuner in the RX-797 receiver had better specs than the TX-497 tuner (the only one available at the time). So I just got the receiver RX-797.

The R-S700 specs about the same as the RX-797. Likely, the RX-797 can be found at a cheaper discount because it's "OLD".

The RX-797 sounds great, has good features, needs no DeoxIT or recap, and comes with a warranty. :banana:

I mainly use the tuner to listen to Car Talk (Click n Clack, the Tappet brothers).
 
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I see what you mean. There's not much of a difference in specs, with the R-S700 coming in just 3 lbs heavier. One supports XM-Radio and the other supports Sirius, along with iPod dock. Otherwise, it looks like the rest is just different styling. Of course, there's that cool retro look of the R-S700, reminiscent of the classic CR series. :) I like how they both have pre-outs, including one dedicated for a subwoofer.
 
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I do wish my A-S700 had pre-outs. Unless you live in an area where there is very strong FM signals, you would probably be better off with a separate tuner. I have yet to find a receiver that can pull in the major stations from my house. I have a Yamaha T-2 that I need to install some new lamps in and move out to my third setup. I have some B&W bookshelf speakers and a Denon 5 disc changer hooked to it. It is a perfect little setup for while I'm cooking and entertaining. The sound is very impressive.
 
I picked up the R-S300 receiver last week,and its a very good sounding receiver.I like the phono stage pretty well,although I wish the output was louder.I think the build quality is better than the Cambridge Audio I had,and at about 200 bucks less.I like the switch on the back that lets you choose 4 ohm/8ohm.
Ill probably end up with the A-S1000 and move this into the bedroom.
Jimmy
 
I bought an A-S700 for kicks and giggles. The build quality is pretty good. I liked the metal volume and input selector knobs, the plastic bass, treble, etc., are so-so. It has some very good parts inside including: 360 VA C-core transformer, and oodles of Elna and Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors.

My current system is composed of a Krell KAV-300r receiver with a Day-Sequerra tuner, Dynaudio Contour 1.3 SE speakers, Dual CS-450 TT, and a Pioneer BDP-51 FD disc spinner.

I listened to some favorite tracks on the above set-up then plugged the Yamaha in...The A-S700 sounds absolutely magical in the midrange through treble but does lack in bass a bit. It has first rate imaging and makes for a very relaxed listen. It is fairly powerful but struggled a bit at high volumes with the 85 dB efficiency Dyns. I think the A-S700 is very refined sounding and one of the best integrated amps that I have listened to. The built in phono stage is quiet but represents the largest weakness of the A-S700. It is flat and a bit lifeless sounding. If you are a serious vinyl junkie you will want an outboard phono preamp. Note: I did all serious listening in pure direct mode only.

I am keeping my Krell as it is just better sounding in a number of ways. My friend listened to the Yamaha and bought it on the spot to replace his Yammie AX-596.

If you enjoy jazz, vocals and prize tonal accuracy at the price the Yamaha is spot on. I also compared this to an NAD C320 BEE. The NAD was a bit stronger in the bass but was outclassed by the Yamaha in all other areas IMO. I am very interested in trying out the A-S2000 as I have heard that it is very refined and powerful sounding.

FYI, the impedance switch on the back of the unit just limits voltage to the transformer. I read a very detailed bench test of the A-S700 and with the impedance switch set at 8 ohms the amp performed exemplary! It exceeded the factory specs in every area. Distortion, and background noise were vanishingly low, channel balance superb, and power output was well over 100 wpc into 8ohms and 250 one channel into 4 ohms! In the 4 ohm position power dropped quite dramatically.
 
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I bought a RX-797 for my office. I will say that I was more than impressed. I listen to it usually at low to mid volumes. Plenty of bass...mids...and highs. Quite detailed...even through the tuner. And the tuner is much more sensative than I would have imagined. Internal build qualitiy looks good as well. A very nice modern stereo receiver.
 
I bought a RX-797 for my office. I will say that I was more than impressed. I listen to it usually at low to mid volumes. Plenty of bass...mids...and highs. Quite detailed...even through the tuner. And the tuner is much more sensative than I would have imagined. Internal build qualitiy looks good as well. A very nice modern stereo receiver.
I got one of those new a year ago. It's great.
 
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