Yamaha's new crop of integrated amps

I have the A-S500 and the plastic knobs have not been a problem for me since I run it the same way Bergun does. It is a perfect sounding amp, and I really hope the new guys can be had in silver in the U.S. My only beef is the the volume control, which is powered, does not have a very visible setting mark. I got out my label maker and cut a small white line from the tape to make a decent volume indicator. Yamaha should be congratulated for getting back on the right track!
 
If I ever replace my Kenwood I would consider a A-S1000 in silver. The A-S700 or 500 is nice but the weight of the unit just about doubles when you go up to the 1000 and the speaker terminals are much nicer. I would love to A/B the two to see if I could actually hear the difference in the sound though.
 
My silver A-S501 is on the way! I pre-ordered it online and it just shipped out yesterday.

I've had the 500 before and it was superb so I am hoping the 501 just builds on that with the added DAC.
 
johnda said:
I have the A-S500 and the plastic knobs have not been a problem for me since I run it the same way Bergun does. It is a perfect sounding amp, and I really hope the new guys can be had in silver in the U.S. My only beef is the the volume control, which is powered, does not have a very visible setting mark. I got out my label maker and cut a small white line from the tape to make a decent volume indicator. Yamaha should be congratulated for getting back on the right track!
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+1

It's great to see Yamaha getting back into 2 channel audio in a big way!
 
lico said:
Not sure about that, at least on my A-S500 one of the things I liked about it earlier was I could listen on one set of inputs and use the rec out control to output another input at the same time and record with it.

Will have to try it again... although I'm not sure how I'd run a "tape loop" with it. Am kind of interested putting a tube pre amp in the mix with the A-S500 at the moment.
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There's no way to have a tape loop without a monitor button or record source selector. With just the one input selector there is no logical way to decide which source signal that is to be sent to REC out when the recorder is set as the input source. Still this would be a great unit for me and anyone else that likes to use 2 tape recorders. Hell, I'd be happy with only 1 REC output since I use one of my machines for playback only. But then my RT-707 won't record anyway:tears:. The right channel records what sounds like 90% distortion.
 
My 20 year old Carver Amp died this afternoon.

So the pre-amp and power amp will go up for sale.

Since this my 2nd system, I am on a budget. The A-S501 (silver) was ordered this afternoon from Amazon along with the wireless adapter (my 1st foray into computer audio).
Will finally be nice to have digital input from the TV.
 
Great news!

My A-S501 has arrived and it is fantastic. The sound quality is wonderful and believe it or not I am completely satisfied with its output versus the vintage McIntosh it replaced.

Also, the DAC works great and I've been very satisfied with the sound quality through both the optical and coaxial inputs.

I'll post some pics soon!
 
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How does the A-S501 sound? There are numerous reports on the web that the A-S500 / 700 sounds thin and lacks punch. I was wondering if the new amps sound a little better.
 
Joshua Tree said:
How does the A-S501 sound? There are numerous reports on the web that the A-S500 / 700 sounds thin and lacks punch. I was wondering if the new amps sound a little better.
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whoever made those comments either had no clue, or had a really bad component match. If you'd like to drop by my house, and listen to an A-S500 drive a pair of GoldenEar towers, you may make various observations about the sound, but 'thin' nor 'lacking punch' will NOT be among them, I assure you.
 
Thanks for the invite and the information TJL! Yep, I'm from Germany, so a trip to beautiful Virginia may be a little far for me. Glad you enjoy the A-S500 so much, makes it easier for me to get me the A-S501 as my current Sansui AU-11000 is like a box of choclate. You never know what you're going to get. Both channels, left channel only, right channel only, no sound. I have been enjoying my vintage set up for a couple of years now, but have been unlucky regarding amps, as the Sansui is the fourth amp dying on me in the last five years. I am sick and tired of unreliable amps.

My currents set up: Technics 1200 with Grado Gold, Dual 1019 with Shure M44, Sansui AU 11000, Nakamichi 482, Yamaha CD-S700 and Yamaha NS-690 II.
 
I like them... not sure if i will buy one... as I have a stupid amount of working vintage amps around here... however the 801 seems pretty interesting... i would like to get a listen to one of those at some point.. if it really called my name, maybe I will have a sale and move some of this stuff out of here and get one of those instead.
 
I am taking delivery of an A-S2100 tomorrow. I will post my thoughts in the Yamaha forum once I get it up and running.
 
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I recently demoed an S501 for about a week. I also took home the S500, as a comparison.

The 501 seems to have slightly less low-mid output. Whether this is 'thin' or 'neutral' depends on the listener, I suppose. Either way, it sounded excellent with my Canton Karat MC50s, for both music and home theater.

I decided not to buy it for the same reason as many others here; I'm paring down my system, and I plan on buying the S801 if I end up getting enough for what is going away.
 
jean_genie said:
I recently demoed an S501 for about a week. I also took home the S500, as a comparison.

The 501 seems to have slightly less low-mid output. Whether this is 'thin' or 'neutral' depends on the listener, I suppose. Either way, it sounded excellent with my Canton Karat MC50s, for both music and home theater.

I decided not to buy it for the same reason as many others here; I'm paring down my system, and I plan on buying the S801 if I end up getting enough for what is going away.
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Interesting you hear a difference considering they are exactly the same amp inside aside from the DAC being added.
 
For owners of the A-S301: Can you confirm that the input and volume knobs are metal/aluminum? As far as I know, they were plastic on the A-S300.
 
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TJLitt said:
the difference may have merely been break-in being complete on the older 500.......?
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That could very well be it.

It's also possible that since I have a mix of digital and analog components, I was subconsciously averaging the difference between my various sources. I heard some differences, but nothing but my Blu-Ray player was flat-out better, so either could have been the case.
 
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