A-S2000 in the house

Yamahaha

Well-Known Member
I just got a new A-S2000

After having some vintage gear repair bills lately I bit the bullet and got one. I have an A-S700 that I have been using the past few weeks as back up. I was enjoying it although I found it a tad thin. So what the heck, I went up to the A-S2000 figuring it might bring me into the modern age and save on those repair bills. The A-S700 was so good for its low price ... moving up seemed smart.

First impressions. The phono sucks. Really low output and thin. I think they got the EQ curve wrong or something because its hands down the worst phono stage in the house. Before anyone asks yes its set to MM for my MM table. I know how to work these things. Digital sources all sound fantastic. Really nice sound playing CD's. Truly a disappointment though as I do vinyl 95% the time. The A-S700 has a better phono stage and all my vintage gear blows it out of the water. The problem with the 2000 is a small thin sound. I have some albums on CD and LP to compare and what a shame that phono sucks the life out. Too bad.

Also, the volume pot sends static to the speakers and throws the amp into protection when turning vol to zero. I am hoping this is just a dirty pot. The unit is brand new from a sealed box so a little strange. The good is protection kicks in immediately. The bad is its throwing static thud to my expensive Sonus speakers. I bought this to avoid these types of problems. Here we go again ... only with brand spanking new. Sheesh.

many have gone on about the power. Yes it has power. But I wouldn't say over its 90W @8ohm rating. Its a different kind of power to. Not the massive push of my SX1250 for instance. Different. With digital I think I would enjoy this 2000. But the phono .. sheesh. Weak, missing umph big time. If MM is this bad I wonder how small the MC sounds.
 
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Sounds like a defective unit, I recommend returning it.


If you decide to go vintage again I strongly recommend the MX-1 / CX-1. The CX-1 has a fantastic phono stage.
 
Sounds like a defective unit, I recommend returning it.


If you decide to go vintage again I strongly recommend the MX-1 / CX-1. The CX-1 has a fantastic phono stage.

I still have plenty of vintage. Defective units are not allowed once you get into 2000$ amp territory. In my sole opinion. But I will take your MX gear in trade. You're welcome.
 
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Send it back, ASAP. Like Vintageman1, I don't have any of those issues with my AS2000. I agree 100% that $2K amps should not be defective, but it could have been broken during shipping/storage
 
You should return the unit. That's why you bought and paid for new, the warranty.

I hop you will be able to enjoy your A-S2000 as soon as possible.
 
Although I have not heard the A-S2000, your review is the first less than stellar I have read. I hope this is an isolated case, and that your unit is defective. Return it...
 
Yup just waiting for parties to get back to me. I think its just the volume control itself that's knackered but who knows.

I bought from Hifiheaven in WI. Problem is I am in Canada so I paid $300 to get it over here. No local dealers. So I am out of pocket no matter what. This stuff is supposed to be fun.

The whole point of buying the A-s2000 was to stop having to make service tips like I do with vintage gear. We'll see how its handled. Last thing I needed was a headache with my brand new toy that was purchased to relieve such headaches. My audio "Karma" has not been good lately.

No one else has a thin phono stage? ... maybe a board got cracked or something. I only read one other report online where a guy said his sounded small too. But most reviews were glowing. Just my luck lately.
 
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Could have just been some shipping damage. Sorry it happened to you. Can you send it back to whomever you bought it from and have them at least eat some of the shipping?

Have you tried Yamaha in Canada?
 
I have had contact with Yamaha. They think its a bad volume control. I am waiting for them to say what they want to do about it.

HiFi Heaven hasn't gotten back to me yet but I imagine I will hear back by end of day. I just got it yesterday.
 
I feel your pain. This is why I only buy locally now. I've had too much well packed stuff trashed by the shipping folks over the years to want to risk it much anymore.
 
The phono preamp is pretty good on it, not 'great' but I wouldn't call it thin. Maybe a touch of grain if I compare to the one in my Marantz or the Lehmann black cube I used to have.
Hopefully, the replacement will be up to snuff.
 
HifiHeaven said ship it back and we'll replace it.

So that's what I will do. Good thing I bought a new one with warranty.

I really dislike returning things. Its costly for everyone.
 
I really dislike returning things. Its costly for everyone.

Glad this unit is being replaced. That is the reason for a warranty, some things just go bad shortly after being built. If you get a good one then usually last a long time, at least that is the experience of lots of folks here with working really old stuff.

The shipping companies do well with this so not everyone is out. Hopefully you will not be out of pocket too much for this exchange.
 
I agree with you. Defective for a $2,000 unit is flat unacceptable.

They should give you an A-s3000 in return for your trouble.
 
That would be nice ... but I don't think its going to happen.

Yamaha isn't losing anything. The vendor loses their margin and I lose on shipping. Yamaha ... they lose face. That is the challenge for large companies. When things go wrong you have to make sure your front line contacts are working. The person who contacted me from Yamaha was confused and not pleasant.

Its the vendor who is taking care of it. Online is a story of this happening with an A-S3000 which many of you have probably seen. He is a photographer who loved it but had problems with it. Yamaha as a company doesnt seen to have any feet on the ground for this. I know in my field, any bad experience is best dealt with swiftly to where the customer and vendor feels no pain.

Many high end dealers and media ignore Yamaha. I thought it was the home theater stigma. But maybe its support.
 
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I agree with you. Defective for a $2,000 unit is flat unacceptable.

Damage can happen when shipping electronics, especially a 50 lb amp that was probably dropped repeatedly. Expensive units will break when mishandled just like inexpensive audio equipment, so cost is irrelevant when you take a risk on shipping something.

My A-S2000 does not exhibit any of the traits you described and has been used daily for the past 2.5 years. I think the MM & MC phono stage sounds terrific. I bought mine from HiFi Heaven also, and they did not double box the unit. Fortunately it arrived in one piece. Was yours double boxed?
 
No not double boxed and I would agree that this really should be done.

Not sure the damage was shipping related. The volume control is likely the culprit. Apparently Yamaha is aware of more than my unit having the same problem. Basically you cannot turn the volume control up or down once the unit is warm. There will be static spike and then protection does its job and kicks in. Is the control just dirty? faulty? Dont know. Yamaha Canada as very unhelpful but I managed to get a clear statement they believed it a faulty vol control.

My non working unit has arrived back with the store and I hope the replacement makes its way soon. As a side rant I am going to spell out for all US merchants why UPS is the worst service to ship things

UPS offers a lower shipping rate to US business because that's not the real rate. They are going to rape your customer when it arrives for "brokerage"
My A-S2000 cost me $310 to receive. Of that $200 is government tax. Tax is going to happen no matter what. The other $110 is UPS Brokerage and taxes on the brokerage fee. USPS charges $10 for that service.
So the company paid $87 minus 20% discount to ship to me. I paid $110 to get it. Thats $200. For $200 Fedex would overnight it and charge me $10 at the door to "process" it.
UPS ground is never ... NEVER less expensive.
To top it off they will apply that same massive brokerage fee to the replacement. To all retailers ... stop the madness. Call UPS out on this. I've had to explain this so many times to retailers. I have a certificate in Import/Export. The rules are very clear for Canada/US trade. On both sides I find customer personnel to be quite reasonable. As long as the paperwork clearly states things all they really want is tax where applicable. They don't even see the shipments anyway, unless something gets flagged. Its all electronic and takes about one minute. UPS loves this double dip because they will use the words "duty" etc. When no duty applies. They try and confuse their fees as being government fees. If anyone doubts this google it. Canada Revenue and Customs has taken them to task over this. Lawsuits abound. UPS is making more off "cheap" ground then any service they offer due to the "brokerage". UPS keeps at it because its making them lots of money and people keep allowing it.
 
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replacement arrived. It wasn't double boxed either.

So far appears functional.

Hifi Heaven has supported me, the customer quite well.
 
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