been listening to a Yam S-A500. Wow!

[bobchiba]

I've recently started a new job in the industry, and have had a lotof listening time with current kit. I've listened extensively to amps in the sub 2 grand area of the likes kandy, caspian, new rotel stuff, naim streamers, arcams etc and I have been totally suprised by the 230 quid Yamaha. It sounds so much more 'alive' than anything else in the sub grand area and has such tight controlled bass. Been running it of an Arcam RDac and its a lovely combo. It took a 1400 quid Leema amp to really get me excited about anything else.

Has anyone else thought the Yamaha is seriously underated? could be a future Pioneer A400 I reckon!

As you have started a new job in the industry please update your signature to make this clear, including the name of the company you work for, as per house rules. Thank you. (Mods)

 

[audipheonix]

What r the other component of the system u listened with? Speaker and source used and cablings?

I am running mine with a Kef Q100.

 

[bobchiba]

Ended up using cord carnival silverscreen and some pretty expensive interconnects, chord cadenza i think. the carnival helped with the brightness a little bit. using sonos into an Arcam R Dac and have used Kef LS50's and the monitor audio BX series as well.

 

[Johnno2]

Ended up using cord carnival silverscreen and some pretty expensive interconnects, chord cadenza i think. the carnival helped with the brightness a little bit. using sonos into an Arcam R Dac and have used Kef LS50's and the monitor audio BX series as well.

which of the MA BX range?, how did they sound with the Yamaha?

 

[bobchiba]

used the BX2's and the floorstanders. floorstander sounded suprisingly good, I find the Yamaha suits them quite well. just make sure you use a warm source/cables where possible. also the phono stage is pretty bad, so if you had a tt Id recomend a project phono box or something

Mods - Please clearly state your trade status in your signature as per house rules and as requested above. Thank you.

 

[Johnno2]

it seems like a maramite amp this one, you either love it or hate it, never heard it myself but it seems most now prefere its rival the marantz pm6004 for its smoother fuller and more musical presentation, the yamy sounds brighter and thinner apparantly?

 

[SteveR750]

Unless the OP works for Yamaha of course, though why he or she (Kate?) would want to hide it....

 

[Johnno2]

perhaps he does work for yamaha , was passing superfi today and nipped in , had a brief listen to it and compared to a rotel RA10 ? i think , the yamaha cost £230, and the rotel was £320, the rotel was more 'punchy', the yamaha sounded like what you would expect a £200/300 amp to sound like , i think the OP is overrating it a bit, but hifi is a personal thing so it might very well sound lilke a £1000 plus amp to him, it only sounded full when the bass was tweaked up and the loudness fiddled with. THe rotel sounded fine in source direct , no need to boost the bass with that amp

 

[Johnno2]

Bump

decided I want an inexpensive amp for upstairs to stream spotify through the my dac and connect the old cd player too, my AE evo 3 floorstenders have been redundant since the BX6 purchase, Went to superfi to listen to some £200 amps as I dont want to go second hand , guess what! I came out with the Yamaha AS500 for £210, listened to it in the shop with different speakers this time , some B&W floorstander(684) and now I see what the fuss is about, it sounded excellent, first impression was so so , but this time it gave a better account of itself, Its now working in my main sytem with the bx6 and I think i prefere it over the PM7001, the timing seems better, the thin sound I heard orginally was not there. just shows you need time to listen to compnents with differnt recordings and not jump to conlusions