Vintage Amplifier beats Yamaha a-s500?

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A

Anonymous

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The probability of signal path capacitors of your JVC is not working properly is high. I've already heard it tends to produce a warmer but veiled sound. Anyway, it's all coloration. It may let some recording sound nice but the dark presentation, bad time of bass/mid-bass lines and overall lack of resolution will bring more disadvantages than advantages.
 

lindsayt

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If the JVC sounds better it is better.

If I were you I'd get another JVC - or get a similar amp to the JVC - and get rid of the Yamaha.

Please take no notice of what anyone on this forum says about the 2 amps. Use your own ears and trust your own judgement.

Maybe some new capacitors in the JVC would make it sound even better, maybe the existing capacitors are fine and don't need changing.

Old amps can sound fine. I've been using a 38 year old phono amp. Sounded much better than my 5 year old phono amp. I've also been using my 28 year old Creek CAS4040 with my theatre speakers for watching Blu Rays. Good clear dynamic sound when we were watching Step Up the other day.
 
A

Anonymous

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Most 70's SS amps sound warm on the mid-bass. Actually it's a kind of coloration and as a consequence the performance of those amps have some limitations regarding mid transparence and lack of control of the botton end. Furthermore, the probability of signal path capacitors of a thirty years old amps are not working properly is high. It tends to worse the mentioned drawbacks producing a dark and veiled result which can sound "nice" with some overbright recordings. But above all, it's all coloration.
 

eggontoast

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Audio Maniac said:
Most 70's SS amps sound warm on the mid-bass.
That is one big generalization. Some of the best (and granted worst) Hi-Fi amplifiers were manufactured in the 70's which can still IMO rub shoulders with and outperform current offerings.

Audio Maniac said:
Furthermore, the probability of signal path capacitors of a thirty years old amps are not working properly is high.
really based on what figures ?
 

aliEnRIK

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A few weeks for 'ears to adjust'??

My ears might take a minute or two to adjust and thats about it (And thats one seriously big 'might')

My P1000 was light on bass. Now bass I can hear or not hear - its as simple as that. My ears dont 'adjust' to bass. The P1000 filled out over time.

Another brand new amp costing 8k was the other way round, way too much bloaty bass. Still tightening up over time

I can hear bass, not hear bass, or hear too much bass. Is that my ears adjusting? No, thats my ears hearing just fine.........
 
A

Anonymous

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aliEnRIK said:
A few weeks for 'ears to adjust'??

My ears might take a minute or two to adjust and thats about it (And thats one seriously big 'might')

My P1000 was light on bass. Now bass I can hear or not hear - its as simple as that. My ears dont 'adjust' to bass. The P1000 filled out over time.

Another brand new amp costing 8k was the other way round, way too much bloaty bass. Still tightening up over time

I can hear bass, not hear bass, or hear too much bass. Is that my ears adjusting? No, thats my ears hearing just fine.........
Apologies to quote you alienrik as I know you hate it, but bad luck
smiley-smile.gif


If you do a bit of googling you'll find plenty to indicate this does exist, so I'm afraid what you say is a touch on the not really accurate side of neutral.
 
A

Anonymous

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Eggontoast,

Yes, off course, compared to 500 hundred pounds amps I have no doubt they can be easily outperformed by 70's high-end SS amps like Marantz, Accuphase or McIntosh. Anyway, in comparison to todays real high-end SS amps, the referred ones sound veiled on mids. Morever, modern amps have better bass control and timing.

My opinion about problems with old capacitors is based on my personal experience and lots of papers and reports that state the same.

Finally, all electronic parts have a limited lifetime. They are not Highlanders.

Regards,
 

aliEnRIK

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Before my P1000 I had an arcam A85

Now the P1000 has deeper more controlled bass

How is it possible that for the 1st hour the P1000 sounded AWFUL and almost zero bass. If I could hear bass fine with my Arcam A85 then id hear it fine with the P1000. My ears didnt suddenly 'crush' all the low Hz range then 'adjust' to the deeper more powerful bass (Especially as im used to hearing another system which has bone crunchingly powerful bass). It took well over a week before I started to stop panicking that id bought a dud. Im sure if I googled I could find ears changing over time, but nothing like what ive just explained

Im sorry pal, but were not ever going to agree on this. Your wasting your time on me (And me on you it seems)

I understand sceptics turning to science and medicine, but not to the extent they just dont trust what they hear 'at all' (unless of course they cant hear at all
smiley-laughing.gif
). if I did the same I might as well close my eyes and 'pretend' im listening to music..........
 
A

Anonymous

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alienerik, you seem to have missed the point entirely. I'm certainly not sceptical, just telling it like it is. I accept that, being a mere human being, I am constrained in so many ways, one of which is how human senses perceive things and how they react over time.
 

manicm

Well-known member
Not all older amps sounded warm and cuddly. And some of them will be no less transparent sounding than current ones. This thread all boils down to personal taste, end of. But yes 2 sharp sounding components i.e. BX2 + A-S500 might not be the ideal combination for some.
 

CnoEvil

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John Duncan said:
Grottyash said:
John Duncan said:
Grottyash said:
If you do a bit of googling you'll find plenty to indicate this does exist

As could be said for the faked moon landings...
infomation about the possibility of faked moon landings does indeed exist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy_theories

Must be true then.

I was sure the moon landings were faked - the evidence is very convincing. Then I discovered that there is a very reflective mirror placed on it's surface, which is used to bounce back a lazer beam sourced from earth. This allows us to accurately tell that the moon is gradually pulling away from the earth......I know, noteworthy but irrelevant.

Maybe one day GA will also get his epiphany. ;) ......possibly more relevant.

Cno
 

Andrew Everard

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CnoEvil said:
Then I discovered that there is a very reflective mirror placed on it's surface, which is used to bounce back a lazer beam sourced from earth. This allows us to accurately tell that the moon is gradually pulling away from the earth

Ah, but you only have 'their' word for the existence of the mirror, the laser, and the growing distance to the moon...

pyramids_headerwm.jpg
 

CnoEvil

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Andrew Everard said:
CnoEvil said:
Then I discovered that there is a very reflective mirror placed on it's surface, which is used to bounce back a lazer beam sourced from earth. This allows us to accurately tell that the moon is gradually pulling away from the earth

Ah, but you only have 'their' word for the existence of the mirror, the laser, and the growing distance to the moon...

pyramids_headerwm.jpg

Is this just another case of subjective realism?

Oh, and did I mention that the Titanic never sank.....it was all an insurance fraud, where it's sister ship, the Olympic, was sunk instead.

Cno
 

eggontoast

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Audio Maniac said:
and lots of papers and reports that state the same.
Ihave also read a lot of 'papers' many of which are unsubstantiated rubbish which are full of holes so lets not quote them as a good reference

Audio Maniac said:
Finally, all electronic parts have a limited lifetime. They are not Highlanders.
This is true but it is usually measured in hours of use and many capacitors would have not seen this amount of usage, even a 70's amp. Also a nuber of other factors such as heat and circuit design will affect this so this is also not really a good reference either.

That just leaves your vast experience.....so whats that then.
 
A

Anonymous

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aliEnRIK said:
Before my P1000 I had an arcam A85

Now the P1000 has deeper more controlled bass

How is it possible that for the 1st hour the P1000 sounded AWFUL and almost zero bass. If I could hear bass fine with my Arcam A85 then id hear it fine with the P1000. My ears didnt suddenly 'crush' all the low Hz range then 'adjust' to the deeper more powerful bass (Especially as im used to hearing another system which has bone crunchingly powerful bass). It took well over a week before I started to stop panicking that id bought a dud. Im sure if I googled I could find ears changing over time, but nothing like what ive just explained

Im sorry pal, but were not ever going to agree on this. Your wasting your time on me (And me on you it seems)

I understand sceptics turning to science and medicine, but not to the extent they just dont trust what they hear 'at all' (unless of course they cant hear at all
smiley-laughing.gif
). if I did the same I might as well close my eyes and 'pretend' im listening to music..........
assuming your saying that after a week the p1000 had loads of bass then i'll ask the same question...

how is that possible?
 

Mr Morph

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Andrew Everard said:
Ah, but you only have 'their' word for the existence of the mirror, the laser, and the growing distance to the moon...

True, and it doesn't mean that the mirror was put there by Astronauts, could have been Katie Price, apparently she leaves them everywhere!
 

Zax89swe

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The wierd thing is that my fathers marantz sr4010 from 1981 who burned day after a lightningstrike a while ago, no doubt sounded better in all areas except little more details and air then the yamaha , theres a what is this? at celine dion tracks even at lowest treble and that loudness at lowest when its razorise the earcanals. Maybe theres a conflict by the speakers filters? But the elements do seems to look more yamaha-like then most out there. It still sounds good at movie soundtracks but the extremly harsh vocals make me little that but its not a very big deal in the big picture afterall it wasnt a pure expensive amplifier. Starting to wonder if the amplifier is broken at pure direct some songs is like knifes...
 
A

Anonymous

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After using all sorts of kit, [ all be it on a lower budget than some on this forum ] I am coming to the conclusion that some of the 1970's stuff is possibly a better bet than more modern amps and speakers. You can pick it up really cheap [ or out of skips :) ] and there are real gems, not just ok and a bit warm but old amps that work properly and sound great.

My current set up is a Garrard 401 with Ortofon MC cart picked up in a junk shop, Marantz 2226B amp my mate was chucking out due to scratchy pots and a Rotel 965BX cd that was free due to dirt on lens ... doh..with a basic Beresford dac, speakers are a pair of freebee BC1s [ needed the drivers turning 18o degrees due to sag ] .... I wouldn't know where to start if trying to get a better sound with new stuff, upgrade interconnects ?

As far as amps are concerned it really might be ear of the beholder and as long as they don't over colour the sound then the £150 amp might trump the £1000 on occasion for some listeners, the 1970's obscure dad kit might sound better than the shiny lads super hifi
smiley-tongue-out.gif
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Dear Eggontoast,

So what's your problem?

I've have my own opinions which I post here every time I want to. On other hand, you've have the right to be against my them. That's the reason this forum exists. Actually, it's the essence of existence of all foruns (debates). If everybody had the same ideas, there wouldn't have necessity of forums of any type.

Anyway, I don't become a member of this forum for a personal debate with you.
 

eggontoast

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Audio Maniac said:
Dear Eggontoast,

So what's your problem?

I've have my own opinions which I post here every time I want to. On other hand, you've have the right to be against my them. That's the reason this forum exists. Actually, it's the essence of existence of all foruns (debates). If everybody had the same ideas, there wouldn't have necessity of forums of any type.

Anyway, I don't become a member of this forum for a personal debate with you.
Lol thanks for answering my question.....that will be none then.
 

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