Yamaha A-S500

[Anonymous]

To Rick, Matthew, and especially to emcc_3, who has the exact speakers I'm looking for:

Did you try the BX5 speakers with the A-S700? Do these amps sound so different? It surprises me that the cheaper gets 5 stars and the more expensive gets only 3. And the A-S700 is much easier to find right now, at tempting discount prices.

Thanks,

VMat

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Anyone know if this amp (A S500) has a pre set volume on one of the inputs for use with an AV receiver, to drive the two front speakers?

 

[Anonymous]

no it doesn't pete, you would need to adjust the volume to suit, i done that for a while, it's not a problem, though you will need the volume set to half way on the yamaha, forgetting to turn it down after switching to the cd output may scare the dog/wife/ anyone in the vicinity if you press play

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Hi Max, (forgot you had one of these!!)

Thanks for your reply....it's not very 'wife' friendly then. Were I to ever go down this route, i would need this feature.....

Do you know any that have this, or a certain manufacturer that uses this sensible solution to blowing speakers when changing from tv to cd....?

 

[Anonymous]

well it's a feature that wasn't on any of the three budget amps that i've owned, i'd say you would need to be stepping up a class to get an amp with the feature, why not start a thread here asking for suggestions?

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Will do......thanks Max...

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, uh... just a reminder... please take a look at my post up there.

Thanks,

VMat

 

[Anonymous]

Iïm wondering about the same, 500 is "all that" and the 700 is blend and boring??

I think I will take a chance and go for the 700, but it would be nice if someone had an opinion about this.

Regards

 

[Clare Newsome]

The two products may have a similar look/model number, but were engineered separately at Yamaha - hence, we believe, the difference in tone.

I'd go for the '500 anyway - or save up more for a next-step-up amp, depending on the system involved.

 

[emcc_3]

Hi vmat,

Didn't try the BX5's with the as-700. But remember reviews are based on opinon and at the end of the day you may find that the as-700 has the right sound for your ears. I was demoing the as-500 against the marantz pm6003 and some of the rotel budget range.Just happened that it had more features than these amps and I prefered the presentation it offered. To my ears the as-500 goes well with the MA bx5.

 

[matthewpiano]

I ued to have an A-S700. It is a very good amp in many ways but at about £400 it is well on the way to the price of an Arcam A18 (particularly with the current £469 offer on the Arcam) and the Arcam does everything better. The A18 manages to combine some of the A-S700's smoothness with more involvement, better and more stable soundstaging, and far better attention to instrumental and vocal timbres. It is also better built than the A-S700. If you are really interested in spending more than the price of the A-S500, there are better ways to spend it than an A-S700 now IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

"Really interested" is not exactly how I would phrase it... )

The point is that I don't live in the UK - I'll spend 10 days there after Christmas, with not much time for auditions. I'll probably have to buy in the dark - I mean, I won't be able to test the amp and the speakers together, because they can't seem to be found in the same shop. And since the A-S500 seems so hard to find these days (I can't buy online), I may fork out £80 more for the 700. £469 is out of my reach, unfortunately. I'll keep an eye on open boxes, though.

Clare has a good point, I think. Especially after the 700 hasn't got all the praisal Yamaha was expecting (I guess) - they may even have changed the amp design on purpose, to avoid the criticism they received on the 700.

Anyway - thank you all ***very much*** for the opinions. It's a great help for people like me who can't have any gear available for tests and auditions at less than a few thousand miles from home.

A last question - suppose I already had the BX5's but couldn't take them to the shop to test the amps. Which speakers do you think I should try at the shop to have the closest sound? I believe I can find Acoustic Energy (Aegis Neo 3 V2), Mission (various models), Q Acoustics (2050) or KEF (IQ series) much easier than Monitor Audio.

 

[emcc_3]

Which area of the UK will you be in. Peter Tyson offers both the yamaha and bx5 in store and will be happy to allow you to demo. There shop is in Carlisle.

 

[idc]

It has a very good headphone output and drove some moderately sensitive Sennheiser HD595 with ease. Just in case anyone was wondering.....

 

[Anonymous]

I'll be in London. One day in Cambridge. No chance of going up to Carlisle. (

I'm gonna check out Sevenoaks, Superfi, Richersounds, Hifi Confidential, etc..

VMat

 

[Anonymous]

I live in Norway and for what I can find out Arcam A18 isnt sold over here.

I can get a AS700 for £400 here and that is in the same price range as Rotel RA04 SE,Cambridge 650A, NAD C326BEE.

I havent found anyone selling the AS500.

So the question is if the AS700 gives me more bang for the buck then any of the mentioned above or if I should just forget all about Yamaha (I really like the look of it).

Regards

Edit: I just found the AS500 here and itïs £70 more then the AS700

 

[Anonymous]

About the same list I came up with. In case you're wondering, I gave up on them because: I want a black amp and to me neither of those look good in black; CA doesn't have an embedded phono preamp; NAD has left many customers frustrated with some lemons they delivered in previous lines (although I have no idea if this particular model has any history of failures); and the Rotel 04 SE has half the power of the A-S500 (OK, I don't believe specs are 100% true, but in this case the difference is so great that I can't believe they are lying that much on their specs, either). Another model I might add would be Marantz PM6003, but I hate how it looks and how the buttons are laid out...

By the way, NAD has always impressed me by having great sound and horrible looks. The C326 is no exception (I mean, the looks - haven't heard it yet).

Of those three, I would still try the Rotel if I had a chance. But I have to say I'm not very curious. It does have a nice low profile, though. Would be easier to place in my rack. I think I noticed a certain trend in the forums against pairing it with Monitor Audio, but as I won't have time for proper auditions, I can't tell otherwise.

VMat

 

[Anonymous]

i remember a thread from a few months back where the op stated that he was unhappy with his arcam amp (i think a85).

his speakers were monitor audio rs6's, anyway he was advised to seek out a rotel 1062 (amongst other advice), he got one and said that he was very happy with the resulting sound..

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah... that's why I would still try the Rotel.

VMat

 

[Anonymous]

Well... just to let you know...after two days in agony waiting for my second speaker, that the airline left behind, I finally hooked up the A-S500 + BX5's + DacMagic and I have a small issue: I can't take this

off my face...

I can't compare the sound to other current kits because I haven't heard them, but I know I never had a cleaner sound at home. I noticed in particular that drums and cymbals sound amazingly real.

The buttons on the A-S500 are not as bad as some say, but yes, metal would be better. Another point I'd like to note is that I'd like to have some sort of feedback on the volume level, like a small led in the knob. The engraved pointer on the knob surface is very hard to see from a distance, and impossible to see at low light. However, I'm very satisfied with the looks and functionality. The loudness control works like a charm too (I've used it to listen to some vinyl before my wife woke up - CD's only in pure direct, so far).

Sorry, but I have to go. There's a pile of CD's here waiting to be listened to.

Thank you guys for the opinions.

Cheers!

VMat

 

[MUSICRAFT]

VMat:
Well... just to let you know...after two days in agony waiting for my second speaker, that the airline left behind, I finally hooked up the A-S500 + BX5's + DacMagic and I have a small issue: I can't take this

off my face...

I can't compare the sound to other current kits because I haven't heard them, but I know I never had a cleaner sound at home. I noticed in particular that drums and cymbals sound amazingly real.

The buttons on the A-S500 are not as bad as some say, but yes, metal would be better. Another point I'd like to note is that I'd like to have some sort of feedback on the volume level, like a small led in the button. The engraved pointer on the button is very hard to see from a distance, and impossible to see at low light. However, I'm very satisfied with the looks and functionality. The loudness control works like a charm too (I've used it to listen to some vinyl before my wife woke up - CD's only in pure direct, so far).

Sorry, but I have to go. There's a pile of CD's here waiting to be listened to.

Thank you guys for the opinions.

Cheers!

VMat

Hi VMat

Nice one

and i hope you'll enjoy the performance of your new components for many years to come

Btw, what colours have you chosen for the A-S500 and BX5's.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[emcc_3]

nice one, were did you manage to get the combo in the end I was under the impression that only Peter Tyson were stocking both in the UK at the mo. I hope you enjoy the combo as much as me.

 

[Anonymous]

I ended up going to three different stores. On the 28th (first business day after Christmas) I was in front of Hi-Fi Confidential just before they opened. When I asked for the A-S500, the guy told me it was their last unit, and that someone called the day before about it.

Then I went to Richersounds to get the DacMagic I had already reserved. And finally to Sevenoaks to get the speakers. Total of 3 hours - my wife almost cut my head off - but I survived.

The amp is black, and the speakers are black ash. The DAC is also black, although I was tempted to get the silver one for £30 less.

And I still have this

on my face... I thought it might go away after sleeping for a few hours.

VMat

 

[emcc_3]

sounds very nice enjoy. well worth the effort, though your wife might disagree.

 

[Anonymous]

She's OK with it now. She got mad then because the days are so short in the Winter and we had planned to see a bunch of things that she didn't want to miss (I believe I mentioned we were there as tourists).

She even said "what's that noise?" when I asked her to listen to a couple of tracks with me. I said "it's the drums you've never heard before because the older speakers are so lousy".

VMat