Beginners question about Yamaha receivers

Hello,

I've been looking to upgrade my system, and within my budget I think that the best I can do is the current Yamaha line of receivers. I'm currently looking at the A-S500BL Integrated Stereo Amplifier and the R-S500BL Stereo Home Theater Receiver.

I plan to use this 85% for my turntable, 10% for my iPod, and maybe 5% to play a CD player that I will purchase separately and connect.

I'm just a little confused about the names Yamaha gives these products and the differences between them. From what I can tell, the A-S500BL does not have a radio tuner, and is called an amplifier, while the R-S500BL does have a tuner and is called a receiver. I don't care to have a tuner, but I don't care to pay extra to not have one, either. This isn't a track-day Porsche.

Anyway, which would be best for my use? Any other recommendations? My budget pretty much tops out at around $350.

 

Generally, an integrated amp has both a preamp and power amp built in, but not a tuner. A receiver adds the tuner.

I can't speak to Yamaha. I'd encourage you also to audition an NAD C316bee integrated amp, which is in your price range and sounds great to my ears, if you can find a showroom that sells them in Philly.

 

Thanks for the recommendation and the clarification!

So if I were to purchase an integrated amp, I could turn off the built-in preamp on my turntable, thus improving my sound even further?

 

Only if the integrated amp includes a phono stage. A turntable requires a special pre-amplification stage. Assuming the Yamaha or NAD or whatever you choose has one, it would probably be superior to the one built into your turntable. You can also buy a separate dedicated phono preamplifier, of course.

 

You should be able to do just that. You haven't listed anything about the TT in your profile, which would be helpful when asking for advice. But many of the tables with preamps or USB can be bypassed by design or with a bit of ingenuity.

Either of those Yammies should work for what you are after.

 

I've got an Audio Technica AT-PL120USB. There is an on-off switch for the preamp (which is not a true bypass), and I've seen youtube videos about how to completely remove it. Switching the on-off switch is about the upper limit of my technical abilities.

 

As Curbach said, only if the integrated amp has a built in phono preamp. The NAD does NOT have a phono preamp. It's important not to confuse the preamp built into integrated amps with the PHONO preamp that is necessary to boost the signal from your turntable. I don't know if any Yamaha models have phono preamps built in; I haven't looked.

 

Just set it to "PHONO" and use the phono inputs on either of those Yamahas, the amp or receiver. Have you looked at upgrading the cartridge yet?

 

I have the RS700-BL receiver, it has a very good phono section in it, AFAIK the RS500 & AS500 use the same phono section. And from what I can see the main guts of the AS500 are the same as the RS700.

 

HUGE price drop on the A-S500BL Integrated Stereo Amplifier this morning... PURCHASED! Mega steal for ~$250!

 

So far a rather well kept secret that Amazon plays so much with pricing. If you like something and don't have to get it right away, try placing it in your cart. Not always, but often enough, the price will dip several % within a few days. I got an AT440MLa for $159.95, free shipping, doing this.

Their system also looks at what you've paid and the add-ons you buy, then may adjust the price of the main item. If they "sense" you have deep pockets, based on your buying history (such as, search then buy in the same session), they will pitch a higher price than for someone that looks and then comes back and looks around again.

Congrats on the score. You should be very happy with that amp.

EDIT: When I click on that Yamaha amp now, it's $399.95. Wow.

 

Wow! The price jumped back up that quickly?! My order total is $266 shipped!

 

For me, that's the price at the moment. If I put it in the cart, it might go lower. Maybe not. My AT440MLa was $190, then after it was in my cart for a week, it went to $159.95. I think it's ingenious, but you have to make it work for you.

 

Some stuff dips deeply in price for only a day or less occasionally. See this graph on my RS700-bl, 1 day only it hit $300:

 

Back to $399, it spiked low for only a part of a day.

 

The A-S500BL


It's a great buy at $399 but damn it's a downright steal at $250. Wish I had seen that I would have bought one.

 

I'm choosing to focus on the amount of money I've saved recently vs the amount of money I've spent.... upwards of $150 on vinyl due to some good sales, and around $150 on this! I can tell my girlfriend I saved $300 this month!