New Amp Choice Emotiva/Yamaha/NAD

In need of a new amp, my old HK avr130 is starting to have issues and probably isnt worth dealing with the cost/time to fix given it was a budget model anyway. Needs are room for speaker upgrade later (running cheap bs22 now) and a sub out/pre out as I run a 2.1 setup with an SVS sub.
Main use is small office turntable and eventually ad a cd player and maybe streaming

I've been eyeing the Emotiva TA-100 which is on sale through today at 339 and has an integrated FM tuner plus phono which would be nice, frankly I just dont know much about emotiva other than their phono stage and speakers.

Refurb NAD 326bee- Spearit sound gets these often at quite reasonable prices, and NAD gets great reviews for the price, downside is no phono input and no tuner

Yamaha AS501 - seems to be a great value on accessories4less when they have them in stock, could probably get by with the 301. Downside here is no crossover settings for the sub out.


Anyone have feedback / experience with these?

Alternatively I could hold out for vintage, there is a marantz 2240b for sale in my area for roughly the price of the emotiva. pioneer commands a premium locally

 

I'm sure you know this, but of those three only the Emotiva is a receiver. The NAD and Yammy are integrated amps.

 

I have owned the NAD 326Bee and while it offers a mono sub out it doesn't offer any sub crossover. I enjoyed it while I owned it, just know it did get hot during operation. As you indicate you will need a phono pre as this NAD has none.

 

yeah, mistake. meant to say integrated.

 

My As501 has performed flawlessly in my secondary system for the last few years. A wonderful and reliable performer at its respective price point.

 

Are you really looking for a receiver? Of your choices only the Emotiva is a receiver, the NAD and the Yamaha are amplifiers. If you're looking for a good receiver I'd recoomend the Yamaha RS 500 or better the 700. The 700 has a sub and a pre out. It looks nice too. I once had a NAD 316bee. It was the only amplifier I ever had, that sounded different than all other amplifiers, warm and powerful. Ultimately, the cheap looks and haptics and the problems with the volume knob (at low volumes only one channel worked) caused me to sell the NAD.

 

The Emotiva looks nice: USB DAC, toroidal transformer, MC/MM phono stgae, etc. Looks pretty cool for $339.

I've had the Yamaha A-S301 and currently have the A-S701. Liked them both a lot. Used to have the Emotiva phono stage, which was a nice little piece of kit.

 

I actually hadnt even considered the Yamaha RS line, I had been recommended the AS line by someone and went straight to that, but the RS700 looks really nice for a very reasonable price and has pre-outs and plenty of power (though slightly higher THD rating) to upgrade to KEF q100 later or some wharfdales

 

Look for a Rega Brio R used or demo. New model just released so good prices on the prior unit. Good MM phono and plenty of juice for most applications. Small footprint can be a bonus if space is tight.

 

Can you audition any of these in your home?

 

thats the other problem, i cant find any of these local so it would all be online ordering or custom ordering in store
the yamaha's can be found on amazon which has a pretty liberal return policy as does emotiva.

right now i think i'm leaning towards yamaha, great quality and has a phono input which would save me about 100bucks on a phono pre (plan to remove the one in my lp120)

 

Narrow your choices down to two units and maybe see if you could order both and return the one you don't like? That's what I'd try to do ideally.

Keep in mind that $100 outboard pre may sound better than any unit inside one of these receivers/integrated amps. You could always add an outboard unit later. Whatever you do, don't run an outboard phono pre, then plug the RCA cables into the phono input on the receiver. You'll be sorry. A lot of people make this mistake.

If you have an LP120, removing the internal preamp would be a good idea if you're after better sound.

 

Love my NAD 326Bee that I got a few months ago, sounds great ... you can't go wrong. Have a lot of Emotiva gear but no amps.

 

So... what's the verdict?

 

I think I'm going yamaha. Either as501 or rs700. I think frys has the rs line on display but it's special order, at least I can see it in person

 

so i'll bump this up because i still didnt get a receiver, other things came up and it went back burner but i jumped on amazons deal on q100 for 299 they arrive today.
any of these a better pairing with the q100? ive been searching the past few days didnt really find much on receiver pairings with the kef other than they arent exactly efficient but are more efficient than my existing pioneers

only real requirement is i need a sub out because i also got an SVS 12" sub a while back on a good deal....so that rules out the lil rega brio