Yamaha A-S1100 or McIntosh MA5200

Congratulations on finding the noise floor of your turntables. If you can't hear it when the music is playing, perhaps its something you should ignore.

 

So, going back to running speakers in parallel, this just went up today:



I'm thinking of giving it a go with the A-S1100, Harbeth P3ESRs & Klipsch Heresey IIIs. To be honest I tried it already and it sounded pretty sweet. I only tried it for a few minutes at a time with friends for fun though. I was worried I might be driving the A-S110o too hard, but after watching that video, I'm now thinking it would be perfectly fine. Why would Yamaha even have A+B as an option if it wasn't supported? The IIIs are more sensitive than the P3s so the volume levels don't match, but adding in the P3s does add a little something. As for character, the P3s sound tight and precise while the IIIs sound wide open - the P3s sound like your are in the studio with the band while the IIIs sound like your are outdoors with the band. I find myself switching between the two depending on what I'm listening to and what mood I'm in. I feel like I now have a third option combining the two.

 

Doing my A/B with the HK 990 and the A-S1100 right now. I feel like the HK is winning.

 

Just looking at that HK amp you have. It looks like a pretty nice machine with a list price of $2600 circa 2008, similar to the Yamaha today. I would expect a pretty good amp from HK at this price.

 

I had no clue HK ever made such an amp, it looks like a beast. I'm not really surprised. OTOH, the 1100 goes through a long break-in period before it sounds best. It will never produce the syrupy smoothness of a class-A amp - a good thing IMO, as class-A often sounds artificially smooth to my ears. Still, I understand why there's a bias for it (no pun intended) among audiophiles.

 

Yeah, I think it may be the only interesting thing they've made in past couple decades, or longer. It is a beast for sure: 150wpc into 8 ohms, and hot enough to fry an egg! The phono stage is lackluster, so if I keep it I'm going to need an external unit, or maybe I'll try a separate pre-amp. There is an insanely detailed (and highly technical) review of it here.

 

For those interested, it turned out to be the original cables. I swapped out the ones they came with to some FosPower RCA M/M Stereo Audio Cable [24K Gold Plated | Copper Core] 3FT cables. The slight buzz is gone and the noise floor has been significantly lowered. At the halfway volume level both the Pro-Ject and the Technics are dead silent. At max you just hear your standard noise floor. No buzz and no hum. What's interesting is the Pro-Ject is just as quiet as the Technics now, if not actually quieter.

 

Nice choice’s....

 

Hopping on this thread rather than starting another A-S1100 one. Currently running a Cyrus 7 into Royd Abbot floorstanders. Happy enough with the sound but often wonder if I'm getting the best from the Abbots, which appreciate a bit of grunt.
Absolutely love the look of the amp and the reviews seem positive across the board, and then of course that temptress fate threw up a great price on an ex-demo unit local to me. I'll demo it, of course, but appreciate any thoughts & opinions upfront from you learned lot.
So apart from needing a bigger rack, am I going to get a significant hike up from the Cyrus? Thanks all.

 

Take your Cyrus along to dealer and do a comparison. The Yamaha appears to be only 105w into 8 ohms compared to Cyrus 60w so marginally better grunt. Personally never taken to Cyrus sound or style. If you like the metres and extra facilities by all means look at the Yam. Not much else gives 100W for that money. If you just want seriously more power I would suggest a MF M6i (220w/ch) which is about a grand more. Cambridge Audio also do The Azur integrated (120W/ch) for similar price to the Yamaha.

 

A question to A-S1100 owners here - is the headphone amp that bad? I mean, there is an Amazon review posted somewhere upthread where the guy claims a $150 Asus sound card sounds better through headphones than the Yamaha... Really?

 

I haven't used it in quite a while but no, it's not that bad. Of course, listening preferences and headphone type will largely influence level of satisfaction. If you like the way the amp sounds through your speakers, you'll likely be ok with the headphone output as it's likely nothing more than a buffered output.

 

Nothing wrong with the headphone amp at all. Use it loads for late-night listening and it sounds great to me. As always, take Amazon reviews with a generous pinch of salt.

 

Thank you for your replies. Glad that common sense didn't fail me

 

Hello,

What power cord do you use and recommend for 2100 or 1100?

 

The one that came with it.

 

I used one of these on my 2100 and yes, I heard a difference.

 

@lonelysea what difference do you hear exactly?

 

I described it in this thread (go to the end of the first post).

 

Thank you and it true

Yamaha A S2100 problem ?

 

Hi ! Just to know where did you order the wood side panels ?

 

I second that. I would love to have the dark brown sides for my 3000.

 

Not on mine. You hear the relays click on and off on the unit itself but not through the speakers.

 

Since this thread seems to get a lot of traffic re: the A-S1100 and A-S2100 models, I have a few questions. I've been reading about them and have become quite enamored to the point where I want to just make a blind purchase. I do have a couple of questions however:

1)Current owners, what is the true overall depth of the unit including knobs and binding posts?

2)I have a REL T7/i subwoofer. My plan is to use my current Yamaha A/V receiver in conjuction with the A-S1100 or A-S2100 in HT Bypass mode when watching movies/tv. I could use the LFE sub out when that is happening from the A/V receiver but Ideally when listening to music the A/V receiver is out of the loop. I wanted to use the high level input (speak-on speaker line cable) from the A-S1100 or A-S2100 as well into the REL as that is their preferred method of connection. But I've read that the Yamaha manual states not to connect a subwoofer to the speaker terminals. What to do? Any Yamaha / REL owners in here?

 

Don’t know about 2), but I can answer 1) - the A-S1100 is just shy of 50cm from the faceplate to back of binding posts. Add another couple of cm to that for the volume dial and switches. Basically it’s huge. I had to remove the wall shelf it sat on in the alcove and place it on a separate table so I could pull it forward away from the rear wall. The LACK coffee table from ikea is exactly the right size for this beast!