I am afraid I have no proper technical knowledge to answer your question in a way that could satisfy you. However, from my experience, same frequency response of two different amplifiers rarely translates into same sound character. I have never studied technical data, always have tried to choose device that sounded right to my ears. I assume that sonic reproduction of particular frequency by two different devices may result in different sound characters. My opinion on 1100 and 2100 is rather subjective, however is backed by opinion of my ex. She has got near perfect hearing with incredible sonic memory. After we had listened to 1100 (WYWH) she left. I had plug in 2100 before she came back. "It sounds different now" she said after listening to the same music (WYWH) for about 20 seconds. However, I might misunderstand your question.
What do you all think of the phono section of these amps? I'm still burning in my 1200. The phono sounds pretty good to my ears but still can't help thinking a separate phono preamp would add something a bit more. Maybe I got used to my Vincent PHO 700.
It's very quiet, noticeably so and backed up by specs. However, it has a sonic signature - sort of V-shaped, which may or may not be to your taste and/or cart combo. It's 45k loading and relatively high capacitance. Personally, even in consideration of its FR, it's my favourite thing about the amp.
maybe I'll be the classic fish out of the water, but maybe Yamaha would do well to put the phono card as an option ... I don't use vinyls, what do I do with it? The only reason that eventually would make me decide to take the phono card ANYWAY is because, a tomorrow, if I wanted to sell it, I would do less effort. but that's the beauty of it ... Selling? a Yamaha A-S3200? and why on earth ...?
I'm using a Music Hall 7.3 with the Bronze cart. I'm in the process of upgrading shortly to a different cart. Think I read that you had the Bronze as well earlier in these posts?
Yes, have found them a good pairing, though my cart is long in the tooth and possibly benefitting from the capacitance hump. No experience with the MC side as of yet.
I picked one up during that crazy Amazon sale. Absolutely in love. Unfortunately I can only directly compare it to the Yamaha S501 that I'd been using for a few years (and now more-happily powers some bookshelf speakers in my living room), and the S3200 is not a subtle improvement--it's incredible. I have the S3200 powering B&W 702s, and they have a low-end characteristic that was simply absent with the S501. I had been debating between the S2200 and the Luxman 505/507, and was happy that this sale made my choice easy. The biggest take-away I have is that the S3200 lets me much more easily ascertain the quality of a recording. I suppose this can be both good and bad, but it's really fun.
2020 Yamaha Integrated Amps A-S1200/2200/3200 Sadly, no. I heard the Luxman 590u a while back, but I wasn't in the market at the time. There are a few places to hear Luxman in my area, but everything was still closed down when I had to make a snap decision. Absolutely no regrets--I'm sure Luxman and Yamaha have at least a subtly different sound, but there is absolutely nothing I hear from this Yamaha that I would improve.
I really like the look of these, budget will only stretch to the 1200 at best if I'm lucky. Can anyone advise though on the HT bypass? I have a Marantz SR6009 doing HT duties, this is connected to my humble Pioneer A30's HT Bypass input from the preouts for the front stereo pair - it works great but is fully manual so a pain if I forget to switch it to bypass, no remote option or trigger input on the Pioneer. The SR6009 does have a trigger output. Would these work together or does the remote have the option to switch it over so I could set it up in the programmable remote? I have B&W 683s2 speakers, would these be a good match? Not overly concerned about quality of HT/digital (but needs to be respectable of course) but music is mainly with my upgraded Rega Planar 3/Denon DL110, I also use AKG K712 headphones. If I'm forking out this much for an amp I don't really want to be looking at additional phono or headphones amps. I'm quite pleased with the sound I get already, but itching for an upgrade and wondering if this level of amp would outstrip my other kit, or perform well but with headroom to improve if anything else upgraded in the future. Any pointers for a good deal in the UK for the 1100 or 1200? Sorry for so many questions!
Considering your budget and your speakers, have you considered the A-S801 amp? I have one and I am very happy with it. Only $899 too. Yamaha A-S801 (Black) Stereo integrated amplifier with built-in DAC, optional Bluetooth® at Crutchfield
Looks nice, however it doesn't appear to have the HT bypass input, and if I have to be honest I'm rather taken with the look of the A-S1100 plus range. Do you think the speakers I have may not be up to scratch for this range of amps? BTW, I am changing the DL110 to a AT VM740ML, would be interested if anyone has views on how this plays with the phono stages in these amps.
I've quoted upthread the answer I've got from Yamaha customer support. The phono stage capacitance in these amps is 320 pF while recommended load for AT carts is 100-200 pF. This mismatch can result in emphasized high frequencies. However, all this is theory. I'd love to hear thoughts from someone who's actually heard the Yamaha phono/AT cart combo.
OK, no problem. That's a good question. What I can say is that I had your speakers for a few weeks before exchanging them for the 704 S2s. I spent about three hours listening to the 704 S2s in two different dealers, in one dealer I had a chance to compare the 683 and 704 S2. It wasn't even close. The 704 S2s are a huge step up in sound over the 683 S2s. And I happily run my 704 S2s with an A-S801, without any concern that I am missing out on a lot by not having a A-S1100 plus range amp. I am no expert in amp/speaker matching, just wanted to share my experience.
