The new amp buying blues, peachtree/rogue/outlaw/Yamaha

My vintage ca-810 yamaha has seen its better days and is about to need a bit of work to keep it going and i'm afraid it will soon become a moneypit. its got great power and features but its old and everything will soon need to start being maintained or replaced.

A lot of good sales are going on right now for peachtree and outlaw, and yamaha has a new networked amp that looks like its full of features RN-803

Obviously none of these will be completely perfect but they offer what i need.
phono stage (ultimately i can upgrade to external)
Sub capabilities
loop out for headphone amp

and in the case of all but the rogue, a dac.

the dilema is i cant demo any of these in person and peachtree and outlaw have sales ending today or tomorrow. I've gone through threads till my eyes bleed and still cant reach a quality consensus decision.

Pro's for the rogue and peachtree are they are made in north america.
pro for yamaha is a name to backup the amp for problems.

Does anyone have experience with some or all of these?

 

For the price, the Outlaw is the way to go. If you want to spend some more cash, look into a Parasound HINT

 

Don't forget to look at Marantz. I like Yamaha as well ( I own their excellent RX-V990 and have had it for over 20 years) but I like Marantz better. The other two brands don't interest me and I know little about them. I like buying from company's with long track records and great warranties.

 

for the price of the marantz line that gives me the sub option it just seems too pricey for what it is.

 

I may have missed it, but are you looking at the Rogue Sphinx?

As already mentioned above, the Parasound HINT6 is fantastic option, but at a higher price point.

 

yes sorry the sphinx, it and the peachtree nova 150 would be the absolute top end of my budget for an office system.

 

FYI, you can get a new earlier generation HINT here for just a hair more than the Peachtree.

 

My suggestion would be to continue to take your time in deciding what you want... While one sale may be ending soon, others will begin, especially this time of year.

 

The Yamaha rn803 is refurb online right now for 500, for that I could get new speakers too.
The 803 looks nice the guts appear to be the same as the 801

 

Be forewarned that nothing will sound quite like your Yamaha. Their house sound is unique. I'd go with the A-S801 and add external networking capability. The only amp that's produced better bass than my Yamaha A-S500 or 1100 is the Rogue ST-100 with my Yamaha serving as the preamp.

I've owned the Sphinx and had a lengthy audition with the Peachtree. Coming from your CA-810, they would be lateral moves at best.

 

Thanks that helps a lot. The ca810 has been great, neutral feature packed for the era but I fear it needs a lot of caps replaced the outputs going wonky. After a while the repairs will add up

 

For two channel listening, you do not need a sub out. depending on your sub, you can use the speaker level out from your speaker's to the sub. Or, you can take the preamp output from any integrated amp to the sub (which is what I do with my Peachtree iNova).

Don't use having a sub output as any kind of criteria for making a purchasing decision on a two channel amp.

Unless you are a tube guy and you have highly efficient speakers, you will not benefit with going with a tube amplifier. Yet you will have all of the aggravation, expense and overhead that you will not have with a quality SS amp.

I own three Rogue tube amps, including their M-150 monoblock's and I have several Peachtree products and feel that they are a fine company and have outstanding service.

The Peachtree Nova 150 will be fine for your needs. It is a better unit than the Yamaha or the Outlaw (IMO).

 

I did some more research into the difference between the R-N803 and AS-801 as they look really similar and found that the R-N803 takes the analog converts to digital to apply room correction and bass management and converts back to analog.
Yamaha told a poster on another forum that 90% of the parts are the same but there seems to be more capacitor boards inside the 801, think i may be scratching the R-N803 off the list since room management also disables the loudness knob which is a key feature for yamaha's.

 

Still loving my Nova150! If you don't need the loop out, the Decco125 offers pretty much everything you need for $999. 25Watts is not enough to even worry about.

As to the Yamaha name, both Peachtree and Rogue offer a level of Customer Service you will never get with a conglomerate. I can call either of them and get the owner on the phone in a minute most of the time.

 

thanks. I really want to keep a tape loop for my bottlehead headphone amp to get some tubey goodness when i want.

peachtree has 200 off the nova150 in black right now and i can get it via amazon where i have giftcards....but the as801 is still a lot cheaper.

 

A loop is still the killer feature that most integrated are missing these days! I use mine quite a bit as well.

 

The Peachtree Nova 150 would be IS the absolute top end for an office system (in this price range).

It also has the look of a top end office system.

It is not comparable to the other unit that you have mentioned.

 

Up until recently, Peachtree would run sales on refurb gear. I’m actually kinda glad that they stopped as it would destroy their resale value.

 

When I bought my Peachtree Nova back in 2011, I bought it as a refurbished model for $900, instead of $1,300 new.

But that was just its refurbished price and was not on sale.

 

they have an ebay outlet store
currently have a 150 for 200 less than their sale , and they also have the nova 220

 

Order the Sphinx, Peachtree and A-S801. Compare them back to back. The 801 will produce the best bass, and won't be surpassed in the other areas either. If you discover something to the contrary, you can come here and shame me and I'll agree to never post in another integrated thread.

 

Can't we just shame you now and get it over with!

I've tried the Sphinx, but found it to be very dark and lifeless, but then I only had it a day and I am pretty sure that had I swapped the JJ's out for a better tube it would have been much better. I would like to try one of the Yamaha's some day, Love the old school look, definitely my favorite of the mass market brands. I'd have to hear it before I would trade the Nova though. I'm wondering if you've heard the new Peachtree stuff, of what your opinion is based on. The new Peachtree V2 sounds very different than the previous generations.

But for the OP, the Yammie does tick all the boxes for the least amount of cash.

 

Yamaha A-S801 factory refurb, $650. That's a lot of integrated amp for not so much. I owned an A-S801 for a year - loved it.

 

It was the Nova 300 I heard not long ago. Sounded very similar to a Pioneer Elite AVR - nothing special. I didn't compare it back to back with the Yamaha, but I've done so with many other integrateds. The Yammy even beat out the Parasound Hint in bass depth by a small margin. It took the Sphinx to school.

-and that was only the A-S500.

 

i keep circling back to buying another yamaha (or even just seeing how bad a repair on my ca-810 would be)
it has what i need feature wise with money leftover to buy a better phono pre and even speakers (currently have q100 kef)
could even save more and buy the as-701 and just get an external dac, though realistically in an office space i probably dont even need that much power.