Yamaha A-S3000 arrived...

Scoob

Unfortunately not yet on Yamaha’s US website but something to look forward to. Even then the A-S3000 is a lovely and powerful one piece solution.

 

Might be worth waiting for as, with a proposed price tag more than the A S3000 (just for the power amp), they must think it's superior (even if it is less powerful)!
Yamaha introduces flagship 5000 series hi-fi components

 

Heck yes...thanks for posting.........That may be the ticket...I'll start saving

 

Is there any kind of dealer network for these Yamaha's? From what I can see it seems to be limited to internet sales.

 

These 5000 series components are coming to the US as I understand. The turntable is also a beauty!

 

The preamp does not come with an onboard DAC though ...

 

But it does have a balanced mm/mc phono stage!

At this level I think it is expected you have a separate dac as that technology changes much faster than amplification!

 

At this Price level, I really do not want built in anything except maybe a phono preamp. Dac technology changes with the wind and best, imo, to keep outside the pre. It's like A/V receivers get outdated quite quick for the money you pay on a high end one. Dolby, HDMI, 4k,8k, etc...every year something gets upgraded.

I cannot wait to read reviews of the the 5000 series amp.

 

Not a review, however the Yamaha 5000 series did win the Best Product Debut at the 2018 Melbourne HiFi show so one would hope that it's an impressive combination?

2018 Melbourne International Hi-Fi Show StereoNET Awards

 

I thought I would bump this thread with a post update on my integrated. The Yamaha continues to astound me with its high quality and magnificent sound quality. The amp is dead quiet and has been trouble free so far. It can play as loud as you can stand to hear and creates great fidelity at very low volumes. The phono stage has been excellent used with my Denon 100 year anniversary TT and cartridge.

 

I have a silver AS-2000 purchased used, marked as refurbished so managed to buy at just under 4 digits - the most I have ever spent for a single piece of audio. Looks great and has performed flawlessly - low noise floor, deep clean bass, luscious mids, easy on ears treble. I have been especially blown away by the MC phono stage. Admittedly it might be that prior to coming across an SL-1200 ii with Ortofon Vivo MC cart I had listened to modest MM carts for years. But the combo with the AS-2000 has been awesome. I run it through Polk Monitor 10 - not super high end speakers relatively speaking but the Yamaha feeds them well and they sound great. Very thankful that Yamaha is making these and doing so with quality, integrity and relative affordability.

 

Do you ever get the sense it might sound a bit 'polite'? That's the only criticism that could be said to recur in reviews of the 3000. May just be down to system matching.

I'm keen to hear one but they are thin on the ground near me.

 

No -crank up Mountain thru them.

 

I have owned the entry level A-S1100. A fabulous and effortlessly musical amp, but yes its one vice could be that it is a bit polite, a hint of slowness. Lusher than life, so to speak. Almost anti-Naim, to put it another way. If you consider this a small vice or a giant virtue is up to you of course.

And I have yet to hear the perfect amp... I'll keep on hoping!

 

I would agree the A-S1100 is "lush" but it seems faster than many other amps I've had in my system. It's certainly not a veiled type of polite.

 

I don't consider my A-S1100 'polite' either. However, I could see with certain ancillary equpiment one could acheive a fairly polite sound.

 

My as1100 certainly began its life as polite. Quite bright and bass lite. But after a couple hundred hours it really opened up. Big. Lush. Sexy. I like it.

 

I like it too, but I do stand by what I hear, in many different partnerings of equipment (I like to swap things out all the time). That, for all its amazing qualities, the A-S1100 seems a little slower in terms of transient attack than other amps, which helps to give it a big, lush sound. I am talking about being not very mid-forward on things like percussion hits.

But note that I am in Europe and the A-S series has been tuned with slightly different components here. At least there is a YT video around where the Japanese engineer and a German audio expert are working this out together. So we may be talking about slightly different amps.

 

Definitely *not* after a polite sound! Am after a sound which I can fit and forget for a while, as I simplify things a bit.

 

I thought the AS-2000 was polite, but in a good way. I would call it refined and smooth more than anything, which probably requires careful system matching. I thought it was great with LS50's which can be a hair hard/bright, in my opinion.

 

Thanks James.

What would suit me now, is something like the A-S3000 and a pair of monitors like the Aurum Cantus V30M. These, for the space I have and the inputs I need. Just don't want too much 'sonic gentrification', if you know what I mean. Neither of these items are easy to audition where I am (the Aurum Cantus not at all, though I am a fan of ribbon drivers), as I'm mostly faced with Linn, Naim or Rega. Refinement I can take. Politesse, not so much.

 

Sugden?

 

Perhaps the IA4, as it has a tape loop, but was looking for a bit more power than that quoted. It's about the same price but would it be better or just different? Anyway, I've derailed this thread enough! I'll do some more experimenting and see (hear) what's what.

I speak as someone who owns a vintage A21 amp and R21 tuner.

 

Could very well be. I consider transient attacks one of the strengths of the North American version. It's as fast as the Class D amps I've had in house, which is about the only consistent strength I've noted with that topology. However, I've also noticed the Yamaha's speed/attack does seem slower when the meters are engaged. I suspect there may be some psychoacoustic effect resulting from the meter swings.

 

To amplify upon my Mountain quip above( pun intended)-I am not sure where the polite adjective is coming from-I play any number of rip-snorters through this amp and my LaScala speakers-and it is rip-snorting. Stuff like Early Jethro Tull, Cream, Canned Heat , Grateful Dead, Mahavishnu Orchestra, etc. What is missing is additional distortion that you will get from vintage gear but you get the juice in spades and you can keep cranking it up effortlessly until you fear for your hearing.