Yamaha A-S501 or A-S801

8 ohm

 

I always leave the impedance switch to the 8 Ohm setting. If everything sounds fine, leave it there. The 4 Ohm setting limits current, to protect the amp section. It does nothing to improve the sound.

 

This review addresses that and has good info on other stuff too:

 

That was an entertaining review. Thanks!

 

My A-S801 had a very thick “electronics” type smell when I opened it. I don’t know how else to describe it. Did anyone else experience this? It seems to work fine, but this thing stinks. Literally.

 

weird. where did you buy it from? I guess it depends on how long and where it was stored. I got mine from Crutchfield, no issues with smell.

 

I ordered it from Amazon. It was sold by Amazon.com Services LLC. It seems to work totally fine. Some of the top pieces of styrofoam packing were a bit broken when I opened the box. I figured they must have busted when the device was placed into the box. There was no evidence that it was a return or refurb.

 

I have my A-S801 on the bottom rack of my Pangea Vulcan rack with the full 10” extended legs. There’s probably about 4” of clearance above the amplifier in the rack. Part of the front of the amplifier sticks out a little from the front of the rack, so there’s open air above that part. One of the sides faces open air. The other side has about 4” of clearance.

Is that enough breathing space for the amplifier? It’s not in an enclosed space per se; it’s the bottom of an open-air rack.

 

You got lucky. My first Yamaha receiver wouldn’t power on. Fortunately it shipped to the store so I didn’t need to pay shipping charges back, but I still had to impatiently wait another week for the replacement.

 

Mine didn’t power on the first time I tried turning it on. But I think the power cord maybe wasn’t pushed in all the way in back or into the surge protector. Once I pushed both connections in some more it turned on.

 

Mine went immediately into safety mode (or whatever it’s called. The power light blinked what looked like a code. The only thing we could do was just return it to the distributor.

 

It goes away after a while.

 

I've wondered if that's where the term "burning in" comes from. I have got that smell in varying degrees from a number of different CD/SACD players in their first few weeks of use.

 

Thank god. Because that smell was nasty.

This amp sounds great so far. Wow. Now I need better speakers! And a better turntable. And a better cartridge. Maybe some better cables.

 

Out of curiosity, if I was to buy a Yamaha tuner, would its feet create enough breathing room to stack it directly on top of the amplifier? I’d put it underneath instead but the dimensions are smaller from front to back. It’s really the only place I could place one because every other place on my stand is occupied.

 

I wouldn't do it, but it might not cause any problems. Stacking components like that is only good in photos. In real life, I never like doing it. But, again, probably not much harm in trying it yourself as long as you keep an eye on heat dissipation.

 

Believe me, I’m reluctant to do it which is why I haven’t bought on yet. I suppose that I could come up with some kind of support block for the back and place the tuner underneath.

 

Yes, that's what I've done with my Yamaha 501. I would never place anything on top of an amplifier.

 

Technically I already have my 8-Track Player on top of my receiver, but it’s small enough that it only covers about half the vents (on the right side of the amp). It’s been there for years without a problem, and it’s probably left on most of the time until it goes into standby after 8 hrs of non use.

 

New review of the A-S501.

 

Any of you A-S701 or A-S801 owners plugging your amp into a PS Audio Power Plant? If so, can you please report which Power Plant you are using and the benefits you have found when using them together?

Thanks.

 

Me neither. The only thing I have on top of it, where the heat sinks are, is a big fan sucking out the hot air to keep it cool.

 

I do the same with my Pioneer SC LX-76 A/V receiver. A forum member from here suggested the use of a certain model of Chinese fans that can be used to cool down a component (they're used by some people to coold down their Xbox 1's or internet routers) or to suck hot air from it, the fan just have to be flipped down to do one thing or the other. It turned out that these fans are available from Amazon Spain so I got two of them, they're inexpensive, quiet and they work like a charm.
Here's the link in Spanish to these fans: https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B06XQWMFDQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Yup, that one, except mine are 220V Hitachis, and are plugged into the rear of the amp. Not silent, but my music drowns them completely.

 

I’ve been using the A-S501, Dentons, and a Peachtree DAC-iT with my Mac Mini music server for the last 6 months or so. No complaints at all, although I’m thinking about adding a subwoofer to the setup for some extra bottom end.