Yamaha A-S3000 Integrated Amplifier Home Trial Notes

Two years warranty in the US, Ten (yes 10) in Australia, and so it damn-well should be, for AU$8999 RRP!

It is lead free solder, a huge amount of SMD and the entire unit is run under the control of a CPU. None of this bodes well for a two decade lifespan you suggest or hope for.

The AS-3000 has enough issues in terms of poor low impedance capability (due to not enough SOAR and over aggressive current limiting/current brick-walling) and a S/N that is barely above 1970s levels due to a significant PSU ripple finding its way into the front end, to be anything other than a retro-hipster, cum-baby-boomer nostalgia driven aspirational item in my book.

On my bench (not motivated by advertising or vested interests), it was good. I have 1990s amps that obliterated it at a quarter of the original RRP.

If anyone is actually interested in facts, not 'reviews' driven by people with cards in the game, I ran it alongside 6 amplifiers of a similar spec all over 15 years old and it didn't come close, but then again, I was selling gear when the Yamaha and Pioneer reps would roll in with the latest 'rave' review from our friends at Australian HiFi, usually accompanied by a stack of the latest month's magazine to 'give away' to out best customers. That magazine has always been a joke here.

In the time it would take to run reasonably accurate comparisons between seven amplifiers, one could earn enough to buy the A-S3000.
 
Lot of quality modern used stuff out there at that price. I wonder how much better it is than the CR 2040 I have.
Gear is something I would never buy new. Somebody has to though.

thought the same way for about 20 years. Then, I realized that I've likely been overlooking a LOT of basic improvements. Don't regret either amp purchase from Yamaha or the GoldenEar speakers, both brand new.
Also, in response to suggestions of bias due to brand loyalty, I bought the Yamaha(much lower on the overall chain than the AS-3000) only after listening to a dozen or so integrateds in the sub-$1500 range. I have NEVER had any real opinion at all, nor owned another piece of gear from Yamaha before that purchase. I find the amp to do AMAZING things for the price point, was later impressed when I went back to hear the AS-2100 after release, and neither impression was the result of preconceived expectations.
 
Regarding What Hi Fi?, they said the A-S500 was the best amplifier in it's price range in 2010. But they might be somewhat biased (as all reviewers do). I'll never be rich enough to spend 8k$ on an amplifier, anyway. But I trust Yamaha's ability to deliver great quality equipment. The thing is : market. If they start making big money again selling 2-way systems, the offer will improve, as for the quality. If consumers get tired of bluetooth stuff and self indulgent space taking 7.1 systems, there is hope for a new age of stereo greatness.
 
I think it might be a bit less biased to look at a review like this:

http://www.whathifi.com/yamaha/s3000/review

I've noticed people on AK get caught up too much in brand loyalty, so that almost anything from Brand 'X' is going to be "jaw-dropping". I like Yamaha, one of my fave tuners was a CT-7000 and I also liked the M-1000U I had. But it's good to keep things in perspective.

Whathifi is perhaps THE most biased erag ever created.
 
Whathifi is perhaps THE most biased erag ever created.

According to who?

Actually, most pro review media are biased toward whichever manufacturers pays them the most/runs more ads, or gives the reviewers the best deals on gear, and/or has the best industry connections.

For $7k, I'd be looking for a used Pass or Audio Research amp just to name two options.
 
According to who?

Actually, most pro review media are biased toward whichever manufacturers pays them the most/runs more ads, or gives the reviewers the best deals on gear, and/or has the best industry connections.

For $7k, I'd be looking for a used Pass or Audio Research amp just to name two options.

According to me. I have noticed the same brands always get slammed while others gowing reviews no matter what. ONe such prime example is how they glow about the Cambridge Audio Bluray having no faults then find some in the Matching Oppo. Oppo and Cambridge not only use the same chipsets and transport, but Cambridge actually sources said items from Oppo not the manufacturor in China. Yet somehow the Cambridge DAC was superior? Hmmmm.
 
For that kind of money... I'll guess I'll keep messing around with my old stuff, cause it's fun.

Wow! Same here. I hadnt bothered looking up this Yam amp. But what a gorgeous amp it is! Id normally go for the silver version, but the black, with black meters, is beautiful!

Too bad I cant afford one. And even if I could, Id more than likely buy a tube amp. If I win the lottery, Ill buy all three. :D
 
Audiophile 101

The listening experience is based on the frequencies that bounce off of your ear drums and the lower the distortion, the better those frequencies sound !!

Advertising gimmicks are not actual specifications...

Frequency Response and Total Harmonic Distortion is what audiophile sound is measured by !
 
Last update from me on the A-S3000

Just sold the Silver A-S3000. We had a baby and my listening time has suffered severely--down to 4 hours a week at very low volumes. Moving to more basic "fun" setup that doesn't compare in terms of the resolution of the A-S3000 but sounds good enough. Also, I don't have a deditated listening room and I know that one day that beautiful amplifier would have been too much to resist.

Picked up a great deal on a Peachtree Nova 220SE to use with my Bluesound Vault. Bought a Lounge Audio phono stage for the VPI Traveler. Good times...

I do have a Rogue Cronus Magnum on the way to try out. Also a Kef R400b to try with my LS50's.

11113583_10102510609620294_3597470719090720839_o.jpg
 
my technics su v9
made 10 years after the moon landing

its line level snr is the same as this yamaha
and its distortion spec. is way better than the yamaha
.003 at 8 ohm vs .07 for the yamaha
technics has less than 1/20 the thd
and 20 wpc more power at 8 0hm than the yamaha

dc. offset of my su v9
2.5mv right ch 2.2 left
never been adjusted by me

I wish my. su v9 had meters

I am sure somehow I am wrong. and the 7000 dollar yamaha really blows my su. v9 away :D
 
my technics su v9
made 10 years after the moon landing

its line level snr is the same as this yamaha
and its distortion spec. is way better than the yamaha
.003 at 8 ohm vs .07 for the yamaha
technics has less than 1/20 the thd
and 20 wpc more power at 8 0hm than the yamaha

dc. offset of my su v9
2.5mv right ch 2.2 left
never been adjusted by me

I wish my. su v9 had meters

I am sure somehow I am wrong. and the 7000 dollar yamaha really blows my su. v9 away :D

You do not need to have this $7000 Yammie blow your Technics away...look at other Yamaha's of the same era or older than your Technics, which can do that easily..

Also, I doubt that Yamaha is really worry abt that THD of.07. Yamaha made amplifiers with much lower distortion than that. As a matter of fact, I can not name another brand of an amplifier (and I am sure that there may be one out there) which attained lower THD than Yamaha.

All these aside, I would love to own one of these newer amplifier, however, If I had 7K to spend on Yamaha amps, this one would be right behind the MX-10000, 101M, B-1, MX-2000, ..and I would add the B-2 and the MX-1000 in between, but I already have those..LOL

One of the newer separates that I would buy tomorrow is CD-S2100 or even better CD-S3000, if I could justify spending that kind of cheese on a CD player.
 
Audiophile 101

The listening experience is based on the frequencies that bounce off of your ear drums and the lower the distortion, the better those frequencies sound !!

Advertising gimmicks are not actual specifications...

Frequency Response and Total Harmonic Distortion is what audiophile sound is measured by !

Audiophile 201

Everything we learned in Audiophile 101 is wrong, or simplistic.

Turns out sound quality and THD figures don't correlate. Many ultra low THD designs don't sound as good as those with higher numbers. And summing up the SQ of an integrated amplifier using the THD figure of its power amp section is meaningless.

Our ears can discern more than measuring techniques at present, and most measurements don't tell us much about sound quality.

:)
 
I'll never get the reasoning behind coming into a thread that is about someones impression of their new amp and talking about something that has nothing to do with the conversation.
It reminds me of a party I was at a while ago where someone found out I worked for Porsche and just had to come over and enthusiastically explain to me how his C5 Corvette was all sorts of this and that and blah blah...something about 1/4 mile times...better than Porsches...blah blah. I just looked at him, said "Sounds good, I'm glad you like your car" and made sure to ignore him for the rest of the time there.
So, I'm glad you like your old Technics guy and you can keep telling yourself all day long that it's better than whatever component you want just keep it to yourself unless it's adding to a thread in some meaningful way. Otherwise it's just dropping the SN ratio for people who might be considering buying one of these and who are trying to do research on others impressions.
 
Audiophile 201

Everything we learned in Audiophile 101 is wrong, or simplistic.

Turns out sound quality and THD figures don't correlate. Many ultra low THD designs don't sound as good as those with higher numbers. And summing up the SQ of an integrated amplifier using the THD figure of its power amp section is meaningless.

Our ears can discern more than measuring techniques at present, and most measurements don't tell us much about sound quality.

:)

Bravo, you have learned well. :)
 
Audiophile 201

Everything we learned in Audiophile 101 is wrong, or simplistic.

Turns out sound quality and THD figures don't correlate. Many ultra low THD designs don't sound as good as those with higher numbers. And summing up the SQ of an integrated amplifier using the THD figure of its power amp section is meaningless.

Our ears can discern more than measuring techniques at present, and most measurements don't tell us much about sound quality.

:)

Audiophile 301

Everything you learned in 201 is correct BUT, in 301 we learned that both, very low THD is possible along vary musical sound, sometimes refereed to as "Natural Sound" . ;)
 
So sad that the OP had to sell the A-S3000. Man get ya priorities right. Should have worked out a way to keep both your babies! Jokes aside, its a hell of an amplifier the A-S3000. And without question, in the future I am sure the A-S3000 will become a very sought after classic. To those that are lucky enough to have one, keep it, as you have a nice piece of audio history there I think.

In terms of all the comments about price and performance, versus vintage. Some folks are just dead set stuck in the 70's & 80's -- you think. But more than that, some people just can't be happy for someone else! Can't push their petty prejudices aside - not even for one post and say -- well done, hope you are really happy with your new purchase. Gotta give us the sermon,, Geez get over yourself. Saying I put it up against six other amplifiers and it was crap, meaningless. Quoting specs of a 1981 Technics amp with a completely different design to the A-S3000 Huh?

As Yamaha fans, we should be applauding Yamaha for actually getting back into dedicated two channel hifi after a long time away. I'm certainly looking forward to their next releases.

You know - one can appreciate a broad range of time in hifi -- I do ;)DSC_0373.JPG
 
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