Quality of new Yamaha gear

Dr. Ear

Super Member
I don't have good things to tell about the quality of the newer Yamaha amplifiers and CD players "Made in Malaysia":

1. A-S2000 idle current factory adjusted to 40mV (!) instead of 4-6mv
2. A-S2100 defective after 18 months (no power on, repaired under warranty)
3. CD-N500 no power on after 25 months (proposed repair costs higher then original price!)
4. CD-S3000 after 22 months of very little use has frequent intermittent dropouts from 0,5-2 seconds.

There is room for improvement.
 
Sadly it may be the new paradigm rearing it's head that manufacturing has come to be of late, that of throw away products becoming the norm and acceptance of it by consumers. See it a lot in such things as cameras, computers etc,etc which started out largely in products that inheritently have near constant improvement in performance, features and or styling. It doesn't seem like it should be happening in audio equipment in this price range though. . I could see where one of the cheaper Yamaha like the as 501 could have a shorter lifespan due to financial restraints and not be worth fixing, but the as2000/2100 is getting up there into serious cash and should be built to last for decades. Hopefully your case is the exception and not the tip of the iceberg.
 
I don't have good things to tell about the quality of the newer Yamaha amplifiers and CD players "Made in Malaysia":

1. A-S2000 idle current factory adjusted to 40mV (!) instead of 4-6mv
2. A-S2100 defective after 18 months (no power on, repaired under warranty)
3. CD-N500 no power on after 25 months (proposed repair costs higher then original price!)
4. CD-S3000 after 22 months of very little use has frequent intermittent dropouts from 0,5-2 seconds.

There is room for improvement.

Very sorry to hear that from Yamaha.
 
  • Hate to hear this. The A-S2100 was at the top of my list for an amp upgrade. I stayed away from NAD because of this issue; I have two CD players and an integrated amp of theirs that are paper weights (all purchased between '04 and '08).

I hope the 2000 and the 2100 give you many years of service from now on. They look to be fantastic amps.

Cheers,

Scott
 
Be careful of anecdotal evidence. Dr. Ear's experience may or may not be indicitave of new Yamaha products. Though this information would have me researching more reviews and looking for trends.
 
I think that I would consider buying a new Yamaha amp today if I was in the market but would definitely read up on reviews. Keeping in mind that reviews can be a little skewed though..
 
There is room for improvement.
That's certainly cause for concern and support for preserving the fine vintage gear that's already out there. At least if something goes wrong with it it's usually still repairable by a good hopefully local technician ...
 
40mV bias sounds right for any amp using bipolar output transistors set up as emitter followers, maybe even a little low.

I'm assuming you are measuring from the emitter of an NPN to the emitter of a PNP. Measuring from emitter to output rail should be about half that.
 
40mV bias sounds right for any amp using bipolar output transistors set up as emitter followers, maybe even a little low.

I'm assuming you are measuring from the emitter of an NPN to the emitter of a PNP. Measuring from emitter to output rail should be about half that.
I was measuring at the provided test points according to the SM.
 
Can't speak for their higher end stuff, and counter intuitively high end gear is often much less reliable than cheaper stuff from a given manufacturer, but I have had very good luck with recent Yamaha products. I have run several recent HT receivers and set up everyone I know who was looking with low to mid priced ones and none have given the slightest trouble.
 
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