Yamaha's new crop of integrated amps

Anybody venture to weigh in on the new Parasound Halo Integrated? Feature-loaded, but what about the sound quality? Looking to hear from anyone with experience with Parasound. Thanks...
Jeff
 
Anybody venture to weigh in on the new Parasound Halo Integrated? Feature-loaded, but what about the sound quality? Looking to hear from anyone with experience with Parasound. Thanks...
Jeff
you might consider making that a separate thread, as I figure your feedback in a thread about Yamaha integrateds is going to be sparse.
 
The Yamaha A-S500 arrived yesterday and I'm really impressed. The detail is very, very good, as is the build quality. It doesn't quite have the low end swat of the 9090, but adding a sub is easy. Overall, I'm very pleased with the sound.

Upgrading the KG4's with some goodies due from Crites this week, and am confident that this will yield some noticeable improvement.

After that, it's a new Yamaha CD player and speaker stands.

This hobby is addictive.....
run it in for about 4 weeks and come back and tell me about low-end.......:D
 
It's getting some hours today, and I'm really enjoying it. The Crites upgrades will get installed in the KG4's this week.

I'm absolutely confident this Yamaha amp will do just fine! Adding the matching tuner and CD player will help address my OCD......I think!
 
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OK - I'm a huge fan of the Yamaha A-S500. It's been playing for a week now, and I'm impressed with the overall quality and sound. The bass is solid, the mids project well, and there's so much detail.

I updated the KG4's yesterday. They really came alive with the Crites crossovers and diaphragms. I thought they sounded good, now I think they sound great.

The T-S500 tuner arrived today, it's connected and seems like a solid performer. More time is needed to check it out thoroughly. Not really sure how much it will be used.
 
My A-S801 is due to be delivered today and I'm wondering if anyone has connected a sub to this unit and if it has the capability to adjust the sub level from the amp bass control. Also would you recommend using the rca red and white out from the cd player, or the coaxial digital out. The cd player is a vintage NAD 515 5 disc changer
 
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if the 801 is similar to my older 500, the sub out has no adjustment for level. As for the CD, I use my players coax to a pretty decent older DAC, but connect the RCAs for SACD use(yours won't have that playback option). Thus, I have no true comparison of the sound directly from the coax.
 
I've had the AS701 for 3 months. Love it! Is paired to the Pioneer Andrew Jones floor standers. Sold off my sub after a month since I prefer the accurate bass the amp puts out. Granted, it is through a combination of tweaking the bass and loudness control on the 701 but it hit a sweet spot for my listening levels.

So its a simple set up in the basement for 2.0 listening for the TV, the Apple TV feeding the optical in and my music is through any laptop, using an AudioQuest Dragonfly DAC output into the RCA input.
 
I've had the AS701 for 3 months. Love it! Is paired to the Pioneer Andrew Jones floor standers. Sold off my sub after a month since I prefer the accurate bass the amp puts out. Granted, it is through a combination of tweaking the bass and loudness control on the 701 but it hit a sweet spot for my listening levels.

So its a simple set up in the basement for 2.0 listening for the TV, the Apple TV feeding the optical in and my music is through any laptop, using an AudioQuest Dragonfly DAC output into the RCA input.

Is the Loudness control easy to use and is it effective ?
 
Is the Loudness control easy to use and is it effective ?

Using it excessively seems to reduce the mid range more than I would like. I have the loudness around 9.5 o clock, and the bass at 2 o clock for my personal preference. This appears a sweet spot, given my amp does double duty of playing all my music, and the 2.0 sound from the TV and Apple TV. Truly enjoy the sound stage that the amp and speakers put out, given my speakers are about 12 feet apart.

Infact, got rid of my 5.1 set up and simplified into a 2.0 after getting this amp. Got a sweet deal for $350 in the Amazon warehouse section for what turned out to be a returned, unopened 701 :)
 
Wondering if a long (25ft.) usb cord from my pc to the amp would diminish the sound quality when playing flacs? I've been moving my laptop back and forth, but it's a pain so I'd like to try another solution.
 
Looking at the 301 or 501. I checked out service schematics and both have exact same preamp. Then only difference is power amp section with smaller transistors and main caps. So, in theory there should not be much difference between them. Anyone compare both?

Sent from my K013 using Tapatalk
 
Looking at the 301 or 501. I checked out service schematics and both have exact same preamp. Then only difference is power amp section with smaller transistors and main caps. So, in theory there should not be much difference between them. Anyone compare both?

Sent from my K013 using Tapatalk

can you go to the 701? it sounded noticeably better than the 501.
 
Anyone have/heard the A-S3000? Seems hard to justify such an expensive amp(6k+!) that is made in Malaysia when I can get Luxman, Accuphase, Marantz Reference or top Denon (PMA-2020AE) at that price were I willing to spring for slightly lesser rated power.

Just curious that Yamaha released something like that.
 
Anyone have/heard the A-S3000? Seems hard to justify such an expensive amp(6k+!) that is made in Malaysia when I can get Luxman, Accuphase, Marantz Reference or top Denon (PMA-2020AE) at that price were I willing to spring for slightly lesser rated power.

Just curious that Yamaha released something like that.

given the robust build and parts quality on the lower end models, I can imagine it might justify the price. Nothing on your list overwhelms me in terms of sound, that I've heard(not that any on the list are terrible, but). As for the 'made in Malaysia' part, why should it matter WHERE it is built?
 
given the robust build and parts quality on the lower end models, I can imagine it might justify the price. Nothing on your list overwhelms me in terms of sound, that I've heard(not that any on the list are terrible, but). As for the 'made in Malaysia' part, why should it matter WHERE it is built?

I would readily place the Accuphase E260 I've heard above the Yamaha AS-2000. Same speakers, same setup, 2 different years but I took notes (Yamaha always takes an entire conference room for their exhibit at the local audio show to showcase their Soavo series - funnily enough the AS amps were on silent display and Accuphase used instead in the later year). The 3000 is a whole different beast I'd imagine but it is simply not in Yamaha's tradition to consistently build such high-end equipment. Not proven, so to speak. I've always regarded the AS series as a gimmick to piggyback on the resurgence of stereo and collecting of vintage receivers. Nothing I've heard from them convinces me otherwise.

Are you seriously implying Yamaha is on the same tier as Accuphase and Luxman?

As for the Made in Malaysia bit, I live about 20 minutes away from the country and my family has roots there. Trust me. A Japanese mass-market firm has no way in hell to manufacture audio equipment at the same precision and meticulousness in Malaysia as a low-volume specialist manufacturer in Japan. The labour is of a different quality. Ideally origin wouldn't matter, but if you have ever seen the video of Accuphase manufacturing... well its not like your mass-market factory. The workers in Japan are well-treated, highly-skilled and have a stake in the company. They elevate building an amplifier into a rarefied art like watchmaking. Its why IMO the current high-end Sony TA-A1ES won't quite hit the heights kf the original ES.
 
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