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Yamaha A 500 Integrated Amp and Speaker Compatibility

I'll check Ebay to see what is out there from that series. I won't be losing the sound that's for sure. How about a AX500u from 1990? Noted someone paired 4 ohm Canton CT 1000's with that amp and he said it has worked fine for years. That amp has more power than my A 500. 85 wpc. Specs are pretty close to identical otherwise.
 
If you wish to use those speakers and like this era Yamaha, why not try adding a Yamaha power amp?

I believe your integrated has main in/pre out, so you could use it as a preamp.
 
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Not sure about the new gear's sound or build quality. Read the new integrated amps use some plastic parts. Also, specs on the AS series are not as good as the A series from the 1980's. I would rather not spend a lot of money on a power amp right now either.
 
On Ebay, I just found an A 700 from the same series and year as my A 500. Downloaded the manual for it and it says it will run 4 ohm speakers OK. That's good enough for me. Also it seems to be able to run in pure Class A power since it seems to have a switch allowing it to be changed from Class AB to Class A. Just ordered it. Problem resolved.
 
Billiam1962 said:
On Ebay, I just found an A 700 from the same series and year as my A 500. Downloaded the manual for it and it says it will run 4 ohm speakers OK. That's good enough for me. Also it seems to be able to run in pure Class A power since it seems to have a switch allowing it to be changed from Class AB to Class A. Just ordered it. Problem resolved.
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Class A capablity in first 5 watts. Make sure not to stack anything on it...they run hot, especially if using Class A function. Good sounding amp.

You might want to open it up and check to see if glue on big caps on the amp board is on legs of nearby components. The glue used is corrosive to metal.
 
I have several pairs of Jamo E-800s. They are an excellent speaker and will present no difficulty for your Yamaha A-500.

This is the impedance sweep of the E-800:
upload_2020-2-29_7-20-48.jpeg
 
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The Yamaha tech was just covering their butts in case you hooked up 2 sets of 4 ohm speakers, which would present a 2 ohm load. Or a 4 ohm and an 8 ohm, then it would be a 3 ohm load. 1 set of 4 ohm speakers should be fine on any amp capable of driving 2 sets of 8 ohm speakers. 2 sets of 8 ohm speakers = 4 ohms.
 
A-500.png

Either the "If only one pair..." or "If two pairs..." sentence from the manual (above) is wrong, but which? The consensus here seems to be that the "If two pairs" sentence is the correct one but I don't think there is any way to verify that 100%.

The corresponding section of the manual for the A-520 makes the situation clearer for that unit:

A-520.png
 
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audiotemp said:
View attachment 1779378

Either the "If only one pair..." or "If two pairs..." sentence from the manual (above) is wrong, but which? The consensus here seems to be that the "If two pairs" sentence is the correct one but I don't think there is any way to verify that 100%.

The corresponding section of the manual for the A-520 makes the situation clearer for that unit:

View attachment 1779366
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Not if the two speaker outputs are wired in series and not parallel. An easy check however. Just hook up one set of speakers and then hit both the A and B buttons at the same time. If there is still sound they are wired in parallel. No sound they are wired in series...
 
coonmanx said:
Not if the two speaker outputs are wired in series and not parallel. An easy check however. Just hook up one set of speakers and then hit both the A and B buttons at the same time. If there is still sound they are wired in parallel. No sound they are wired in series...
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I have NEVER encountered that across hundreds of pieces of audio gear over the years. Plus they gave a specification for 4 ohm power output in the manual. If it couldn't drive a 4 ohm load, why would they give that spec?
 
audiotemp said:
The corresponding section of the manual for the A-520 makes the situation clearer for that unit
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Back in 1986, when the A-520 was new, and I was at university, the guy down the hall had one and a Sony D-50 portable CD player. We'd hook up his amp with his and my speakers and blast the courtyard parties. In about an hour, the A-520 would shutdown, every-time. After the first term break, I took down my Sansui AU-D5 and it never shutdown, despite having supposedly less power, but we played it louder and longer.

At normal listening levels, not frat party drinking sessions, the A-500 will be fine, even with less than 4 ohm main speakers.
 
I
Billiam1962 said:
Thanks Spark. Will take a look inside. Will have it next weekend.
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I might also suggest pulling the outputs, cleaning off the dried-up thermal compound from all surfaces, and apply new. On the one I recently worked on, it was as dried out and hard-baked as any amp I've seen. Also, check the bias (idle voltage)...supposed to be 15-16mV. On this one, it was 23 on one channel and 25 on the other.

No reason to run them any hotter than necesary, especially if you want to run it in Class A (which I think does sound subtly more detailed....but of course it could just be placebo effect!).

Those outputs are MT-200 packages, and space is tight, so pulling them and re-installing is a bit of a pain...you will need a Phillips bit and offset driver or ratchet. They use mica insulators, and my regular supplier did not have that size, so I was careful with removal and was able to re-use them.

The A700 and especially the A1000 are good sounding amps, with better than average phono sections. Good luck with yours.
 
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dB happy said:
I have NEVER encountered that across hundreds of pieces of audio gear over the years. Plus they gave a specification for 4 ohm power output in the manual. If it couldn't drive a 4 ohm load, why would they give that spec?
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I actually have two separate amps that are wired that way. Both are 80's units, one Kenwood and one Technics. They did it because that way they could still say that you could hook up two sets of 8 ohm speakers even though the amp could only do 8 ohm and not 4 ohm loads.....
 
spark1 said:
I


I might also suggest pulling the outputs, cleaning off the dried-up thermal compound from all surfaces, and apply new. On the one I recently worked on, it was as dried out and hard-baked as any amp I've seen. Also, check the bias (idle voltage)...supposed to be 15-16mV. On this one, it was 23 on one channel and 25 on the other.

No reason to run them any hotter than necesary, especially if you want to run it in Class A (which I think does sound subtly more detailed....but of course it could just be placebo effect!).

Those outputs are MT-200 packages, and space is tight, so pulling them and re-installing is a bit of a pain...you will need a Phillips bit and offset driver or ratchet. They use mica insulators, and my regular supplier did not have that size, so I was careful with removal and was able to re-use them.

The A700 and especially the A1000 are good sounding amps, with better than average phono sections. Good luck with yours.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Spark. I don't have the tools or experience to do the work suggested. But I may be able to find a tech in my local area that services electronics that can do this work. Will check into it.
 
I did note when running the E 800's Bi wired into the A 500 that the amp did get a bit warm. Not hot or even close but just a little warm. Swapped out the E 800's for the OM 10's, also Bi Wired and the amp was not as warm. For now I plan to keep the OM 10's on it and when the A 700 gets here I will play it safe and hook up the E 800's to it. Bi Wiring is the way to go with these speakers. The sound is amazing and very life like with the Yamaha amp. Using the Castle Conway 3 towers on the Tube Cube 7 for now. Nice paring when used with the 4 ohm setting on the Tube Cube. 8 ohm connection doesn't provide enough audio level for serious listening. At some point I may try a more powerful tube amp to match with the Castles. But for now the current set up will have to suffice. Great speakers on their own right. Very detailed.
 
Billiam1962 said:
I did note when running the E 800's Bi wired into the A 500 that the amp did get a bit warm. Not hot or even close but just a little warm. Swapped out the E 800's for the OM 10's, also Bi Wired and the amp was not as warm. For now I plan to keep the OM 10's on it and when the A 700 gets here I will play it safe and hook up the E 800's to it. Bi Wiring is the way to go with these speakers. The sound is amazing and very life like with the Yamaha amp. Using the Castle Conway 3 towers on the Tube Cube 7 for now. Nice paring when used with the 4 ohm setting on the Tube Cube. 8 ohm connection doesn't provide enough audio level for serious listening. At some point I may try a more powerful tube amp to match with the Castles. But for now the current set up will have to suffice. Great speakers on their own right. Very detailed.
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No surprise on heat output. The Jamo's need 4x as much power as the Mirage speakers to achieve equivalent loudness...and twice the current. More power/current = more heat.
 
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I ran my A-S301 with current hungry Elac UB5s for a couple of years before changing speakers. The amp doesn't do them justice but it runs just fine. Not a reflection on the amp quality though as the Elacs need a higher end amp.
 
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