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Yamaha AX-300u or Onkyo A-RV401 ?

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IPC

New Member
Hello all - my first post. My decision may well be made by the time I get a response, but what the heck, I'm curious as to what you have to say.

My current amp is going in for repair and I expect it will be a while so I'm looking into a replacement to get me through Christmas. There are two old ones around that have caught my eye. The Yamaha AX-300u and the Onkyo A-RV401. Both available for about the same price ($40 or so), and both will meet my needs for a few weeks.

There is a very helpful thread on the Yamaha here http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/yamaha-ax-300u-w-pics.296455/

Some digging on the Onkyo suggests it's worth a look too, but I suspect it lacks the high-end innards of the Yamaha.

Any thoughts?
 
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Not much to add about the Yamaha, except to say the innards are more minimalist than high end. A god way to go if you want to design something to sound good with a small budget. I checked out what info I could find on the Onkyo including having a look at the Service manual. Nice, 22 lbs with big discrete output devices and the remote capability could come in handy. Also has a direct switch to bypass unnecessary stuff in the signal path. I would go with whichever you can get for the lowest price and is in the best shape, tie goes to the Onkyo.
 
Thank you for the quick reply! The Onkyo is sitting on the shelf in a pawn shop and looks like it could tell a few stories. The Yamaha is with its original owner and has been well cared for by the sounds of things. I guess that's my answer, but I may duck in to see the Onkyo again today anyway. It no longer has the remote.

It's a shallow thing to say, but I am put off the Onkyo's resemblance to my high school days Sony, with that digital display telling you whether you're listening to a record or the radio.
 
The Yamaha has very low distortion and thus is a neutral amp. A very good one, and would be indistinguishable from something much, much more expensive in a blind test. It's good.
 
I bought an AX-300 last month on a whim. Just because I was curious and the price was very good. It's seen some use, one of the speaker connections is partially stripped and has some scratches etc. It is very minimalistic, only the very basis there: Bass, Treble, Balance and Volume pots, a tape switch and a rotary source selector. Only 4 inputs: Phono, CD, Tuner and Video/Aux. Only 30 watts and one set of speaker connections. But when I hooked it up to a little pair of Infinity Alpha 5's I got a very nice surprise. The amp sounds damn good. I took a look inside. Only top quality components, not a lot of them but they are good.

The amp doesn't do a lot, but what it does do it does very well.

Cheers,
James
 
Thanks James and ZOOM for cementing the decision. I am replacing (for a few weeks, but still!) my "high end minimalist" Arcam FMJ A32, so I think this will be a good fit. I can live without the extra power for a while.
 
Happy to be of service. Please let us know your impressions. When I get some time free from other projects I'll be cleaning up my 300 and recapping it. I'll post a thread when that happens.

Cheers,
James
 
Hello again all - update and a question.

I acquired the Yamaha yesterday. Very nice looking and apparently well cared for.

It is indeed a very natural sounding amp, with perhaps more emphasis on the highs than I generally prefer. I must say however that for violin and high brass sounds, this is actually very appealing. Nice punch to it, even if the bass is not as full as I am used to. Don't miss the extra power at all when playing CDs but I do when listening to vinyl. Certainly very musical and it will be a fine replacement for a little while, even if I don't figure out the one little irritant. I will eventually move it over to my smaller PC based system (some nice little bookshelf KEFs there that will suit it nicely I think).

Now - the irritant to ask about:

The volume knob is a little wobbly. It tracks properly, so it's not left-right wobbly so much as in-out wobbly. When you touch it, it kind of pushes "in" a bit and the falls back "out" when you take your finger off it. If I take a look inside will there be something easy to fix here? Does not impact the sound at all, so perhaps not worth worrying over.
 
2 possibilities. The knob itself is in 2 parts. An aluminum cap glued onto the plastic inner knob. The glue on these things often gives out and lets things slip around. They just need to be glued back together in that case. Carefully pull the knob straight out and you find the second possibility The pot is held in place on the inner faceplate with a nut. It's probably loose. You need an 11mm or 7/16" deep well socket to tighten it back up.

Cheers,
James
 
Glad it worked out well for you. As I mentioned in my original post, this amp seemed to be Yamaha's answer to the NAD 3020 and Rotel RA-820, both lower powered 20 wpc units with good headroom. Good sound but not a ton of continuous power or bass would be the order of the day. Add to that the Yamaha house sound which is not as bass oriented (boosted?) as many.

I don't remember the volume issue on our demo or the one I had a while ago. Is it the knob on the shaft or the shaft in the pot that seems loose?
 
Good choice on the Yamaha. I like Onkyos as well but an original owner vs. a pawn shop find is kind of a no brainer.

As said before, take the volume knob off and give the nut a twist. It doesn't have to be super tight, just snug.
 
Hello again all. Full disclosure: I wimped out on pulling off the knob, so I don't know what the problem is. I was pulling on it pretty hard, straight out as recommended, but it wasn't moving, so I gave up. Are we sure I can really pull harder without breaking anything?
 
It should come off without too much force unless someone glued it or something crazy.
If you're pulling straight on there shouldn't be any danger to the pot or mounting area. If you pull crooked you could bend the shaft but that would have to be some serious pulling.
 
I bought a AX 300u to use in a food store that I was managing in 1988. It powered four Boston Acoustics A-40 speakers twelve hours a day. When the store went out of business sixteen years later, it was still working perfectly. I also have an AX 400u which I use in our TV system which has never had a problem. These are good simple amps that do what they were designed to with no noise, audible distortion, or quirky behavior of any kind.
 
IPC said:
Hello again all. Full disclosure: I wimped out on pulling off the knob, so I don't know what the problem is. I was pulling on it pretty hard, straight out as recommended, but it wasn't moving, so I gave up. Are we sure I can really pull harder without breaking anything?
Click to expand...

There's nothing holding the knob in place except for friction and the stiction that comes from being there for a long time.

I get all 5 fingers/thumb spaced as evenly as possible around the knob with the finger tips spread slightly and pushed up against the faceplate. Then as I'm pulling out I squeeze the fingertips in and against the face to help pop/pry the knob loose. Normally works.

Cheers,
James
 
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