Yamaha AS501 - Excellent!

[G.smith310]

Finally managed to pick one of these up. All I can say is it's absolutely brilliant (except it doesn't fit in my cabinet).

It has really brought my Monitor Audio Silvers to life for listening to music.

In terms of energy, and enjoyment in the music it is matching my Naim 5i-2, Naim XS and Sony 730ES but the functionality is far better for my use as it has a remote, phono input and auto standby which is an underrated feature IMO considering all the icebergs that are melting

When focusing on balance and refinement and from memory, I'd say that it is matching the 5i-2, and missing out a tiny bit to the XS and Sony 730ES.

I highly recommend it if you want a great balance of value vs quality.

 

[Del monaco]

Finally managed to pick one of these up. All I can say is it's absolutely brilliant (except it doesn't fit in my cabinet).

It has really brought my Monitor Audio Silvers to life for listening to music.

In terms of energy, and enjoyment in the music it is matching my Naim 5i-2, Naim XS and Sony 730ES but the functionality is far better for my use as it has a remote, phono input and auto power-off which is an underrated feature IMO considering all the icebergs that are melting

When focusing on balance and refinement and from memory, I'd say that it is matching the 5i-2, and missing out a tiny bit to the XS and Sony 730ES.

I highly recommend it if you want a great balance of value vs quality.

Had one prior to my 803D. Great little amp.

 

[Ponty]

Enjoy. I’m a Yamaha convert. You’ll be moving the Naim gear on soon enough.

 

[davidsrsb]

I have an A-S701 for several years now.
I even use the tone controls when playing streaming lectures with bad sound balance
Optical input to the TV, SPDIF to a computer soundcard.
Only fault is that I should open it up and modify the phono input capacitance, which is too high

 

[AnilS]

I have the previous model (AS500) so the same size and problem.

I initially used banana plugs that don't allow to you to push it back, so moved to wire.

It's a big beast and sounds great, especially compared to a previous Marantz 7200.

 

[G.smith310]

I have the previous model (AS500) so the same size and problem.

I initially used banana plugs that don't allow to you to push it back, so moved to wire.

It's a big beast and sounds great, especially compared to a previous Marantz 7200.

Good idea, but I just spent £30 on getting my cables professionally terminated . Probably cheaper to take them off that buying a jigsaw!

@Ponty the Naim gear went a while ago as I couldnt justify having high end gear with suboptimal speaker placement and CCA / Rega P1 sources and had been looking for a Denon or Yamaha ever since.