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Poll: Best Looking Stereo Integrated Amp

Which of the following amps will look best with the rest of my system?

  • Devialet Expert 400 (current amp)

    Votes: 15 14.7%
  • Luxman L509X

    Votes: 32 31.4%
  • McIntosh MA8900

    Votes: 9 8.8%
  • Technics SU R1000

    Votes: 24 23.5%
  • Yamaha AS 3200

    Votes: 22 21.6%

  • Total voters
    102
  • Poll closed .

mhardy6647

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Intellectual property theft of trademark and/or trade dress by something sold on Ali Express?

Shocking!

tenor.gif
 

MDAguy

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watchnerd

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Exactly! ... cracks me up that we're even having this conversation... that place is pirate central.

Well I don't have to decide if I'm going to buy anything new until the new speakers arrive and I see if they clash with the amp.

On the other hand, I'm very pleased with the color of the cartridge and headshell in terms of matching the TT and the Devialet. The dark chrome of the headshell matches the amp and the gold screws and trim match the brass weights on the turntable.

IMG_0110.jpg
 

dualazmak

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Hello watchnerd and friends,

I decided to use YAMAHA A-S3000, SONY TA-A1ES together with ACCUPHSE E-460 in my multichannel multi-amplifier project;
WS001338.JPG


WS001340.JPG


For details, please visit my thread, especially post #307 and thereafter in page 16, and finally the post #311 containing the above two photos.
 
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watchnerd

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dualazmak

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Doodski

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After watching this, I find it interesting that he says a Yamaha engineer says that they intentionally tailored the sound a particular way....
There's a YouTube video of Yamaha's tuner and I think a engineer in Europe tuning one of the integrated amps. Apparently they change capacitors and other stuff to give it a sound signature.
 

Doodski

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I'm also really curious to know what 'European' tastes are that means an amp should sound different for that market.
Somebody did some sort of research decades ago and they claimed to have found Asians to hear more mids, Euros and descendants hear more highs and so it went; I have no idea who they found to be bass heads. It was all the rage in the 1980's and 1990's to claim this. I suspect Yamaha is riding that wave. I was kinda let down when I saw this video because it's snake oil'ishy. :D
 
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watchnerd

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Somebody did some sort of research decades ago and they claimed to have found Asians to hear more mids, Euros and descendants hear more highs and so it went; I have no idea who they found to be bass heads. It was all the rage in the 1980's and 1990's to claim this. I suspect Yamaha is riding that wave. I was kinda let down when I saw this video because it's snake oil'ishy. :D

But even if there is some truth to genetics impacting how we hear (given that pinnae shape can also impact, it's plausible), what would that mean for amp design?

Do the Euros hearing more highs mean you make the amp have more highs to feed that, or do you tame the highs?

Yamaha corp must stand behind the 'amp tuning' idea, though, given the video.
 

Doodski

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But even if there is some truth to genetics impacting how we hear (given that pinnae shape can also impact, it's plausible), what would that mean for amp design?

Do the Euros hearing more highs mean you make the amp have more highs to feed that, or do you tame the highs?

Yamaha corp must stand behind the 'amp tuning' idea, though, given the video.
According to the "urban rumours" (I've never seen the proof of the research.) going around Euro peeps prefer more high end and Asian more mids. So I am guessing they tune the high end for a brighter sound. Considering that most of the caps in any amp are for shunting noise to ground I have a hard time seeing the sensibility in taking good electrolytic caps and trying other good electrolytic caps. Stacked and wound mylar and poly caps are often used for AC coupling/DC decoupling in the signal path and electrolytics are used for everything else because there is no difference/improvement when good quality caps are used.
 
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According to the "urban rumours" (I've never seen the proof of the research.) going around Euro peeps prefer more high end and Asian more mids. So I am guessing they tune the high end for a brighter sound. Considering that most of the caps in any amp are for shunting noise to ground I have a hard time seeing the sensibility in taking good electrolytic caps and trying other good electrolytic caps. Stacked and wound mylar and poly caps are often used for AC coupling/DC decoupling in the signal path and electrolytics are used for everything else because there is no difference/improvement when good quality caps are used.

Amusing.

Now I wonder how they tune it for Western Hemisphere markets, Africa, India, etc. ;)
 

dualazmak

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There's a YouTube video of Yamaha's tuner and I think a engineer in Europe tuning one of the integrated amps. Apparently they change capacitors and other stuff to give it a sound signature.

Very interersting! Thank you for the link to the YouTube video clip. I looked at this video clip today for my very first time.
At 1:09, he said;
We have developed it (A-S1100) based on the concept from A-S3000. The sound concept is "musicality", or to be more specific, the quality of low frequencies, the straight-forwardness of response, and authenticity of the sound...

really subjective comments, but it looks they are/were actually fine tuning the amplifiers based on these.

As I shared, just last weekend, I decided to use A-S3000 to dirve only woofers (45 - 500 Hz) in my multichannel multi-amp project... Yes, as I wrote there, we, my wife and I, are very much impressed by the low frequencies given by A-S3000.
 

Doodski

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Very interersting! Thank you for the link to the YouTube video clip. I looked at this video clip today for my very first time.
At 1:09, he said;
We have developed it (A-S1100) based on the concept from A-S3000. The sound concept is "musicality", or to be more specific, the quality of low frequencies, the straight-forwardness of response, and authenticity of the sound...

really subjective comments, but it looks they are/were actually fine tuning the amplifiers based on these.

As I shared, just last weekend, I decided to use A-S3000 to dirve only woofers (45 - 500 Hz) in my multichannel multi-amp project... Yes, as I wrote there, we, my wife and I, are very much impressed by the low frequencies given by A-S3000.
I ran a tri-amp'd system for some years. I really enjoyed it. What are you using for a crossover?
 
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