Yamaha A-S701 Stereo Amplifier Review

[Zog]

I own the 801. The loudness control is great if you want to custom the music by toning the loudness down. I do it at family gatherings etc, where you want to hear the music, but not let it dominate.

In my humble opinion a loudness control is important. I have a strife (oops, I meant wife) who does not not like loud music. A loudness control enables listening at low levels without emasculating the bass. As an aside, I persuaded the Trouble and Strife to allow me to purchase a REL G2 on the basis that it would enable me to listen at lower levels.

 

[DeadAndCompany]

I had an A-S700 in my system several years ago. A competent performer to be sure. When I moved to high bias mosfet amps (ATC, Pass Labs, and especially Perreaux) they had more control over my speakers.

What does that mean, „more control over my speakers“?

 

[LoFiAudiophile]

What does that mean, „more control over my speakers“?

A man gotta have his toys. It’s alright. Sometimes it’s OK to have a shinier toy. I keep looking for a shiny Jura when all I drink is black drip coffee.

 

[DeadAndCompany]

A man gotta have his toys. It’s alright. Sometimes it’s OK to have a shinier toy. I keep looking for a shiny Jura when all I drink is black drip coffee.

So it means nothing?

 

[LoFiAudiophile]

So it means nothing?

Well, sometimes how you feel is all that matters. Buying a good device, even if expensive, can enhance the total experience of enjoying music. So if one has means, why not?

 

[DeadAndCompany]

Well, sometimes how you feel is all that matters. Buying a good device, even if expensive, can enhance the total experience of enjoying music. So if one has means, why not?

*checks forum name*

 

[Zek]

*checks forum name*

???????

 

[DeadAndCompany]

???????

AudioSCIENCEreview !!!!!!

 

[Zek]

AudioSCIENCEreview !!!!!!

Where is SCIENCE here (if one knows exactly what SCIENCE means).

 

[Bernard23]

How did I miss this review at the time?? I've had a 501 for over a year now, largely due to input from @restorer-john and @TheBatsEar . It drives my DBR62s with ease despite it's phase angle issue, and I guessed (correctly it now seems) that the DAC and phono stage wouldn't be up to much so a Wiim pro Plus and a Cambridge Audio duo carry out those duties. I bought the Yamaha in a black Friday sale for £320 , the whole system cost me just over a grand. I get more enjoyment from it than i ever did from the setup I had a few years ago that cost an order of magnitude more because I was too busy listening to the hardware and fiddling about with it, instead of just using it as a source of music and forgetting about it. I'm a sucker for the whole 70s Japanese looks too and it looks great sat under my restored Technics SL-1800

 

[Shal26]

Is the amp section on this model identical to the R-S700? They do look similar.

 

[restorer-john]

Is the amp section on this model identical to the R-S700? They do look similar.

Basically yes. The R-S700 and A-S701 are essentially the same power stage. The 501 has the same boards, but one set of outputs instead of two and a less capable transformer. The 300/301 takes smaller filter caps and a less capable transformer. Yamaha is the master of this type of design- they've been doing it for decades.

The economies of scale make for incredible value across the entire range.

Bear in mind, the R-S700 is an older model with support for an "ipod" external dock and standard RCA inputs. If you're using an external D/A converter of course, that's a moot point.

 

[Bernard23]

Basically yes. The R-S700 and A-S701 are essentially the same power stage. The 501 has the same boards, but one set of outputs instead of two and a less capable transformer. The 300/301 takes smaller filter caps and a less capable transformer. Yamaha is the master of this type of design- they've been doing it for decades.

The economies of scale make for incredible value across the entire range.

Bear in mind, the R-S700 is an older model with support for an "ipod" external dock and standard RCA inputs. If you're using an external D/A converter of course, that's a moot point.

Want there some other small hardware / circuit design differences between 500/501 and 700/701, sure something is buried away in the stripdown of the 701 thread when I was thinking of changing the 501 (I think thebatsear was trying to pursuade me of the benefits of the 1100/1200).

 

[Shal26]

Basically yes. The R-S700 and A-S701 are essentially the same power stage. The 501 has the same boards, but one set of outputs instead of two and a less capable transformer. The 300/301 takes smaller filter caps and a less capable transformer. Yamaha is the master of this type of design- they've been doing it for decades.

The economies of scale make for incredible value across the entire range.

Bear in mind, the R-S700 is an older model with support for an "ipod" external dock and standard RCA inputs. If you're using an external D/A converter of course, that's a moot point.

Thanks for your reply.

My R-S700 is well over 10 years old. I found it surprising that the current model looked so similar internally.

I wonder if there is a difference in sound between them.

 

[JRob1125]

I bought the R-S700 brand new for $500, just a few months before it was discontinued. By far the most bang for buck I got in my setup.

 

[DSJR]

...it looks great sat under my restored Technics SL-1800

Not *directly* underneath, as in one sat directly on top of the other?

I appreciate the (rather nice) SL1800 has a substantial metal suspended under-tray and solid top casting, but the pickup really will appreciate some distance from the amp if possible (blasted equipment 'vertical shelving' racks with the turntable perched on the top - not always the best way to use gear - and it took me many years to fully discover this too )

 

[restorer-john]

Yamaha's power stage topology is rock solid in terms of basic performance and reliability and has been pretty much since 1990 when they introduced the Total Purity Audio Reproduction Technology (ToP-ART). It was simply symmetrical, well designed and carefully laid out power stages, along with (at the time) their HCA circuitry which took THD to essentially nothing. Sadly, that is gone, but the basic tenet has remained.

You get great value and fantastic performance for the money.

 

[ryanmh1]

From what read the phono stage in AS-701/501/801 is accurate to 1dB across the audible frequency range and has ~ 2.5x headroom over the physical limits of the max voltage (~20mV) that can be generated by a 5mV cartridge.

This unit has an audibly transparent phono stage by objective criteria. There are missing features like a dedicated click/pop filter but the bass roll off below 20Hz compensates a bit for it.

Old post, but I've been trying to figure out a few things about Yamaha phono stages (since I own a few of them and am trying to compare to other options). I'm not sure that's quite accurate. If you get deep into the nitty gritty of it and believe Michael Fidler (which I do), it's quite possible that the noise specification is not transparent. Yamaha is still rating their phono stages on the old IHF-A specification, as they have for 40 years. They claim the phono is 82dB IHF-A. That suggests around a 17dB increase from the unweighted score measured here (although I haven't been able to find the actual ancient spec to do the math based on the IHF A-weighting curve). The A-S1200 is 96dB IHF-A. A 14dB improvement. This is about where Yamaha used to spec their "glory days" preamps. The Spec is the same on the A-S3200 (component sharing, I am sure), which Stereophile measured. With the volume knob set to MAX and gobs of gain, they still got almost 80dB MM and 70dB MC, unweighted. It's quiet. To get great phono performance on potentially par with an $800 separate phono stage, you've got to drop the money on the A-S1200. I doubt there's much in this unit that you don't get from the R-N303BL for much less money.

 

[Bernard23]

Not *directly* underneath, as in one sat directly on top of the other?

I appreciate the (rather nice) SL1800 has a substantial metal suspended under-tray and solid top casting, but the pickup really will appreciate some distance from the amp if possible (blasted equipment 'vertical shelving' racks with the turntable perched on the top - not always the best way to use gear - and it took me many years to fully discover this too )

Goodness me no! It's sat on a thick solid walnut shelf that's bolted into my wall. The Yamaha is on a wooden / glass rack affair that's positioned below it, a good 30cm or so below the TT.

 

[Bernard23]

Yamaha's power stage topology is rock solid in terms of basic performance and reliability and has been pretty much since 1990 when they introduced the Total Purity Audio Reproduction Technology (ToP-ART). It was simply symmetrical, well designed and carefully laid out power stages, along with (at the time) their HCA circuitry which took THD to essentially nothing. Sadly, that is gone, but the basic tenet has remained.

You get great value and fantastic performance for the money.

Good to know, I'm essentially going to use the power amp section once I replace the Wiim with the Ultra which will handle every input and operate as a digital preamp with DSP. I'll have no need of the phono / dac / tone controls etc.