Yamaha A-S501 Review | | | | Simple & Sweet

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Intro song: Friday
Music By The Passion HiFi

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[brainformer]

Greetings from Ukraine! Maaan, it's not just a well-made review with the great video-shooting, but you are THE ONLY ONE person who did a video of LOUDNESS impact on a frequency curve, and I'm really thankful for that. I had Technics SU-7700 and was always using Loudness on a low volume, now I have Denon and it works there even better, so thank you for showing how it works with Yamaha I wanted to buy! You're the best, man )

[philchapman]

I sold Yamaha amp years ago when the yamaha introduced the loudness control, it was introduced to enhance bass naturally. All other amps would have a "loudness" button you would press at low volume to bump up the bass (a bass boost). So Yamaha came up with the idea of rolling off the mids and highs instead. Its work like this, you crank up the volume and get a nice bass tone going and then you use the loudness control to roll back the mids and highs thus bringing down the amp to a lower listen level but allowing the amp to drive the bass with full current going to it, thus no artificial boost but yet a strong bass response. Its quite a brilliant idea and works well when you understand what it does and how to teak it. It's great with klipsch speakers that can be a bit forward in it projection of sound. The loudness control helps tame that. This also help with speakers that have low bass output because you drive a lot of current to the bass.

[gnd]

This is a refreshing review. Most creators are reviewing Headphones/mini amps/dacs lately, or so it seems. Nice review Joe.

[dm]

I have the R-S300 and the sound is just as awesome as the 501. Great stereo separation. Beefy power, and handles larger floor speakers with ease...and built like a tank just like the 501.

[Quantum.Wbb]

what a really nice guy, very effective at explaining his thoughts without waffling, many rates

[abxaudiophiles]

Well done brother! I knew you would be impressed by the A series from Yamaha.

When you said that this was your new favorite integrated amplifier it made me smile! I remember when I first heard the a – S501 I had the same experience.

And I love the loudness knob, it literally just lets you fine tune and really get into the vibe!

[broadhurst]

I own the silver faced AS-2100 (with VU meters) and it's an absolute beast. Super sturdy, classic design, beautiful sound and all round impressive piece of amplifier engineering... you'll love it.

[billd]

Symmetric topology = twin amps (one for each channel) that only share the power supply. Otherwise, each channel is independent.

[crazyprayingmantis]

Love that you're reviewing stuff like Yamaha, most audiophiles would turn their nose up at anything Yamaha

[jazzman]

I didn’t know there was an 801. I have the 701 which looks like this 501 except it also has a “CD Direct” button next to the “Pure Direct” button. It’s a great amp and I got the CD 301 to go with it.
Another cool feature is when using the remote control to adjust the volume, the volume knob turns. If you press the mute button, the volume knob turns down and another press of mute, turns the volume to where it was before the mute.

[colossusrageblack]

I got mine used for $240 from a local guy, best gear I've ever owned.

[roberteye]

Geez, I commented on a couple other posts but forgot to thank you for the great review!
I especially liked the measurements of the tone control and loudness effects. A very nice touch.

[russelhaxby]

Outstanding. Thanks.
I have this amp. It is used almost exclusively to listen to cd's. Pure direct mode is on all the time except for quiet night time listening, when the loudness control is used. Speakers are old Klipsch KG4's. They are efficient speakers, and the Yamaha never really gets off idle. This was not my intended use when I bought this amp, but the combination sounds great.
Glad to hear that it works with Wharfedales.

[stevenholt]

Thanks for keeping it real, Joe. The AS501 is fine gear, anyone should be proud to own it.

[tapemaster]

I’ve owned this amp for over 2 years now and I love it, my speakers are Definitive Technology Bp6 and don’t need a sub, although I use one when I watch movies, the audio snobs think it’s junk, real audiophile stuff is an everyday people’s life savings, so whatever, great review, you got a new sub on this one !

[musclecarfan]

I have the A-S801 and have been using it since 2016. I am using a Technics 1200, and my speakers are vintage Cerwin Vega RE-38 monsters

[kennethwilliams]

Thank you so much for the graphs actually showing the frequency effects of the controls. How I wish more reviewers of audio equipment would do this; it is so much more reliable than just one person's subjective opinion on how a piece of equipment sounds. Kudos.

[Rick-orkq]

I have been a fan Yamaha since the 70's have owned Pioneer, B&O, Dynaco and keep coming back to Yamaha for their clean sound and clean look, I have this amp and love it hooked to a pair of Klipsch RP600 M's, like being there. On the loudness control the way I understand it is it boost bass and treble at higher volumes because the louder you go your ears start to trim them so you get a flatter sound by boosting the bass and treble it helps to elimanate that.

[theax]

Back in the 80's, my parents had an entire Yamaha component stereo system, in brushed aluminum just like this. Looked exactly the same.

It's the coolest look.

[MAD-OLAMBA]

Got an open box black A-S501 a year ago for $380 to drive my RP-8000F. I mostly use the CMA400i or SDAC-B because they happen to be part of my living room headphones setup(s). I can't make comparisons because this my first serious speakers setup. All I can say is that they fill my living room with joy.
The short story is: never cared about speakers >> was hunting for Focal Clear >> heard the RP-600M >> YAAS! >> went for the biggest sibling I can afford: RP-8000F >> need future-ish proof and best bang for the buck amp: A-S501
Now These speakers are efficient and don't need an 80W/Ch Amp, but I was/still eyeballing the Magnepan LRS, but they are always in back-order. Not sure if I would like them though.