Yamaha A-S501 Integrated Amplifier - Black

Ordered this Yamaha A-S501 Integrated Amplifier - Black as my Denon RCDN8 had given up the ghost after only 3 years and I cannot live without my music. Ordered in the evening and Amazon delivered next day for only and extra £6. Brilliant. Had an Arcam amp, Marantz CD, Denon Tuner, Sony Minidisk, Technics Tape deck for 20 years and sounded superb through my Mordaunt Short floors tanders, but streamed a lot using my squeezebox, so CD, tuner and tape were not used much and kit was taking up a lot of room so decided to get rid and replace with the aforementioned Denon. Big mistake. Don;t get me wrong the Denon RCDN8 really was very good indeed sonically, felt solid, and was nice and compact, but constantly had problems losing wifi/signal when streaming and was shall we say was a bit glitchy. I've always had a soft spot for Yamaha hi-fi, they are always built solidly, look good and most importantly of course sound good. Out of the box, wow, it's meaty, feels really well built, nice solid push on/off switch, ample connections, built-in DAC and I personally like it's looks, it's a bit retro i.e. how amps looked years ago, big and rectangular. I hooked in my squeezebox, via coaxial digital lead, as I suspected that the DAC in the amp would be better than the one in the squeezebox and fired up the AS501 and played both internet radio and mp3s. Very, very impressed and pleased with the sound that came out of my floor standing Mordaunt Short speakers, crisp and clean vocals with a terrific sound stage and enough bass to make the most of my speakers and played everything I through at it with aplomb. Maybe not bassy enough for some peoples tastes or types of music, but to my ears, a delight to hear things I never heard in tracks played on the Denon and that I have not heard since my wonderful old Arcam. After a couple of days, I got a Yamaha CDS300 CD player, after deliberating between it and a Marantz 6005 or a cheaper 5005. Fired it up and put in a Churches CD and it sounded exactly as I hoped it would with the AS501 amp, awesome. Nice and pacy, detailed and a delight to listen to. At the price I paid for this Yamaha amp, £189, it is an absolute bargain and no doubt would give some much more costly amps a pretty good run for their money. I can say that I would recommend this amp to anyone and hopefully it will last as long as my Arcam did. Great bit of kit Yamaha

I bought this amp to replace an ageing Sony amp that has served me well for 25 plus years and still exhibits no problems but I thought it was high time I got a new one. First, this amp is built like a tank. It is solid and very heavy. It is also beautifully finished with a brushed aluminium front. No plastic on this beauty apart from the switches. It has all the inputs I need and connections for 2 pairs of speakers although I only need to use one pair. My old Sony amp has a warm, rich sound whereas this new Yamaha is leaner and more detailed. There is no trace of top end harshness however and the bass is well defined but not overpowering. I usually turn down the bass a bit anyway and turn up the treble so I don't use the source direct or loudness buttons either. I am not a metal fan. There is a sub-woofer output for those who like shaking walls when listening to music. The sound stage is well defined and imaging is very good for the low cost of this unit. Much better than my previous amp/speaker combo. I believe this model has now been superceded by a new amp in Yamaha's range so this amp is available at a reduced price. I can recommend it to anyone who is looking for good sound quality for not a lot of money.

The amplifier was dispatched within a couple of days of ordering, and pleased to see source is based close to home, should there be a future problem. But that would be very unlucky, for it quickly became clear that the product is extremely well made, and even comes with a decent product manual. It replaces my 38 year old lovely Technics SU-8077 amp, and is of almost the same size, so fitted into existing space well. I loved the bare wire speaker connections, a better design than my previous. I listened to Roger Waters "Amused to Death" (standard version) as my test record. I'm SURE I could hear even more!! It sounds absolutely superb. After a few hours of use, there is barely any heat detectable from the casing. I miss the LED output Watt meters of the Technics.The remote control actually turns the volume knob on the Yamaha, and marking this with a gold line did help give visual reference of how far the volume knob was turned. I liked that this amp also has the "Pure Direct Straight DC" sound switching. I'm less convinced by the variable loudness control, though it's not something I use much. I think a simple boost button for bass preferable, if ever that need arises. Overall, I am delighted to have found the Yamaha A-S501 a superb amplifier and a worthy living room replacement. It's a quality product and represents quite amazing value. It sounds superb to my ears, and with a good remote control, I can now sit back even more comfortably.