Is the Yamaha A-S 1200 integrated amplifier so mediocre in terms of instrumental measurements?

[Deleted member 48726]

Agreed. I especially prefer the silver Yamaha’s and the plastic line on the bottom looks even worse. Yamaha has access to Japanese urushi lacquer side panels which would have made it look a lot LESS confused. Imagine piano black gloss from an actual piano maker…

I secretly do hope that their hifi line is a business success so that we will see updated processors and receivers from them. It’s hard when it’s a two horse race in the consumer space and two horse race in the processors under $4k space.

The CX-A5200 was a stumble and they may not have recovered from it.

A stumble. -Do you mean like a non-succesful model or like a design flaw?
You can see the evolution from my old RX-V3800 (2008) which I don't love the looks of but much prefer to the CX-A5200 (2018).

 

[GXAlan]

A stumble. -Do you mean like a non-succesful model or like a design flaw?

Oh, I mean from a SINAD technical standpoint.

CX-A5100:
Brown: Unbal - 90dB @ 1kHz
Red: Bal -95dB @ 1kHz

CX-A5200:
Purple: Unbal -88dB @ 1kHz
Blue: Bal -72dB @ 1kHz

There was a 23 dB regression in performance.

95 dB SINAD? Awesome, especially since Yamaha does great with high gain amplifiers. Below 0.5V, it beats the Marantz AV10 and Monolith HTP-1.

72 dB SINAD? Hard to justify paying a premium price for an unintended design flaw.

The CX-A5100 if it had eARC would be a great product even today. Without eARC it’s still a very good product. The CX-A5200 has eARC but doesn’t perform like a “5000” series Yamaha product should.

Yamaha AVENTAGE 5200 Series 11CH Processor/Amplifier Review

Yamaha is on their 3rd generation of separates in the Aventage line with their new 11-channel CX-A5200 AV Processor and MX-A5200 amplifier. Read our review to find out if they are a worthy successor.

www.audioholics.com

A Yamaha 16 ch or 32 ch processor would be good because in Japan, they have continued to develop their speaker mapping technology and have 108.6 channels in their Yamaha museums, along with all sorts of line array beamforming for PA speakers, etc.

Like Sony, Yamaha *could* put together something to rival Trinnov and StormAudio but instead it feels like they have let the AV line stall a bit.

 

[DSJR]

You can follow the design from the 70's up into the 80's with that "line" at the bottom. It looks way way more harmoniously than their new attempt.

View attachment 345361
View attachment 345362
View attachment 345363
View attachment 345364

I came in right when these earlier models were being phased out, but I seem to remember a demo CA700? around just as the 600 and 1000 were put out. I was given (yeah - and gave it away to a family member too, some time later) a CA1000mk2 and the fell of the controls was a delight although I think sonic performance times had caught up with it. I later 'heard' a CA800 and this was fine running in Class A (so pitifully low powered) at low volume.

 

[3125b]

If they need a display they have to put it somewhere.
But one might argue that display is pretty useless, it doesn't seem to show any complex information that a couple LED's couldn't.
Another option might be to hide that stuff behind a door like many old AVR's did. Granted, that would be more expensive than to just stick some transparent plastic on there.

 

[jonfitch]

A stumble. -Do you mean like a non-succesful model or like a design flaw?
You can see the evolution from my old RX-V3800 (2008) which I don't love the looks of but much prefer to the CX-A5200 (2018).

View attachment 345366
View attachment 345367

If you think these look bad, nothing can be worse than the cyclops aesthetic of the current Aventage line...easily the ugliest receiver on the market.

 

[ZolaIII]

I agree with @restorer-john . The AS-1200 is great although if you can swing the extra cash, the R-N2000A is the better choice. The underlying amplifier architecture is the same, but the R-N2000a adds the following:

1) Variable loudness. Yamaha does a great job with this and it's a meaningful upgrade in terms of real-world sound in comparison to even a Benchmark AHB2.

2) YPAO room correction; user defeatable but Yamaha is smart and is very conservative with its corrections.

3) Integrated DAC/streamer

4) HDMI ARC support

SoundStageNetwork.com | SoundStage.com - Yamaha R-N2000A Streaming Stereo Receiver Measurements

www.soundstagenetwork.com

I am very tired of repeating this. If you can catch A-S700 and for cheap pair it with MiniDSP Flex or Flex HT and WiiM Mini and that's it and all together for less money then A-S 1200 or N-R 2000.
Uper A-S lines only have little better topology with better separation in highs (which no one can hear even on headphones) along with looks and in most cases switching to toroidal transformer from iron core.

 

[GXAlan]

I am very tired of repeating this. If you can catch A-S700 and for cheap pair it with MiniDSP Flex or Flex HT and WiiM Mini and that's it and all together for less money then A-S 1200 or N-R 2000.
Uper A-S lines only have little better topology with better separation in highs (which no one can hear even on headphones) along with looks and in most cases switching to toroidal transformer from iron core.

You definitely can get great sound for less but sometimes it’s nice to have level meters.

The McIntosh MPM4000 shows you what pedals are willing to pay for quality meters and there is something to be said about integration.

A used Arcam SR250 is better than the MiniDSP/A-S700 if you don’t care about meters because you have the full range Dirac included.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

If you think these look bad, nothing can be worse than the cyclops aesthetic of the current Aventage line...easily the ugliest receiver on the market.

Yeah, I don't like that design either.. Besides it being glossy I also don't think it look harmonic with all the action on one side of the fascia.

 

[ubik3000]

I own an A-S1200. A kick-ass amplifier. Except an Accuphase E-380 which is a little bit better (but costs over 7K euro), from what I have auditioned nothing beats it (Audiolab 8300A, Rotel 1572 Mk2, Cambridge Evo 150, Marantz Cinema 60, Naim Supernait 2 (or was it 3??), Audiolab 7000A, Technics SU-A600 Mk3 (proud owner...), Hegel H190, Cambridge Audio AXR100). Smooth, dynamic, controlled, refined, brings up all the potential of any loudspeaker... I run it with Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G, which sucks power like there is no tomorrow. NOT A PROBLEM for Yamaha A-S1200, with its huge torroidal transformer and huge filtering capacitors... I am using it to HT bypass Cinema 60.. Huge improvements in movies for the front channels. Voices are perfect, every details is present, 4K BluRays sound superb... with uncompressed Dolby Atmos... I have hard time finding an amp superior to it until the 6K Euro mark; and BTW, I accept recommendations. :-D

 

[Doodski]

I own an A-S1200. A kick-ass amplifier. Except an Accuphase E-380 which is a little bit better (but costs over 7K euro), from what I have auditioned nothing beats it (Audiolab 8300A, Rotel 1572 Mk2, Cambridge Evo 150, Marantz Cinema 60, Naim Supernait 2 (or was it 3??), Audiolab 7000A, Technics SU-A600 Mk3 (proud owner...), Hegel H190, Cambridge Audio AXR100). Smooth, dynamic, controlled, refined, brings up all the potential of any loudspeaker... I run it with Monitor Audio Gold 300 5G, which sucks power like there is no tomorrow. NOT A PROBLEM for Yamaha A-S1200, with its huge torroidal transformer and huge filtering capacitors... I am using it to HT bypass Cinema 60.. Huge improvements in movies for the front channels. Voices are perfect, every details is present, 4K BluRays sound superb... with uncompressed Dolby Atmos... I have hard time finding an amp superior to it until the 6K Euro mark; and BTW, I accept recommendations. :-D

@ubik3000. Yamaha gear is just simply the best value gear for the expense paid. Been there done that a ton and I have never found better for the moola that combines all the features and benefits required.

 

[ubik3000]

"Yamaha gear is just simply the best value gear for the expense paid." Yeah, with their price range I thought that cheaper A-S*** are not that great. Actually, I also listened to an A-S501 (forgot to mention it)... Very good for its price... less than 600 Euros... Easily beats amplifiers priced almost twice as high.

 

[Doodski]

"Yamaha gear is just simply the best value gear for the expense paid." Yeah, with their price range I thought that cheaper A-S*** are not that great. Actually, I also listened to an A-S501 (forgot to mention it)... Very good for its price... less than 600 Euros... Easily beats amplifiers priced almost twice as high.

I sold many many semi trucks full of Yamaha home audio equipment in my sales days before I got out/escaped and became a electronic techy and boy O boy where the people ever happy with Yamaha. It was a no brainer for me.

 

[Emulator II]

You can follow the design from the 70's up into the 80's with that "line" at the bottom. It looks way way more harmoniously than their new attempt.

View attachment 345361
View attachment 345362
View attachment 345363
View attachment 345364

I think the R-N800A and the R-N1000A look great (and more harmonic than the R-N2000A). I only wish they opted for glass at the bottom and metal for the knobs instead of plastic.