Yamaha A-S501

What a great piece of gear this is, I retired a long in the tooth Jolida tube amp in desperate need of a full recap for this. No hum or distortion out of this unit, just puer smooth power. Pushes the Polk XT70s beautifully. Also rear B+W bookshelf speakers and never breaks a sweat. No cooling fan required. Im Running it through a Yamaha EQ70 equalizer. And it just pushes clean quiet power. The amp functions flawlessly, with a soft mute feature. When a LP is done press mute, the volume lowers to a just audable level, push it again when your ready and it slowly ramps up to the previous preset level. There is no blutooth but thats an easy fix for 20 to 30 dollars buy a add on box and plug it in. Overall value is very good on this. You get a lot of head space for your buck. Im Running Polk XT70s and B and W 603s all 8ohms ,the rear swith set to high power, and this amp is 100% clean, powerfull and dosent even flinch or get warm.

I preface this review letting everyone know to give this amplifier a week to open up from a sound perspective. That has been my experience before making an assessment: Aesthetics: 4/5. I like the minimalistic look of this amplifier. However, I dislike Yamaha's decision to make tone controls rectangular. That decision baffles me actually, because many people who are critical of their audio sources tend to have OCD, like myself. Round tone controls would have made more sense. I purchased a black amplifier in order to avoid the asymmetrical look of the tone controls while in use. Build Quality: 5/5. At this price point, considering it is the 21st century, I find the build quality acceptable. It's on par with the Technics sl-100c. This means that even though this Yamaha may not be built as sturdy as in the past, it's still pretty good considering the price point and the century we live in. If one is looking for build quality from the days of yore, one will have to pay many times as much for a new amplifier. Note that if one is expecting an fm radio/tuner, they will have to buy it separately. Sound Quality: 4/5. This portion of a review will always be subjective. Normally, I have always enjoyed an open, lively sound. This amplifier doesn't meet that criteria. However, it has it's own unique sound, which when paired with the right equipment, can become addictive. This amplifier may not present all the sound details that one may be used to, but it manages to accentuate the details that matter. The sound is very clean, and I have heard details on occasion that I haven't noticed before. I must note that I don't use this amplifier for digital music. I only use it for vinyl playback and optical on occasion. The internal phono preamp is not that bad. Vocals sound fantastic. It definitely is not noisy, and records in worse condition can sound better through this unit. Perhaps that is why it may not sound lively at times; in order to produce less static and noise, Yamaha may have done this on purpose. I think Yamaha could have produced this amplifier without a phono preamp, and let folks decide on which one to purchase in order to better suit their tastes. In conclusion, I think this amplifier may appeal to those who are interested in a good, but different sound. I think Yamaha could have hit it out of the park with this product, if for a lower price the tone controls were round, and an internal phono preamp was not included. Still, I am enjoying the different sound that this amplifier produces.

This amp has awesome sound quality . My last Yamaha amp lasted 40 years. They make great audio products.

I was looking for a new/modern amp to add to my rotation of vintage Luxman and Sansui amps. Something that sounds good and is dependable when my vintage stuff is on the bench. I first tried the Cambridge AXR 85 and sent it back right away. It sounded way too thin. I need something with a phono stage, line level inputs for Bluetooth, tuner input and A/B speakers jacks. In short, this amp is superb. Blew me away right out of the box and will hold its own with my Luxman and Sansui amps. The phono stage is is very good. My Bluetooth receiver sounds great through it, the speaker jacks are solid. I really dig that the loudness is on a dial/pot and adjustable. Full up on “flat” and the sound is clear, present, and defined. As the loudness is dialed back the sound warms up, almost tube like (think vintage Sansui) but doesn’t lose any presence. The pure direct button is also cool. It isolates whichever input input/signal path is being used and produces a clear “pure” sound. It is made very well. Huge heat sinks, smooth knobs and buttons, very clean and simple. Mellow yellow LED lights. I’m listening in a 20x32 room and the sound fills the space very well at all volumes. It doesn’t sound like the stereo is “over there”. The soundstage is rich and encompassing. It drives my vintage ElectroVoice Interface C speakers extremely well. These are very large yet efficient speakers. Completely blows the AXR85 away. Not even close. Onboard Bluetooth would be cool but so what. I ordered a subwoofer as it has a subwoofer jack. Not sure I’ll need it for music but I’ll likely hook up the optical to my TV for some surround now that I have the option. At $550 this thing is well worth it. I’d be curious to hear a better amp at this price point if one exists.

I did a lot of research before purchasing this amp. This is my first purchase of an amp only. In the past I have always purchased "receivers". I have a separate surround sound system for my home theatre and for this setup I just wanted an amplifier for 2 channel stereo having returned to vinyl records again. With this setup I am using a high quality turntable, a high quality cd player, and another medium quality turntable with an entry level cartridge with elliptical stylus for my older records and quality tower speakers with a subwoofer. I do not care about a tuner anymore. At this point I am totally pleased with this amp. It is very powerful, in fact at 85 watts per channel it appears to have more punch than my older Sony 100 watt per channel receiver. The sound is crystal clear and drives my large speakers beautifully. The controls are precise and work perfectly. The panel on the back is nicely arranged with gold contacts for the phono and cd inputs. I believe for a non audiophile person you will be thrilled with this amp. Even an audiophile person would have to admit for the money it is awesome. Maybe they hear things we don't but I think it would take an expert to do it. If any flaw is audible my ears will know it. If I am not hearing something I should, well that is for the audiophile. So all-in-all I have to say this is a pretty nice amp as I am sure other quality brands of this classification are. There is only one thing I think could be improved upon and that is the LED indicators. They could be brighter because they are hard to see from a distance.