Yamaha A-S 1000 & 2000 --- How Good?


These have been well reviewed, but have not seen much from owners. Has some one had a chance to listen to the Yamaha versus gear from Accuphase, Luxman, McIntosh (or smaller integrateds from LFD, Lavardin, etc.) and other top flight integrated SS contenders. I expect it would be a very solid value, especially at street prices for the Yamaha gear, but how does it fair against some if top gear out there? Love the look as an added bonus (yup, in my early 50s). Some say with their R&D prowess that can make a great piece of gear if they set their mind to it - did they do it? (As an additional bit of info - should it matter - my speakers only need 30-40 watts or so, and are very easy loads for amps - tube friendly).
pubul57
I already bought a silver one. It cost me $1199.99 plus 3% for using my credit card and about $50 shipping. The total was approximately $1287.

The source I bought from was advertising on Audiogon. That's how I found them. The ad was still there yesterday.
I have the cds 1000 cd player. Use it as an SACD player and a transport for a DAC. Sounds great with SACD and very good on red book. It can be modded by VSE for ultimate performance. Great build quality, better than the Sony 5400. I don't hear the brightness someone mentioned, but very clear, clean and well balanced sound. Haven't heard the integrated amp, but know some folks who dumped some pretty good separates for it. Yamaha put some serious effort into these pieces.
I was a brave boy. I waded right in and bought my A-S2000 without a reviewer holding my hand. So far, I feel like I got away with it.

Of course, I did take a lot of encouragement from that sale price. Get it while you can. Surely it can't go on forever like this.
"I was a brave boy."

The ones who are really brave I always think are those who drop tens of thousands on more on new pieces, that immediately depreciate significantly in value by the thousands, based on product reputation alone or feedback of others that perhaps they have ever even heard before buying.