Yamaha A-S3000 - any experiences?

Both the 1100 and 2100 have a pretty robust power supply that would easily drive a good percentage of speakers produced.  Something besides those wood side panels is responsible for their 50lbs + of heft and I am betting on the power supply as well as solid build quality.

Bill

My ZU Omen Defs are quite efficient (I believe 101 db). They play nice with lower wattage amps. 100 + watts is way more than adequate

I have had the Yamaha A-S3000 for two and a half months now and I wanted to report back and post a few comments.  My wife bought me a new Mac mini for my birthday (I'm a lucky guy) and I optimized it for use as a dedicated music server combined with my Hegel HD11 DAC plus a few other tweaks.  I would describe the system as full bodied, holographic, detailed, big.  I tend to roll my eyes a little when I hear someone describe the sound of a solid state amp as "tube sounding" but I gotta tell you the 3000 is the closest thing to power tubes I've ever had with SS.  No, not quite the 3D midrange magic compared to my previous tubes, but playing in the same ball park, and with better bass.  I would love to try the matching CD/SACD player (CD-S3000) even though I don't spin discs much anymore but I really want to hear what it has to offer via USB.  But there's that little matter of I can't even begin to afford the CD player.  Even so, for my tastes, I'm thrilled with how things currently sit.

Congrats. Are you using the phono stage? Would like to know also how the rca vs balanced sound for your dac or cd.  Looks like a fantastic amp. I love  the yamaha sound. 

Skoczylas, unfortunately I do not have any experience with the phono stage in the 3000 nor a table I can use to test.

When I first bought the Yamaha I tried both single ended and balanced and preferred balanced.  It wasn't really a fair comparison though but in any event I have used balanced and haven't looked back.  When I get some time I'll swap single ended back in and do a quick comparison.

I'm not much of a headphone guy but I do listen periodically when noise may be an issue for the wife and daughter and I will say that the internal headphone amp is very good in the 3000, making my Focal Spirit Professionals the week link IMO.  As a side note I would be fine with the Focal headphones but I do find them uncomfortable for extended listening.