A little puzzled by my newly acquired Yamaha A-S801


Picked up a Yamaha A S801 integrated, sounds clear and ’light’ if that makes sense. Nothing else in system has changed, same speakers, Epos Elan 10 and refurbished JR149s.

What’s bothering me is two-fold: 1. LOW frequencies seem a little pale (yes I know both speakers have limited extension, but did not hear this same effect on older 60 watt Rotel that is now defunct and irreparable) and,2. interestingly, 9 o’clock on volume control knob gives roughly the same volume level to my ears as the previously mentioned 60 watt only Rotel RA 1060.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Source is CD Onkyo C7030, virtually same whether or not I’m using ’CD DIRECT’ or PURE SOUND’ setting. Thoughts?

(Should mention I tried a Rotel A11 MK2 earlier, did not like at all and bore no resemblance in my system to the Rotel of old)

sifter

Showing 1 response by mapman

Not a surprise regarding Yamaha sound. Their products, like some other more mass-market Japanese products, tend to reflect general Japanese-specific listening preferences, lesser bass with somewhat tipped up top end compared to others. That makes them somewhat unique and like most things will appeal to some more than others for their particular application.