My Yamaha clips at 3/4 volume

The fact that it clips at 3/4 volume has nothing to do with how much power is being used.

Western,
Something doesn't add up here. Your Yamha M45 amp is rated at 180 Watts rms @ 4 ohms, into 4 ohm speakers that are efficient enough to have been successfully driven by a 10-watt rms Trends Audio T-amp! (Dingus' 2nd Agon system, Bedroom bliss with the T-Amp).

You should have way more than sufficient power to drive these speaker loads.
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Give us more details, and I'm confident one of our amazing A-gon Gurus will surely be able to help you in isolating the problem.
e.g.:
When you mention 3/4 volume, are you a) referring to the volume pot on the pre-amp, or to b)the peak power meters on the amp? If a), what peak power readings are you getting on the amp w/o failing?

Is your "Auto Class A Switch" deactivated? If not, try switching off to run in full A-B mode. (This could possibly effect handshake with pre-amp?)

What sources are you using?
Was this system ever more responsive?
What last changed?
What other components do you have to swap out for testing?

Good luck!

I'm using a Technics SL-PD867 CD player along with the amp and pre-amp. I had the volume pot on the preamp at about 2 o'clock, the left and right output levels on the amp were at 12 o'clock. I just got the M-45 and Aragon 28k, previous to this setup I was using a Yamaha A-700. I'll get it back to make a comparison.
When I checked to see if the Class A switch was activated, it wasn't. What I discovered was that both the A and B switches were both activated and the speakers are only connected to A. Could this have an effect?

Thank you Elizabeth, Rrog and Sandstone for your help.
As you can probably tell I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to stereo equipment.

Based on your description and the fact that your preamp volume control is at 2 o'clock, I would set the M45 amp controls to fully open, and then listen again. All other posts above is great information as well.

Most amps will clip at full volume, especially when the gain on a preamp is involved. I agree with Mrdecibel on setting the amp at full volume. There are no rules out there about where a volume control should be set at.

I've owned 3 of these amps. Very good for the money. They do have a thermal protection if you are over-driving them, if I recall. Also, since you are running 4 ohms, make sure you are NOT using more than one set of speakers. Even though you can hook up more pairs, it will take you impedance way too low. I've never met a Yamaha that would handle less than 4 ohms. Are these speakers running lower than 4 ohms? You may need to have the speakers checked?

Do you get the same issues in class A and in A/B? The amp should run fairly hot in class A. Most class A amps run very hot. Enjoy it. You just got 90% of a Threshold for 25% of the cost (in my opinion).

Mrdecibel,
I turned up the output levels to full and voila...I was recomended by a friend to keep them at 1/2 output (don't know why) but since putting them at full output what a definite difference in output(WOW!). I have more than enough volume and it doesn't go into protection mode.
Thanks to everyone of you who responded!
You guys rock and now so do I.

Hi Western,
-By now you've probably figured out that "Class A" relates to selecting a more refined but lower-wattage element of your amp, and is unrelated to the speaker "A" and "B" selections. So, connecting the speakers to A is fine. As Elevick indicated, just use one speaker pair at a time with this amp. Also suggest you switch off the unused speaker channel.

-Are you saying that output volume with these speakers was previously higher using Yamaha A-700 or other gear, or that you want greater volume that you haven't obtained yet?


Elevick,
Glad to see your advice here as an M45 owner! If these are high efficiency speakers, should Western opt to power them in Class A mode if possible? What preamps did you use with M45?

Agree that opening up volume pot at amp input is the next thing to try.

But at a risk of muddying the waters, there are a couple of Yamaha amp reviews around that also noted clipping problems using newer preamps. The solution at the time was to increase resistance at the amp input level until the clipping was brought under control.

This would suggest that if setting the volume pot (for speaker A) wide open (fully counterclockwise, to infinity symbol) as recommended doesn't solve the problem, you might also then consider a test to go the other way.

That is, incrementally increase amp input impedance by turning the pot clockwise in steps, while turning up the preamp volume to keep overall output volume relatively constant.

'Nuf said - enjoy!

Westernnyer, Glad to be of assistance....Enjoy !

I mainly used Classe, Sumo and a Creek OBH 12 pre-amps. Can you tell what I like in a pre? Simple, clean nothing tricky.