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Shopping for an integrated, advice s'il vous plait.

Some time ago I decided to upgrade my stereo and spent virtually my entire budget on speakers (no regrets), tacking on a Harman HK3490 as an afterthought. Well, it recently bit the dust for no apparent reason. It was only $260 and gave me 5 years of almost daily service, so I'm not too mad. Unfortunately there's nothing comparable on the market at that price, adjusted for inflation. The closest thing I could find was the Yamaha A-S801, but it appears to have the same build quality as my previous receiver. I'm not sure I'm comfortable spending close to $1k on something with disposable quality, so I've been assessing my options within my budget ($1500 max). Looking for an analog integrated with quality components and construction that will last me at least 10 years. So far I've narrowed my options down to:

Yamaha a-s1000 (new)
or
Vintage i.e. Yamaha ca-2010, Sansui au-717, Pioneer sa-9500 ii etc. 

My only problem with vintage is that it seems to take many months of waiting before a deal comes up on the model you want. I see a fully recapped and restored au-717 recently went on eBay for less than $700. Probably not gonna find a deal like that in the next year, if ever. 

TL;DR Would like thy esteemed opinions to vet my purchase of a Yamaha a-s1000. 


unknoahble
skoczylas's avatar
skoczylas
240 posts
 
lots of good ideas. i second the croft idea. outstanding sound very good hand built amp. in head to head listening tests it beats many higher priced integrateds. i didnt purchse it only because the sound is very close to my red wine amp. 
2channel8
758 posts
 
I heard a Belles Aria yesterday. Very nice! A little above your budget at around $1,900 at the shop I was at. The owner was demoing $9,000 speakers. He switched to a Rogue Cronus Magnum, which didn't sound as dynamic to my ears. At least one of the others there disagreed with me; but the majority agreed.
backintohifi's avatar
backintohifi
6 posts
 

My biased vote would be the Yamaha A-S1000, which can be bought pretty much anywhere new for $1,260 currently.  I purchased this amp after researching it, the Marantz units and the NAD 375 BEE.  Also, prior to the purchase I was looking at, and in fact won the auction on, a renovated Sansui 9090DB vintage receiver, but the seller was unable to deliver and the deal was cancelled.  I had bought one of these new in 1976 and truly loved it and its sound, and so the current purchase was somewhat out of sentiment.

Back to the Yamaha: I've had mine a little over a month, and the sound is spectacular simply because it is pure; it adds nothing nor subtracts anything (unless you decide to use the tone controls) from the input.  And as already stated, it is very, very quite.  The audiophile quality of the unit is very obvious from a list of the components and its flawless cosmetics.  Frankly, the Marantz units are underpowered for the price, and the NAD 375 BEE, for the price, is rather cosmetically cheap looking.  The NAD does however have quite a bit of power, but at the same time the sound is somewhat colored (warm; i.e., distorted).

Lastly, if you can afford the A-S1000's replacement (I couldn't justify it at this time), go for the A-S1100.  

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