Yamaha M-80 Amplifier Connection Options


Hello to all,

Hoping to shed light on the best speaker hook-ups for a new (to me) Yamaha M-80 amplifier. The amp will power (1) pair Boston Acoustics VR-3's. The BA's are 15-250 watts, 8 ohms and have 93db efficiency. Until now I've bi-wired the speakers c/o my Yamaha AV5990 (rated at 120 watts 20-20). Not bad, but I'm looking for much better from the new M-80 rated at 250wpc @ 8 ohms.

The M-80 gives me the option of using speaker pair A, pair B and/or pair C either separately or in a variety of combinations. However Yamaha qualifies this with the following verbiage...Scenario 1; Connect (2) pairs of speakers in parallel using A and then using either B or C --- OR --- connect (2) pairs of speakers in series using B and C.

Now Yamaha recommends that speakers run in parallel be 8 ohm minimum and then add that speakers run in series be 2 ohm minimum. I'm determined to keep bi-wiring but I'm not sure what's my best option given all the different combos???

Here is the PDF version of my owners manual... http://www.usersmanualguide.com/yamaha_audio/separate_amplifiers/m-80

I sincerely appreciate any good opinions...

Mike S.
mako20ft

Showing 2 responses by elevick

The M-80 is in a class by itself when compared to anything Yamaha ever made. I don't think it is 250 watts per channel (can't recall)? However, the first 10 or so watts are class "A" which makes it so nice.
By using a pair of output, ie A & B, you are forcing the unit to use its internal impedance matching hardware. I wonder if this will impede the sound?
Personally, I would bi-wire using only the A jacks with Y splitters and see how that sounds. It may be slightly easier on the amp to use A&B or B&C but you may loose some dynamics??? Your speakers should be quite an easy load on any amp, so don't worry.
By the way, when playing softly, the amp will run extremely hot. That is the class A circuitry. Don't worry. It will only run cooler if you are blasting music and with 93db speakers, I doubt you will need more than 10 watts ever!
Harold,
My guess is that you are making the amp work harder by matching the impedance between the 2 halves of your speakers. I don't know your amp but know the Yamaha very well. The Yamaha makes some HUGE compromises when adding pairs of speakers, especially the C pair. A&B are Parallel which is halving the impedance. A,B&C are using a combination of parallel & series to keep the impedance reasonable. I don't know why they ever made this option available since the amp is so nice and the feature is so junky?