Yamaha's new 2 channel components

Yashu

Yeah, the vintage stuff is your best option... They still sound good!

But I am definitely on the side of the fence where these large companies should be able to offer a comparable product at a lower price using their vastly superior network of sales fronts and materials procurement. Look, I work in a business where all of this comes into play, I know how this goes, you win them when you are small, and you rape them when you are large. Large companies have a totally different culture... small companies are all about the work and craftsmanship at a reasonable price (how else are they going to win sales?), but large companies have all these people slacking off and working salary jobs with vague quotas and billing hours... Their sales are mostly due to brand name recognition/convenience at this point. When you buy this new amp and CDP, you are paying for that.. you are paying the extra money it costs to run a product through that type of system.

Sometimes it works out... like someone said... they can pack more features and offer a good deal at a low price... Doesn't mean it is going to be the best. This is a good analogy, you think Chili's restaurant is REALLY the best food in town? No!, but you know what you are getting and there is enough to please everyone. look at wallmart. All quantity, evil at a good price, no quality. I am not saying that these new yammies have no quality, I am saying that it costs a lot more than it should, and that slack/red-tape cost is passed onto the consumer. It's not "padding", it's just how large companies work. I am willing to bet my entire system that you can find products out there from vastly smaller companies that sound better, or sound just as good, but at a much lower price.

Is pounds per unit the new measurement now? It's 50lbs, so it must go to 11 right?

I don't think these are going to do a huge run anyway... there is not much market in this. The people that KNOW, aren't going to bite anyway, it's the people that don't know, that see the name, see that it's better than the other products they offer, and are happy to pay the extra price to get it. There are a lot more people out there like this than you think, and it is smart to at least offer a product like this, to give the sense of buying from a company that sells the truly high end. Ever walk into a Bose store... it will crack you up, try it sometime. Listen to the customers and listen to what they say... It's BOSE!!! It HAS to be good, RIGHT? It's cost is just another way to make people think they are buying something good, elite, a status symbol. Bose COULD sell their products for 50% of the price and still make money... but then they would just be another HTIB company in a pool of many.

LuSh

Yashu;

To me 50 LBS to me is a good indication of a solid state amplifier. Weight usually is with the case of solid state. Running a fully balanced design is not a 'feature' it's a design concept that usually isn't found at that price point. I haven't heard the Yamaha butI wouldn't discredit it simply because it's from a large company.

In regards to quality: Here's a challenge .... find a better SACD player on the market (5 years ago) then the Sony SCD-1 or 777ES when they first came for even double the price. Consider a Marantz current reference SACD player and compare to the compeition. My point is that when these companies pour resources to make statement products profit margins are usually pushed aside in favour of performance. In some cases they are lost leaders used to increase brand reputation and image.

Yashu

But the Marantz and the Sony are budget items compared to some of the audiophile SACD options. Your comparison makes no sense.

The Marantz is a good deal, actually, considering what you get.

Look, I am not trying to really get into an argument, but I will say, that weight is not everything. You can build a dual mono Gainclone, and it isn't going to weight as much, but the amp would probably beat the Yamaha amp section.

We don't even know if the weight is from the amp section and PSU... it could very well be a lot of aluminum billet. Toroidal transformers also weight less than the standard type... There is a lot we don't know about the thing... I am sure they sound good... but time will tell if they sound great.

LuSh

My comparison makes perfect sense. The Sony 777ES was a reference product regardless of price when it was first introduced into the market place. That was my point. It was a lost leader for Sony; you'd have to spend nearly 3-4 times that price to get a dCS stack which would offer superior quality, there were no SACD players at the time that had the same performance/price value.

We'll agree to disagree.

Yashu

Yes we do... the fact they COULD offer that performance for the price proves that there are advantages to having that kind of manufacturing capability and market penetration... Yamaha could have done that with these products, and while I don't agree that even the Sony player was a loss leader, even if it was, that kind of thing would be the perfect way to get the Yamaha name back into hifi... No offense, but they are beat by Onkyo, Denon, and sometimes H/K in most of the product ranges... not many people are crazy about the sound of their latest gear.

Having that capacity gives them an opportunity, but I suppose, that since 2 channel isn't exactly the money maker for this kind of company, they didn't care to take it... they at least have a product out there, and a little "vintage" design never hurts, esp. these days (with the large Japanese leaders) when stuff is basically designed to fail, rather than when it was designed to last.

WilliamM2

don't think these are going to do a huge run anyway... there is not much market in this. The people that KNOW, aren't going to bite anyway, it's the people that don't know, that see the name, see that it's better than the other products they offer, and are happy to pay the extra price to get it.

People who don't know what? You haven't heard these Yamaha's.

Do you buy your components based on sound, or on whether you think they have the right high-end name on the front?

Yashu

Sound, which is why I would like to hear these sometime... hopefully, they will make their way into stores.

Mardelgo

Here some inside pics from the cd player::)

Mardelgo

And the amp::)

Yashu

That amp looks like serious business. It doesn't look like a class D "filler" like the other Japanese makers have been producing for integrateds.

capitan100

I've got a Yamaha CA-610II down in the basement.

How does it sound on Polk SDA 2B's? I was thinking about hooking it up. Will it work for those speakers? Or is it not enough power to drive the SDA's?

mhardy6647

Vintage Polk and Yamaha is/was a match made in heaven. For agnostics and atheists, let's just say there's significant synergy there. :-)

I don't know if the 610II has enough oomph for the SDA 2Bs, though.

unc2701

Just saw that yamaha on the raleigh CL:

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/ele/520390128.html