I am biased toward tubes.
But I have similar beginnings.
My first "hifi" purchase was a pair of Polk s-10 speakers.
I later upgraded to the rt-10, then the rt-800. At some point inthere I sold my mom's Onkyo rack system to purchase a demo Sony 808ES receiver. Actually sounded pretty good. OR at least, good match for the Polks. At this point, I was bitten, and decided to begin lookingto the "high end" brands for future upgrades. (ha!) I was looking at Adcom, Parasound, etc, and was planning to use my Sony as a preamp and buy a real power amp. I settled on the Parasound HCA 1000A. Good amp for the $. Still, no jaw dropping difference, there was more bass, however.
My first "oh my God!" came when I demoed a CJ pv-10Al preamp.
I had the same Polk towers, the same Parasound Amp, I think by this time a Parasound CD player. The CJ was incredible.
Looking back, I think that maybe I would have bought a good pre first, and used my Sony as an amp. I thought, however, that the Sony was OK, just not the last word.
You're pretty down on your Yamaha, and the word on the street is, the Yamaha units are competent.
Why do you not like the sound you're getting? DO you listen at ear splitting levels, and experience maybe some distortion, or perhaps your woofers bottoming out?
An outboard amp isn't going to change this alot, by that I mean, you might get 3-6 more db (not a lot more volume, perception-wise) but you're still going to distort, and overdrive your woofers.
IF the listening levels are more moderate, and you're experiencing the dissatisfaction, I could mor ereadily agree that maybe you need to upgrade something.
OK, so what to upgrade?
I think that a Preamp makes a bigger difference than an amp- meaning, it's easier for me to hear differences between preamps that are of similar design and quality than amps. I don't know why, and I'm sure that some will disagree.
The thing I would suggest, is that you decide what your goal is. Do you want to make this one change, and that's it? OR are you going to allow yourself to upgrade the entire system, once the big has got you?
Traditional thought is, upgrade the amp. That's what I did first, but as I said, I would have done it differently, had I the ability to do it again. Your situation may be different.
Common sense says a receiver shouldn't be able to drive difficult speakers, but my friend who bought my Hales REv 3s was able to get pretty decent sound with an upper end Onkyo receiver. Something that I would not have thought possible.
So, Consider these words of advice: Think before you spend.
Ask your dealers for a Tubed Preamp to take home. it might just be what you need. IF you're dead set on an amp, I would suggest that you look into tubes. ROgue Audio makes some great inexpensive stuff (Model 88 amp is less than $1k used) they're made in teh USA, and the manufacturer stands behind their products. Other than that, I'd suggest a Musical Fidelity A3Cr amp, should be less than $1k used, was teh cheapest amp to make a Stereophile Magazine Class A recommended components list, I've heard one, and it's definately a good sounding solid state amp. I think I might be able to live with one, if tubes weren't around...
anyway, good luck, and try searching the forums here for good amps.
Joe
But I have similar beginnings.
My first "hifi" purchase was a pair of Polk s-10 speakers.
I later upgraded to the rt-10, then the rt-800. At some point inthere I sold my mom's Onkyo rack system to purchase a demo Sony 808ES receiver. Actually sounded pretty good. OR at least, good match for the Polks. At this point, I was bitten, and decided to begin lookingto the "high end" brands for future upgrades. (ha!) I was looking at Adcom, Parasound, etc, and was planning to use my Sony as a preamp and buy a real power amp. I settled on the Parasound HCA 1000A. Good amp for the $. Still, no jaw dropping difference, there was more bass, however.
My first "oh my God!" came when I demoed a CJ pv-10Al preamp.
I had the same Polk towers, the same Parasound Amp, I think by this time a Parasound CD player. The CJ was incredible.
Looking back, I think that maybe I would have bought a good pre first, and used my Sony as an amp. I thought, however, that the Sony was OK, just not the last word.
You're pretty down on your Yamaha, and the word on the street is, the Yamaha units are competent.
Why do you not like the sound you're getting? DO you listen at ear splitting levels, and experience maybe some distortion, or perhaps your woofers bottoming out?
An outboard amp isn't going to change this alot, by that I mean, you might get 3-6 more db (not a lot more volume, perception-wise) but you're still going to distort, and overdrive your woofers.
IF the listening levels are more moderate, and you're experiencing the dissatisfaction, I could mor ereadily agree that maybe you need to upgrade something.
OK, so what to upgrade?
I think that a Preamp makes a bigger difference than an amp- meaning, it's easier for me to hear differences between preamps that are of similar design and quality than amps. I don't know why, and I'm sure that some will disagree.
The thing I would suggest, is that you decide what your goal is. Do you want to make this one change, and that's it? OR are you going to allow yourself to upgrade the entire system, once the big has got you?
Traditional thought is, upgrade the amp. That's what I did first, but as I said, I would have done it differently, had I the ability to do it again. Your situation may be different.
Common sense says a receiver shouldn't be able to drive difficult speakers, but my friend who bought my Hales REv 3s was able to get pretty decent sound with an upper end Onkyo receiver. Something that I would not have thought possible.
So, Consider these words of advice: Think before you spend.
Ask your dealers for a Tubed Preamp to take home. it might just be what you need. IF you're dead set on an amp, I would suggest that you look into tubes. ROgue Audio makes some great inexpensive stuff (Model 88 amp is less than $1k used) they're made in teh USA, and the manufacturer stands behind their products. Other than that, I'd suggest a Musical Fidelity A3Cr amp, should be less than $1k used, was teh cheapest amp to make a Stereophile Magazine Class A recommended components list, I've heard one, and it's definately a good sounding solid state amp. I think I might be able to live with one, if tubes weren't around...
anyway, good luck, and try searching the forums here for good amps.
Joe