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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
donjr
1,335 posts
 
@donjr - why would I be kidding?
Any of these integrated amps will sound far better than the Sansui (or similar), and will most likely be far more reliable.
I've heard the most highly regarded vintage receivers, including TOTL Marantz, Sansui, Yamaha, Sony, and others.
Some of them sound very nice, they do have a distinct 'color', which you may like, but none of them I would consider as high-end.
I even owned a much treasured Sony VFet TAN-8550 which sounded really nice, but I never even considered using it in my main system.

-> All in my humble opinion of course.

I'm sorry Ami, I was referring to the new Yamaha. I do agree with what you said about the vintage gear. 
jond's avatar
jond
5,654 posts
 
@willland understood and apologies if I sounded defensive :)
whipsaw
753 posts
 
Top-class vintage, which can be had within the OP's price range, can sound extremely good. I would recommend considering either an Accuphase E-303 or E-303x. Worth having them recapped, but they both look and sound superb.
willland's avatar
willland
846 posts
 
@jond 

No harm done.

Enjoy the music.

Bill

paraneer's avatar
paraneer
818 posts
 
It seems that the vintage stuff fans are quick to mention their favorite unit’s:
Weight, which seems to be somehow related to build quality (?)
Maximal power output
How low of an impedance it can drive

@ami...I am curious. Who are the vintage fans that advocated the above parameters for vintage equipment? I seen no vintage advocate mention these in their posts.

There was only one true vintage unit recommended by model in this thread - the Sansui AU-717.  And while it is a fine example of a good vintage amp, none of the above mentioned parameters was specified about it.

Seems that most, if not nearly all, participants in this thread advocate modern gear.
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