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Yamaha A-S500 vs. Yamaha A-S700 w/Polk A3's (1 Viewer)

sageRJ

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Hello all.

I'm either getting the Yamaha A-S500BL or Yamaha A-S700BL. With my AudioQuest Dragonfly and a pair of Polk RTi A3's would you say 700 is over kill? Power wise I've read there's not much difference. What I've read is that the the jump from 5-700 is that wonderful natural Yamaha sound people buying Yamaha seek. I imagine both will be plenty loud and more than enough to push my A3's to "very loud" (which I need sometimes), but overall I'm an SQ man.What your input?Anyone else with input would really really help as well!! (Hence I spelled every word out, to help searchers find the thread, haha)

Thanks in advance,
-Ryan
 

schan1269

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In my personal opinion...

The 700 is a no-brainer for the simple fact it includes pre in/out jumpers.

So...you can get an external subwoofer(or crossover) to have a real 2.1* system and have a "crossed over" frequency sent back into the 700 for the 2.0 portion.

Or, because of the pre in/out you can use this to control a more powerful amp...or use this in conjunction with another pre-amp.

Cause one day an amp channel will die(many years down the road, you hope) and you can still use it.
Or the pre-amp side gets fried(it can happen) and you can still use its amps.

*Yes I know the 700 includes a pre-out for subwoofer. But I doubt that it removes the sub frequencies from the upper portion.(but...it might...I haven't read the manual)
 

sageRJ

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First off, thanks for very detailed response. Since the 5 and 700 have about the same output wpc and the 500 has that sub pre-out. I should include that the sub I have has a crossover built in already for what I want it playing. That being said, would you still say 700 no brainer? Or do you think the 500 should suffice for my purposes?
 

schan1269

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What I'm referring to as sub crossover...Does either one actually have a setting telling itself you are using a sub?Or is the sub out "simply hot" all the time and full range goes to the speakers no matter what?
 

sageRJ

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The sub has terminal inputs so I have to wire from the receiver to the sub, back to the receiver. I then set the subs built-in crossover to 80 or so.
 

schan1269

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You aren't understanding my point.

The point is...

When you use the subwoofer output on the 500/700...

Is it "always hot" and the speakers you connect to the 500/700 are running full range + the subwoofer...

Or...

IS THERE A SETTING IN THE 500/700 THAT HAS YOU TELL IT THAT YOU ARE USING A SUBWOOFER AND THEN IS SENT TO THE SPEAKERS?????????????????????????????????????
 

schan1269

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If the answer falls along "always hot" and the speakers are full range + subwoofer, then you could use an external crossover with the S700 and send back into the S700.

Removing 80hz and under increases the clarity of your RTiA3. Cause you'll be removing wasted energy.
 

sageRJ

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Now I'm confused. You're asking me "IS THERE A SETTING IN THE 500/700... etc" when all of that was the point of my original post. Therefore I DON'T KNOW! haha. All i know is that since im using the terminals on my sub which then go to the Polk A3's, they know that they're only getting audio over 80 freqs.
 

schan1269

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You have to read the manual to see if the high level utilizes a crossover.

Even if it did, you'd have more control with an external crossover. Then you could choose as low as 40hz(which the RTiA3 will achieve).
 

sageRJ

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So, with my current setup (sub and polk's) without an external crossover you DO think the extra couple hundred dollars is worth the 700 instead? It just seems like the 500 does everything I need/want for much cheaper.
 

schan1269

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Change that. The "other day" the 500 was $399 and the 700 was $499. Now the 500 is $349(Amazon can't "charge less" than the price you find at Best Buy or at any other "mom and pop" shop).

$150...I'd still buy the 700. But that is me. I have different requirements in the audio I buy. There is no way I would pass up on the pre out/in the 700 has.
 

John Baker

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Everywhere I've looked, the 700 is currently priced at $799.99 - twice the price of the 500. For my money, that's a bit too high a premium to pay for a set of jumpers. ;-)

The specs and construction are so similar that unless you have a real need to be able to separate the preamp and power amp, I'd go with the 500 without a second thought. Also, the 500 has an integral iPod dock, which the 700 doesn't. That's of no consequence to me, but it may be important to some.

I've been looking pretty closely at the 500 myself, since I'll soon be needing a replacement for a dying Pioneer SX-780. I'm pretty much a vintage guy, but the price of good, well cared for vintage components has gone through the roof in recent years, and Yamaha's line of integrateds looks to me like the best affordable alternative.
 

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