One of the reasons I have joined this forum is because of the pleasant, objective attitude of the members here. No Jap bashing or US-Euro only snobbery here.
Having said that, my path to Yamaha products started in the early eighties. I graduated from various so-called esoteric products who will remain nameless for posterity's sake. Can tell you that I lost lots of $$$$ in that phase.
I auditioned Yamaha at a musician friend's house and became an instant convert. I was looking for a system with as much neutral sound as possible. Something which takes in garbage and throws out the same garbage without any modifications or exotic promises. Expressions like punchy and airy make me very nervous.
I have a myriad of Yamaha equipment today. Some of the most under rated Hi-Fi separates like the M series and their newer MX series power amps and the legendary NS-1000x speakers ( one of the flattest speakers ever to be measured ). Very few have had the opportunity to audition these gems. Most relate Yamaha to DSP or motorcycles. Yamaha's ad strategy is partly to be blamed for this too. They have always highlighted their DSP products and nothing else.
The fact that Yamaha still makes great speakers the likes of NS-200/300 or the NS8-HX are one of the least harped fact around. It is a pity that no one gives them even an audition. You see, prejudice and bias of the customers and sales plays a key role.
Now for the quality of Yamaha, my NS-1000x speakers are seventeen years old and so are the M series amp and C series pre amp I bought with them and till today they run like new.
My Yamaha CDX-1050 is eleven years old and still plays till today. I have recently picked up Yamaha's flagship DSP-AZ1 with the recently discontinued ( still available in Japan ) MX-1 class A amp. Needless to say Yamaha quality still impresses me as it did seventeen years back. I went to various shops and auditioned and checked the physical characteristics of the HT amps and can tell you that not only the Yamaha amps weighed heavier ( that too with lesser power ratings ), but featured heavier caps and high grade components. For instance, one of my friends runs a repair shop and according to him, he gets very few complaints on Yamaha and that too minor ones, OTOH, there are numerous complains on the so-called esoteric brands. According to him, even the cheapest of Yamaha components like HT receivers and CD players use Elna and Nishicon caps and heavy duty transformer cores. The trademark Yamaha sounds needs careful speaker matching or else it can sound very harsh and bright. This is where most first time Yamaha auditioners come out with a bad impression.
If you were to weigh a RXV-800 and compare it to similarly priced and powered HT receivers from it's competitors you will notice that the Yamaha weighs significantly more.
Just my thoughts on Yamaha and my request to all of you is to audition Yamaha separates like their CX-1/MX-1 pre-power combo as well as their speakers like the NS-200/300 and NS8-HX and post you reviews and opinions in this forum.
