Very good sound quality!

None!!

Just wanted to say that this product got "best buy" in "Hifi & Music" in sweden! They did not mention any weaknesses at all! I think this is a great product!

completely all around an excellent amplifier. good value paid $429 canadian. can't go wrong at that price its not even $300 american. love the sound of Yamamha amps (personal preference) and this one is no exception

crappy remote.

This integrated amp is an outstanding price. Who cares if have a receiver you should buy this amp just for listening to music in stereo. With a pure direct function the amplifier plays it exactly how it enters your amp with no colouration of the sound. This is a feature that is extremely useful if you have a good cd player (meaning no 100 disc changers). It's plain appearence isn't pretty to look at but if you want good sound for the price look no further than this amplifier. For the price I paid there were few direct competitors that could perform the same way as this amplifier. Marantz integrated amplifiers were selling for $700 dollars and sound wise I prefered the yamaha (you have to decide this for yourself). Denon didn't have an integrated amp but did have some stereo receivers. Not really a fair comparison the price was the same but the yamaha beat the denon's in power and clarity in my opinion after comparing them.

equipment using:
yamaha rx-596 A/V receiver
yamaha ax-596 integrated amplifier
marantz mk 67se cd player
custom build speakers - dynaudio woofers, lpg tweeters, solen crossover components (strongly recommended you find somebody who can do this, you can build speakers with the same drivers of some very expensive speaker companies for a fraction of the cost)

Similar Products Used:

yamaha rx-596, denon rd-375

2x100W, gold plated terminals, very sturdy speaker terminals, looks, does not run hot at all, pre-main coupler

wouldn't know

I bought this unit to complement my Yamaha RX-V1000 receiver. It was my intention to use it as a poweramp for driving two rear-center channels (7.1 system), but I discovered that my Yamaha receiver has pre-main coupler as well, so my Yamaha receiver now amplifies my center, rear and rear-center channels whilest my front speakers are being driven by the AX-596.

After unpacking the unit I noticed the large buffer capacitors. These are much larger than the ones in my receiver. Also, per channel it uses 4 power transistors compared to the 2 transistors per channel in my receiver. I noticed the difference in 2-channel sound immediately. It's way better compared to the stereo performance of my receiver. I've got it hooked up to Dynaudio Audience 72s and at 87dB / 4Ohm these babies really need some current. I've played at ear crushing levels and have never heard any distortion, so this amp has no trouble driving them at all.

4 stars for value, because I've paid too much.