After reading this information provided by rishguru. I ended up aquiring all 3; the dsp-a1000, 2070 and 3090. All costing less than £200 on Ebay. Just wanted to see how it would compare to my M&F A5. Remember I am not ineterested in its HC - this is dated. I am only looking at the 2 channel side. The good news is that they all sounded positive. They sound was lot bigger than there watts rated (80W pc). The sound is big bold and very smooth like NAD amps - but slightly more detailed. When compared to my A5 the sq lived upto it. Out of the 3 ; the DSP-1000 is the best for audio. I will continue with further testing and keep you updated.


After further testing all of the units they go far beyond there rated power. It simply blows away my Quad 303 pre-amp and 404 power amp - not enough reserve. Audiolab 8000a, Marantz 7200 KI, Cyrus 8Vs2 with PSX and Finally Musical fidelity B1 - All these amps mentioned could not produced enough slam to satisfy my needs but however all the yammys produced earth shattering bass which was bit of a surprise - this is probably down to that titanic power supply connected via those large capacitors. Not even once the yammys sounded out of steam you could basically turn it pass 11 and it kept on going - was scared after. The sound is nice and silky smooth with good authority especially on the bass side. Next will compare with my M & F A5.

Yamaha A1000, 2070 and 3090 - which one?

The story continues with these 3 Yamaha’s that I recently acquired from eBay. All 3 Yamaha’s sounded great but I found that especially the 2070 and A1000 had even more headroom than 3090. Between 2070 and A1000 there was very little differences but I noticed A1000 was touch more refined which suited to my taste but this can be subjective. They all had similar characteristics; warm, smooth, big, bold, dark, energetic approach very like valve sound which I particular fancied .

Amps generated - front channels only

A1000 - 149 amp continuous peaked at 190 amps
A2070 - 143 amp continuous peaked at 184 amps
A3090 - 127 amp continuous peaked at 167 amps.

Current ratings are high, so in respect all 3 Yamahas should able to drive even difficult loads. Since A1000 had the biggest drive I continued with my research around this amp.

Musical Fidelity A5 versus A1000 - Battle of the titans.

Sound Quality

Both amps had huge presentation that could fill a medium to large room. Although both amps
had immense drive but their sound properties were some what quite different. The A5 was more open but less wide and had solid state feel While the A1000 was more neutral and natural which leaned more towards a tube like feel. The A1000 had more drive in low frequencies without masking mids and highs. The A5 was quite even throughout the spectrum but occasionally lost focus on highs - strange but through. The Yamaha felt more relaxing and pleasing to the ears and yet it was opposite with A5. However they both performed well in all types of music and handled complex pieces with ease. The timing, dynamics, and clarity on both amps were Excellent - I could not separate them. My heart goes towards Yamaha because it had more civil and sensible approach.

Power and drive

The A5 (250 watts per channel) on paper seemed a lot more powerful than A1000(80 watts per channel) but this wasn’t the case in reality. I had this funny feeling that Yamaha only based this calculation on average rating but the huge one box solution had lot more muscle under that bonnet. My guess would be that A1000 was at least hitting in the peaks of around 160 watts per channel and wasn’t far behind the A5. I still felt that the bass was deeper, tighter and fuller on A1000 than the A5 but on the other hand the A5 had the extra drive which put A1000 to its limits. Nonetheless, the Yamaha had enough guts and reserve to even challenge the mighty A5 in the power department. The A5 carries the extra current and charge which beats the A1000 in this area but not by much.

Damping factor under test

A5 - better than 130
A1000 - better than 137

Technology

A5 is a pure audio amp that is based on dual mono technology. A clever design.
A1000 is overly engineered AV amp that performs quite well with both audio and AV.

Conclusion

Both amps performed well in their own rights. But however Yamaha A-1000 will never be recognised as a true audio amp as the product was purely designed for HC. The logo “AV” will put many audiophiles’ off and in no way would have this at the heart of the centre. For mass market this would be an ideal amp as this would cream many sub £1000 (audiophile standard) amps. On eBay this can be picked up for merely Rs5000. Highly recommended.

Equipments used:

Marantz CD94 mkII
Jamo oriel speakers
kimber speaker cables
Wireworld interconnects
Box standard power cable (A5) as A1000 is equipped with captive power lead.

I use the Yamaha DSP A1000 as a two-channel amp in my analogue system - two channel only: all equalisation and processing bypassed.

It is fed into a pair of B&W DM302s and I use a Nakamichi 1000 Tri-Tracer cassette jobby, Tandberg 9100x reel-to-reel, B&O 1600 turntable, TASCAM 414 portastudio and the external soundcard output from my laptop.

This set-up is exactly what I was looking for to listen to the multitude of analogue sources my father left me as well as listening to some cassette wonders I haven't seen on any other format.

I also use it to master multi-track analogue demos I record for local bands then master onto my laptop using Goldwave.

The sound with this setup is nicely balanced. As it is almost purely for analogue sources and the 302s have a limited but gutsy perfomance, it can still rock the socks off the Quad 33 pre and 405 power set-up I have for emergencies (they're a bit old). The 302s are only limited in the bass but the doped paper 5inch woofer, doped fabric tweeter and the mounting of the woofer to the rear baffle and the Prism structure of the inside rear baffle ensure a clean, solid sound with very good sensitivity.

As my main system uses a modern Yamaha AV receiver, Limit Pink-Triangle tuned dvd and Tannoy 611s, the DSPA1000 system is a perfect foil to get mix correct, then the main "digital" sytem is used to ensure the final CD master is correctly balanced.

The DSP A1000 functions as a nicely-priced two channel amp - I got mine for £30 on ebay in 2007...

I see it as a good mid-end bargain used as a two-channel amp and a better substitute for the myriad of cheap powered "monitors" to be had for home recording.

My "analogue" system cost a total of £350 as well a bit of personal time cleaning stylii and demagnetising tape heads.

If you see a working example on eBay, keep an eye on it and don't spend more than £75.

Good sound, good power, flexibility.

display to small

I decided that once I found a flexible control center, I would stick with it as long as it was functional and upgradeable through add-on components that made a real difference. Adding the ddp-1 and the dsp-e492 to the dsp-a1000 just about gives me what the new receivers and intergrated amps have ( see my review for the Yamaha NS-A1738 speakers ). Still makes for a rather flexible control center. If power upgrade is needed can buy external amps. So if I do decide to replace the dsp-a1000 the dsp-492 alone with my EQ could run my system for awhile. Unlike a receiver-- if you want something done to it and have to take it somewhere you are totally down on that system setup. I also have the Technics decoder with DDS & DTS decoding with another dsp-e492 & dsp-a1000 in another system.

Similar Products Used:

none

power, sound, and all the features

none, wish some of the useless dsp modes were left off

used this unit from 1994 to september 2000. just sold it last month on ebay but unfortunately it crashed and burned through UPS, now we are trying to settle the claim. this was a sad day for me. i bought a sony es333 and outside of dts/dd i would much rather go back to the yamaha. i get incredible bass with my polk rt3000's. selling my es333 very soon as the new rxv800 or 1000 will be on my short shopping list. also should be able to pick one up cheap as mine sold for 190.00 with a yamaha tuner and cassette. i beleive this unit is much better than the dts/dd unit that are around 200-300.

crisp, clean sound. seven channel amp, extremely sturdy design. This unit weighs a ton. Good power, perfect for a theater room. It is a good unit to build around.

I seems to run really hot. I keep a fan behing it. Not alot of bass.

The doctor that my parents bought their new house from did not want it. I brought it back to my apartment and hooked it up. It sounds a little crisper than the Onkyo I was useing and it had an extra two channels for the 2 spare speakers I had stored in my closet. The extra speakers really sounded great. This is a fine piece of work.

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Onkyo

Well-sounding DSP,multichannel amplifier,good sound,VERY powerfull and STRONG construction

The display is not much functional,the remote also

This amp I find great in construction-as I'm an audio engeneer and have build about 4-6 hidh end amps and this is the best AV amp I've ever seen around.
It has a powerfull transformer and 22000uF caps for the main three channels and 8200uF for the surr. channels-four.
Onkyo vaunted their new 5 ch. amp with 22000uF,and this one haves them for only 3 channels-contemporary Yamaha amps have even more joules!The supply is about +/- 46V for the main and +/-28 for surr.-this is about 80W*3 +25W*4 at 8 ohms loads.The DSP is well-sounding,and the power amp sounds well,too-I couldn't catch a difference with my high-end one at first.As DVD's here are not many-about 100 movies,I have no source for true multi-channel sound and Pro-logic/Movie Theater is the best surrond sound engine for me,although I do not like them as other DSP modes.
This amp is great and I think it will be adequate for me for at least 2 years more /although it's already on 10!/and I bought it very cheapy,which is great!

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Other contemporary good amps and receivers above $700

It's good for movie and gaming ( I connect this to my PC and psx). I found a lot of fun with it. Dialog are clear and the Dolby works great.

Without sub, the bass sound is to weak. For music, it isn't good enough. Just an average.
Also my input selectors makes noize when i turn it.

I choose bose than yamaha a1000.

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Bose lifestyle 30, it is really nice, easy setup, dramatic, millenium style and WOW !!

This integrated amp is the greatest w/seven channel separation. It works great w/movies and music. The best part is I got it on a closeout sale at about $440!

plenty of power and easy to set up. as much punch a speaker can handle with ease without distortion.

can tend to hiss a little whilst in dsp mode with the volume at full, no music playing at this time obviosly

a nice and easy to set up sound processor, i will be looking now for the digital equivilant in the near future and have no need nor desire to sell this one neither, this will end up in the family room. value for money, if you can pick one up under $300, you have got a steal.!!

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dsp-100, dsp-300, jvc dsp , onkyo.

Everything

Small display and some features not functional without remote

I bought this unit new around 1992 and have had trouble free service from it to this day. It has great sound and features without having too many dsp modes to be able to enjoy. A great unit in stand-alone form and even better when using outboard amps from Luxman and Carver. It is used in conjunction with center, main, surround and dual subs, all from Klipsch. The only unit to equal or surpass it would be from Lexicon and that is the cornerstone of my newest system.