Hi there!
I think one of the great joys I've had over the last 30 or so years is
listening to music in ever increasing audio quality.
I was able - through luck and circumstance - get my hands on a hand made
Microsieki CD Player 17 years ago which was in mink condition, for those
who want to find out what's so special about this CD Player then your
friend Google will find quite a bit of reading material for you.
The trick then was to find an integrated amp that would show off the
best this CD Player could offer.
I had a Denon AVR2000 early model surround-sound integrated amp which -
in 1992 - was a wonderful amp but I never seriously thought of it as an
audio workhorse.
A couple of weeks ago a friend in Brisbane QLD - more than 1000 miles
away from where I live - offered me his complete kit of Hi-Fi which
included a Yamaha AS-1000 audiophile integrated amplifier, could this be
the chance I've been looking for? Would this amp do justice to the
Microsiki CD Player?
I negotiated a price and we then both had to work out how to get the
gear from point A to point B, we were talking over 130 pounds here and
the regular services such as Australia Post wouldn't have a bar of this
sort of thing given the Amp and extra equipment had to be packed and
then shipped.
We came across a firm called Pack And Send http://www.packandsend.com.au
and they do exactly what their name suggests, give them the measurements
of what needs packing, they'll give you a quote and - if you accept -
they'll come out, take the goods away, pack them and send them.
Well the goods were packed and sent last Tuesday and I had them last
Friday Afternoon, incredibly good going.
So I've connected the Amp to the CD Player and my dreams have come true,
incredibly deep bass and a lovely silky top and that's just from the
analogue audio ports onf the CD Player.
There's a little difference when listening through my Rotel DAC but not
as much as I expected.
I expected the difference between listening to the DAC and the Analogue
outputs of the CD Player to be greater given the age of the Microsiki CD
Player but perhaps the hand picked components the CD Player is made from
says a lot here.
Now to the AS-1000 amplifier and this piece is a true old school type
amplifier, looking at it you're transported back in time to the 70s
however this Amp is more modern than that.
The Amp does have a digital circuit which actually controls volume,
Balance, Bass and treble even though the Amp has these controls as
traditional analogue pots on the front, the pots don't actually control
their respective functions in an analogue way rather they control the
digital circut which in tern controls the output of each function.
When Balance etc are turned to their centre you hear a relay click as
each is taken out of circuit - bypass or flat mode -, how very
reassuring it is to hear those nice relays click off when the knobs
reach their center positions and then click on again when they are moved.
The volume control again controls the volume through the digital circuit
though it has a motor behind a gearbox which turns the knob when you use
the volume up/down buttons on the remote control.
The AS-1000 should provide enough power at 90 Watts RMS per channel to
drive most speakers.
I've not connected a turntable to the AS-1000 but when I do then the
flexibility of the turntable arrangement will present itself, either a
moving magnet or moving coil cartridge can be used.
If you wish to go further in your listening experience then you could
connect either a pre-amp orp Power-amp to this unit or perhaps a
Sub-Woofer if you felt that way inclined, the AS-1000 has facilities for
bi-amp speaker configurations.
The AS-1000 weighs in at 45 pound and has wooden sides with a font panel
sparcely populated with knobs and dials, only what you need is here.
So you want to buy one of these amps new? Well I believe the Amp has
been replaced with a newer model - the AS-1100 -, I did see a price of
$2500 Australian on this amp several months ago so perhaps that gives
you an idea of what you can expect to pay for one new.
--
**********
"Live each day as if you were goiing to die tomorrow, learn each day as
if you were going to live forever"
