Yamaha C-5000/M-5000 Pre/Power Amplifier Simon Feben-Harknett

Simon Feben-Harknett

Simon Feben-Harknett, Yamaha UK's AV Product Specialist, revealed something of the 5000-series' origins to editor Paul Miller. 'The idea of the C-5000 and M-5000 came from Mr Susumu Kumazawa, Director of the AV Product Planning Group, who wanted to evolve the circuit concepts of our flagship A-S3000 integrated [HFN Nov '13].

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He wondered if a pre/power solution might achieve even greater low frequency control. So two A-S3000s were remodelled – one as a preamp and the other as a power amp to verify any performance gains.'

As the project took shape, more engineering specialists came on board. 'Mr Hidehito Aramaki, from Yamaha's AV Business Development Department, was put in charge of the C-5000's design and installed a fully floating/balanced preamp circuit.' This is the 'matched book' concept where mirror-image PCBs for the left and right channels are folded one atop the other.

'The M-5000 was led by Group Manager Mr Taro Morii who had previously been in charge of the A-S2100 and A-S1100 integrated amplifiers. The new transformer, MOSFET output stage and even the chassis and foot design were derived from his group's engineering and listening tests.'

So where does Yamaha go from here? 'We've just introduced the A-S3200, A-S2200 and A-S1200 integrated amps which all benefit from trickle-down. But we are missing a digital piece to the puzzle – perhaps a streamer – so we must be patient and wait and see...'

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