Yamaha AX-596 Amplifier

Pros: Power / Flexibility / Price
Cons: Only middle of the road performance

If you have been following my string of reviews, you will see that I have been on the steady upgrade process for my Home Theater. I am currently using the Yamaha RXV-1 as my receiver. I got a great deal on this receiver, but after several months...

Pros: Effortless playback with plenty of understated muscle; elegant, no-frills cosmetics enclose a rugged chassis
Cons: Accepts neither optical nor coaxial digital inputs

[Second update: July 28, 2006.] I have played this amp long & hard enough to find one of its limits. Until just the other night, I had never cranked the volume beyond about 40% of the way up (which was at the insistence of a guest whose family ...

Pros: Good value. Excellent clean sound. Versatile. Bypass options a plus. Gold contacts. Solid Construction.
Cons: Only minor: maybe a sub-woofer output would be a nice touch.

I've been looking for an amplifier (integrated, solo, tube, solid state)to replace my ageing Kenwood KA-87 integrated amplifier (100W rms). Initially i eyed the Yamaha AX-496 since this would be for my bedroom system. The only models available here in ...

Pros: Sounds great. Plenty of input options. Excellent design
Cons: Not well made, not durable, does not live up to pro standards or Yamaha name

This unit has never worked properly out of the box and is in no way nearly the quality it should be and sorely lacks in durability. Compared to a 25-year-old Harmon Kardon that it replaced, it just doesn't measure. It sounds great but is frustrating to ...

Pros: Clean sound, no evidence of clipping at all.
Cons: Bland sound unless some form of additional equalization is present. No "presence".

I purchased this unit to replace an old Tandy amp that failed after many, many years. I'm still into vinyl and expect decent performance. Unfortunately as a standalone unit this does not cut it. There's a lot of emphasis today on the "Pure Direct" sound as Yamaha terms it, bypassing any form of tone control. Making an assumption that all rooms and speakers exhibit equal acoustic properties is folly. Every recording production is different. Being able to tailor the sound is beneficial, as people seemed to realize in the 60's and 70's (eg: the Tandy amp had a midrange tone control also). The variable "Loudness" control on this amp is rather useless in my opinion. It is best left to the "Flat" setting. Unfortunately, graphic equalizers of quality design seem to have gone the way of the dodo, and this is something the AX-596 screams out for.