Otakar Schon - 11/03/2019 
I have to say the two reviews here almost made me not buy my Yamaha A960 as the criticism here is really strong. And I dont get it. I love the machine. It does what it is supposed to do, make an audio signal stronger and pass it on to the speakers.
Blowing tweeters means only badly paired gear and using too loud volume which is fault of user, not something the amp did on its own. The sound from A960 has nice dynamics and while it may not produce enough bass for some, in my ears it does justice to the claim of natural sound (played with Q Acoustics 3050i floorstanders and Acoustique Quality Pontos bookshelf speakers with Pro-Ject Essential III runing Ortofone silver cartridge and stylus.
Thanks to the short production run caused by patent issues, these are not very popular and their prices are pretty low or better said can be found cheap in great condition even with some work done. I paid about 160 USD for mine and cant imagine getting anything this good for the price, especially in the phono stage department and cool looks. The thing looks modern even 40 years after it was build which is crazy. |
Jerry S. - 11/14/2012 
In 1977 I purchased the Marantz 2235b 35wpc Receiver and loved it for years, then thinking I was upgrading to more power and quality I purchased the Yamaha A-960 100wpc Integrated Amplifier and paid way to much for it. The sound quality was not anywhere as warm as the Marantz and power increase was just as disappointing, harsh clipping and the amp loved blowing tweeters. This is what Yamaha called there new X-Powered amps, Integrated power transistors/junk, and from this point on Yamaha quality followed, and I never would purchase another Yamaha product again. The Marantz still lives in my brothers house, the Yamaha was sold to some poor sucker, no I gave him a good deal throwing in the tuner and an awesome pair of speakers. The biggest wake up was when I tested it to the Luxman 105u a friend had me clean up for him. With two 8 ohms large speakers attached to the Luxman one channel, I was able to produced more than twice what the Yamaha could do with only one of these speakers, the Yamaha did not like 4 ohm loads. With the Luxman 105u and 2 large powerful speakers 4 ohms total load on only one channel I was afraid to blow both the speakers, so I never tun it up all the way. Years later I found out that the Luxman 105u was rated at 80wpc and 3db dynamic headroom. Prier to this Yamaha amp, I think were good, just junk came after like the Yamaha A-960. And I don't think the Yamaha A-960 II is any better! Love my Proton AA-1150, best sounding sold state amp I have ever owned and has all the power you should ever need!
Not a Yamaha fan! |
John Ashford - 06/09/2012 
I purchased my Yamaha A-960 in 1982, partnering it with a T-760 Tuner. The two units displayed clean and uncluttered brushed satin lines. The finish and construction was good. They were marketed under Yamaha\'s \'Natural Sound\' banner, and whilst they avoided the hard transistor sound of that era, the output had to be matched carefully with loudspeakers.
Unfortunately, my A-960 was feeding some KEF Concertos, which took the slightly flaccid Yamaha signal and transduced it via the polite English KEF sound of that time. The resulting soft and warm delivery was far removed from high fidelity. It lacked accurate dynamics, coherent sound staging, or any top end clarity. Fortunately, the A-960 kept developing various electrical faults, including power supply fusion, and the cute jade green buttons would sometimes arc and spark alarmingly.
I was able to move on to amplifiers and speakers which were far more accurate and durable. This was a shame because it looked very nice!! Strangely, the T-760 Tuner lives on without a whimper, now 30 years old and processing a wonderful FM signal. |
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