SonOfSJ
Prominent Member
@ian34g I would be curious to see how a pretty high-grade power amplifier like the Yamaha MX-A5200 would do in my kitchen. I'm not denying for a single moment that it would be a substantial step up over my existing eight-year-old Yamaha RX-A2010, but would I really need the improvement, given that my existing machine still has a lot more power that I never use, maxing out the volume control at -15dB for films? Sure, if I had the chance to make the comparison I would listen with open ears, but given that I have to be very careful with my money, I'm not convinced that it would a cost-effective upgrade, for me, compared with saving to buy a bigger television for my parlour. If I did ever get the chance to listen to this Yamaha power amplifer, or similar, I'd be hoping for an increase in clarity and dynamics which would come from the greater headroom that it would possess over my existing 2010. Then I would have to judge whether the increase in performance in my kitchen is worth the extra money.@SonOfSJ
If you're happy with the sound from the 2010 then save the money and keep it, I'd only swap it out for a model with newer formats / Hdmi revisions ect.
The Yamaha 5000 and 5200 are solid, dependable, high quality items that have been well reviewed and as you say vouched for by owners on here.
Since I started buying AV stuff in 2008 every time that I've bought a new item (nearly always without seeing or hearing it first) I've noticed an increase in performance over the previous item. The only time that that did not happen was when, very rarely, I auditioned a new subwoofer. I had, and still have, the Tannoy TS-12 subwoofer, at that time it was the only one that I had. I was considering buying the Paradigm Seismic 110 subwoofer, which was thrice the price of my Tannoy, but at the time I did have the money. So I took my Tannoy along to the shop that was selling the Paradigm, and was able to compare the two. To my ears, there wasn't much of a difference, or certainly not enough of a difference to justify the purchase. So I kept my Tannoy, and in time I bought two more!
As it happens, I wouldn't have to consider changing my existing Yamaha RX-A2010 receiver because of changing formats or HDMI revisions, because since my kitchen has such a low ceiling I really can't have Atmos speakers, and my blu-ray player has twin HDMI outputs so that if necessary it would send the newfangled HDMI video signal direct to the television while sending only the audio signal to my Yamaha.