The death of stereo may have been announced by multichannel-minded commentators some time ago, but Yamaha is just one of several big names to have announced a whole new range of stereo components recently. Of the two amplifiers in Yamaha's range, this is the upmarket offering.
The basic specification holds no surprises, with five line-level inputs plus phono (MM only) and two recording outputs. One of these is marked ‘MD', though Yamaha currently offers no MD products – there is a cassette deck, though! Tone and balance controls are bypassable and are neatly concealed behind a drop-down panel. The claimed output power of 85 watts per channel is easily surpassed in practice, with a comfortable 100 watts available on a continuous basis and some 120 watts or more on peaks.
Internal construction is likewise par for the course. The frame transformer and mostly single-sided circuit boards would have raised no eyebrows 20 years ago. Closer inspection reveals some more modern circuits, including the surface-mounted ICs that handle source switching. Output is via a single pair of bipolar transistors per channel, mounted on internal heatsinks, and the volume control is a motorised mechanical potentiometer.
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Yamaha's publicity for this amplifier makes extensive use of buzzwords (we particularly like Total Purity Audio Reproduction
Technology or ‘ToP-ART') but it's clear that this is an evolutionary rather than revolutionary product.
SOUND QUALITY
The AX-497 has an essentially clean and tidy presentation, no obvious foibles in the coloration department, good extension at top and bottom of the range, and a generally open approach to dynamics and imaging.
