Yamaha AX-596 Amplifier

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 operate. Also, I chose this because I wanted great sound without a tuner, and my preferred brand doesn't offer a straight-up amp.

The input source selector never worked properly. I thought it was a finesse issue, and during a very busy period of my life couldn't find the manual within the 30-day grace period or I would have returned the amp. Wasn't a major issue at the time because we only used one input source, a 300-disc CD player.

Since then we have added a singe disc CD player and will soon put in an Ipod and a satellite radio system. Yamaha acknowledges a problem with the selector and suggests taking it in for repair. What a hassle that would be. This should have been better manufactured. I own a Yamaha receiver that has never had a problem in 10 years, I also acquired two Yamaha amps for friends who still use them 15 years later.

So, I had high expectations of this brand name. I worry about product quality because we recently acquired a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano and I would hate for that to do down. The amp does sound great, however, especially since adding two Harmon Kardon speakers in the B channel so that we get amazingly crisp detail and high sound definition and spatial separation.

One small design flaw -- only offers B channel, no extra output for a sub woofer. Not a deal breaker but should be built in.