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Yamaha C-5000 Preamplifier, M-5000 Power Amp, NS-5000 Loudspeaker, GT-5000 Turntable

Yamaha C-5000 Preamplifier, M-5000 Power Amp, NS-5000 Loudspeaker, GT-5000 Turntable

I have a dream for audio. It’s the dream that a brand already embedded in the greater culture will pick up the torch of “better sound matters” and expand the universe of participants, creating a momentum that sweeps our little specialty audio world into a bigger, brighter, and more prosperous future. Like I said, a dream.

Imagine my enthusiasm then when I was approached to review a full system from a company that is the largest manufacturer of musical instruments on this planet, a review of highly ambitious products from a company whose corporate logo appears under the hands of Lady Gaga, Elton John, John Mayall, and many, many more, an opportunity to explore the “high-end” efforts of a more than 130-year-old Japanese firm with a market cap of approximately $8¼ billion dollars (not including its motorsports division), a brand that was already in my house, appearing every time my son pulls out his trumpet, a brand name that would be familiar to nearly every man and woman on the street. Yamaha.

Making up for Lost Time: The 5000 Series
Yamaha left the high-performance electronics marketplace in the 1990s with the market winds blowing in the direction of home theater. I’ll blame that decision on corporate bean-counters. (They’re everywhere it seems.) The subject of this review marks Yamaha’s return to the audio deep end with a complete system—the 5000 Series—comprising the GT-5000 turntable ($7999), the C-5000 preamplifier ($9999), the M-5000 power amplifier ($9999), and the NS-5000 loudspeakers ($14,999 including stands). This system is not a cautious dip of the toes in the water. The 5000 Series is a nineteen-engineer/eight-year-in-the-making, full cannonball dive off the high platform. Yamaha announced it as its “biggest statement in the hi-fi market since it coined the term ‘hi-fi’ 65 years ago.”

That last pronouncement is particularly bold when one considers that Yamaha’s history in the industry has earned it a very loyal and hungry following. Yamaha pioneered the use of beryllium in loudspeaker drivers and developed a vacuum-deposition molding process to create the world’s first pure (well, 99.99% pure) beryllium diaphragm…in 1974! The speaker utilizing this technology was the NS-1000(M). It had a 23-year run through various iterations and sold over 200,000 units (not a misprint). Many other now-vintage Yamaha “hi-fi” products sell for much more today than they did new. The NS-5000 loudspeakers and GT-5000 turntable are obvious descendants of Yamaha’s earlier, well-regarded 1000/2000 Series, but designed (as you will read) with clean new slates.

Four Components, One Review, True Sound
I was fortunate to have been invited by Yamaha to its North American debut/training event for the 5000 Series, led by the former head product engineer and now product planner for all Yamaha hi-fi products, Susumu Kumazawa. I wish that all of you could have been there, because the training allowed for an inside peek into Yamaha’s engineering prowess and manufacturing capabilities, which are combined with an overriding aesthetic that serves to balance the technical with the human. The training demonstrated a special maturity and honesty behind the 5000 Series project. It demonstrated value.

Yamaha C-5000 Preamplifier, M-5000 Power Amp, NS-5000 Loudspeaker, GT-5000 Turntable

NS-5000 Loudspeaker Technical Details
Earlier I referred to Yamaha’s longstanding, technically groundbreaking NS-1000 speakers. The NS-5000 is a loudspeaker of similar type (three-way “bookshelf”) and dimensions, although the NS-1000M was a sealed design and the NS-5000 is ported. In every other way, the NS-5000 is a clean slate. Looks the same. Isn’t the same.

The headline technical story is Zylon. Yamaha heralds it as the world’s strongest fiber. Stronger than carbon fiber. Stronger and lighter than beryllium. A single 1.5mm strand can lift a ton. It’s the material that is used to keep the wheels of an F1 car from breaking free in a crash. Perhaps more importantly, Zylon sets a benchmark in its balance of excellent stiffness and damping. So, while its stiffness (Yamaha calls it acoustic velocity) is on par with beryllium, its damping (Yamaha calls it internal loss) approaches that of polypropylene and pulp/paper. Zylon seems to promise an ideal blend of speed and smoothness, without the extremes of either side (i.e. etched on the one hand and sluggish on the other).

Yamaha believes (rightly, my listening suggests) that it has a wonderful material for loudspeaker diaphragms. As you will all know, Yamaha also manufactures pianos. You can’t blame them for concluding that the best way to reproduce all 88 keys through a loudspeaker is to use that same material for every vibrating surface. One sound, top to bottom. The problem is, how does one manufacture speaker diaphragms with 100% Zylon strands? Others had tried.

Yamaha flexed its diverse capability and leveraged its Yamaha Fine Industries (which makes wooden panels for luxury cars) to realize this goal. It took five years just to develop the manufacturing techniques and tooling. The NS-5000? One-hundred percent Zylon for the 1¼” tweeter, the 3¼” dome midrange, and the 12″ woofer. Really big-company stuff. Manufacturing know-how and muscle power not available to 99.99% of our industry.

Just as interesting to me is what is out of sight—inside the 5000s. The older 1000/2000 Series was stuffed with damping material. The NS-5000 has none. Instead, Yamaha has taken a more targeted, measured (literally and figuratively) approach. For lower-frequency internal cabinet resonances, it deploys two “J”-shaped acoustic absorbers (think small Helmholtz resonators) to passively oppose the most offending internal low frequencies. For mid- and high-frequency “tube” resonances, it developed two Resonance Suppression (R.S.) chambers that extend from the back of the midrange and tweeter. Each are double, unequal-length tubes modeled to cancel problematic higher resonant frequencies. Turns out that Yamaha knows a thing or two about resonant tubes/chambers. It had special software used in the analyzing and simulating of trumpets, flutes, clarinets, French horns, etc., etc. to aid in the R.S. chamber designs. The result (if one can judge a piece of technology within a much more complex engineering puzzle) is devastatingly effective.

The same measure then treat approach was used for the internal bracing of the laminated white birch cabinet. A combination of predictive FEM analysis with real-word laser vibroscope measurements allowed for precise location of cross-bracing. Even the design of the supplied stand for the NS-5000 was considered for its impact on the radiated sound. Its open structure significantly reduces reflections when compared to a solid surface base.

The loudspeakers are single-wired, with all drivers connected in positive phase. Mundorf parts are sprinkled in. PC Triple C (Pure Copper Continuous Crystal Construction) cabling to a circuit board coated on both sides with a copper-foil pattern four times the thickness of traditional construction. This is said to ease current flow and reduce wiring length. The speaker terminals are solid brass.

A quick word on the stand, which provides a useful feature. The loudspeaker sits on four very smooth metal discs/sliders located at the stand’s corners. The speaker is then safely fastened to the stand via a single, centrally located bolt. This allows one to easily rotate each speaker around its axis to adjust toe without having to move the stand. Final adjustments of a loudspeaker can prove to be a very awkward procedure, so Yamaha’s solution was much appreciated!

Finally, the piano-black finish of the NS-5000 (and the rest of the components in the Series, for that matter) puts most of the industry to shame. Many other manufacturers use the term “piano black” loosely. Yamaha, on the other hand, knows a thing or two about the process, and it shows. The speakers have significant girth as objects in your room (piano black is accurate, while “bookshelf” is not), but the finish allows all kinds of beautiful reflections from your room to show. The NS-5000s look special. Beyond nice appliances.

M-5000 Power Amplifier/ C-5000 Preamplifier Technical Details
If you are a fan of the 1970s’ audio aesthetic, get ready to have your salivary glands checked for overactivity. The Yamaha M-5000 power amplifier and C-5000 preamplifier are stunning, and they only get more so the closer you come to and the more you use them. Though the C-5000 is over forty pounds and the M-5000 is nearly sixty, the controls have a refined, almost delicate precision that shows real attention to detail. Physically using these components was one of the most satisfying experiences of this type I’ve had, and it’s an indication that Yamaha took the core principle of emotional connection seriously. The five middle vent slats on both components represent the music staff, and there’s an intentional musical “rhythm” to the spacing of the front controls on the C-5000. Some of life’s most rewarding moments can be found in the unnecessary. Yamaha gets it.

The common electrical themes for these two components are: solid-state (no tubes); low impedance; short signal paths; and floating, balanced, symmetrical circuit design. When used with the recommended GT-5000 turntable, you get a fully balanced signal from cartridge pins to loudspeakers that is also being isolated (floated) from ground noise. Internal connections are of the “beefy cables directly screwed to beefy terminals” variety for low impedance. Both components also include clever solid brass feet where a spiked foot rests on bottom “guard” or footer that is held captive, so that when you lift the components the protective footer stays connected (I’m forever losing these types of things, so thank you Yamaha).

The C-5000’s mc head amp and phono EQ amp are fully discrete and fully balanced. Gain? You get plenty. At 100 micro-volts input on the mc head amp for 1V output, I calculate 80dB of gain! That’s a ton. It powered through my 0.15mV Denon DL-S1 (though I used the excellent Ortofon Cadenza Black for most of the review) like it was a moving magnet. The C-5000 is a powerhouse. There are switches all over the thing to turn the gain down if needed, both individually at the inputs or via the front panel. But this was never an issue. Provisions for cartridge load adjustments are found on the front panel, where I like them.

Special detail on the preamplifier? Yamaha came up with an idea borrowed from wooden instruments like violins to “book-match” the PCBs (printed circuit boards). This meant having two perfectly symmetrical boards that are folded onto one another to minimize ground loops when other components are connected, as well as to keep signal paths short and dimensionally identical. I held this assembly in my hands, and it’s just an elegant, simple solution.

Technical head-scratcher on the preamplifier? You’ve got all this beautiful, discrete, balanced circuitry, and the choice was made to include an IC volume control. I get the engineering story—Yamaha tested it against fancy discrete options, and found they were sonically indistinguishable. Plus, the IC provides a shorter signal path. But I live in the world of perception leading reality when it comes to buyers’ wallets, and I’m telling Yamaha that even if it’s an even race sonically and technically (which may or may not be the case), it isn’t an even race in the story told. I would never recommend taking a step back performance-wise just to tell a story and make the marketing department happy, but I’d fight like hell if I were on the Yamaha team to implement a discrete volume control if there were no downsides other than cost. I’m a simple guy with a philosophy degree. If you tell me discrete circuits matter everywhere else, then you break my nodding momentum by telling me to look the other way here.

The M-5000 power amplifier presents you with mesmerizing, superbly executed meters. I don’t use meters, but for some odd reason I’ll spend a few minutes at a time just watching them…move. Signs of life deep within I suppose. The M is a fully symmetrical, parallel MOSFET, Class AB amplifier that runs very cool. Cooler in fact than the preamplifier. This is not a biased-into-Class-A amplifier like a Luxman or an Accuphase, but it is said to be stable down to 2-ohm loads (into which it would provide a useful 500Wpc).

Special detail on the power amplifier? The wiring from the massive transformer is directly drawn out from the wound core, rather than (as is typically the case) having a soldered connector terminating the transformer’s winding. Just a little extra effort claimed to reduce energy/information loss. The fact that Yamaha cared so much about every nook and cranny makes me care more as well. 

GT-5000 Turntable Technical Details
Remember the guiding principle of True Sound? Consider. Yamaha’s engineering team chose a turntable—the “Gigantic” (G) and “Tremendous” (T) GT-5000—as its source for its modern, technical solution to the True Sound challenge. Yamaha doesn’t even offer a digital source, since it feels that the GT-5000 most closely fulfills its ultimate sonic goals. That it is purer. That it is a more direct connection between the music and the listener. This is a curious, bold, powerful proclamation. And if you think the company made the trendy choice, think again. At every turn (it’s a turntable…), it made difficult choices that were not market friendly.

Yamaha C-5000 Preamplifier, M-5000 Power Amp, NS-5000 Loudspeaker, GT-5000 Turntable

You think the C and M 5000 components use a lot of brass in their construction? That pales in comparison to the giant brass ones the engineers at Yamaha must have had to make the technical decisions they made regarding the GT-5000 turntable. If you really want to light a certain groups’ hair on fire, just take a highly regarded direct-drive vintage Japanese ’table like Yamaha’s GT-2000(x), and then introduce an identically sized ’table years later that ditches direct- for belt-drive. What’s that? The hair isn’t burning brightly enough? Fine, we’ll put a straight, no-offset tonearm on it as the only option. Time to cook the marshmallows—we’ve got a good old fire going now.

So, let’s get right to it and address these choices.

Belts: Get with the Flow
Yamaha started the GT-5000 project with the assumption that it, like the GT-2000, would be a direct-drive turntable. It may have even (wink, wink) have tested some possible direct-drive motors of current high regard. But what it concluded is that the direct-drive feedback model is unnatural (not in nature), that direct drive’s superior ppm speed accuracy is not such an important factor in expressing music. The experience of music is in the moment—not the experience of an average (which is what parts per million is).

That Yamaha pillar of openness had been borrowed from one of its piano engineers. It was the idea of a direct connection between the stage and the listener. The concept of a continuous, unbroken experience. Yamaha uses belt drive in the GT-5000 because it believes the belt minimizes the effects of motor cogging and negates feedback control. It chose belt drive as the smoother, more open way to turn a platter. I’d say it found belt drive to be more analogous to nature and music. It’s not a disturbance in the force (my kids are into Star Wars right now).

In the end, Yamaha has built well-regarded direct-drive turntables. When I asked Kumazawa-san about the GT-2000x in comparison, he simply said, “It was good in its day.” Yamaha clearly feels this is a new day.

Straight, No Offset
Except in the case of tangential or linear-tracking tonearms, our stylus is almost always “in error” when it comes to the geometry of tracing the groove. In the best of circumstances, a pivoted tonearm is correctly in tangent with the groove at either one or two “points” on an LP (sort of pathetic when you think about it). The most common approaches to minimizing the total amount of error (pivoted ’arms are still in error, just less total percentage error) is to angle or “offset” the tonearm (either at the headshell, or with a curved or “S”-shaped arm) and/ or increase the tonearm’s length so that the arc traced across the record is wider. 

To give a rough idea, these offset techniques can reduce the maximum tracking error occurring near the beginning and end of an album from over 10 degrees (in a pure 9″ straight ’arm) to approximately 2 degrees. It’s a significant tracking advantage that everyone knows about, including Yamaha, which has produced many offset tonearms over the years, not to mention the electrically controlled “symmetrical linear arm” in 1978 that reduced “the previously inevitable tracking error of the record to zero.” Why then would they not use such obvious, simple, and effective techniques?

The answer is that technical questions and answers rarely occur in a vacuum. Our minds can isolate factors that may be highly interrelated in the real world. Every engineer on the planet Earth would argue it’s a good thing to reduce tracking error if it could be done in perfect isolation. In the case of a pivoted ’arm, however, as soon as we offset it we introduce a secondary, angular (vector) force. In a straight tonearm, the pulling friction from the groove is in alignment with the ’arm’s pivot. In an angled tonearm, that friction is no longer aligned with the pivot. This introduces or creates a new vector, referred to as skating force. Skating force is a “pull” of the arm inwards, towards the center spindle (nothing to do with a centripetal, outward force of the spinning record). In a strange way, the offset tonearm is “trying” to be straight-aligned with its pivot. And here’s an important point: This inward skating force varies in strength depending on the frictional strength of the ever-changing groove. In other words, as the stylus moves in the groove like a boat in the ocean, the frictional drag force varies, which in turn varies that angular force we call skating.

Just like the drug industry has the very profitable cycle of treat symptom/create symptom/treat the next symptom/cash more checks, we have a drug for this newly introduced skating-force symptom, cleverly called anti-skate. Springs, magnets, twisting of cables, counterweights on strings. There are many ways to oppose the skating forces introduced by offset tonearms. The fundamental issue is that we are applying a constant force to a variable problem. There’s a tug of war going on at the cantilever/stylus, with anti-skate trying to hold a boat at dock with the same force, while the waves cause the boat to change the “tug” force on the rope. Yamaha calls this difference of forces at the cantilever the power gap. The power gap is a variable that leads directly to distortion, influencing things like channel separation and focus.

A purely straight tonearm doesn’t have this power gap, because it doesn’t introduce the skate/anti-skate quandary. The drag force of the groove is in alignment with the ’arm’s pivot. Yamaha calls this an advantage of traceability. Put as simply as possible, Yamaha believes that the advantages in traceability outweigh the disadvantages of tracking angle error. To its credit, Yamaha is very upfront regarding those disadvantages. To quantify it a bit, a no-offset straight ’arm increases maximum tracking error from about 2 degrees to about 10 degrees, which increases the accompanying “extra” force on the stylus from about 0.02g in a typical 9″ offset tonearm to 0.1g in a straight ’arm of similar length. Put in some perspective, the typical force of the stylus dragging in a groove with a VTF of 2g is approximately 0.6g. Your penalty for the straight ’arm is about 8 more degrees of maximum tracking error then, which equates to 0.08g of extra side force, and a phase shift that results in a maximum channel difference of 2.1mm at your listening chair. Worst case scenarios at the innermost and outermost grooves.

There’s more, but I’m out of technical breath. I usually avoid these kinds of discussions, but here I felt it was important to address some existing (and potential) noise out there. Yamaha engineers have charts and graphs, measuring devices and calculators. They have designed turntables of all types. They made the decisions to use belt drive and a pure straight tonearm with engineering intent and (as far as I can judge) integrity. These are decisions that are against the expected grain, and I appreciate their reasoned bravery in sticking to their goals for the 5000 Series as an overall project, and the GT-5000 turntable as the source for it.

Less Controversial
The tonearm for the GT-5000 is beautifully simple to use, and elegant to look at. It’s not simple in construction, however, consisting of nine layers for the tube, if we count the paint. It’s essentially an aluminum tube, plated internally and externally with copper, then laminated with alternating layers of 3k carbon fiber and glass fiber. Straight, stiff, and pure, with the one exception of a removeable headshell. I wish Yamaha had stuck to it guns and ditched the removeable headshell for a continuous design. Though convenient, it, like the IC volume control, does spoil the consistency of the engineering story a bit for me.

A quick note regarding the cartridge-mounting procedure. There is an included metal strobe disc (to use with the included strobe light that connects directly to the back of the turntable) that doubles as the alignment gauge for cartridge installation. This is exceptionally easy. Align the gauge with the tonearm/pivot, then adjust the cartridge so that the stylus lands on the suggested underhang (not overhang as in typical arms) of -17mm and is square to the distance indicator lines. It’s a very quick process. This -17mm underhang places the null point (the point at which the stylus is perfectly tangential to the groove) at approximately 90mm from the spindle—just about the half-way point of your record. VTA is set-screw adjustable. No azimuth adjustment, which I miss.

The 16-pound, two-piece platter is also lovely. The inner platter is 4.5 pounds of cut-brass block, while the large, outer platter is 11.5 pounds of cut-aluminum block. Two different materials of different resonant properties to reduce the overall sonic signature. The outer platter extends well beyond your record and creates a kind of trough or moat that makes grabbing the edge of the record when removing it very easy. I enjoyed this “feature.” 

The plinth, finished in the same beautiful piano black by the same people that finish the NS-5000 loudspeakers, is made of particle board. Yamaha claims particle board has better, more consistent damping characteristics than wood.

The feet are of a special “3D String Construction” tuned to a horizontal and vertical frequency of 7Hz regardless of weight load. Yamaha claims these feet offer 30–40dB of extra isolation (high and low frequencies) over traditional solid spikes.

There are balanced (XLR) and single-ended (RCA) connectors on the back of the plinth. Just use the balanced as suggested, at least in context of the full system. I tried the RCAs, and they were noisier. 

The ’table has a large footprint! Gigantic as promised. Plan accordingly. Measure!

I’m a Soul Man: Listening and Use
One might easily get lost in all the interesting technical details/developments that seem to tell the 5000 Series story. The story behind the story, however, is that Yamaha’s design approach really gives the full system a soul. Susumu Kumazawa and the whole engineering team took seriously the balance between the measured and the experienced. If something measured well but didn’t deliver the required listener experience, it was back to the drawing board. Likewise, great-sounding, poor-measuring results were thrown out. There needed to be a balance. True Sound had to reflect this balance. You can hear this. You can feel this effort.

As a listener, you are aware of a kind of unfiltered experience that I would simply term familiar. There is no adjustment period in listening to the full 5000 Series system—you quickly settle into listening as though it’s just a natural act. As a result, I came to believe that all those technical choices were in the service of a common purpose. The decision to use a belt-drive ’table that favored traceability over tracking “accuracy,” the decision to use a common material for all drivers in the loudspeaker, low impedance and short signal paths in the electronics, everything pulls in the direction of less electronic fuss in your way. Our brain does less processing as a result (not such a bad thing these days).

Jim Fuller (set-up guy, U.S. Service Manager for dCS, and former colleague) paid a visit to listen to the full system and brought with him Prince’s 180g Piano and a Microphone 1983 [Warner Bros.]. “Cold Coffee and Cocaine” had this rhythmic, unforced, but direct connection that held our attention to an artist at work. And there was a rare presence provided by the piano. Both Jim and I marveled at our awareness of the weight of the piano, which is a big, resonant piece of furniture. There was nothing artificially hi-fi about it—just an easy, familiar (meaning likelife) pathway to the musical experience.

If you put me on the spot to pick the most significant loudspeaker of all time (not necessarily the best), I would probably choose the Quad ESL. Essentially in its original form since 1963 (some prefer the earlier 1957 version), it’s the only speaker I can think of whose strengths have remained a reference of sorts for over 55 years. The NS-5000’s brought the Quads explicitly to my mind in the way their midrange and upper frequencies presented an unforced, natural, open tonality. Whether it was the Ansermet-conducted Orchestre de la Suisse Romande [London] performing the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, or Henryk Szeryng’s performance of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra [Philips], instruments were simply set free. Any bite was from the orchestra, not from the system. As with the Quad, you were invited to listen in. Things weren’t pressed forward. Particularly with classical music you could feel comfortably at home—in the concert hall. The earliest impressions I had for the system were that the more natural the recording and the more acoustic the instruments, the better the system performed. It kind of nailed the design pillar of openness.

The turntable is smooth, large in scale, but sweet rather than digital-precise. It has a very different character than the less-is-more Rega RP8/10, for instance. For most of the review I used the Ortofon Cadenza Black, which was a perfect partner. I chose the Ortofon initially because of its low internal impedance (5 ohms), which was consistent with the low impedance electrical approach Yamaha took with C-5000 and M-5000. A bonus was the tonal balance. Like the NS-5000s, the bottom octave of the GT-5000 errs towards fullness, and the Cadenza Black’s neutrality didn’t push that tendency of the ’table or system over the acceptable limit. It’s a wonderful cartridge.

With the Ortofon, the GT-5000 made me glad that Yamaha made the decision to use a good old record player as its reference source. You won’t question that choice, either. From her Takin My Time album [Warner Bros.], Bonnie Raitt and some excellent musicians take Mose Allison’s “Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy” into the perfect rock/blues groove. I noted that same groovy ability on Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” from Grace [Columbia]. Let’s recall that one of Yamaha’s design pillars for True Sound was “groove.” The GT-5000 is capable. How do I know? I grooved. Simple as that.

There are two mats included with the ’table. One is a rubber mat, and the other is felt. Ditch the rubber thing. I started with it, and let’s just say that it was a muddled mess for me. The GT-5000 is not a reference ’table when it comes to energy rejection (I had a Brinkmann Taurus on hand that is). I’ll make a completely irresponsible guess and say that the giant particle-board plinth isn’t ideal in emulating the sound of “no plinth at all.” As soon as I replaced the rubber mat with the felt, a level of confusion or mush disappeared. An easy experiment for you to do at home. Just know that the ’table’s tendency is towards a warm, full flow. Choose all set-up parameters accordingly and you can be rewarded. No ’table is perfect—they’re all rather beautifully imperfect.

Almost forgot to note the tonearm. You know why? Because it never misbehaved. Sailed through everything I threw at it, big and small, run-in groove to run-out. Could I have thrown some test discs (CBS and Feickert that I have) to confirm tracking error? Why bother? I know what it is from its simple geometry. Yamaha claims that tracking error is masked in playback because it’s lower in level (measured) than tracing-error distortion and residual noise. I had no issues with the tonearm’s sound (more important than its measurements). It was super-easy to cue tracks, and the lift mechanism worked well, unlike those of so many high-end ’tables for some reason.

C-5000 Preamplifier Detour
Loved it. Loved using it. Loved looking at it (I think silver really shows well on the electronics). I just never questioned its contribution, which is unusual for me. The Yamaha allowed me to easily make and hear changes in the system. Preamplifiers should be seen, not heard. I had that feeling with the C-5000, and anyone looking in that $10k price range for a preamplifier now has another interesting option. I’d go to audio war with it any time.

M-5000 Power Amplifier—Don’t They All Sound the Same?
In my room, it was the amplification that was the make or break. The M-5000 at its best reminded me (explicitly) of drinking from a high mountain stream in the Alps when I was a kid. I remember wondering how something so without flavor—so clean—could be so rewarding. I’d put my hands together to scoop it up, and it was just pure refreshment. Nothing else. The M-5000 can be like that with the right material. Uncolored, clean, and refreshing. 

Again though, in my room (man, I hope that point gets across), I suspected that the M-5000 might be responsible for a sound that was open but at times lacking in the emotional connection/groove categories. The primary impression with (not necessarily “of”) the M-5000 was a sound of two voices: In the midrange on up it had that open, almost Quad-like, laid-back character; it was the lower port region that stood out of the mix—enough in my setup that I used the supplied foam plugs to reduce port output by 5–7dB (measured).

To confirm my suspicion, I borrowed a Simaudio 760a from Goodwin’s High End as a similarly priced, same-ballpark-power, sonically up-the-middle power amplifier. The result of the experiment? The aesthetic spell cast by the M-5000 had been broken, but a new sonic spell had been cast. I’ve got exclamation marks all over my notes, but ultimately I just had to put my pen down and enjoy. In my room, the balance of the system had been brought under the direction of a single voice, so much so that I no longer wanted to listen with the port plugs in. While perhaps missing the clean openness of the Yamaha, the Simaudio brought body and soul to my room. It was more engaging as a result. There was a groove and emotional connection that encouraged my participation. The system was less laid back—it met me halfway, where I like it.

Your results might vary! Perfectly balancing a system in a room is not found at the push of a button. Don’t attach yourself to my experience. I write about my findings with the amplifier because it was the one piece that, once addressed, had me “getting” the system without reservations.

Last Listening Thoughts For When You Nail It
The Yamaha 5000 system has flow. Even when experiencing the huge dynamics on one of my favorite direct-to-disc drum solos (Charlie Byrd, Crystal Clear Records, end of side one), that composure and flow was on full display. Continuous. Analog. 

The uncolored nature of the NS-5000’s midrange and tweeter are highlights of dynamic speaker design, and uniquely available from Yamaha. Any piano, vocal, or acoustic guitar is off-the-charts good. Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin’s fast-paced duet “Rene’s Theme” from Spaces [Vanguard) was something I really felt. Same for David Gilmore’s slide guitar on “Smile” off Live in Gdansk [Columbia]. The Yamaha system doesn’t distract from the essential truth of real instruments in real spaces (wait, isn’t that what The Absolute Sound is all about?). The fact that the system can play big as well offers the potential of scaling things up a bit in a reasonably sized loudspeaker. 

The NS-5000s bottom octave (I had usable energy well into the mid/upper-20Hz region) is certainly port-supplied. You will not mistake the Yamahas for a sealed speaker like a Magico, or even loudspeakers like a Rockport Technologies Atria II or the Stenheim Alumine Three I just reviewed, which better integrate their bass-reflex loading into the whole sonic picture. In some ways, think of the reasonably sized NS-5000 as a big-room speaker. Give it space. Throw it up against a wall in a smaller room and don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

Yamaha Dreams Big
The Yamaha 5000 Series project is a complete, serious, large endeavor. The value proposition to you, the consumer, is very, very strong. The company has brought to the table all of the advantages one could hope for from a big, diverse corporation. Our specialty slice of the audio market is made better by Yamaha’s commitment.

I am greatly impressed by Yamaha’s unwavering pursuit of a system with openness, emotional connection, and the ability to groove—a truly True Sound. Along the way, I hope I’ve provided some indications that they haven’t always taken the easy road, but that the end results do reflect those initial concepts grounded in a listener’s enjoyment of music, with nothing coming in between.

There’s also an aesthetic at work with the 5000 Series that goes beyond the musical pleasure it provides. The ergonomics of the turntable and preamplifier, along with the satisfying fit and finish of every component, are no accidents. Yamaha’s designers believe in the importance of an emotional connection with the objects we use, and that really shows.

These are polished, fully developed components. It all makes sense in ownership.

Honestly, I feel fortunate to have had the Yamaha 5000 Series system at my home for an extended period. It’s not instantaneous magic—no system is. You must work to get it right, as always. But the system does have a kind of soul. You can hear it and you can physically feel it. And you could do a lot worse than give your hard-earned money to a company that supports music and musicians as much as any on our planet. There’s some value in that, too. 

Specs & Pricing

NS-5000 Loudspeaker
Drivers: Three-way bass-reflex with 12″ woofer, 3¼” dome midrange, 1¼” dome tweeter
Crossover frequencies: 750Hz/4.5 kHz
Frequency response: 26Hz to 40kHz
Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/1m
Nominal impedance: 6 ohms (3.5 ohms minimum)
SPL max: 109dB
Power handling: 200W RMS, 600W maximum
Weight: Approx. 77.2 lbs./unit
Dimensions: 15½” x 27 1/8″ (without stands) x 15″
Price: $14,999

C-5000 Preamp
Inputs: 6x RCA, 4x XLR, 1x trigger, 1x remote 
Outputs: 3x RCA, 1x XLR, 2x trigger, 1x remote
Maximum output voltage: (BAL) 6V rms, (RCA) 3V rms
Headphone output: 35mW + 35mW
Weight: 42.11 lbs.
Dimensions: 17 1/8″ x 5 5/8″ x 17¾” 
Price: $9999

M-5000 Amplifier
Inputs: 1x RCA, 1x XLR, 1x trigger 
Outputs: 1x trigger 
Rated output power: 100W + 100W (8 ohm, 20Hz–20kHz, 0.07% THD, two-channel driven), 200W + 200W (4 ohm, 20Hz–20kHz, 0.07% THD, two-channel driven), 400W (8 ohm, 20Hz–20kHz, 0.07% THD, monaural driven)
Power bandwidth: 10Hz–50kHz (8 ohm, 0.1% THD, 45 W)
Damping factor: 300 or higher (8 ohm, 1kHz)
Frequency response: +0 dB/ -3dB (5Hz–100kHz), +0dB/ -0.3dB (20Hz–20kHz)
Weight: 59.3 lbs.
Dimensions: 17 1/8″ x 7 1/8″ x 18¼” 
Price: $9999

GT-5000 Record Player
Outputs: XLR x 1, RCA x 1, Strobe x 1 (3.5 mm mini jack)
Drive: Belt
Motor: AC synchronous
Speed variation: +/- 0.1%
Rotation speed: 33 1/3 rpm, 45 rpm
Wow and flutter: Less than 0.04%
Tonearm: Static balance straight tonearm
Effective arm length: 9″
Overhang/underhang: -17mm
Acceptable cartridge weight: 13.5–36g (including 14g headshell)
Weight: 58.4 lbs.
Dimensions: 21½” x 8¾” x 16 1/8″ 
Price: $7999

Tags: YAMAHA

Allan Moulton

By Allan Moulton

Let’s just start with a confession of sorts. I enjoyed listening to the combined talents of Roger Whittaker, Nana Mouskouri, The Irish Rovers, Zamfir, and Chuck Mangione with my family as a youth (Allan winces).

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