this is a very good thing It’s time to double down on stereo sound. Multi-speaker formats like Dolby Atmos are getting all the headlines, but if you’re building an all-in-one stereo or 2.1 system to enhance everything from your turntable to your TV, there have never been better choices.
With stereo streaming amplifiers and receivers popping up everywhere in the audio sphere (not to mention stacks of Powered Bookshelf Speakers), it can be hard to know where to start. The R-N1000A makes things easier. A step down from the Yamaha Flagship R-N2000AThe R-N1000A is expensive yet affordable, offering a good mix of versatile connectivity, great performance, and stable usability.
You might expect any legacy audio brand to deliver consistent performance across all inputs in the streaming era, but as our extensive testing has shown, combining traditional audiophile components with features like Wi-Fi and HDMI ARC is no easy task. The N1000A proves you can have everything in one box, demonstrating exceptional consistency in a powerful and fun package built for the modern stereo era.
Old school, new curriculum
When I pulled the R-N1000A out of the packaging, my first question was, Where is the display on this device? Don’t get me wrong, I loved the receiver’s glowing front face and its tactile selector knobs, especially in the silver model I reviewed, but even the most gloriously retro design demands modern concessions.
Until I turned the unit on, I didn’t realize that the black bar built into its base is the display, which provides a small but legible guide to the source, volume level, and other settings. It’s not as convenient or versatile as the larger screens on more expensive streaming amplifiers like Rotel’s RA-5000.7/10, WIRED recommends) or the unitary atom of Naim (8/10, WIRED recommends), but it gets the job done without sacrificing the vintage aesthetic. Yamaha’s MusicCast app, required for Wi-Fi setup, shows features such as album art and digital file resolution.
Photo: Ryan Waniata
Style aside, the R-N1000A is built with performance in mind. It uses Yamaha’s TopArt (Total Purity Audio Reproduction Tech) design, with a “carefully symmetrical left/right circuit layout” and “special resin” to prevent vibration. A double-bottom chassis with 1-mm iron damping plates and anti-resonance feet further reduce unwanted noise. The unit’s vented frame weighs 27 pounds and is 6 inches tall, over 17 inches wide and 15.5 inches deep, so you’ll need plenty of room for the console.
While the R-N1000A doesn’t get the huge toroidal transformer R-N2000A (and other more expensive competitors), its capable custom transformers and block capacitors deliver powerful A/B amplification at 100 watts per channel of continuous power at 8 ohms and 140 watts at peak power. Yamaha does not publish continuous power specifications at 4 ohms, but claims 220 watts per channel of peak power. The 384-kHz/32-bit SABRE ES9090Q DAC provides top-tier high-resolution digital transfer for hi-res sources with support for WAV and FLAC files up to 384 kHz and DSD files up to 11.2 MHz.
locked and loaded
Even with stereo network receivers and amplifiers that seem to work autonomously, you’d be hard-pressed to find an amplifier with better connectivity than the R-N1000A. The back panel is filled with three dedicated digital inputs (two digital, one coaxial), USB-B connections, AM and FM tuners, three RCA line inputs (one for a CD player), HDMI ARC for your TV, a subwoofer output, Ethernet, and a stereo pre-out for another amplifier. There’s also a solid phono input, although I really liked my Orbit Theory’s built-in pre-amp. Up front is a quarter-inch headphone out.
A handy second speaker zone set below the gold-plated A-zone stereo terminal allows you to connect two pairs together, specified only for 8-ohms. Another note on impedance: If you’re connecting a pair of 4- or 6-ohm speakers as I did, Yamaha recommends you navigate to Advanced Setup and change the impedance. It’s a minor hassle, but it takes just a few seconds.
If you have other MusicCast devices, you can create additional playback zones in the app to wirelessly connect to any connected sound source. There you’ll also find a number of built-in streaming services, including Internet radio stations, Pandora, Amazon Music, Deezer and Sirius XM. The wireless suite ends with AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth 4.2. Chromecast is notably missing, although with a number of supported services, including both Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect, Android users should be in good shape. The receiver is also “Roon Tested” Roon’s dedicated server system,
