For anyone who's sitting on the fence regarding this amplifier, let me say that it truly is an excellent piece. I have the smaller brother (the A-S500) that puts out a few less watts. I'm using it to drive my Monitor Audio RS6 Silvers and it's doing an excellent job. Additionally, the Yamaha amp has a subwoofer pre-out that is "fixed" at 80Hz. This allows you to send a full frequency signal to your main speakers, and still send signals 80Hz and below to the sub. I'm using mine strictly in a 2.1 music environment. The SVS sub was relatively easy to integrate and the sound is fantastic.
Believe me, I tried for 10 years to get my home theater receivers to perform in 2.1 channel environments and each time, I would end up disappointed. However, with this true Yamaha integrated amplifier, life is good. The sound is beautiful and it has the motorized volume control knob along the likes of the other higher-end brands.
