New to the forums but have spent the last few weeks researching a good value budget setup, with my primary goal being good sound quality at $800-900 to support my recent jump into vinyl. I have already purchased a debut carbon, and am planning to buy a pair of the Pioneer FS-52 speakers while they're still on sale at Best Buy this week (I am still open to other speaker suggestions, but at $180/pair and tons of great reviews those seem hard to beat).
Still can't decide on an integrated amp. I was originally thinking the Pioneer A20, but at only 35W/ch I started to worry that would underpower my speakers. That led me to the Yamaha A-S500 - seems like a huge value with the 85W/ch, and I love the sub-out in case I ever want to add a sub. While the Yamaha ($400) is more money than I wanted to spend, the extra power seems like it might be beneficial to help "future-proof" part of my setup when I eventually upgrade to more powerful speakers.
However, I recently started reading a lot of comments that the Yamaha lacks warmth, sounding precise and clinical. I don't have a super discerning ear, I just love music, so I'm not sure how apparent those attributes would be to me (buying this as a gift for my girlfriend so I'm unable to test anything out first). Furthermore, the few comments I have been able to find specifically about the Yamaha's phono stage haven't been great, and that will be my primary use of the amp.
The Marantz PM6004, although at $500 is $150 over budget, seems to have really great reviews on its sound quality and phono stage. I am a bit worried that it's only 45W/ch, I am new at this but it seems like way less of a value than the Yahama's 85W. Yet, a lot of the reviews mention the Marantz performing like an amp of much higher power, so I'm not sure how much faith to put into manufacturer's power ratings. As long as the Marantz would be able deliver loud (but not neighbors calling the cops loud) sound in a normal sized living room out of my pioneer fs52's without sounding strained, I would value sound quality over the excessive power of the Yamaha.
I also have no idea how either of the amps would match with the Pioneer speakers in terms of brightness, bass etc if anyone as any opinions there. Part of me thinks I am crazy and should just get the Pioneer A20 amp for $250 - why spend $400-500 on an amp to power $180 speakers??! I have also looked at various NAD, HK, and Music Hall amps if anyone thinks that might be a better route. Thanks for any comments you can offer - I'm not sure I realized how deep I was getting when I decided I wanted a turntable haha!
