Many music friends look back wistfully to the stereo era when amplifiers had only two channels and listening to records was as much a part of the evening ritual as a glass of red wine and a good book. The A-S2000 amplifier gives you back this experience. Just touching the solid handles brings back memories of the Yamaha legends of the seventies. The aluminum front and wood-finished sides reflect the quality of workmanship that made good Hi-Fi sets the status symbol of a whole generation.But when it comes down to the interior of this high-quality housing, Yamaha has gone off in a completely new direction, a revolutionary circuitry concept with completely balanced alignment from the input until just before the loudspeaker clamps exploits analog amplifier technology to the full. Professional recording studios have long been providing interference free sound by using balanced transmission, the A-S2000 gives it a signal-to-noise ratio of 98 dB. Because conventional volume and tone controls do not function accurately enough in such a finely bal-anced environment, the A-S2000 uses a total of three circuits per channel. The required precision in the signal path can only be achieved in this way. Only components of the highest quality are used, these include powerful trans-formers, extra heavy feet and selected blocking capacitors with 24,000 microfarad each. In addition, the use of independent amplifier units for the right and left channel ensure maximum channel separation.