Yamaha A-S3200

Pristine, premium sound

As cool as this component looks, Yamaha doesn't really want you to notice it. The A-S3200 is designed to get out of the way, so it sounds like your favorite artist is performing in the room, just for you. It's an analog music lover's dream, featuring balanced and unbalanced inputs, an efficient toroidal transformer, and solid, vibration-resistant construction. It delivers 100 watts per channel, and it's 4-ohm stable, so it can handle a wide variety of speakers.

If you're a bit nostalgic for the components of the 1970s — I grew up with them and I love the look — you'll appreciate the large level meters illuminated by soft LED light. The switches and knobs on the front panel were meticulously designed to complement the overall visual style of this amp.

Excellent analog connections

These days, it's a bit unusual to see an integrated amp with no digital inputs, but this amp is all about analog goodness. There are five unbalanced RCA inputs on the back, included dedicated inputs for a separate tuner and the analog output of your CD player. There's also a discrete phono stage that lets you connect a turntable with a moving magnet or moving coil cartridge. Two balanced XLR inputs are available for connecting audiophile components, too.

The two sets of binding posts might look a little different than what you're used to. They're made of pure brass and they have a nice "grippy" shape that makes them easier to spin open and closed.