Unboxing The Yamaha MX-A5000

Following the Marantz AV8805, here is the second upgrade to my HT system - the Yamaha MX-A5000 11 channel power amplifier. Winner of the Power Amplifier Of The Year (Sound and Image Awards 2018).

Top of the box:
 

Anybody knows what this means? What kind of secret code is this?

U.C.T.K.A.B G.L.V.F.S.

Amplifier is not double boxed. The packaging protection is adequate to protect the amplifier from huge bumps and knocks.

There is a small bag of accessories tucked on the side of the box.

Warranty, manual, 12 V trigger and IEC power cable. Includes almost everything you need to get this baby up and running.

The top foams are removed. The design of this packing makes it easy for me remove the power amplifier from the box. The Marantz AV8805 is also packed the same way. This is a big design change for a person who hasn't purchased any new electronics in ten years. 

Electronics from 10 years ago are not packed this way. The top and bottom foam are actually joined together. In those days, one has to dead-lift the unit straight up in order to take the unit out of the box. This new way of packaging is so much better!

Mindful of my back, I still asked my wife to help me lift this baby out of it's womb. This plastic smells pretty bad.

The Yamaha Aventage MX-A5000 in full undress. Visually the build construction is excellent. The finish and quality feels a lot better than the Marantz AV8805.

This unit also appears to be easily serviceable, the side and top panels look like they can be removed quickly.

Looking through the vent, one can can see a toroidal transformer and 2 caps. The MX-A5000 is back heavy, suggesting there is a significant amount of heat sinking to dissipate heat from 11 channels of amplification. 

The front looks unassuming. The power button is located at the centre of the fascia, and it sort of reminds me of the Marantz portal look.

The feedback from this power button feels kind of cheap. It is hard to describe this, pressing this button feels like pressing a smaller button behind it. This is about the only gripe I have with the MX-A5000 at this stage. This is not going to be a big deal at all because I am going to use 12 V trigger to turn this amplifier on/off anyway.

Not entirely sure what this A/B speakers switches are just yet. Guess I have to read the manual at some point.

Pardon the bokeh, this reads

Yamaha Natural Sound Power Amplifier MX-A5000.

Natural sound? Time will tell.

11 channels of amplification. Are you serious? Unit is made in Malaysia, coming from Singapore, this feels close to home. I love the idea of double insulated gear - see the square inside a bigger square logo about the text YAMAHA CORPORATION and the power input has no earth pin. This is desirable for me as it reduces the odds of ground loop noises.

A shorting pin is provided for every RCA input. This is a very nice touch from Yamaha.

Here is a close up of the 5 way binding posts. While they lack the bling of top grade WBT sockets I don't think it's going to be a big problem. 11 channels take up a lot of real estate (22 posts in all). The size and bulk of these posts should be adequate and beefy enough to handle lower gauge speaker cables.

The back of this power amplifier almost looks like a pre-amplifier - 11 XLR sockets, 11 RCA sockets, 26 binding posts, 4 3.5 jacks, 13 toggles.

Is there enough power in the banks? No idea to be honest. I am still a few component short of finishing my HT upgrade so time will tell.