The sonic clarity, accuracy and perfection of my MX-1000, unachievable by some, but not after being restored by Legendary Amps. My MX-1000 was restored to audible and visual excellence. For most, it may be difficult to comprehend what Legendary Amps can do to these amplifiers. I am of opinion that it is comparable to restoring a beautiful, classic '65 Mustang vs. merely changing a flat tire. Some who make the attempt to repair these amps simply replace broken parts and that shall be left for those who dare to compare, as Legendary Amps clientele have come to expect far superior detail, and they deliver. The MX-1000 was my fourth amp to be rebuilt and the sight and sounds are fantastic. Show room finish with precise and accurate sound.
Grant Kokot 4/1/2014

hola soy de gdl y reciente mente compre un Yamaha mx 1000u, Yamaha avc-70, denon tu-800 y traía bosinas polk audio sda1 pero las bosinas no aguantan la potencia quiero saber que bosinas debo usar para no quemar el amplificador todos se quedan sorprendidos con el audio hermoso que da mejor que los estéreos de hoy en dia y cual es su presio de todo en pesos mexicanos y todo me lo dieron jalando al 100 me encanta todo el audio como se escucha es lo mejor donde le puedo dar mantenimiento y estuvo guardado por años me dijo la señora que me lo vendio

I recently sent my MX-1000U in for restoration. I thought it sounded pretty good and looked ok. To my amazement, when I got the amp back, the high frequencies had come alive and were extremely accurate. The stage presence of the midrange was like I haven’t heard before. The low frequency was now very tight and pronounced. It was something I hadn’t realized had deteriorated over time, being the amp is 25+ years old. Also, while it was it was there, I had the incandescent bulbs replaced with LEDs and the old and brittle speaker terminals replaced with 5-way binding posts. The new speaker terminals are very sturdy, a vast improvement over the original setup.

The magnificent work that LegendaryAmps does on the inside does not stop there. The metal cover, the front glass, the rear panel, all exterior components now look new. The amp almost looks as good as it sounds. I am very pleased with the results of the restoration. I absolutely consider it money well spent. It was a pleasure to do business with LegendaryAmps. I appreciated the prompt return of all my emails, and being dealt with honestly.

Words can't describe how I feel right now. I am blown away by the sheer power of this amp. Hooked it up to a pair of Polk SDA SRS using a cx1000u pre amp. Unbelievable. I have NEVER heard a home stereo system sound so pure. And its mine! The sound stage is amazing. What I cant believe is how much sound is produced at just 30 to 40 watts. The amp is beautiful! Fine craftsmanship. I want to personally thank LegendaryAmps for doing what you do. Please do not stop “resurrecting” these magnificent amps.

I have recently come across a couple of these products. The mx-1000 is sounds amazing and is in mint condition. I have is paired with the Yamaha CX-1000 pre-amp. The combination of the two are fabulous and create an amazing sound out of my two amazing Klipsch Chorus speakers. The 1989 yahama engineering master piece, MX-1000/CX-1000 sounds great with modern house/dub step/dance music.

Very smooth and warm sound, it can make cold hard speakers sound musical and alive. All the while, it is punchy and dynamic, very upbeat. Detail rendition is on par with amplifiers in the three to four thousand dollar range. Where I notice the detail is in the bass, which is tight and fast, and in the mid range. It's very smooth and never harsh. It's very clear, it starts and stops, and its easy to get a picture of what is going on in the music. There is a musical color to it, I could compare it to the Russian 2C51 dual triode, but with the MX having less top end and a subjectively flatter response to my ears. This amp runs warm all the time, the idle bias into class A must be pretty high. From what I understand, it is Class A over its entire range and the bias is variable according to the input music. My ears would strongly agree for the power levels I've used it at, over 100W and its still got tons more. To boot, it has 2 massive transformers and 4 capacitors on top, and another 4 underneath and 4 rectifiers! What an overkill designed amplifier. There is a story behind this amp on the web that it was designed to sound like a certain expensive American amp, I would say they succeeded. So the end of this story is I paid $1250 plus Paypal fees on eBay for it in good condition, seen them go higher and waited my turn. No regrets at all.

The Good:
~Smooth Class A, yet dynamic and punchy
~Power and drive galore, 2 transformers, 4+4 filter caps, 4 rectifiers
~Cost can't be beat
~level controls for different preamps
~meters are useful

The Bad:
~It kind of looks like 1990s, doesn't match the physical look with a tube pre
~None at this price

Early November 2011, checking on eBay for a Yamaha MX-1000 power amplifier, I found a unit that had been fully restored by LEGENDARY AMPS, who was selling the amp in behalf of the owner. I had read online nothing but good things about the MX-1000, and I bought it.

It arrived about two weeks later. The boxing was exactly as described by the other buyers on their feedbacks (like unpacking a brand new item), and the unit, also as stated by the other buyers, looked like brand new. No marks or dents or dings of any kind; the paint of the metal boxing is a solid and uniform black color; the knobs to control the volume on each channel work like for their first time; the acrylic lens protecting the meters panel is in immaculate condition, without a single hair line, and the panel itself is illuminated with a fresh and bright red light. I examined the new speaker ports, which replace the original ones, as I knew it was a regular improvement on the restoration work at LEGENDARY AMPS, and found they are one of the best I have ever seen. And when the power button is pressed down, it’s noticed from there, operation wise, the quality of the restoration work; the click sounds fresh, like for its first time, and the protector comes off after a few seconds in a gently and secure way.

I first played Carly Simon’s Moonlight Serenade album, Columbia CK 9489 (CD). She seemed to be singing right here; next to me, and I heard instruments I have never heard before, not knowing they were on the CD. In one of the pre-bid emails, Skip, LEGENDARY AMPS’ owner, had said that I’d feel the music would come to life. This is absolutely true, the music was alive! Then I played Mozart’s Requiem, Herbert von Karajan, Karajan Gold Collection, Deutsche Grammophon 439 023-2 (CD). The experience was simply superb, as the sound reproduction was bringing to life the full greatness and emotion of this masterwork, vividly and beautifully... I played then Frederic Chopin, Classic Masters Collection, LaserLight 14626 (CD). I was amazed of how real the piano sounded, it was like both, piano and pianist, were in my living room. Then I played Moonlight Serenade, Ray Brown & Laurindo Almeida, Kingston World KN W 2604. It’s a duet between bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Laurindo Almeida. The music is superb; the musical arrangement is from geniuses, and the signal on the CD, as a recording, the technical mix thing, is simply great. If I said the music was alive when I was listening Carly Simon the first day, I was now part of the journey, with the musicians playing in my place with joy and enthusiasm. The amp doesn’t get shy at any moment; it will play all frequencies with no effort, naturally, with authority. And basses are… Boy, they are basses; the amp can go all the way down keeping the natural sound of the instrument all the time, with no distortion at all! The stereo separation is excellent; there is a 3-D effect on the sound that makes the listening experience complete. Some times I have been at the kitchen or another room, and I had to go to the living room to check what was the sound of a certain instrument I just heard, because it seemed to come from somewhere else, knowing, however, it was coming out from my L112s!! It started a process of re-discovery, like listening my CDs for their first time… And, if it happens I’m doing something at the time of playing the MX-1000, there is a big chance I’ll get captured by the music, stopping what I was doing to concentrate just on the beautiful sounds around me…

I started congratulating myself for the purchase, and one month later I bought my second MX-1000 from LEGENDARY AMPS, as they had two units available. The amp arrived early this month, to find the same professionalism and excellence in all aspects of the transaction: communication, packing/boxing, shipping, cosmetics of the unit and, of course, performance. LEGENDARY AMPS’ audiophile skills and thoroughness are remarkable; you even won’t notice any shop-alike smelling when playing your amp… I would say that, more than a stereo amplifier, the MX-1000 seems to be a musical instrument.

Thank you very much, LEGENDARY AMPS’ team!

Equipment used: Sansui CA-3000 preamplifier, Denon DVD 3910 player, Technics SL 1210 M5G turntable with AT 150 MLX cartridge, and a pair of JBL L112 speakers.

This review is for the Yamaha MX-1000U. I am a retired engineer for McIntosh and I’d like to start by saying over the years I can’t count how many different makes and models of amplifiers I have listened to. Being an former McIntosh employee, I have owned several models, the MC7200, 7300 and the 501, and have been involved in the research and development for many others. These 3 represent an accurate overlay of the variation of McIntosh’s approach to sonics. Over the years we had always gone head to head with Carver, Krell and Threshold. Being that these are all American made amps, we had very little competition from Asian manufacturers. During the early 80s, another engineer acquired a Yamaha M-80. Without going into great detail, we were all stunned by the clarity of this amp. The transformer isolation was as pure as I had ever seen. The architecture of these amps was quite unique. At the same time, they were a solid basic design. The uniqueness came from the types of capacitors that they used. This was the part that confused us all. What was it about these capacitors. It was not until the last couple of years that my curiosity was rekindled. I found a guy at the website legendaryamps.com that restores these amps. I explained to him my interest in these amps and I asked him if he knew what made these amps so special. Skip of legendaryamps.com gave me a quick overview of the extensive research and development that Rubycon and Nichicon had engaged with Yamaha. I told Skip I was interested in purchasing a MX-1000U. Although I had never heard one, I had read many good things about them, and knew if it was half as good as the M-80/M-85, I couldn’t go wrong. After many emails back and forth, I purchased my first MX-1000. I must say I was blown away by the level of restoration. These amps are over 20 years old and when I removed it from the box, it was like opening a brand new amp. Now, to the business at hand. Out of the box, comparing it directly to the 7300, the Yamaha’s level of presence in high frequency and mid range are considerably noticeable. You have to be tone deaf or in denial not to acknowledge this. One of my former colleagues owns a high end Krell, 1500 watt output. I wanted to see how the Yamaha compared to the Krell. Again, to our surprise, the MX-1000 sounded as good or better than the Krell in the high frequency and mid range categories. The Krell edged way out in front when it came to the low frequency, but then we’re not comparing apples to apples, because we’re comparing 260 watts to 1500 watts. What this boils down to is clarity and presence. I’ve been listening to this amp for close to eight months and read one of the reviews that these amps run extremely hot. This amp runs at 116 degrees. My 7300 runs at 114 degrees. So maybe the difference is a Yamaha that has been restored compared to one that has not. Myself and my colleagues will tell you there is something very special about these Yamaha amps.

I have this amplifer 19 years ago.I still use in my second system
It has a lot of clean power with a very goog midrange and treble.The bass area is good but is not terrific. It need a litlle more tight contol bass.The price that I payed for this amp was 1100$. This means that you canot gett more for this price.Theare a lot of confusion betwen mx1000 and mx 1000u.The real and only difference is that the U version has APS. This means. that It provides an active power source that ensures stable voltage in the final transistor that improve power supply to the amp.The rest is similar.The amp still beautifull even in our days and works perfect.It get very hot, and it has all the weight in the left side.In the past this amp was comparable to denon poa 6600.I Prefer the yamaha because It was a little more refined with less bass but h better in mids and hights.The best yamaha amp of the history was the mx 10000.
If you raise a lot of volume ends with very high acurate like all japanese amps.
If you find one in a good condition and reasonably price, you will not be disapointed
I have tried a lot of amp since 25 years ago Yamaha mx, Denon poa , Krell ksa,Chord spm, Nakamichi pa7 Mark Levinson 333, 23.5 Threshold t 100 Mclntosh etc .If you want the most perfect transistor amp ever made .Then get the Mark Levinson 23.5 and forget everything else.

This review is for the M-80 and MX-1000. I've had a couple of both models.. Both offer great bang for the buck. Terrific power and nice clean sound. Nothing else can touch them at this price point. They do run extremely hot and proper ventilation is a must. After reading some of the comments here though, I must add this. People,please don't fool yourselves. They do not sound as good as Mark Levinson, McIntosh,Krell, or the other high end amps.Nor should they at this price. They simply do not have the sound stage,detail, or clarity(hence the much lower price). That said, they're an excellent value and blow the Onkyo's, Panasonics,etc. away.

Strengths:
Terrific power. Clean sound. Low price.

Weaknesses:
Run extremely hot.