Sorry I don't get to this forum very often. My previous system was a Sony XA-5400ES SACD, NAD M-3 Integrated Amp, Gallo 3.1 speakers with the SA subwoofer amp that energies a second voice coil. Great little system from 2006 or so. My plan was to replace just the speakers and see how everything sounded, then the plan was to follow up by doing the same thing with the other components. In the end, I just swapped out everything. It turned out to be really hard to follow the original plan because the components are in a kind of cubbyhole and the Luxman went on top for cooling purposes (it turned out it really does not run hot) and I could not lift it myself and it took really precise measuring to make sure it fit, including the interconnects. It did, but barely. I couldn't fit the larger Pass integrated.
I auditioned only a few loudspeakers. The Wilson Sabrina, the Vandersteen Quattro Wood 4 and B&W 803d3 as I was trying to stay at around $15,000. Thought I wanted white speakers which the Wilson and B&W's have, but decided against that. Decor is a big factor with me and if I don't like the looks of the speaker I won't buy it. I heard the B&W with McIntosh tube gear and thought that was great. I was ready to buy the B&W when Yamaha announced the NS-5000. Over 40 years ago as a newly married young guy I passed on the NS-1000 when it came to the USA and I regretted that ever since, so I waited for the Yamaha. And waited and waited. It took 4 years for the USA to get distribution and it was the last market in the world for some reason. In the interim I got my hands on reviews from all over the world, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, UK, Poland, Germany, Norway and more. Every reviewer loved them. I did the same thing for the Luxman 590axii and the Marantz SA-10 SACD player and Shunyata Venom balanced interconnects I chose, although there were far fewer reviews on these so I searched forums and you tube and did as much research as I possibly could. I then got the Luxman on Audiogon, the Marantz open box and the Yamaha's as demos from a UK dealer. I needed a pair of 15 ft. speaker cables in black and found a good deal on a pair of Straightwire Expressivo Grande on Audiomart. Never listened to any of these beforehand. I kept my Richard Gray's Power Company 400 ac line conditioner from 2006 and the system sounded better with it. It's a great little system and I didn't spend the moon. Now, I can afford to spend much more and I'm sure could get better sound, but the system scales well to the room and the rest of my furniture. The thing that amazed me more on the Yamaha than even the incredible midrange and tweeter is the bass. Although Yamaha specs show it does down to 26hz, they don't have a db measurement with this. I'll bet their spec is conservative. The 12" woofer really is like having a subwoofer. Bass slam when the music calls for it is amazing. Positioning the speakers is critical, both to have them away from back walls, distances and toe in. I found a laser was the way to go and didn't realize how inaccurate measurements can be by eye or even with a tape measure, and in particular for toe in.
I will say that I considered a tube integrated amp and researched those, but didn't want to take a chance with the Yamaha, since Yamaha introduced the speaker with its solid state gear. However, Yamaha has a long history with Class A amps and so I thought Class A would be a good match. I researched this and found my NAD was class A to 5 watts, then went to AB. Similarly, the Luxman 590axii is Class A to 30 watts and then switches to AB, while the 590ax switches out of Class A at less than 30 watts. Most listening uses only a few watts, and my NAD always sounded good so I thought more Class A couldn't hurt, only help in terms of having this overhead. I was worried the Luxman wouldn't be enough power for the Yamaha's but even the new Yamaha 5000 separate amp doesn't have much more than 120 watts I think. Seems the Luxman is a good match.
I've read reviews consistently for over 50 years, having started subscribing to Stereo Review and Audio magazines from age 16 until they ceased publication. These days, it's hard to find a bad piece of gear, just like it's hard to find a bad car compared to what we drove in the mid- to late- last century. The trick is to get real bang for the buck, real value that fits your budget and lifestyle. Give a car designer enough money and they can design a McClaren, Buggati, etc. But what can they do when they're shooting for a $70k target - a Corvette. I find the same is true of higher end audio gear. Interestingly, for the most part the reviewers leave this part of the judgment up to the reader. I guess that's proper or they don't want to offend the manufacturers or, most likely it's a combination of this along with the fact there's so much gear out there that 's so good its just so difficult to pin down what real value is, and like beauty, it's simply in the eye of the beholder. I'll probably never know if I could have done better but if I obsessed, I wouldn't sleep. I'm happy and think I did ok. I will say that with my setup, you still have to like the music you listen to and the quality of the recording really makes the difference, as should be the case. When you've got a good system, music you like and a good recording, they you've got it.
I've attached some photos that show the cubbyhole I have to deal with and the steel anti-vibration isolation plates I purchased from Tewo Audio in Poland and the stick on casters I added to be able to precisely position the speakers on carpet since moving them is really a two person job. I've had to experiment to arrive at this solution (there's blue tac between the legs of the speaker stand and the plate). I've since found a better way and will report on that. However, these steel plates are extremely heavy and definitely tightened up the bass and because that bass is prodigious I recommend some kind of isolation beyond what Yamaha supplies. Even Yamaha demos in Japan used Kripton bases on carpet.