ff1d1l
16-09-2014, 10:51
I landed a pile of Yamaha high end 70's/80's gear on ebay a couple of days ago, and went and picked it up yesterday. I already have and like the C-4 preamp, so the prospect of a spare C-4 AND the matching M-4 power amp was attractive.
C-4 Preamp
M-4 Power Amp
T7 Tuner
K-950 Cassette Deck
CDX-750E Cd player
Got home and it's all in pretty good cosmetic condition. And all has Pat tested stickers. So that's OK then!
I haven't tried the cassette deck yet, but the cd player works, though I haven't subjected it to critical listening yet.
The first thing I hooked up was the t7 tuner, I slid it into the workshop system instead of a Denon Tu 260l, which I'd always thought was rather good. Well, straight away it was obvious the Yam was in a different league - smoother but more detailed and realistic, a very worthwhile step up. AND you wouldn't believe the five station presets - this is SOOOOO good - you set them with a memory button, just like a modern tuner, BUT when you switch between them the whole tuning operation is motorised and the tuning knob and scale pointer move with ghostly precision to the new station, then un-mute.
Spooky.
And have to say this impressed both my lads (16 and 19) very much.
So Tuner good.
Very good, in fact.
The M-4 power amp I hooked up to some little music centre speakers before risking either of my concentric darlings. None of the square buttons lit up. Made an ok sound with the cd player going through it, so took it down to the house to play through my Tannoys.
Here it is on the Vintage Knob site http://www.thevintageknob.org/yamaha-M-4.html
As it happens the pre in the house system at the moment is a Yamaha C-4, so the M-4 replaced the Luxkit Avance Z501 with the correct pre. Much lead swapping and critical listening later, reached the following verdicts:
M-4 is good, but not the sonic equal of the Luxkit. Sounds good in isolation, then you connect up the Luxkit and have an "oh yeah" moment. Followed by an extended meditation on self delusion.
So....the M-4...Possibly a service?
Cap replacement?
Certainly the bulbs in the square buttons need fettling. A little disappointing as I was expecting great things, but the Luxkit is pretty stellar. And the Yamaha is beautifully built, whereas the Luxkit internals make my electronics guru friend hold his head in his hands.
The new C-4 preamp is flakey - balance control is unbelievably noisy, channel balance isn't equal, doesn't sound as clean as my other one. Has bulb issues too. On/off bulb always lights, the other two have a more laissez faire attitude to illumination. Might do a little deoxit squirting later.
Anyone serviced any of these items? Any dynamite upgrades?
Indeed, anyone with experience of this gear, or informed opinions of it?
C-4 Preamp
M-4 Power Amp
T7 Tuner
K-950 Cassette Deck
CDX-750E Cd player
Got home and it's all in pretty good cosmetic condition. And all has Pat tested stickers. So that's OK then!
I haven't tried the cassette deck yet, but the cd player works, though I haven't subjected it to critical listening yet.
The first thing I hooked up was the t7 tuner, I slid it into the workshop system instead of a Denon Tu 260l, which I'd always thought was rather good. Well, straight away it was obvious the Yam was in a different league - smoother but more detailed and realistic, a very worthwhile step up. AND you wouldn't believe the five station presets - this is SOOOOO good - you set them with a memory button, just like a modern tuner, BUT when you switch between them the whole tuning operation is motorised and the tuning knob and scale pointer move with ghostly precision to the new station, then un-mute.
Spooky.
And have to say this impressed both my lads (16 and 19) very much.
So Tuner good.
Very good, in fact.
The M-4 power amp I hooked up to some little music centre speakers before risking either of my concentric darlings. None of the square buttons lit up. Made an ok sound with the cd player going through it, so took it down to the house to play through my Tannoys.
Here it is on the Vintage Knob site http://www.thevintageknob.org/yamaha-M-4.html
As it happens the pre in the house system at the moment is a Yamaha C-4, so the M-4 replaced the Luxkit Avance Z501 with the correct pre. Much lead swapping and critical listening later, reached the following verdicts:
M-4 is good, but not the sonic equal of the Luxkit. Sounds good in isolation, then you connect up the Luxkit and have an "oh yeah" moment. Followed by an extended meditation on self delusion.
So....the M-4...Possibly a service?
Cap replacement?
Certainly the bulbs in the square buttons need fettling. A little disappointing as I was expecting great things, but the Luxkit is pretty stellar. And the Yamaha is beautifully built, whereas the Luxkit internals make my electronics guru friend hold his head in his hands.
The new C-4 preamp is flakey - balance control is unbelievably noisy, channel balance isn't equal, doesn't sound as clean as my other one. Has bulb issues too. On/off bulb always lights, the other two have a more laissez faire attitude to illumination. Might do a little deoxit squirting later.
Anyone serviced any of these items? Any dynamite upgrades?
Indeed, anyone with experience of this gear, or informed opinions of it?