Yamaha CX-1 Thread

C211 is a 2.2µF/25v Nichicon Muse as listed/shown but C206 is a 22µF/25v Elna Duorex.

Mine are the same values, but C206 is a Elna Muse (green) C211 is a Elna Duorex (II?) (purple). C211 is very difficult to get to in order to read it, but it's definitely those values and I did see Duro on the side where it's closest to the larger cap next to it.

I can easily read Muse on the side of C206.

John

Thanks for this information John. Odd about the Duorex/Muse thing but it's the cap values that's important to know. I guess that what I'll do is buy at least 2x 22µF ES Muse. I already have a bunch of Wima foil caps in 2.2µF. Then I can decide later what I'm going to do. Probably go with one of each like original. It just seems odd to me that they would use different value caps in mirrored positions left and right.

Thanks again for looking,
James
 
Thanks for the update...honestly volume control is enough for me but source changing is a major bonus, especially for a/b'ing vinyl and cd's. My main cd player is so old (88') that there is no built-in remote capability. Just for fun I hooked up my Panny portable DVD player to the CD input and tested some discs I was practicing with to learn resurfacing and they sounded great. I really think the mc phono portion just needs a good run-in of 15-20 lp's to reveal what it's capable of. I gotta say, if I had a dream it would be switchable lomc loading via remote :biggrin:

Cool that your CX-1 arrived so fast. Even more cool that it looks so nice. In the photos it looks perfect. Enjoy it!

Cheers,
James
 
I like the design overall of the CX/MX series. Understated, plain. Personally I don't care about a lot of LEDs or meters. I see four LEDs lit between the CX-1 and the MX-2. That's fine by me.

John

Agree strongly with this. I like the clean and simple appearance. Minimal and not busy looking. Let the music do the talking while the equipment stays in the background.

In spite of not needing the remote I found myself wanting one of those originals just for the sake of completeness. Probably good that they don't/won't ship to Germany because I can't really afford to buy one right now anyway.

Cheers,
James
 
Cool that your CX-1 arrived so fast. Even more cool that it looks so nice. In the photos it looks perfect. Enjoy it!

Cheers,
James

Thankfully the Japanese take good care of their stuff and the line-in gives me no indication that anything needs redoing. Looking forward to running it with my good CD player once I get it back from repair.
 
Last edited:
Pulled the trigger on the remote and tracking says it may arrive tomorrow...looking forward to only getting off the couch to flip the record :rockon:
 
Pulled the trigger on the remote and tracking says it may arrive tomorrow...looking forward to only getting off the couch to flip the record :rockon:

Yeah, having a remote is a luxury that I've become adjusted to having. When I'm comfortably in the zone with my feet up it's nice to be able to jog the volume without having to disturb the pillows or set down the glass. :)

Cheers,
James
 

Well, I believe that the CX-1 will be staying here. :) I have the feeling that it's feeling right at home here because it's been singing so sweetly.

Unless something goes wrong I'm planning on putting it on the bench Friday to measure cap diameters, spacing and lead spacing. Then I can start making some final decisions on a buy list.

Cheers,
James

edit: When I get started on my M-70 I'll be making use of your thread. Thanks for posting that.
 
So I did a little side by side comparison with both my early Mercury cd and lp copies of Def Leppard's High n' Dry and the lomc phono in the CX-1 is definitely starting to open up, though I do still hear a slight congestion in the mid-range. I didn't hear any distortions on 220 or 1000 ohms (plenty of high frequency to blow apart on) and the imaging and decay are really strong. Spinning my Gilbert Kong cut of Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak was far better after a few other records. Think I'm going to hook the CX-1 up to my M-85 this weekend and see how they get along with my NS-1000x's. The remote may ruin me for going back to the C-2x.
 
Last edited:
I've been wanting a CX-1 ever since I first saw one in 1998. Back then I couldn't afford one, they were going for around 2100 DM at the time.

A week ago I saw one on ebay and negotiated a price of €425. That's inside of the norm of what I've been seeing for the last few years.

It arrived well packed and in pristine condition. This is going to be so much fun...

View attachment 1015087 View attachment 1015088 View attachment 1015089 View attachment 1015090 View attachment 1015091

More later...

Cheers,
James

The CX-1 is a sleeper unit. was Yamaha's last all out effort on an all analog 2 channel pre. I have worked on several of these.

The biggest benefit sonically is adding a film bypass cap to all the interstage coupling caps; and replacing all shunt position resistors with Vishay bulk foil.

The phono stage in these units is great. And the MC stage can be made more flexible by adding some extra resistors and a switch to offer more MC loading options.

I would not be in a hurry to replace the OEM lytics unless they were shot. If you really want to make it sing, build an outboard PS and use a 500VA transformer to replace the original 30VA trans. Dynamics will be better, bass impact will improve, and the unit will develop an ease to the sound that it does not have in stock form.

Have a few pics and some marked up schematics if there is any interest.

best.

J
 
The CX-1 is a sleeper unit. was Yamaha's last all out effort on an all analog 2 channel pre. I have worked on several of these.

The biggest benefit sonically is adding a film bypass cap to all the interstage coupling caps; and replacing all shunt position resistors with Vishay bulk foil.

The phono stage in these units is great. And the MC stage can be made more flexible by adding some extra resistors and a switch to offer more MC loading options.

I would not be in a hurry to replace the OEM lytics unless they were shot. If you really want to make it sing, build an outboard PS and use a 500VA transformer to replace the original 30VA trans. Dynamics will be better, bass impact will improve, and the unit will develop an ease to the sound that it does not have in stock form.

Have a few pics and some marked up schematics if there is any interest.

best.

J

Definitely interested, please do share. The tech who works on my stuff has done a similar switch mod on his C-2 and I may have him try it with my HA-1 stepup. I'm definitely looking forward to spending more time with it this weekend.

I know this is a little off topic but have you ever experimented with adding an outboard power supply to a C-70? I'm wondering if that would boost the sonics and also increase the lifespan. Mine is in good shape but I've read that the heat from the PS over time is a killer.
 
The CX-1 is a sleeper unit. was Yamaha's last all out effort on an all analog 2 channel pre. I have worked on several of these.

The biggest benefit sonically is adding a film bypass cap to all the interstage coupling caps; and replacing all shunt position resistors with Vishay bulk foil.

The phono stage in these units is great. And the MC stage can be made more flexible by adding some extra resistors and a switch to offer more MC loading options.

I would not be in a hurry to replace the OEM lytics unless they were shot. If you really want to make it sing, build an outboard PS and use a 500VA transformer to replace the original 30VA trans. Dynamics will be better, bass impact will improve, and the unit will develop an ease to the sound that it does not have in stock form.

Have a few pics and some marked up schematics if there is any interest.

best.

J

Yes. There is interest. Please post any pics and schematics that you'd like to. And welcome to AudioKarma!

Cheers,
James
 
OK. Today I took another look inside the control amp.
First some photos of the "Main-PCB 2" daughter card for the phono section that I missed earlier.

DSC04609.jpg DSC04610.jpg DSC04611.jpg DSC04613.jpg DSC04614.jpg

Cheers,
James
 
And photo of the underside with the base plate removed. Like the AX-750, 890, 1090 etc all components are mounted on a fibreglass reinforced plastic frame. Many of the caps solder points won't be accessible without lifting the boards from the frame. Re-capping will take a lot of care.

DSC04625.jpg

Cheers,
James
 
Lastly photo wise are a couple of the main filter cap leads.

DSC04620.jpg DSC04621.jpg

The leads measure 20mm at the outside and 10mm between the inside.

Cheers,
James
 
I measured cap diameters and lead spacing. Then I went back and edited all of the earlier posts to add this info where it's important.

All of the 2200µF caps are 16mm dia and have a 7.5mm lead spacing. Nothing larger in dia will easily fit.
All of the caps smaller than 2200µF have a 5mm lead spacing.

The 1000µF/6.3v caps are 10mm dia and nothing larger in dia will easily fit.
The 470µF/25v caps are 12.5mm dia and nothing larger in dia will easily fit.
The 470µF/16v caps are 11mm dia and up to 12mm dia should fit.
The 330µF/16v caps are 8mm dia and up to 10mm should fit.
The 100µF/35v caps are 8mm dia and up to 10mm should fit.
The 100µF/25v caps are 5mm dia and up to 8mm should fit.
The 100µF/16v cap is 6.5mm dia and up to 10mm should fit.
The 47µF/25v Muse are 6.5mm dia and up to 8mm should fit.
The other 47µF/25v are 5mm dia and up to 8mm should fit.
The 47µF/16v cap is 5mm dia and up to 6mm should fit.
The 33µF/25v is 6mm and nothing larger will easily fit.
The 22µF/25v Duorex is 5mm and up to 8mm should fit.

All other caps are 5mm dia. I don't see any problems there. For the 10µF Muse there should be room for up to 8mm. I'm replacing all smaller values with film caps and don't see any size problems there.

Now I can get serious about a Mouser buy list.

Cheers,
James
 
I measured cap diameters and lead spacing. Then I went back and edited all of the earlier posts to add this info where it's important.

All of the 2200µF caps are 16mm dia and have a 7.5mm lead spacing. Nothing larger in dia will easily fit.
All of the caps smaller than 2200µF have a 5mm lead spacing.

The 1000µF/6.3v caps are 10mm dia and nothing larger in dia will easily fit.
The 470µF/25v caps are 12.5mm dia and nothing larger in dia will easily fit.
The 470µF/16v caps are 11mm dia and up to 12mm dia should fit.
The 330µF/16v caps are 8mm dia and up to 10mm should fit.
The 100µF/35v caps are 8mm dia and up to 10mm should fit.
The 100µF/25v caps are 5mm dia and up to 8mm should fit.
The 100µF/16v cap is 6.5mm dia and up to 10mm should fit.
The 47µF/25v Muse are 6.5mm dia and up to 8mm should fit.
The other 47µF/25v are 5mm dia and up to 8mm should fit.
The 47µF/16v cap is 5mm dia and up to 6mm should fit.
The 33µF/25v is 6mm and nothing larger will easily fit.
The 22µF/25v Duorex is 5mm and up to 8mm should fit.

All other caps are 5mm dia. I don't see any problems there. For the 10µF Muse there should be room for up to 8mm. I'm replacing all smaller values with film caps and don't see any size problems there.

Now I can get serious about a Mouser buy list.

Cheers,
James

James / Guys, sorry for the late reply. Have not had a chance to post.

Here are a few images of the marked up schematic that I used. H = Holco Copper end cap resistors
V = Vishay VSR bulk foil resistor

The other key area is the CX-1 is full of interstage coupling caps. I originally tried to eliminate them, but circuit changes were too involved, so left circuit stock and added film and foil bypasses to caps.

The Power supply upgrade is the first thing I would do
1. Fast recovery bridge rectifier
2. bypass the main PS filter caps.

In the next week or so, will try to find the images I took during the upgrade.


best

John
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1666 MC Head amp.jpg
    IMG_1666 MC Head amp.jpg
    67.9 KB · Views: 26
  • IMG_1667 Phono MM EQ stage.jpg
    IMG_1667 Phono MM EQ stage.jpg
    78.5 KB · Views: 24
  • IMG_1671 CX-1 pwr sup.jpg
    IMG_1671 CX-1 pwr sup.jpg
    57.2 KB · Views: 24
  • IMG_1674 CX1 audio output stage better copy.jpg
    IMG_1674 CX1 audio output stage better copy.jpg
    71.5 KB · Views: 26
Back
Top Bottom