Jeff Day / Yazaki San version MC30
- Thread starter Seamaster
- Start date
Don Bocadill
Obsessed, who me???!!
Awesome!! Can only imagine how good they’ll sound once the cactus’ break in. Pairing with your Turnburrys I assume? Pity you aren’t closer, could have brought my yazaki Marantz 7c over for the full experience....keep on talking myself out of selling my JBL’s and my 452 to part fund a set of Westminster’s and some Mc30’s...gotta say Yazaki and Jeff have very much inspired me to take my system to the next level of ‘real sound’ performance...
Congratulations on those. I'm very curious what your impressions will be.
Seamaster
Active Member
Seamaster
Active Member
I will keep you updated, but will take a little time because we just moved to a different house, I finally got my own audio room but not set up yet, everything is on the floor. The room is smaller than my old place.
damacman
Resident Psycho
He's got the itch ...
Don Bocadill
Obsessed, who me???!!
Our very own Marantz wizard @crooner did the work for me. There’s a great thread he did on the yazaki mods he did on one of his 7c’s over in the Marantz forum...
Seamaster
Active Member
I was lucky Pat was going to rebuild a pair of MC30 from ground up, I just supplied the caps and resisters. He charged a little extra labor cost on top of the regular rebuild job. Caps alone will cost over a grand. The square looking caps are Yazaki’s SPEC Corp made MC104DA mica that costed the most about $500 for the set. Here is the link:
http://www.spec-corp.co.jp/e/audio/MC-DA/index.html
But they are bargains compare to Duelund cast caps. LOL
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Seamaster
Active Member
Th
Thanks, I will find a 7C when I get around, too many toys. I have this pair of MC30 and a new pair of Melody M845 monoblocks in line to play with for now. I have very high expectations for the Melody. They are my 2nd attempt for quest of 845 sound, my first 845 amp was pair of Cary 805C, it was a disappointment, they were overly tuby and lacked transparency and timing. The Melody are 2A3 driven 845 with 6SN7, should have a lots of options for tube rolling.
BTW, how does it sound compare to a regular 7C? Just curious about YOUR opinion.
Thanks, I will find a 7C when I get around, too many toys. I have this pair of MC30 and a new pair of Melody M845 monoblocks in line to play with for now. I have very high expectations for the Melody. They are my 2nd attempt for quest of 845 sound, my first 845 amp was pair of Cary 805C, it was a disappointment, they were overly tuby and lacked transparency and timing. The Melody are 2A3 driven 845 with 6SN7, should have a lots of options for tube rolling.
BTW, how does it sound compare to a regular 7C? Just curious about YOUR opinion.
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Don Bocadill
Obsessed, who me???!!
“BTW, how does it sound compare to a regular 7C? Just curious about YOUR opinion”
@Seamaster you’ll have to ask @crooner as he has both a stock version and the yazaki version, plus a few upgrades he devised himself, such as the hayseed hamfest custom power supply caps and the khozmo 48 step attenuator...
Cheers!
@Seamaster you’ll have to ask @crooner as he has both a stock version and the yazaki version, plus a few upgrades he devised himself, such as the hayseed hamfest custom power supply caps and the khozmo 48 step attenuator...
Cheers!
crooner
Tube Marantzed
I borrowed the Arizona Cactus caps idea from Yazaki-San as well as the industrial STTH6110TV2 rectifier for the HV and bypassing the cathode follower output level controls. The use of Ohmite "Brown Devil" vitreous enamel dropping resistors in the power supply was also inspired by him
I devised a Schottky diode based heater rectifier turret board with snubber composed of a NOS West-Cap PIO and an Allen Bradley resistor. This gives me the sound of the selenium rectifier without the hazards of it.
The chrome plated filter capacitor cans from Hayseed have modern miniaturized Nichicon and Panasonic 105 degree electrolytics with low ESR. The sections are bypassed with NOS West-Cap PIO's as well.
The volume control is one of the most important parts of this preamp, if not the most important. So I gave it the royal treatment. I find that even the best carbon pots introduce bass muddiness and distortion. Plus the tracking is always worse at lower settings. The Khozmo 48 step attenuator is the best of it's kind available today. It features hardened gold contacts and top quality Vishay SMD resistors. The shunt design means that only two resistors are in the signal path at the time. The fixed shunt resistor is a Japanese AMTRANS AMRG carbon film, one the best available. I am using the remote controlled version on mine.
The result is increased transparency, 3D palpability and very low distortion. All the qualities of the original Marantz 7C design, including its legendary sonic signature are preserved.
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Seamaster
Active Member
That is a very thoughtful strategy, thanks for sharing! I will, for sure want to get a Yazaki/Crooner version of 7C! The problem is to find a 7C in good condition for a reasonable price.
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crooner
Tube Marantzed
You are most welcome. I hear you about finding a 7C in reasonable shape at a good price. I found mine with some corrosion on the rivets as it came from a humid Florida environment. It was dusty but cleaned up decently. Another alternative is the VAC reissue, but you would have to contend with the silver plated Teflon wiring which some think it causes the sound to be bright. Otherwise it appears very close to the original.
Seamaster
Active Member
I am in the process of burning in those MC30s. First, I turned them on, let them idle for 2 hours, then I put them through some soft and relaxed jazz for two sections of total 18 hours. From now on, I will use mixed music that includes some very bass heavy DubStep so I can exercise my speakers at the same time.
Setup:
MacBook Pro with Audirvana Plus
McIntosh D150
DeHavilland Ultra Veve 3 with Mundorf Silver Gold In Oil caps
MC30 (Normal Restored by www.vintagevacuumaudio.com)
MC30 (Yazaki Version Restored by Pat Hickman of Classic Audio, Oregon)
Melody M845 Monoblocks
Tannoy Turnberry SE
Anti Cables 6.2 interconnects
Anti Cables L3 Reference power cables
Duelund 16GA Tin Copper wire bare ends bi-wire run
Torus Power RM15 Plus power conditioner
I know the weakest link in my system is the D150, but I will not swap it out until I am done with the comparison because I have been living with them for last 2 years, I know it well. I will throw in a pair of Melody M845 SET for fun, they are one of the finest the Chinese can offer for high performance/price ratio. Anti Cables 6.2 were chosen based on their excellent clarity, scale, dynamic, and neutrality. On a scale of warmth where 1 is the coolest and 100 is the warmest, the anti-cables 6.2 is about 55 in my book. Special mention to Torus Power RM series power conditioner, it really improved every area of the music without any negative impact or inject any personal flavor into the system, highly recommend.
Setup:
MacBook Pro with Audirvana Plus
McIntosh D150
DeHavilland Ultra Veve 3 with Mundorf Silver Gold In Oil caps
MC30 (Normal Restored by www.vintagevacuumaudio.com)
MC30 (Yazaki Version Restored by Pat Hickman of Classic Audio, Oregon)
Melody M845 Monoblocks
Tannoy Turnberry SE
Anti Cables 6.2 interconnects
Anti Cables L3 Reference power cables
Duelund 16GA Tin Copper wire bare ends bi-wire run
Torus Power RM15 Plus power conditioner
I know the weakest link in my system is the D150, but I will not swap it out until I am done with the comparison because I have been living with them for last 2 years, I know it well. I will throw in a pair of Melody M845 SET for fun, they are one of the finest the Chinese can offer for high performance/price ratio. Anti Cables 6.2 were chosen based on their excellent clarity, scale, dynamic, and neutrality. On a scale of warmth where 1 is the coolest and 100 is the warmest, the anti-cables 6.2 is about 55 in my book. Special mention to Torus Power RM series power conditioner, it really improved every area of the music without any negative impact or inject any personal flavor into the system, highly recommend.
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Curious as to how your MC30 Yazaki version turned out. I'm a new owner of MC30's from Audio Classics (not fully restored, just brought up to spec) as well as deHavilland Ultraverve 3... so we have a few things in common with regard to gear, assuming you still have the same amps and pre from 2018?
