Alpha Lima
Treading Water
I'm in need of some good advice, fellow AK denizens!
A few months ago, I replaced my nice version 3 Klipsch Epic CF-3 speakers with nicer version 1 Epic CF-4s in cherry (recapped and lightly modded). Short of a streaming music source and maybe a standalone phono preamp, I felt my nice 2ch. system was all but complete:
Technics SL-1700 Mk2 with Ortofon OM-10 cart for vinyl
Pioneer Elite DV-45 for CD & SACD
All fed through a Yamaha CX-600 preamp
And finally a Yamaha MX-600 amp (135 wpc, and I'm a sucker for those big meters)
Then I suffered a mishap with the Ortofon - clumsy old me dropped the headshell 5 feet onto a hardwood floor and bent the non-replacable stylus cantilever almost 60 degrees. So I switched to an old Audio Technica AT-10 MM cart I had on hand. It'll do, for now.
Now I have another, bigger problem. This time, it's the preamp. The left channel is less than half as loud as the right. I usually have the "Source Direct" engaged, which bypasses all of the sound controls except the master volume. Disengaging that made the imbalance less pronounced, but it made everything quieter, too, and introduced a serious hum. Hoping against hope that it's just a dirty switch or pot, I opened it up to Deoxit it.
Far from being an electronics expert, the only visual evidence I could see was the large cap for the left channel, near the power supply. The top of it has a pronounced dome instead of the usual flatness. Whatever the culprit is, I simply don't have the time or expertise to fix it. Right now, I'm using an old Yamaha RX-V973 as a preamp, but its phono stage and overall sound is rather less than stellar.
I've thought of a few remote-controllable options that lets me keep the MX-600 for possibly bi-amping:
1. Have the CX-600 professionally serviced and recapped. Not sure what the cost is, though. And it's from 1988, so age is a factor.
2. Replace it with a Yamaha R-9. About $275 on eBay. Up to 35 Class A watts per channel pumped into those very efficient Epics might make the MX-600 redundant, and I've read it sounds good in Class AB mode, too. But it's over 30 years old and I hear it routinely runs hot.
3. Get a Yamaha R-S700. About $450 new in a lot of places. A basic, audio-only stereo reciever. Excellent reviews. Very Yamaha sound. Apparently, it's not quite as well regarded as the lower high-end integrates, but it's not too far away. Its looks definitely reference the Yamaha's legendary mid-1970s receivers and separates.
4. Get its predecessor, the RX-797 (2005-2010), which appears to possess much of the technology, qualities and performance of the R-S700 (but with a quiter line level input S/N ratio), but its styling mimics Yamaha's drab contempoarary RX-V and HTR receivers. I've found a used one for $180 shipped.
5. Save up and get an Outlaw Audio RR2150. Rave reviews from the likes of Stereophile and customers, and a pretty nice feature set. Alas, the styling, especially of the knobs and faceplate, is a complete disgrace. Idiosyncratic is no excuse for butt-ugly. If audio equipment wants to call attention to itself, it better look as good as it sounds.
I could swing the $450 for the new Yamaha, at the moment. Someone is offering an NAD 7600 with a/d/s L570/2 speakers for that much. But I'm wondering if there's a better way to spend that money.
Any ideas, folks? Remember, it has to be remote-controllable and cost no more that $450 to $500.
Thanks.
- AlphaLima
A few months ago, I replaced my nice version 3 Klipsch Epic CF-3 speakers with nicer version 1 Epic CF-4s in cherry (recapped and lightly modded). Short of a streaming music source and maybe a standalone phono preamp, I felt my nice 2ch. system was all but complete:
Technics SL-1700 Mk2 with Ortofon OM-10 cart for vinyl
Pioneer Elite DV-45 for CD & SACD
All fed through a Yamaha CX-600 preamp
And finally a Yamaha MX-600 amp (135 wpc, and I'm a sucker for those big meters)
Then I suffered a mishap with the Ortofon - clumsy old me dropped the headshell 5 feet onto a hardwood floor and bent the non-replacable stylus cantilever almost 60 degrees. So I switched to an old Audio Technica AT-10 MM cart I had on hand. It'll do, for now.
Now I have another, bigger problem. This time, it's the preamp. The left channel is less than half as loud as the right. I usually have the "Source Direct" engaged, which bypasses all of the sound controls except the master volume. Disengaging that made the imbalance less pronounced, but it made everything quieter, too, and introduced a serious hum. Hoping against hope that it's just a dirty switch or pot, I opened it up to Deoxit it.
Far from being an electronics expert, the only visual evidence I could see was the large cap for the left channel, near the power supply. The top of it has a pronounced dome instead of the usual flatness. Whatever the culprit is, I simply don't have the time or expertise to fix it. Right now, I'm using an old Yamaha RX-V973 as a preamp, but its phono stage and overall sound is rather less than stellar.
I've thought of a few remote-controllable options that lets me keep the MX-600 for possibly bi-amping:
1. Have the CX-600 professionally serviced and recapped. Not sure what the cost is, though. And it's from 1988, so age is a factor.
2. Replace it with a Yamaha R-9. About $275 on eBay. Up to 35 Class A watts per channel pumped into those very efficient Epics might make the MX-600 redundant, and I've read it sounds good in Class AB mode, too. But it's over 30 years old and I hear it routinely runs hot.
3. Get a Yamaha R-S700. About $450 new in a lot of places. A basic, audio-only stereo reciever. Excellent reviews. Very Yamaha sound. Apparently, it's not quite as well regarded as the lower high-end integrates, but it's not too far away. Its looks definitely reference the Yamaha's legendary mid-1970s receivers and separates.
4. Get its predecessor, the RX-797 (2005-2010), which appears to possess much of the technology, qualities and performance of the R-S700 (but with a quiter line level input S/N ratio), but its styling mimics Yamaha's drab contempoarary RX-V and HTR receivers. I've found a used one for $180 shipped.
5. Save up and get an Outlaw Audio RR2150. Rave reviews from the likes of Stereophile and customers, and a pretty nice feature set. Alas, the styling, especially of the knobs and faceplate, is a complete disgrace. Idiosyncratic is no excuse for butt-ugly. If audio equipment wants to call attention to itself, it better look as good as it sounds.
I could swing the $450 for the new Yamaha, at the moment. Someone is offering an NAD 7600 with a/d/s L570/2 speakers for that much. But I'm wondering if there's a better way to spend that money.
Any ideas, folks? Remember, it has to be remote-controllable and cost no more that $450 to $500.
Thanks.
- AlphaLima
