Yamaha B-2 - Upgrade Suggestions
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clinic-audio
all on YAMAHA untill 1990
Hello
improve the sound ?
Do you know what a YAMAHA B2 is ?
improve the sound ?
Do you know what a YAMAHA B2 is ?
HiFi in WYO
The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.
Ah, isn't this one of Yammies' best amps? Not sure you can improve on it, but if it needs some love, here's what someone did to theirs on some other site:
all output devices removed, checked and re-seated
cap replacements in the regulated power supplies
bias adjusted to spec on both channels
some cleaning of connectors and switches
all output devices removed, checked and re-seated
cap replacements in the regulated power supplies
bias adjusted to spec on both channels
some cleaning of connectors and switches
KarinS
Active Member
Great reply! I'm cracking up.
nakmandan
Vintage Nak enthusiast
Improving the sound would be entirely subjective and even sacrilege to some people. If you are unhappy with a B-2, it is probably either not working correctly and in need of service, or it just isn't the amp for you. Nothing wrong with that, as everyone hears differently and there may be particular speaker situations or room acoustics that may prefer something else. But there are certainly some areas that could be improved upon, such as better circuit boards that make it easier to service or lay out the parts for better cooling, alternate speaker terminal binding posts, or higher class RCA input jacks, etc. The people in this forum are some of the best to address this question.
KarinS
Active Member
I'm pretty sure I had all of that done on my B2 recently. Rottalpha was in charge of a complete overhaul of my amp. I was lucky to find him. My amp is seriously kicking butt right now, and I love the new speaker terminal posts. My biggest complaint about that amp was having to strip my wires every so often and trying to insert the frayed ends into those ill-designed original posts. I'm surprised Yamaha designed them like that.
FriedChicken
Active Member
What makes the B-2 sound so great? (as in, I'm asking the sound be described)
KarinS
Active Member
The B-2 is one of the VFET (Vertical Field Effect Transistor) amps. The VFETS sound sweet like a tube amp, but since they're transistors, you don't have tubes to replace once they go bad. If you want a better description of the sound, ask rottalpha, since he specializes in all things VFET. I found with mine that it can handle nearly every speaker I've been interested in, including the Maggie IVA's from the 1980s (they're electrostats). But my amp sounds different with different speakers. When I went to pick up my amp from rottalpha, he played streamed music on his Yamaha speakers through my amp (sorry, I didn't note the model of the speakers), and it slammed the sound. It was intense. But when I got it hooked up to my Larsen 8's, the sound was much calmer, for lack of a better word. Either way, it produced a good sound stage. Note: my Larsen 8's are unlike any speakers I've ever heard, though. Rottalpha's Yamahas, for example, have a sweet spot, which my Larsens don't. I hate sweet spots (which nearly all high end speakers seem to have), because I like to bounce around and play air guitar. Which I can do with the Larsens because of the way the tweeters are placed at the top, for one thing. I can go in the next room, and they sound great no matter where I am relative to them.
Just saying, I heard my first B-2 in 1978 when I was a young warranty service tech working in the back of the only audio store around. The owner was in his late 40's and loved jazz. He had an awesome setup going on in his store with all of the good stuff at the time including Yamaha, Pioneer, Maranz, and Sony. The music was always playing from morning til closing. I didn't make a lot of $ but it was a great place to work. At the time I noticed something was different in the B-2 SQ. It made me stop and take a closer listen. Back then I couldn't even afford to think about buying 1 since I had a family to feed. But the sound was something that struck me and stayed with me until ~35 years later when I finally got my first 1. I've been enjoying it ever since. To my ears there's some kind of sonic magic going on inside those V-FET's and IMHO Yamaha sure knew how to get them to do their best work ...
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KarinS
Active Member
Congratulations on your B-2. 1978 is also the year I bought mine, when I was 22. No kids, so I could buy fun stuff. I bought mine at ProAudio in Oakland, and two of the salesmen told me every time I came into the store that if I ever decided to sell my amp, they wanted to be called first (ha ha - no way!). I brought my B-2 in two or three times for minor repairs (the meter lights went out twice, for example), and the head of the repair department, Don, told me that every time he got his hands on my amp, he ran the specs on it because he loved it so much. It's rated at 100 WPC, but Yamaha understates their specs. Don told me mine was actually 130 WPC. After rottalpha got done overhauling it recently, he said it tested at 140. No matter what, it's a pleasure to own. I also love the aesthetics of my set-up (B-2, T-2, & C2x). They're all black, and have very few knobs and buttons. Utter simplicity.
As for Yamaha itself, I have never bought anything from them that wasn't superb. I wish they made cars.
Thanks! Since then I've had several B-2's cross my bench in varying conditions. Albeit my restores are not of the Rottalpha caliber but I'm happy to say that I was able to give them the TLC they deserve to keep them singing into the future for their happy owners. I did it mostly out of appreciation for how wonderful these amps perform.
Over the years I've had the pleasure of listening to all kinds of different amps including some very nice vacuum tube ones. Except for a pair of lovingly restored Krohn-Hite UF-101's that I keep just because they look so cool, see,
and my sweet sounding Victor V-FET JM-S7, all have moved on by now because to my ears the Yamaha B-1/B-2 V-FET amps just seem to do it so much better ...
Sparkplug
Super Member
B-2 upgrade ---------------> B-1 with a UC-1 and a C-1 Control amplifier. And a second mortgage.
Sparkplug
Super Member
To put it simply and without using any complicated adjectives, the B-2 sound quality is the closest I’ve heard to live music. I actually feel the players are performing here in my living room whereas with my other Yamaha, Sansui, or Sony amps I don’t get the same feeling. Even my wife who is not really into audio equipment (not at all), once walked over and said she thought the sound was really nice, I (in shock) told her it was from the Yamaha B-2 … she looked at it a bit and went back to what she was doing. I think I’m going to get another one sooner or later …
Those look like they'd fit in with my Fluke 760A Meter Calibrator and HP 740B !!Thanks! Since then I've had several B-2's cross my bench in varying conditions. Albeit my restores are not of the Rottalpha caliber but I'm happy to say that I was able to give them the TLC they deserve to keep them singing into the future for their happy owners. I did it mostly out of appreciation for how wonderful these amps perform.
Over the years I've had the pleasure of listening to all kinds of different amps including some very nice vacuum tube ones. Except for a pair of lovingly restored Krohn-Hite UF-101's that I keep just because they look so cool, see,
View attachment 3415531
and my sweet sounding Victor V-FET JM-S7, all have moved on by now because to my ears the Yamaha B-1/B-2 V-FET amps just seem to do it so much better ...
Understood and appreciated!
Same here. My wife loves what these Yamaha's do too. She got to share my audio evolution and she instantly took notice the first time she heard my first B-2. And that was even before I reconditioned it.
I'll always have at least 2 B-1's and B-2's ...
