Yamaha C2 versus Kenwood C2 preamp

elitopus

elitopus

Addicted Member
I have a chance to buy one of these. The Yamaha is the more expensive of the two but thats not what this thread is about.

I have listened briefly to a Kenwood C2 and I liked it. I have not heard the Yamaha. There are also a lot of good reviews about the Kenwood.

Basically I will be able to verify functionality of the unit but wont have time to do any long term listening.

The one I choose will be in a system hooked up to some Ashly pro amps. Inputs will be CD and tuner. I don't use a TT in this system.

What are y'alls opinions on these?
 
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Both are d@mn good preamps,I could easily live with either of 'em.
I dunno flip a coin maybe ???

Sorry I could'nt be of more help...

Bret P.
 
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I don't have experience with either specifically but I'm a fan of Yamaha so I'd pick that one. You can also get the T2 which is the matching tuner though most of the contemporary Yamaha tuners would look good paired up with it.
 
I have the Kenwood T-1 tuner in my stack with M-1 and C-1:

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What you're looking for is the T-2 to go with your C-2:

kenwood_basic_t2_am-fm_stereo_tune.jpg
 
The Balance control on the Kenwood C2s is a known problem, so make sure the one you are looking at works well, or at least works centered. I have one with the issue and am attempting repairs, but I do like it when it worked. MC phono is another reason I keep it as a spare, and a nice selling point if you ever think of moving it.
 
I wish I could get a preamp like these without the balance knob. Its something I never use. Its one of the things I like about the older ones like a Dynaco Pas. They can be modded to remove the balance control. Maybe one of these newer ones can be too

Thanks for the comments so far. The same person has both preamps. Maybe I could ask to listen to both and base my decision on that.

Honestly I am worried about the Yamaha being too neutral. I like a warmer sounding preamp.
 
I have a Kenwood C2, mine doesn't have the balance issue. But, it does need a complete fluff-and buff(cleaning and re-cap), then it will go into a second system. I like it, and used it for several years before replacing it with an Adcom. The Adcom was just OK, never cared for the phono-stage. It's gone, but I still have the Kenwood. Very well built, adjustments and controls for everything. And it sounds good.
 
Forgot to mention, I also like Yamaha gear In my opinion, their build quality is as good or better than Kenwood. As someone who has 35+ years in electronic manufacturing, build quality, again in my opinion, is just as important as sound quality. In this case, I wouldn't necessarily recommend one over the other, just a question of which has the features that work best for you.
 
I like how the Yamaha has less features. There is a lot on the Kenwood that I don't need.

I don't like how the Yamaha has the balance and volume control on one pot. It would probably be impossible to find if it goes bad. Kinda reminds me of the old receivers that have the stereo tone controls on one pot.

In this situation the Yamaha is almost double the cost of the Kenwood. There doesn't seem to enough of a difference between them to warrant the extra cost
 
Well,as far as the Kenwood goes I prefer the C1 preamp vs. the C2 simply because the C1 has the variable loudness control and I absolutely love that feature.
And that's from a guy who NEVER used to use loudness,EVER.

Also the C1 does'nt seem to have that balance control issue the C2 has.
But the C1 does'nt have a headphone jack where-as the C2 has one w/volume control.

Anhow yeah there's always a tradeoff no matter how one looks at these things.

So yeah I REALLY dig my Kenwood Basic C1 preamp,though right now it's on loan to friend while his Yamaha C4 is in the shop getting some work done to it.

Eventually I plan to get plenty of matching Kenwood gear for that C1 preamp.
For an amp I'll get either a M1D -or a M2/M2A,throw in a T2 tuner & one of their 10 -or- 12 band EQ's too,so I got plans for that unit,thus it's a keeper for sure.
Already have a Kenwood DP-5020 CDP for that system as well...

FWIW

Bret P.
 
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There is also a Yamaha Cx-600 close to me in the same price range. It looks older than the C2 though. Maybe it was just not cared for as well.

I would also be interested in a Sanyo C55 if I could find one. I like the rack mount capability.

This will be part of my mancave system. Looks do not matter
 
Funny you mention that as I have a Sanyo C55+ in my portable rack rig.
It's a GREAT little preamp,a bit of a sleeper to some,but to those that know 'em they're in strong demand,so they go pretty quick when one is for sale for reasonable $$.

Easily took me more than a year to find mine.

So IMO that would be a great choice as well.

And yeah nodoubtaboutit I'm a rack gear afficionado as well.

Bret P.
 
About a year and a half ago I got the bug to change preamps and budget was an extremely large factor. I'd been using a NAD 1000 and had no complaints with it whatsoever just wanted something different. I acquired a few and did my own little shoot out. One was a Kenwood Basic M1 and it had the most distinctive sound of the batch. My main source material is analog and the distinction was more apparent than with digital at least I thought so. I dislike subjective descriptions because people perceive things differently so I won't use any. What satisfies me may bother others and visa versa. In running my comparison, what stood out for me about the Kenwood was high frequency detail. I may have gotten accustomed to how the NAD sounded because it seems I prefer something a bit (dang, a subjective description!!!) darker and murkier. I had no trouble at all selling the Kenwood, the first responder bought in immediately. It was credited with a very good phono section so I guess a quick sale stands to reason. It had, if I remember correctly, an MC input but I gave those up some years ago so for me was of no consequence. If the possibility exists to compare the Kenwood and Yamaha side by side, it would be worth doing. I have not owned Yamaha amplification for decades however I had the experience of selling it for a number of years. But I was a long term (very long term actually) Kenwood owner. Could be wrong but speaking for my own self, I would not expect a huge sonic difference between the two models mentioned. Aesthetics, features and "feel" might be more apparent.

If you are not a turntable user, detecting a difference on line level might be a bit hard.

It may sound silly because you don't buy the stuff by the pound but which one is heavier?
 
We had a customer that had 3 or 4 C2 Yamaha pre-amps. They ran 24 hours a day 7 days a week . They didn't always have music going thru them, but he wanted flexibility in his 8 systems. All would fail every two or 3 years, not at the same time, or for the same reasons. But I would care to venture over 50% of the time it was the power supply and if it didn't go politely the other components went with it. He kept them for close to 10 years as I can best remember and then up graded to B&K which never gave him a moment of trouble. In fact after close to 16 years I think he said the B&K were were going great. I thought the B&K were smoother sounding on the top octave with his M&K 150 Home Theatre, Mcintosh XR3 & XR1, Klipsch and Altec 8" indoor outdoor ceiling, speakers. Other owners seemed to enjoy the Yamaha pre-amps too. and never had a service issue. One gentleman used the C-2 with the B1 amp, maybe a B2, as I remember,driving a pair of NS 1000 and was insanely in love with the combination. Kenwood stuff was in the shop all the time as it was popular with returning service men from the Orient. One year when we went to the CES show in Chicago, to find replacements for Scott and Fisher, we had samples of Kenwood Yamaha and Sansui. The sales man preferred the Yamaha , I sort of preferred the Sansui, but Kenwoods bad reputation with the service department sank any chance of it being a contender. So we became Sansui, Yamaha dealers.
 
I borrowed a Kenwood C2 from a friend today with the option to buy. I am going to try it out in my system today or tomorrow. I still want to hear the Yamaha C2 and see how they compare.

Twiiii: Interesting story. Its nice to see how long a component will past when plugged in and turned on 24/7. Maybe those Yamaha's had a bad batch of caps or something. I have some Yamaha PA gear thats 20 something years old and still going strong
My equipment gets turned off and unplugged after each use. I dont know that that is "better" for the equipment but it makes me feel better about leaving it on all the time.
 
So the C2 that I have either has the balance issue ir just has dirtty pots. I haven't had a chance to open it and deoxit

What are the symtoms of the bad balance pot versus just a dirty pot? On this unit it cuts out in one speaker sometimes. When you play with the controls is comes back. Sounds just like its dirty to me.

My first impressions are this Kenwood is much darker than the Marantz I was using before. I am one of those bad people that uses an EQ and I had to adjust it a bit to make the Kenwood sound good. Fortunately the adjustments actually put the EQ in a mostly "neutral" position.
I think the Kenwood sounds better out of the box.
 
After listening to the Kenwood C2 this weekend I really like it. I ended up buying it from my friend.

The Yamaha C2 I was looking at was an ebay local pickup. It ended up going for around 4 times what I paid for the Kenwood. I would still be interested to hear one.

I still need to pop the cover and clean the controls. I ordered a bunch of stuff from Parts Express for xmas. Got a new can of Deoxit coming:). Actually its the little dropper bottle. I wanted to try that out versus the spray
 
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