Yamaha CA-610 vs CA-610II

maxnolte

maxnolte

New Member
Does anyone have any insight into the differences in these boxes? I noticed the model II has a Main Direct option, which I believe bypasses the op-amps? Is this even an option in 610? Any other insights into the differences in sound?
 
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Greetings;

You have the yammie ca-610 in your profile, you tell us if it has direct option on it.

Perhaps you need to download some manuals and compare.
 
No, the unsuffixed CA-610 (not sold new in the US, AFAIK) didn't have the Main Direct. The Main Direct ostensibly bypasses the tone control amps (and maybe some other stuff I don't remember anymore).EDIT: Reading the CA-610II OM, the text is a little coy in terms of exactly what the Main Direct switch does! I can tell you that the overall gain drops a little bit, and the tone controls don't work with Main Direct "engaged". Sound seems more transparent & neutral with it "on", too... but that could be the audio placebo effect :-)

FYI and FWIW: Manuals and docs for both morphs are available at:
http://akdatabase.com/AKview/thumbnails.php?album=3&page=3
and
http://akdatabase.com/AKview/thumbnails.php?album=3&page=4

CA610II and T550 by mhardy6647, on Flickr
 
In Canada I think we got the CA-610II, but listed as a 610 without the "II" suffix. It had the tone control bypass like on the 1010. Funny how the Canadian market units were a bit different in features sometimes from the US.
 
Funny thing about the Canadian only version of the 610 is that it doesn't have a voltage switcher. I've been afraid to plug this thing in since getting it because of that. Would it cause a huge issue?

I mean, we both use 110 but isn't it closer to 119 in american and 117 in Canada?
 
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maxnolte said:
Funny thing about the Canadian only version of the 610 is that it doesn't have a voltage switcher. I've been afraid to plug this thing in since getting it because of that. Would it cause a huge issue?

I mean, we both use 110 but isn't it closer to 119 in american and 117 in Canada?
Click to expand...
Don't worry about it, not at all. Plug in, turn on and enjoy. There is no recognizable difference between US and Canadian power, in fact we run on the same grid.
 
Canada (at least in the 1970s) tended, it seems, to get "ROW" (rest of the world, i.e., international) versions of the massmarket Japanese electronics; the US got regionally-specific stuff.

My assessment of this -- by and large, cooler stuff was available north of the border than was available to me in those days! :-) Case in point, the exceedingly cool Yamaha CA-44, CT-44 and TC-66 -- versions of a Yamaha amp, tuner, and cassette deck available in the US (or not*!) but with elegant anodized black faceplates and knobs instead of the (then) more pedestrian silver.

* I think that the CA-44, for example, was a version of the unsuffixed CA-410, which AFAIK was never sold in the US. "We" got the CA-410II as the entry level Yamaha integrated at the time; a nice little amp, but if nothing else cosmetically considerably less elegant (IMO, of course) than the CA-44.

Borrowed photo (from an AK post, if memory serves!):

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Damn, that's attractive! I always suspected they were taking shots across the Sansui bow with the CA series, but that blackface Yammy is pretty obvious.
 
The direct switch on the II does bypass the tone board amps essentially making the preamp a passive unit. The tone defeat maintains the amp but just bypasses the tone controls.

When in direct mode with the tone amp bypassed the level at any position on the volume control is -6db down. As for difference in sound, definitely there is. I have 2 of the IIs and it can be plainly heard with each. The side using besides the better sound is you then can get the volume control to a higher place with possibly closer tracking. On the downside, it seems dynamics are a little bit lessened. Between the 2 states which I use depends more on the speakers and music. Either way I do not use the tone controls so keep them defeated. II do wish the II had a preamp output and different speakers terminals that would work with spade terminated wires.

Just double checked the schematic and surprisingly there are no ics in the amp using instead 46 transistors including what a pleasure to be a pair of darlingtons.
 
maxnolte said:
Funny thing about the Canadian only version of the 610 is that it doesn't have a voltage switcher. I've been afraid to plug this thing in since getting it because of that. Would it cause a huge issue?

I mean, we both use 110 but isn't it closer to 119 in american and 117 in Canada?
Click to expand...

Did not check to see if there is anything specifically different between the US and Canadian version. The countries had 2 different agencies for testing. The US UL was voluntary while it seems the Canadian was mandatory. Likely the only difference is the agency label. On another unit from another maker I did see there was a difference in the power on/off pop suppression components so there may have been some differences. Also, not sure if Canada followed the US FTC power methodology. All my literature is US concentric or noncountry targeted. Likely Canada did or the makers just self-imposed it on themselves with Canadian bound units.
 
It's interesting that there aren't any ICs in it. I wonder if using all transistors was their attempt to emulate that "Class A sound".
 
I do not know. I just sold a little Sony amp that I originally thought would have been chuck fill of them but only had 1 per channel. A JVC receiver I just located a service manual for from a couple of years later is full of them. Seems that wherever JVC could pop in an ic rather than a couple of transistors it did. Fortunately, it did not get those STKs in the output so there is a saving grace.

The specs of the JVC in terms of distortion, noise, etc a huge order better than those of the Yamaha and Sony. Would love to know how they are obtained; whether by taking a unit and tweaking it and then testing or taking a random sampling from production and testing each and using some curve of results to determine.
 
It's much easier to optimise the performance of ICs and op-amps than discrete components. That's why the distortion is lower.
 
Anyone have a good source for 610 tone knobs? I'm missing my bass knob, and the only guy on the bay selling them now has them going for $30 with shipping. I can't see myself paying almost what I'd pay for the the amp for just one knob. My other option is trying to find matching knobs at Radio Shack or something.
 
Check with Yamaha. They seem to keep old stock longer than most or likely can give you something that will reasonable integrate.
 
Unfortunately they don't have any more knobs in stock. I'll try to find something acceptable at The Shack before they file for bankruptcy.

An update on the pairing of the 610 with my Sequerra Sub 8w/Met 7 combo. They're a little power hungry--4ohm monster subs-- and the 610 doesn't seem to pair well with them. It'll clip out pretty quickly and I thought I was going to blow a tweeter in my met 7s. I moved it to the bedroom with the Klipsch kg4s and it sings like a bird, so keep that in mind when trying to power some beasts with this thing. The Sansui is handling the job at the moment, but I'm leaning toward getting a beefier power amp down the line.
 
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