Yamaha CR-3020 on Ebay
- Thread starter Zarathustra
- Start date
specialidiot
Break Glass, Smoke Lucky
That's great!
I'm gonna go ahead and guess 'nice' is an understatement. Sounds like an awesome setup.
Can anybody say if the amplifier section is all that much different from the big Yamaha integrated amplifiers of the same vintage. It's got another 40 watts on my CA-2010, but I'm curious if there is all that much difference in actual build quality or performance. I compared the specifications, but to be honest, a lot of this doesn't mean a whole lot to me. So I was just looking for some general impressions on this.
Zarathustra
Active Member
Prices of these Yamaha vintage gear seem to be skyrocketing.
Same is happening over here in Europe.
A Yamaha M2 poweramp just went for a thousand dollars on the German Ebay.
It's all the fault of AK!!
Do not say that these products are any good talk those prices down...
I'll start:
My Yamaha M2, CT-7000 and A1 are more in the repairshop then playing at home.
I would never buy a Yamaha vintage product in my life.
You can pick them up for free.
Zarathustra
Active Member
Compare the weight and mostly you know enough.
Nelson Pass (Threshold & Passlabs) said something along the lines that you should compare amps by the pound. Heavier amps tend to have more powersupply, heavier heatsinking for more parallel outputtransistors. That's where cheaper products tend to cut the corners.
Zarathustra
Active Member
CA-2010 is certainly no small amp.
Do you here any improvement when it operates in Class A?
Off Topic:
Nice Infinity's with the Quantum Line Source
I once had the Q2 that was a real amplifierkiller.
Friend of mine drives his QLS's with a Levinson ML-3.
Do you here any improvement when it operates in Class A?
Off Topic:
Nice Infinity's with the Quantum Line Source
I once had the Q2 that was a real amplifierkiller.
Friend of mine drives his QLS's with a Levinson ML-3.
I really counldn't tell you, I purchased it, hooked it up to a pair of Yamaha NS 1000m's listened to them for a few days, then something else caught my attention put the speakers in a spare room I use for storage, put the amp in a box put it in the garage and its been there for about 3 years. I guess it was all about being a receiver, I don't care much for receivers, I did think it sounded nice. Next time I get a chance to spend a few days digging thru that garage I will try to find it. I can't even walk in there, its full, and I mean full, from floor to ceiling the whole thing, except for one small path to a tool box of mine.
Oops I think its a cr2010, its a receiver not an amp. Darn I don't even remember now what the number was it was one of the largest receivers that yamaha made.
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merrylander
AK Member
The 3020 amp section uses four transistors on output 2 x 2SA747 and 2 x 2SC1116, or alternatively 2 x 2SB555 and 2 x 2SD455. The rest of the layout on the circuit board is unlike any other amp section in the lineup. Drivers are TO-220 size 2SA and 2SC, modern replacements are 2SA1011 and 2SC2344 two of each.
merrylander
AK Member
The two largest (physically) are the CR-2020 and CR2-40 but neither one compares to the 3020 as they run around 50 pounds each, a little shy of the 3020's 80 pounds. The power transformer alone weighs in at just over 20 pounds.
We've been discussing this a little bit on a different thread I started, "Hot Yamaha CA-2010". But from what I've been told in that thread, I may not be listening to anything but Class A anymore since I know the amp has been switched between modes while active. Supposedly that screws up the micro-switch or the power supply or the phases of the moon and locks the amp into Class A forever. Although I can't find anything warning of this in the owner's manual.
Anyway, no...I don't hear any difference at all. They say if you overdrive a Class A it will start to clip, and my Totem Mani-2's will definitely cause a lower powered amp to clip if driven too hard, but I've never heard that either.
Zarathustra
Active Member
Stuck in 'Class A'
I know what Class A means but do not know how Yamaha implemented this on their amplifiers. Most amps operate in Class A anyway when asked to deliver only a couple of Watts and maybe Yamaha could prevent the outputtransistors to go into their cutoffregion or slide in Class B when driven harder.
I'm stuck in Class A also (only 25 watts) and the only switch on my amps are the ones that shut it down. :huge:
I know what Class A means but do not know how Yamaha implemented this on their amplifiers. Most amps operate in Class A anyway when asked to deliver only a couple of Watts and maybe Yamaha could prevent the outputtransistors to go into their cutoffregion or slide in Class B when driven harder.
4seatPilot
"Broker"
I sure hope it's different! That's half the point of owning the 3020 - it's uniqueness!
And again, M.L. brings pertinent and specific details to the table... :thmbsp:
