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Yamaha preamps: school me on the sonic differences

zaibatsu

zaibatsu

yam
I often see recommendations for one over the other, but rarely descriptions of sonic differences.

I like the sound to be as accurate as possible and love a very spatial soundstage. I don't use the phono stage or tone controls and don't really need a DAC or remote.

Interested in the C-40 / C-60 / C-70 / C-80 / C-2 / C-2a
Can I use the spec sheets to make a fairly informed decision, or is there more to the story? I presume the paper specs are more useful (than for power amps) since at the low signal level there's little in the way of feedback loops to color the sound.

As much as I'd love a C-2x :music: I can't afford one.
Appreciate hearing your experiences.

Edit - on 2nd thoughts, as much as I love the Yamaha sound, given my very bare-bones needs for a pre-amp, I wonder if I should consider a DIY route and/or a much simpler design to pair with a Yamaha Class-A power amp.
 
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avionic said:
There all Yamaha. They all sound excellent.

C-45,C-4,C-6 are also very good sounding control amplifiers.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, I'll look into the C-4 and C-6 also.

Do you have any thoughts on the C-40, is there any noticeable difference in sound from the C-80 and C-85 you recommend? I think I'd miss the tone bypass, but there's one available locally to me currently unlike the others.
 
C-40.. I really like the variable continuous loudness feature.. I haven't had the pleasure to work on one yet. I'm sure will fit your requirements.
 
A test I like to use is running with and without the pre to try and see what it adds or subtracts. Luckily Yamaha amps have attenuators that makes this easy.

After running through a few SACDs and CDs and switching between the M60 and PC2602 I couldn't hear much, if any, difference with or without my C80 in the chain when using my DVDS-2300 as a source. My speakers are revealing to a fault so I consider that to be a very good thing.
 
I think that it's a good thing when a preamp doesn't add or subtract. But that it can when you'd want to. To me, it should be a source selector (and phono preamp) that can alter the sound only when desired or needed.

Cheers,
John
 
zaibatsu said:
Interested in the C-40 / C-60 / C-70 / C-80 / C-2 / C-2a
Can I use the spec sheets to make a fairly informed decision, or is there more to the story? I presume the paper specs are more useful (than for power amps) since at the low signal level there's little in the way of feedback loops to color the sound.
Click to expand...

One thing to consider are the inverted pre-outs on the C-70, C-80, and C-85. You can use the inverted pre-outs to bridge amplifiers that can't otherwise be easily bridged. You can also use the inverted pre-outs when running an amplifier in stereo, to invert the polarity of the signal traveling through one of the channels (fixed by reversing polarity again at the speaker). This causes any signal which exists on both channels simultaneously to hit the opposite voltage rails of the power amplifier at the same time, as opposed to hitting the same voltage rail at the same time. This is a very good thing, and can effectively give you extra amplifier power to work with in many cases. Bass particularly benefits since bass uses a lot of amplifier power, and bass content tends to be the same on both channels due to it's omni-directional nature.

The inverted pre-outs won't change the sonic character of the pre-amp, but any time you are in a situation where you can benefit from that extra amp power, there will certainly be a difference.
 
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IMO B&Ws are very revealing. They typically have an amazingly smooth midrange with almost bright highs.

I love the pairing with Yamaha though if someone was into 'vintage, warm' type sound they'd likely feel differently.
So far this setup is the closest I've heard to live, unamplified, music from a system.
 
I agree strongly with @OMGCat! in that B&W speakers and Yamaha amps pair very well.

If you feed them a good live recording and close your eyes, you'll feel like you didn't miss the concert.
 
I just restored a C-40. Very simply design, easy to work on and sounds very neutral. It came from the factory with excellent Black Gate and other high quality caps. BUT, there is some cost-cutting evident on build quality. The internal chassis is plastic and the front selector switches are very cheap and get noisy.
 
One thing that I have always found true (and it is being discussed in another thread) is that Yamaha (historically) has maintained a consistently "neutral" sonic signature. Sure, there are different models at different price points and number of features available, but sonically, there is consistency, even with pieces built decades apart.
 
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