Yamaha CR-1020 Vintage Receiver Measurements and Features

[MAB]

I have one of these. I made a mistake and fried the amp section. The shop I took it to was unable to source the needed part. Now it feeds LS50w as a phono preamp,an FM source and a source for a chrome cast audio. FM is only “ok” but I probably need a good antenna. In any case the only station I listen to is a public radio music station. Hope they survive.

The phono section is excellent.
The review that @DSJR linked noted the poor tuner performance. I didn't test the tuner, just listened to a couple stations with a 300 Ohm dipole antennae which Angus McKenzie reports performs better.
Sorry about the loss of the amp section.

 

[AdrianusG]

Nope, just a collector
Long story short: When I caught the "stereo bug" (ca. 1976) I was very short on funds, so I window-shopped a lot. Listened to many different things (many, though not all, dealers were surprisingly tolerant in those days of scruffy but earnest college students). I bought a Yamaha CA-610II in 1978 (which, unsurprisingly is still here and still works well and sounds good to me).
Much, much later, after our own kids were grown & more or less on their own, I got interested again. One of those interests was along that line of "recapturing lost youth". I couldn't afford the better Yamaha stuff then, but -- informed by the notion which I like to call "Pasteur's Dictum"* -- I could "now".

The aforementioned CA-610II, when it was more or less new


... and in a more recent (but hardly current) photo:


____________
* i.e., "Chance favors the prepared mind", as it's often rendered in English.

Amazingly, it looks like well...New you took good care of it, that's obvious.
anyways, some of the best (looking) audio equipment was built in that time period, and that goes for SLR Camera's too, they literally radiate that timeless elegance/beauty and functionality,+ they were built to last (with good care of course) instead of ending up in landfill after max 5-6 years.

 

[mhardy6647]

and that goes for SLR Camera's too, they literally radiate that timeless elegance/beauty and functionality,+ they were built to last (with good care of course) instead of ending up in landfill after max 5-6 years.

OK... let's not go there... OK?


... although I should probably mention that the monochrome photo of the CR-2020 (and its Pioneer chum) that I posted earlier was actually taken with film using one of the Nikons.

I will also note that my (adult) son and I are co-enablers when it comes to vintage cameras and optics. Some of mine are his, and vice versa. We live a fair distance apart, but our 'collections' are somewhat co-mingled.

 

[AdrianusG]

OK... let's not go there... OK?


... although I should probably mention that the monochrome photo of the CR-2020 (and its Pioneer chum) that I posted earlier was actually taken with film using one of the Nikons.

I will also note that my (adult) son and I are co-enablers when it comes to vintage cameras and optics. Some of mine are his, and vice versa. We live a fair distance apart, but our 'collections' are somewhat co-mingled.

Cool,

I have a full functioning Nikon FE2 (black version) with 50mm 1,8 Nikkor unfortunately film is hard to get by and very expensive
I also have a Digital Nikon SLR but, the FE2, they gonna have to pry from my dead fingers.

 

[mhardy6647]

Both my son & I are fairly Nikon-intensive, although he's amassed quite a collection of film cameras -- and has used and/or is still using nigh-on all of them.
He's not as active in photography as he was, but it was a serious passion of his for quite a few years.

This Old Camera

A picture a day keeps the demons at bay.

icouldbeahero.blogspot.com

OK, I'll stop now.

 

[AdrianusG]

Both my son & I are fairly Nikon-intensive, although he's amassed quite a collection of film cameras -- and has used and/or is still using nigh-on all of them.
He's not as active in photography as he was, but it was a serious passion of his for quite a few years.

This Old Camera

A picture a day keeps the demons at bay.

icouldbeahero.blogspot.com

OK, I'll stop now.

Ok ,

Apologies in advance to the moderator(s)

My last entry on the "Camera" subject, (after all this is an Audio Forum)
The only even more desirable Camera (from that era than the one i currently have) would be a Pentax LX in mint condition... dreams

 

[MAB]

Ok ,

Apologies in advance to the moderator(s)

My last entry on the "Camera" subject, (after all this is an Audio Forum)
The only even more desirable Camera (from that era than the one i currently have) would be a Pentax LX in mint condition... dreams

It's a vintage equipment review!
Vintage cameras are certainly welcome!!!

 

[LGD_]

A good friend of mine got a Yamaha CR-1020 receiver at a local sale. It is in great cosmetic shape. I'm going to test it.

It was bought along with a more powerful CR-2040 which unfortunately was recapped, and the two 22mF filter capacitors were replaced with larger parts that couldn't be secured with the existing strain relief. The well thought out metal bracket was bent aside, cardboard was lightly stuffed, prayers were likely quietly uttered for good luck. At some point the weight of unsecured upgraded capacitors cracked the power supply board near on of the standoffs.
View attachment 463569
I will fix that at some point.

Fortunately the CR-1020 is unmolested. I cleaned it, fixed a couple issues, adjusted the bias. Here are the performance results, and tests of a few of the features.

This Yamaha Receiver was released in 1977. The serial number is missing, so I am not clear on the exact date of manufacture, but likely 1977-1979. When introduced, it was Yamaha's second most powerful and feature-laden receiver.
View attachment 463492
It has inputs for two turntables (MM only), two tape decks each with tape loop, auxiliary, plus the built-in AM/FM tuner. It has three-band tone controls plus Yamaha's variable loudness. Additional features include low- and high-cut filters, and two headphone jacks. It is wide (21.25", 540mm) and heavy (40 pounds, 19 kilos). The next unit above this in Yamaha's 1977 lineup was the CR-2020, which had 100 Watts per channel with similar features.

View attachment 463495
Preamp out / Main in allows testing of each component independently, and make this unit particularly future-proof. You could add DSP or integrate subs. Lots of switchable speaker connections, and electrical outlets for additional equipment.

With so much stuffed into one chassis, there must be compromises.
View attachment 463497
Also, is the urban legend true that Yamaha electronics have a lean and bright sound? Alternately, should we go break the bank on vintage electronics and receivers?

I will try to answer some of these questions.

First, let's look at the preamp:
Here is the THD and Noise with 2.5V input signal, and the volume control gain adjusted to just under 2V output. Note that I needed to adjust L/R balance, more on that in a bit.
View attachment 463555
This is respectable performance, neck and neck with my Apt Holman preamp, or a Parasound JC2 (which I don't have).

Sweeping the input voltage gives the following noise and distortion vs. output:
View attachment 463499
Good performance across a fairly usable range. Spec claims 0.02% THD at 1kHz, with maximum output of 5 V, which it does.

As noted, the volume control has a Left / Right offset. The top graph is Left and Right vs. overall gain. The bottom is L-R for three different runs, one while increasing the volume, another while decreasing the volume, and a third with the -20dB mute switch depressed (offset by 20dB for the overlay).
View attachment 463500
Up vs. down was to see if there is some asymmetry in the wiper, there is not. The -20dB offset is just to see if it is exactly 20dB (it is), and if it has an effect on the balance (it does not). My experience with receivers is volume controls are often mismatched L and R even when new, no idea if this is age or tolerance. I measured the resistance, it is L/R mismatched, and no amount of cleaning addressed the issue. The mismatch is 2dB at unity gain, fairly high volume, but certainly in a region where the unit likely will get used and the imbalance will be potentially audible. This is probably one of the biggest issues with the unit, possibly has been there since day 1.

The tone controls are vast. Here are the bass and treble contours for each detent:
View attachment 463502
Not as useful as PEQ, but fun! And they match the frequencies that Yamaha published in their literature.
View attachment 463541

Yamaha has a great variable loudness feature on many of their older integrated amps and receivers. The control has 11 detents, Flat to 10. Rotating the knob reduces the volume in approximately 1dB increments, each reduction increased the depth of the Fletcher-Munson Compensation curve. Below is the measured performance of the control at the bottom, with the family of equal loudness curves above:

View attachment 463506
I aligned the frequency scales, but the Y-axes are not scaled. Yamaha's circuit isn't exact match to the loudness compensation, but is really useful. It's a great way to reduce volume up to ~10dB, retaining the similar perceived tonal balance.

Regarding the long repeated urban legend of Yamaha having a lean sound, here is the frequency response of the preamp, including the performance of the high and low filters:
View attachment 463507
This receiver is -1dB at 10 Hz and 70 kHz, and +- 0.2dB from 20Hz to 20kHz. Not lean or bright. Nor are the contemporary gear from other manufactures attenuated in a way that might make a flat-measuring Yamaha sound bright in comparison. It's fairly contemporary performance. The High and Low cut filters are exactly 12dB/oct at the corner frequencies Yamaha specs in their literature.

I measured the phono preamplifier. It has two selectable inputs, both use the same Moving Magnet preamp.
Here is the performance with a 5mV input signal:
View attachment 463556
36dB gain, and it meets Yamahas spec for THD and SNR. It's quite good performance.

If I sweep the input voltage, it clips at 250mV:
View attachment 463559

Frequency response to the RIAA EQ curve is near perfect, 0.5dB bass boost that definitely isn't lean, if it is audible.

View attachment 463562

This is a good phono stage.

After cleaning and and repair of the Pre-out/Main-In switch, the unit operates flawlessly, buttery smooth. The controls are a joy to operate. The FM tuner pulls in my usual stations. The meters provide useful info. It all looks cool and brings back good memories.

The power amp is specified by Yamaha at 70 Watts per channel, 0.05% THD. I did have to adjust the bias on both channels, which had both drifted low by an equivalent amount. After warm up, both snapped to spec with a slight turn, and stabilized with no fuss. Neither has drifted in the few weeks I have had this.

I tested the amp using the Main in RCA jack.
At 5 Watts, it performs great, with noise and distortion as good as many contemporary amps.
View attachment 463563


Here is the left channel swept into 8 and 4 Ohm loads:
View attachment 463572
This exceeds spec into both 4 and 8 Ohms! Driving both channels reduces peak power by about 5 Watts, it still has margin to Yamaha's published numbers. It got hot during power testing, but not unduly so. The frequency response of the amp is flat to from 5Hz to 10kHz, down 0.5dB at 20kHz.
View attachment 463570

What a great piece of vintage gear. I'm a fan of Yamaha, and stem to stern this doesn't disappoint. Aside from great looks, it has really good performance, with the possible exception of the volume control. And no hint of lean, clinical sound. All in one very wide and heavy package. I seldom see one of these big beasts tested, I hope you find this interesting.

I'm currently restoring CR-1020 for a friend, so really enjoyed your review - nice job, thanks .

 

[MAB]

What an excellent, in-depth review of an audio device that is not only timelessly beautiful but also a masterpiece of no-nonsense engineering and functionality—making it a tough act to follow for most similar equipment that came afterward.

Thanks so much. I'm also fond of this look.

You got me thinking...
The CR-1020 phono section is really good. If taking SINAD into account, nearly as good as the recently tested Michael Fidler Spartan 20, with even more overload margin. This would be in the top third of ASR rankings for phono stages.
The preamp's 86-87dB SINAD performance right on the edge of what I consider 'good' performance for a preamp. This isn't bad when you consider it is quite stuffed into the chassis, and has tone controls. I wonder how much better it would be with a tone defeat switch.
The amplifier would be right at the mean of all amps tested here. The fact it has marginally exceeds spec for power, and is tightly integrated with all the other features makes it even more appealing.

 

[thewas]

Thanks so much. I'm also fond of this look.

You got me thinking...
The CR-1020 phono section is really good. If taking SINAD into account, nearly as good as the recently tested Michael Fidler Spartan 20, with even more overload margin. This would be in the top third of ASR rankings for phono stages.
The preamp's 86-87dB SINAD performance right on the edge of what I consider 'good' performance for a preamp. This isn't bad when you consider it is quite stuffed into the chassis, and has tone controls. I wonder how much better it would be with a tone defeat switch.
The amplifier would be right at the mean of all amps tested here. The fact it has marginally exceeds spec for power, and is tightly integrated with all the other features makes it even more appealing.

True and another reason I think this review should be listed on the review page as its really not only historically interesting but also still a reference for a great and sensible engineering.

 

[amirm]

Nice! Promoted to home page.

 

[MAB]

I'm currently restoring CR-1020 for a friend, so really enjoyed your review - nice job, thanks .

I forgot to add, I got the service manual, schematic, and User Manual at HiFi Engine.

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/yamaha/cr-1020.shtml

I appreciate that Yamaha and many of the manufacturers took time to publish detailed specs and performance characteristics. And we can verify almost 50 years later with modern test equipment.

 

[ctakim]

Wow, makes me wonder about the vintage (relative to now) gear I had in the 70's and 80's. Nice to see them assessed using the yardsticks we currently use for more contemporary gear. Thank you!!!

 

[mctron]

Pretty amazing for it's age. I have a cr 820 and matching tuner sitting around somewhere. Love seeing vintage equipment tests

 

[Mojo Warrior]

Kudos to the Yamaha Design Team of the 1970s. Still handsome and stylish 50years later !

 

[LGD_]

I forgot to add, I got the service manual, schematic, and User Manual at HiFi Engine.

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/yamaha/cr-1020.shtml

I appreciate that Yamaha and many of the manufacturers took time to publish detailed specs and performance characteristics. And we can verify almost 50 years later with modern test equipment.

The SM I downloaded from H-Fi engine is a pretty lousy copy, so I took a chance and paid $14 for this one:

Yamaha CR-1020 Service Manual, Analog Alley Manuals

It's a clear and in color copy of the Yamaha manual and well worth the price. Easy to read, I keep it up on a monitor next to the unit while working on it.

 

[AudioSceptic]

A good friend of mine got a Yamaha CR-1020 receiver at a local sale. It is in great cosmetic shape. I'm going to test it.

It was bought along with a more powerful CR-2040 which unfortunately was recapped, and the two 22mF filter capacitors were replaced with larger parts that couldn't be secured with the existing strain relief. The well thought out metal bracket was bent aside, cardboard was lightly stuffed, prayers were likely quietly uttered for good luck. At some point the weight of unsecured upgraded capacitors cracked the power supply board near on of the standoffs.
View attachment 463569
I will fix that at some point.

Fortunately the CR-1020 is unmolested. I cleaned it, fixed a couple issues, adjusted the bias. Here are the performance results, and tests of a few of the features.

This Yamaha Receiver was released in 1977. The serial number is missing, so I am not clear on the exact date of manufacture, but likely 1977-1979. When introduced, it was Yamaha's second most powerful and feature-laden receiver.
View attachment 463492
It has inputs for two turntables (MM only), two tape decks each with tape loop, auxiliary, plus the built-in AM/FM tuner. It has three-band tone controls plus Yamaha's variable loudness. Additional features include low- and high-cut filters, and two headphone jacks. It is wide (21.25", 540mm) and heavy (40 pounds, 19 kilos). The next unit above this in Yamaha's 1977 lineup was the CR-2020, which had 100 Watts per channel with similar features.

View attachment 463495
Preamp out / Main in allows testing of each component independently, and make this unit particularly future-proof. You could add DSP or integrate subs. Lots of switchable speaker connections, and electrical outlets for additional equipment.

With so much stuffed into one chassis, there must be compromises.
View attachment 463497
Also, is the urban legend true that Yamaha electronics have a lean and bright sound? Alternately, should we go break the bank on vintage electronics and receivers?

I will try to answer some of these questions.

First, let's look at the preamp:
Here is the THD and Noise with 2.5V input signal, and the volume control gain adjusted to just under 2V output. Note that I needed to adjust L/R balance, more on that in a bit.
View attachment 463555
This is respectable performance, neck and neck with my Apt Holman preamp, or a Parasound JC2 (which I don't have).

Sweeping the input voltage gives the following noise and distortion vs. output:
View attachment 463499
Good performance across a fairly usable range. Spec claims 0.02% THD at 1kHz, with maximum output of 5 V, which it does.

As noted, the volume control has a Left / Right offset. The top graph is Left and Right vs. overall gain. The bottom is L-R for three different runs, one while increasing the volume, another while decreasing the volume, and a third with the -20dB mute switch depressed (offset by 20dB for the overlay).
View attachment 463500
Up vs. down was to see if there is some asymmetry in the wiper, there is not. The -20dB offset is just to see if it is exactly 20dB (it is), and if it has an effect on the balance (it does not). My experience with receivers is volume controls are often mismatched L and R even when new, no idea if this is age or tolerance. I measured the resistance, it is L/R mismatched, and no amount of cleaning addressed the issue. The mismatch is 2dB at unity gain, fairly high volume, but certainly in a region where the unit likely will get used and the imbalance will be potentially audible. This is probably one of the biggest issues with the unit, possibly has been there since day 1.

The tone controls are vast. Here are the bass and treble contours for each detent:
View attachment 463502
Not as useful as PEQ, but fun! And they match the frequencies that Yamaha published in their literature.
View attachment 463541

Yamaha has a great variable loudness feature on many of their older integrated amps and receivers. The control has 11 detents, Flat to 10. Rotating the knob reduces the volume in approximately 1dB increments, each reduction increased the depth of the Fletcher-Munson Compensation curve. Below is the measured performance of the control at the bottom, with the family of equal loudness curves above:

View attachment 463506
I aligned the frequency scales, but the Y-axes are not scaled. Yamaha's circuit isn't exact match to the loudness compensation, but is really useful. It's a great way to reduce volume up to ~10dB, retaining the similar perceived tonal balance.

Regarding the long repeated urban legend of Yamaha having a lean sound, here is the frequency response of the preamp, including the performance of the high and low filters:
View attachment 463507
This receiver is -1dB at 10 Hz and 70 kHz, and +- 0.2dB from 20Hz to 20kHz. Not lean or bright. Nor are the contemporary gear from other manufactures attenuated in a way that might make a flat-measuring Yamaha sound bright in comparison. It's fairly contemporary performance. The High and Low cut filters are exactly 12dB/oct at the corner frequencies Yamaha specs in their literature.

I measured the phono preamplifier. It has two selectable inputs, both use the same Moving Magnet preamp.
Here is the performance with a 5mV input signal:
View attachment 463556
36dB gain, and it meets Yamahas spec for THD and SNR. It's quite good performance.

If I sweep the input voltage, it clips at 250mV:
View attachment 463559

Frequency response to the RIAA EQ curve is near perfect, 0.5dB bass boost that definitely isn't lean, if it is audible.

View attachment 463562

This is a good phono stage.

After cleaning and and repair of the Pre-out/Main-In switch, the unit operates flawlessly, buttery smooth. The controls are a joy to operate. The FM tuner pulls in my usual stations. The meters provide useful info. It all looks cool and brings back good memories.

The power amp is specified by Yamaha at 70 Watts per channel, 0.05% THD. I did have to adjust the bias on both channels, which had both drifted low by an equivalent amount. After warm up, both snapped to spec with a slight turn, and stabilized with no fuss. Neither has drifted in the few weeks I have had this.

I tested the amp using the Main in RCA jack.
At 5 Watts, it performs great, with noise and distortion as good as many contemporary amps.
View attachment 463563


Here is the left channel swept into 8 and 4 Ohm loads:
View attachment 463572
This exceeds spec into both 4 and 8 Ohms! Driving both channels reduces peak power by about 5 Watts, it still has margin to Yamaha's published numbers. It got hot during power testing, but not unduly so. The frequency response of the amp is flat to from 5Hz to 10kHz, down 0.5dB at 20kHz.
View attachment 463570

What a great piece of vintage gear. I'm a fan of Yamaha, and stem to stern this doesn't disappoint. Aside from great looks, it has really good performance, with the possible exception of the volume control. And no hint of lean, clinical sound. All in one very wide and heavy package. I seldom see one of these big beasts tested, I hope you find this interesting.

I'm not too surprised. I had a CT820 FM tuner, from the same era I think. I've always loved the clean stying too. I wonder how the Pioneers and Sansuis compared?

 

[JimWeir]

A good friend of mine got a Yamaha CR-1020 receiver at a local sale. It is in great cosmetic shape. I'm going to test it.

It was bought along with a more powerful CR-2040 which unfortunately was recapped, and the two 22mF filter capacitors were replaced with larger parts that couldn't be secured with the existing strain relief. The well thought out metal bracket was bent aside, cardboard was lightly stuffed, prayers were likely quietly uttered for good luck. At some point the weight of unsecured upgraded capacitors cracked the power supply board near on of the standoffs.
View attachment 463569
I will fix that at some point.

Fortunately the CR-1020 is unmolested. I cleaned it, fixed a couple issues, adjusted the bias. Here are the performance results, and tests of a few of the features.

This Yamaha Receiver was released in 1977. The serial number is missing, so I am not clear on the exact date of manufacture, but likely 1977-1979. When introduced, it was Yamaha's second most powerful and feature-laden receiver.
View attachment 463492
It has inputs for two turntables (MM only), two tape decks each with tape loop, auxiliary, plus the built-in AM/FM tuner. It has three-band tone controls plus Yamaha's variable loudness. Additional features include low- and high-cut filters, and two headphone jacks. It is wide (21.25", 540mm) and heavy (40 pounds, 19 kilos). The next unit above this in Yamaha's 1977 lineup was the CR-2020, which had 100 Watts per channel with similar features.

View attachment 463495
Preamp out / Main in allows testing of each component independently, and make this unit particularly future-proof. You could add DSP or integrate subs. Lots of switchable speaker connections, and electrical outlets for additional equipment.

With so much stuffed into one chassis, there must be compromises.
View attachment 463497
Also, is the urban legend true that Yamaha electronics have a lean and bright sound? Alternately, should we go break the bank on vintage electronics and receivers?

I will try to answer some of these questions.

First, let's look at the preamp:
Here is the THD and Noise with 2.5V input signal, and the volume control gain adjusted to just under 2V output. Note that I needed to adjust L/R balance, more on that in a bit.
View attachment 463555
This is respectable performance, neck and neck with my Apt Holman preamp, or a Parasound JC2 (which I don't have).

Sweeping the input voltage gives the following noise and distortion vs. output:
View attachment 463499
Good performance across a fairly usable range. Spec claims 0.02% THD at 1kHz, with maximum output of 5 V, which it does.

As noted, the volume control has a Left / Right offset. The top graph is Left and Right vs. overall gain. The bottom is L-R for three different runs, one while increasing the volume, another while decreasing the volume, and a third with the -20dB mute switch depressed (offset by 20dB for the overlay).
View attachment 463500
Up vs. down was to see if there is some asymmetry in the wiper, there is not. The -20dB offset is just to see if it is exactly 20dB (it is), and if it has an effect on the balance (it does not). My experience with receivers is volume controls are often mismatched L and R even when new, no idea if this is age or tolerance. I measured the resistance, it is L/R mismatched, and no amount of cleaning addressed the issue. The mismatch is 2dB at unity gain, fairly high volume, but certainly in a region where the unit likely will get used and the imbalance will be potentially audible. This is probably one of the biggest issues with the unit, possibly has been there since day 1.

The tone controls are vast. Here are the bass and treble contours for each detent:
View attachment 463502
Not as useful as PEQ, but fun! And they match the frequencies that Yamaha published in their literature.
View attachment 463541

Yamaha has a great variable loudness feature on many of their older integrated amps and receivers. The control has 11 detents, Flat to 10. Rotating the knob reduces the volume in approximately 1dB increments, each reduction increased the depth of the Fletcher-Munson Compensation curve. Below is the measured performance of the control at the bottom, with the family of equal loudness curves above:

View attachment 463506
I aligned the frequency scales, but the Y-axes are not scaled. Yamaha's circuit isn't exact match to the loudness compensation, but is really useful. It's a great way to reduce volume up to ~10dB, retaining the similar perceived tonal balance.

Regarding the long repeated urban legend of Yamaha having a lean sound, here is the frequency response of the preamp, including the performance of the high and low filters:
View attachment 463507
This receiver is -1dB at 10 Hz and 70 kHz, and +- 0.2dB from 20Hz to 20kHz. Not lean or bright. Nor are the contemporary gear from other manufactures attenuated in a way that might make a flat-measuring Yamaha sound bright in comparison. It's fairly contemporary performance. The High and Low cut filters are exactly 12dB/oct at the corner frequencies Yamaha specs in their literature.

I measured the phono preamplifier. It has two selectable inputs, both use the same Moving Magnet preamp.
Here is the performance with a 5mV input signal:
View attachment 463556
36dB gain, and it meets Yamahas spec for THD and SNR. It's quite good performance.

If I sweep the input voltage, it clips at 250mV:
View attachment 463559

Frequency response to the RIAA EQ curve is near perfect, 0.5dB bass boost that definitely isn't lean, if it is audible.

View attachment 463562

This is a good phono stage.

After cleaning and and repair of the Pre-out/Main-In switch, the unit operates flawlessly, buttery smooth. The controls are a joy to operate. The FM tuner pulls in my usual stations. The meters provide useful info. It all looks cool and brings back good memories.

The power amp is specified by Yamaha at 70 Watts per channel, 0.05% THD. I did have to adjust the bias on both channels, which had both drifted low by an equivalent amount. After warm up, both snapped to spec with a slight turn, and stabilized with no fuss. Neither has drifted in the few weeks I have had this.

I tested the amp using the Main in RCA jack.
At 5 Watts, it performs great, with noise and distortion as good as many contemporary amps.
View attachment 463563


Here is the left channel swept into 8 and 4 Ohm loads:
View attachment 463572
This exceeds spec into both 4 and 8 Ohms! Driving both channels reduces peak power by about 5 Watts, it still has margin to Yamaha's published numbers. It got hot during power testing, but not unduly so. The frequency response of the amp is flat to from 5Hz to 10kHz, down 0.5dB at 20kHz.
View attachment 463570

What a great piece of vintage gear. I'm a fan of Yamaha, and stem to stern this doesn't disappoint. Aside from great looks, it has really good performance, with the possible exception of the volume control. And no hint of lean, clinical sound. All in one very wide and heavy package. I seldom see one of these big beasts tested, I hope you find this interesting.

A common misconception about equal loudness contours. The common printed curves are representing the hearing level for pure tones. Music is nothing like that. Even a single tone provides masking effecting the hearing sensitivity at frequencies below and above the tone. There are ways of representing loudness of complex tones and transients that make up music. (ISO532)
The loudness does follow the general trend of the curves (at lower frequencies our hearing is less sensitive at lower levels than at higher levels).
As I remember, the Yamaha and McIntosh units that used adjustable loudness controls both used broadband noise as a stimulus to arrive at the corrections using in their products.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Pretty amazing for it's age. I have a cr 820 and matching tuner sitting around somewhere. Love seeing vintage equipment tests

The CR would be a receiver (tuner-amp). Do you mean a CA-820?

 

[AudioSceptic]

OK... let's not go there... OK?


... although I should probably mention that the monochrome photo of the CR-2020 (and its Pioneer chum) that I posted earlier was actually taken with film using one of the Nikons.

I will also note that my (adult) son and I are co-enablers when it comes to vintage cameras and optics. Some of mine are his, and vice versa. We live a fair distance apart, but our 'collections' are somewhat co-mingled.

Yebbut where are all the lenses!?