Yamaha CR-1020 Vintage Receiver Measurements and Features

[AudioSceptic]

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.

You say that almost as if we can ignore that it's nearly 50 years old!

 

[DSJR]

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?

The Pioneer CT 9100 (I think it was), was a superb mid to upper-priced tuner and I seem to recall that this one led the field in the late-ish 70s. An old pal of mine still uses his I think, although the Sony V-FET 5650 amp bought with it, committed suicide some years back and took his Harbeth bass cones with it (a known thing as critical solder joints go dry and the resultant instability I believe, destroys the unobtainium? output stage).

 

[yo!]

The dynamic loudness correction is the most underrated feature and should be mandatory for every amplifier.

 

[mhardy6647]

Yebbut where are all the lenses!?

Fortunately, most of the glass is my son's... that said, some of his glass is here at our house. Off-site storage, I guess.

 

[DanielT]

Angus McKenzie (a known fully-tech reviewer of the times) tested the CR1020 in a mid 70s 'Receivers' issue of HiFi Choice (worldradiohistory in the HiFi Choice issue pages). It didn't actually come out that well for (radio performance it seems) reasons clearly published, although he was a bit crabby and a 'nitpicker par excellence' as I remember both in print and personally, as my then manager related to us. The Sansui 9090 was *the* favourite model back then I recall.

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Hi-Fi-Choice/1975-1982/Hi-Fi Choice Iss. 007 Receivers.pdf PDF page 152

I don't remember if it was you who said that the Goodmans Model 150 got good reviews in its time? In any case, it did in the extensive test you provided the link to.

The slightly fascinating thing is that it looks to have a design that in the 1970s should have been retro.Doesn't it look a bit 1950s-like in terms of design?
Or what do you think?

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/goodmans/model-150.shtml

 

[DSJR]

I don't remember if it was you who said that the Goodmans Model 150 got good reviews in its time? In any case, it did in the extensive test you provided the link to.

The slightly fascinating thing is that it looks to have a design that in the 1970s should have been retro.Doesn't it look a bit 1950s-like in terms of design?
Or what do you think?
View attachment 464721View attachment 464722

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/goodmans/model-150.shtml

The plastic FEEL of the things was the main weakness, that and 'RadioTV Grade' components used inside, which may have looked worse than they were in actuality. The Module 110 was my favourite visually at least, but buttons would either stick or fly out (they definitely did on the popular Module 90 with 'slide-rule' controls - Youtube's 'Mendit Mark' serviced one if you weant to see the rats nest inside ).

Bearing in mind where you're located, don't dismiss Tandberg receivers of this era. The 2075 was superb I remember and the lesser less powerful models good too, with excellent tuner sections.

Got to mention one more while I'm still on the 70s retro-kick and that's the Harman Kardon HK930, which was a pretty awesome piece of kit back then I thought, before the super models beloved of @restorer-john came along in the mid to late 70s

 

[RFS]

Nice review. I’m an original owner of one of these. Unfortunately one channel has been out for years. I had it repaired several years ago, but it didn’t last. Any leeds on places that will service these units?

 

[mhardy6647]

Nice review. I’m an original owner of one of these. Unfortunately one channel has been out for years. I had it repaired several years ago, but it didn’t last. Any leeds on places that will service these units?

Are you sure it's a "hard" problem? The CR-1020, if memory serves, like the CR-2020 has a preamp/power amp 'coupler' switch on the rear panel that is notorious for causing all sorts of havoc when it gets dirty. Unless you're sure that's not the problem... it's well worth checking into.

And, as with all vintage audio hardware, any of the various switches and buttons/levers on the Yamahas can also cause dropouts in one channel (typically somewhat intermittently) when they get dirty (oxidized or otherwise 'gunked up' switch or potentiometer contacts). Again, these issues are almost always straightforward to mitigate. I find the Yamaha hardware here (in northern New England) needs contact cleaning ca. every 5 years.

Contact cleaning is a pretty straightforward thing to do.

 

[MAB]

Nice review. I’m an original owner of one of these. Unfortunately one channel has been out for years. I had it repaired several years ago, but it didn’t last. Any leeds on places that will service these units?

Exactly what @mhardy6647 said!

As I mentioned in the review, I had to do lots of contact cleaning, and I actually replaced the exact same switch on this unit.

A quick test is to move the switch back and forth. You will need to take off the little keeper plate. Make sure and do it with the volume down. You can also use RCA cables from preamp out to main in to bypass the switch entirely.

Good luck!

 

[GWolfman]

Wow, this receiver rivals today’s receivers! Props to Yamaha of the day and shame to today’s efforts.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Exactly what @mhardy6647 said!

As I mentioned in the review, I had to do lots of contact cleaning, and I actually replaced the exact same switch on this unit.
View attachment 464858

A quick test is to move the switch back and forth. You will need to take off the little keeper plate. Make sure and do it with the volume down. You can also use RCA cables from preamp out to main in to bypass the switch entirely.

Good luck!

So you can use the pre and power completely independently? That's a nice feature. Was that common with the other '70s Japanese receivers or just Yamaha?

 

[MAB]

So you can use the pre and power completely independently? That's a nice feature. Was that common with the other '70s Japanese receivers or just Yamaha?

Yes, many manufactures added pre-out and main-in to receivers and integrated amps. The premium models were loaded with features and flexibility.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Yes, many manufactures added pre-out and main-in to receivers and integrated amps. The premium models were loaded with features and flexibility.

Thanks. I remember that stuff being new but didn't own a receiver.

 

[AnalogSteph]

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.

Looks like the left channel may have a duff coupling cap somewhere, or poor contact.

Which this unit would be forgiven for. Over the weekend I fixed a little Kenwood tuner with barely 4 decades on the clock which turned out to have not one, not two, but three shorted electrolytics. One of them underneath a shield in the frontend, because of course it was.

 

[mhardy6647]

Yes, many manufactures added pre-out and main-in to receivers and integrated amps. The premium models were loaded with features and flexibility.

A couple of obligatory old-guy comments

Yes, PRE OUT/MAIN IN connectors on receivers (typically, but not exclusively, the higher-end models) and some integrated amplifiers were widespread in massmarket stereo components in the 1970s. The most typical rationale for this was to offer an insertion point for various kinds of adaptors. The most likely intent was to all the adition of any of various flavors of adaptor/decoder for four-channel audio, but also equalizers, dynamic range enhancers (it was a thing ), or noise reduction devices (Dolby, dBx, etc.). Most such gizmos could alternatively be inserted into a tape monitor loop* but the PRE OUT/MAIN IN connector offered another option.

I actually had a point I wanted to make (believe it or not!) -- MOST of the 1970s components with PRE/MAIN connections used jumpers to connect the two sections of the component. Here's a typical example from a Superscope-era marantz integrated amplifier (marantz 1060).

source: https://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/marantz1060_e.html
Those little jumpers were factory-installed. Here'a a 1060 with the jumpers removed.



Yamaha used a switch, which obviated the need for jumpers, which can get lost**, but introduced the problem of the switch itself -- at least after a decade or two (or more).

The factory-provided jumpers can, of course, be replaced with a couple of patch cords (ahem, interconnects ) if they're missing. I am sure there are expensive aftermarket audiophile alternatives, as well.
________________
* I hope this isn't too archaic for folks to know of, but if so, just let me know & I'll explain!
** Not that long ago, components such as the 1060 mentioned above were sometimes offered (and sold!) at bargain prices on, e.g., eBAY as broken: "powers on but no sound". Clever buyers (and flippers) would peruse the photos, notice the missing jumpers, and - sometimes - pick up perfectly functional pieces for a pittance. Probably goes without saying that those days are past.

 

[Frank Dernie]

The plastic FEEL of the things was the main weakness, that and 'RadioTV Grade' components used inside, which may have looked worse than they were in actuality. The Module 110 was my favourite visually at least, but buttons would either stick or fly out (they definitely did on the popular Module 90 with 'slide-rule' controls - Youtube's 'Mendit Mark' serviced one if you weant to see the rats nest inside ).

Bearing in mind where you're located, don't dismiss Tandberg receivers of this era. The 2075 was superb I remember and the lesser less powerful models good too, with excellent tuner sections.

Got to mention one more while I'm still on the 70s retro-kick and that's the Harman Kardon HK930, which was a pretty awesome piece of kit back then I thought, before the super models beloved of @restorer-john came along in the mid to late 70s

I bought a Goodmans Module 110 in around 1972 iirc, the white one, and used it for many years and it "retired" to driving sound through 2 pairs of speakers in the old Williams Grand Prix Engineering factory in Didcot until we moved to a custom built factory in around 1984 or so - then I don't know what happened to it.
At home it had happily driven KEFkit 3 speakers, Monitor Audio MA3 and Nightingale NM point5 and was superseded by Cambridge Audio P60 and T55.

This review backs up @sergeauckland frequently voiced view that audio electronics has been a "solved problem" for decades, though there is always poorly performing stuff as there always has been.

 

[DSJR]

So you can use the pre and power completely independently? That's a nice feature. Was that common with the other '70s Japanese receivers or just Yamaha?

My CA1000 II didn't like its preamp section driving several metres into my ATC actives, the sound becoming very bland and 'dead' (I was in between AVI preamps at the time... On it's own, it was a good amp, as was the CA800.

To tie this into the thread, does anyone have access to the CR800? This one really didn't need to apologise to anyone I remember, it could drive all our speakers within its power availability and I recall it had a good tuner too. Apologies, but I never really bonded as well with the replacement models, which seemed to cheapen things a bit (we'd just had a mid 70s boom and bust in the UK and successive far eastern audio imports to the UK seemed to cut costs to maintain price points, all the best stuff gradually not being imported outside of Germany I believe).

 

[mhardy6647]

Sadly, I have none of the CRx00 series here, other than a CR-1000. I wish that were not the case.

(CR-1000 on the bottom, CR-620 on top)

The other interesting model of roughly that era (in terms of components available in the US) was the CR-450.

image credit: https://hifi-wiki.com/index.php/Yamaha_CR-450

Canada also got some lovely variants with black-anodized aluminum faces (e.g., CR-66, which I believe was more or less identical to the aforementioned CR-450).

image credit: https://www.iavscanada.com/product/yamaha-cr-66-receiver/
Sorry, I am off on a nostalgia-driven tangent now.

 

[AdrianusG]

Sadly, I have none of the CRx00 series here, other than a CR-1000. I wish that were not the case.

(CR-1000 on the bottom, CR-620 on top)

The other interesting model of roughly that era (in terms of components available in the US) was the CR-450.
View attachment 464965
image credit: https://hifi-wiki.com/index.php/Yamaha_CR-450

Canada also got some lovely variants with black-anodized aluminum faces (e.g., CR-66, which I believe was more or less identical to the aforementioned CR-450).
View attachment 464964
image credit: https://www.iavscanada.com/product/yamaha-cr-66-receiver/
Sorry, I am off on a nostalgia-driven tangent now.

Please keep going you've got a stunning collection of Yamaha hardware there

below my stuff, i'm using the big Yamaha now as integrated, but i can also use it with the pre-amp just above it

Both configurations sound great, however if i use the separate pre-amp i'll loose the variable Loudness... considerations

 

[PristineSound]

And no hint of lean, clinical sound.

Was it "musical" thought?