Is it just bad luck, or do Yammies break a lot?
- Thread starter audiomagnate
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audiomagnate
Addicted Member
I forgot to mention my A-720 amp, which I just fixed. Woo hoo! My first successful Yamaha repair.
the-real-mandak
Super Member
Well try and look at the date of birth of the units you have and tell me how much other gear in this price range is running today without any service.
And to top it off, how many brands still support their gear/customers 40 years down the line?
They do not have parts for all units, but they will still try to help you with schematics and so on - for free!
Yamaha is one of the most reliable brands around in consumer and definitely in pro gear.
And to top it off, how many brands still support their gear/customers 40 years down the line?
They do not have parts for all units, but they will still try to help you with schematics and so on - for free!
Yamaha is one of the most reliable brands around in consumer and definitely in pro gear.
restorer-john
Addicted Member
If I was to rate Yamaha's reliability in vintage gear- and that's what we are really talking about, stuff that has outlasted the designer's wildest dreams, I'd put it way above Sony, Sansui, and Denon, JVC. It is line ball with Akai and well below Kenwood, Acuphase, Luxman and Marantz.
That being said, lots of Yamaha's gear has survived because of its classic understated looks and clean lines and people tended to put up with blown globes, noisy selectors, and minor issues for a lot longer than they did with the other brands which ended up in land fill a lot earlier.
Soldering on Yamaha gear has always been excellent except for the terminations and pcb mount jacks etc. Their tuners in receivers are often flaky and inconsistent due to ordinary component selection. Their cassette decks are always trouble and although they made some lovely ones, their performance never came close to other brands, letalone their staying power now in the vintage era. Their early CD players were a disaster of reliability, I have boxes of entire mechs for CD players when Yamaha had a blanket mech replacement policy. I still use parts to this day from all those dead mechs.
Their power amps always sound dry and boring to me. I've got a pile of Yamaha gear, but none is ever in my rotation- funny, I sold it, loved it, bought it, repaired it and yet I don't listen to it.
I'm actually trying to think of a brand that I would recommend as the most reliable. I cant actually think of one across all component types- maybe Accuphase? Trouble is, you see so little and fix so little, the 'reliability' may be skewed by the lack of sales volume?
That being said, lots of Yamaha's gear has survived because of its classic understated looks and clean lines and people tended to put up with blown globes, noisy selectors, and minor issues for a lot longer than they did with the other brands which ended up in land fill a lot earlier.
Soldering on Yamaha gear has always been excellent except for the terminations and pcb mount jacks etc. Their tuners in receivers are often flaky and inconsistent due to ordinary component selection. Their cassette decks are always trouble and although they made some lovely ones, their performance never came close to other brands, letalone their staying power now in the vintage era. Their early CD players were a disaster of reliability, I have boxes of entire mechs for CD players when Yamaha had a blanket mech replacement policy. I still use parts to this day from all those dead mechs.
Their power amps always sound dry and boring to me. I've got a pile of Yamaha gear, but none is ever in my rotation- funny, I sold it, loved it, bought it, repaired it and yet I don't listen to it.
I'm actually trying to think of a brand that I would recommend as the most reliable. I cant actually think of one across all component types- maybe Accuphase? Trouble is, you see so little and fix so little, the 'reliability' may be skewed by the lack of sales volume?
