CX-2 with M2?

Thinking about snagging a CX-2 to use with my M2.

I'd use it mostly in Direct mode with my DAC, and occasional phono stage use.

I like the idea of a remote control.

Is this preamp notably inferior to the others, or am I likely not to notice a difference? I know it's not Yamaha's top rated preamp.

Wow, not a single comment on this preamp.

Well, it arrived today. I guess I'll post my own impression before long. This is the first active preamp I've ever owned! My relative impression will be based on the sound of my passive attenuators I usually use.

belgianbrain said:

Is this preamp notably inferior to the others, or am I likely not to notice a difference? I know it's not Yamaha's top rated preamp.

Click to expand...

One thing to keep in mind in regards to the question you asked is what happened to the Yen/Dollar exchange rate between the early/mid 70's and the early/mid 90's. See this graph:

http://fxtop.com/en/historical-exch...MM2=01&YYYY2=2015&LARGE=1&LANG=en&CJ=0&MM1Y=1

When you go from a dollar being worth 300+ yen to a dollar only being worth ~100 yen that is a big change. The side effect, unfortunately, being that each dollar became worth significantly less when it came to Japanese gear. Japanese companies really had no choice but to start targeting lower price points, making cheaper gear, with quality taking a hit. Many assume that quality went down simply because "70's gear was built better!", etc but truth is the companies really had their hands tied by the economic situation.

I have two preamps, a C-4 (~1979) and a C-80 (~1984). The C-4 is clearly built better. It's heavier, the chassis is stronger, the knobs and buttons are more rugged and durable. The C-80 on the other hand is pure plastic pride. The buttons feel cheap, etc.

I chose to go with the C-80 anyway because despite the lower overall build quality, it is still good, and has features that the C-4 does not have. The C-80 has inverted pre-outs, which allow me to do a few different things. It allows fairly easy bridging, which allows me to run each of my P2201s (the Yamaha Pro amp that the design of the M-2 was based on) as a mono amp for ~700wpc. The inverted pre-outs also allow me to get more mileage out of my amps (including my M-2) than I would otherwise. By inverting the polarity of one channel, bass notes that are present in both channels use opposite voltage rails (positive and negative) instead of the same voltage rail (positive or negative) potentially increasing the power available.

The CX-2 is a fairly unremarkable preamp. As much as the exchange rate of the Yen fell between the time the C-4 and the C-80 was made, it again fell that much if not more between the time the C-80 was made and when your CX-2 was made. The CX-2 IMO lacks both the exceptional build quality found in older units like the C-4, as well as the useful features found in less older units like the C-80. As a very simplistic, basic preamp, the CX-2 is probably good enough.

edit: I realize that you are from Canada but the Yen behaved very similarly to the Canadian Dollar as it did to the US Dollar.

Analysis below!

OK. I've spent some time with the CX-2 now.

I bought it as a remote controlled volume device and for occasional phono stage use.

I'm using it in pure direct mode (which is the only way it will ever get used). Overall, I'd say it's quite good. You can tell the difference between this and my passive attenuator, but the difference is small.

The phono stage also seems very good and quite frankly it smokes the Bugle phono preamp I was using.

The one thing that annoys me about the CX-2 is the volume control. With a hot input like a DAC, you're usually using it somewhere around -50dB and if you hit the button to adjust the volume, you get HUGE jumps from just one button press. Anyone know if you can change this?

I tried the -20dB mute function, but it audibly degrades the sound quality. At the moment I tried some -12dB Harrison labs attenuators on the CD inputs and I don't think I can detect any loss of sound quality with these. I shouldn't have to do this though, I think the remote control volume control should be sensitive enough to actually be useful.

I opened the unit up briefly and it looked like decent quality. It's mostly discrete components of high quality (e.g., ELNA caps). I do think I spotted some opamps in there. Please tell me it's not using opamps for its pre-amplification!

I have owned MANY Yamaha preamplifiers and the CX-2 is exceptional in sound quality. I don't have the remote (wouldn't use it anyway) so can't comment on it. I also have a CX-830.. it too is an often underated Yamaha preamp that sounds wonderful.

just saw your post I have a c-x2 I bought new in 1979

It sounds sweet, and works wonderfully with my Acurus A250. It came with a remote, but I use a cheap radio shack older remote to adjust volume and change stations on my Yamaha tx 950 which is also remote controllable for stations,it is a great preamp and the very last one manufactured by Yamaha. I could have bought the cx-1 it more expensive brother but was told by Yamaha factory person not to. There were cold solder issues on cx-1. I got sales man's discount of 1/2 off list because my son worked at the now defunct WIZ.

use volme control on preamp instead of remote

belgianbrain said:

OK. I've spent some time with the CX-2 now.

I bought it as a remote controlled volume device and for occasional phono stage use.

I'm using it in pure direct mode (which is the only way it will ever get used). Overall, I'd say it's quite good. You can tell the difference between this and my passive attenuator, but the difference is small.

The phono stage also seems very good and quite frankly it smokes the Bugle phono preamp I was using.

The one thing that annoys me about the CX-2 is the volume control. With a hot input like a DAC, you're usually using it somewhere around -50dB and if you hit the button to adjust the volume, you get HUGE jumps from just one button press. Anyone know if you can change this?

I tried the -20dB mute function, but it audibly degrades the sound quality. At the moment I tried some -12dB Harrison labs attenuators on the CD inputs and I don't think I can detect any loss of sound quality with these. I shouldn't have to do this though, I think the remote control volume control should be sensitive enough to actually be useful.

I opened the unit up briefly and it looked like decent quality. It's mostly discrete components of high quality (e.g., ELNA caps). I do think I spotted some opamps in there. Please tell me it's not using opamps for its pre-amplification!

Click to expand...

if you want absolute control on volume. Remote does work pretty well though.

I too am using the -12db Harrison Labs Attenuators on my Yamaha CX-2. They work excellent....only wish they were a little shorter in length.