New to me Yamaha M-4

bobrown14

Super Member
I just got home and there was a HUGE box in my living room. Opened it up and it was an M-4 in about as minty condition as I could ask for. I got a great deal BIN for Eprey.
Shipped doubled boxed from California to PA and the packing was way first rate. Foam all around with Styrofoam on the ends just like it was packed new in inner box then a TON of Styrofoam peanuts then outer box. Done the way its supposed to be.

Now on to what I'm interested in here. Can anyone offer some advice on tune up? I need to replace the lights on the switches first off. Is this beast ready for new caps yet or should i just plug her in and take her for a spin? How difficult is setting the bias and offset? Anyone out there would you be so kind to point me to a service manual, please. I popped the top and for a 120 watt amp this beast is VERY robust. This looks to be a mighty fine amp. VERY well built. I'm impressed with the build quality on this one for sure. I hope it sounds half as good as it looks. I can tell it can get hot as there is minor discoloration on some of the shields, looks like burnt dust - but not too bad.. mostly on the fins of the heat sinks, which BTW are impressive and large. This amp is overbuilt for sure. I bet I could drive my infinity QLS-3s with this one. I might try it unless anyone says nay.

I've not ever tried any Yamaha gear cept for a C-80 pre which is pretty nice. I'm now wondering in the C-4 mate to this one will be an improvement to the C-80 I have already. Anyone...?

My original plan for this amp was to power my front left and right channels off my surround sound system out of a 5.1/7.1 pre amp. I already have a single channel Yamaha powering the center channel. Well at least that was my "plan" to get it in the house. I'm glad I wasn't home when the UPS guy was trying to push the box in my front door while my girl was pulling from the other side!! Oh and I got ... jeeez another turntable today ... just as big a box too. I'm gonna have to do a lot of house work to work off this audio day. Good thing I tiled my fireplace this past weekend. Oh wait, I'm not done yet... uh oh.

Any help on the M-4 service stuff would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Bob
 

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Congrates :) That looks real nice. I got a Yamaha M-50 a few weeks ago and could not be happier. They are well built indeed.
 
Yamaha M-4

I have an original M-4 manual that I could scan and send your way. BTW: That looks like a VERY clean M-4! I agree on build quality. Solid. Minor points off for push buttons instead of binding posts but other than that, it's a good piece.
 
You're welcome. Of course, we have some great techs on AK, but they don't tend to host a webserver documenting their work~
 
I just got home and there was a HUGE box in my living room. Opened it up and it was an M-4 in about as minty condition as I could ask for. I got a great deal BIN for Eprey.
Shipped doubled boxed from California to PA and the packing was way first rate. Foam all around with Styrofoam on the ends just like it was packed new in inner box then a TON of Styrofoam peanuts then outer box. Done the way its supposed to be.

Now on to what I'm interested in here. Can anyone offer some advice on tune up? I need to replace the lights on the switches first off. Is this beast ready for new caps yet or should i just plug her in and take her for a spin? How difficult is setting the bias and offset? Anyone out there would you be so kind to point me to a service manual, please. I popped the top and for a 120 watt amp this beast is VERY robust. This looks to be a mighty fine amp. VERY well built. I'm impressed with the build quality on this one for sure. I hope it sounds half as good as it looks. I can tell it can get hot as there is minor discoloration on some of the shields, looks like burnt dust - but not too bad.. mostly on the fins of the heat sinks, which BTW are impressive and large. This amp is overbuilt for sure. I bet I could drive my infinity QLS-3s with this one. I might try it unless anyone says nay.

I've not ever tried any Yamaha gear cept for a C-80 pre which is pretty nice. I'm now wondering in the C-4 mate to this one will be an improvement to the C-80 I have already. Anyone...?

My original plan for this amp was to power my front left and right channels off my surround sound system out of a 5.1/7.1 pre amp. I already have a single channel Yamaha powering the center channel. Well at least that was my "plan" to get it in the house. I'm glad I wasn't home when the UPS guy was trying to push the box in my front door while my girl was pulling from the other side!! Oh and I got ... jeeez another turntable today ... just as big a box too. I'm gonna have to do a lot of house work to work off this audio day. Good thing I tiled my fireplace this past weekend. Oh wait, I'm not done yet... uh oh.

Any help on the M-4 service stuff would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Bob

C-80 is probably a better pre-amp..Than the C-4..I know the C-70 and C-85 sound pretty awesome.C-4 sounds good as well. The M-4 is a piece of cake to adjust idle/bias and DC offset.Usually adjusts "dead nuts" on target.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1273240&postcount=3
 
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The light bulbs are pretty easy to replace as well 14.5V @ 80ma be careful with the little rubber boots they tear easily.
 
The M-4 is a " outstanding" amplifier..Don't waste it with a surround system.:no:Try it two channel stereo first.:yes: HT recievers sound " blah" in 2-channel mode.
 
As he says! One of Yamaha's best IMHO. :tresbon: :thmbsp:

The M-4 is a " outstanding" amplifier..Don't waste it with a surround system.:no:Try it two channel stereo first.:yes: HT recievers sound " blah" in 2-channel mode.
 
I almost got that one as well but hesitated due to not having a preamp. I really liked the M-50 I had a couple years back and the M-4 is supposed to b e even better build quality, enjoy. :)
 
As he says! One of Yamaha's best IMHO. :tresbon: :thmbsp:

That's what I thought after reading a lot here at Audiokarma. I took Avionics recommendations and well I did try it in my HT system with not that great result. Don't know why .. anyway I quickly and I mean about 5 minutes was it and took to my shop, un-hooked my Crown PSA-2 and hooked the M-4 up to a pair of QLS-3s, listening to it now and have been since I got it. Sounds mighty fine... good'nuf to leave it hooked up in place of the Crown. I'm not saying it's better but it's holding it's own. I've not given it a good run yet tho with those speakers. Normal listening tho to local Jazz radio and it's good, and thats comparing it to the PSA-2, a VERY good amp. Doubt it will give me better high power tho.. but I don't really listen to music that loud very often if ever. I will need to take the lid off and fine tune it before giving it a real go. So far so good and I really like the looks and design of this amp. Nice and clean lines and no frills, all I need in a good amp. I'm probably going to mate it with my C-80 pre with a great CD player HHB-800 and and Yamaha T-1020 tuner, I thought I had a T-1 around here somewhere... with a set of DQ-10s on my first floor system for guests and morning ritual listening before work, daily driver for sure. My shop system will be back to the PSA-2, there's something about the power that makes those QLS-3s really grind out the sounds. This amp really makes the mids and highs come alive with the QLS-3s but it's not driving the bass like I'm used to with the Crown. This amp is VERY clear and natural sounding with good, make that great sound stage. The M-4 should mate up nicely with my newly re-capped DQ-10s. Thanks folks for all the previous rave reviews. I would have never thought of buying this one if I hadn't read about it here first. I think this amp is surely a sleeper amp in the Yamaha line-up. The M-2 gets all the attention from my observations and I was patient and waited for a year or so to finally find one under $160 minty with a BIN ... I hesitated for about 2 minutes..then back to the listing and bang, pulled the trigger. Thats after trying to tell myself: no more amps no more amps.... bang. Damn I hate when that happens. I fell very fortunate that I can actually pull the trigger. I know there are folks that would LOVE this amp and don't have the means in these tough economic times. So many thanks again to the kind folks here that gave this amp a good :thmbsp:.

Cheers,
Bob
 
The M-4 is one of my favorite amps. It simply does what it needs to, and nothing it doesn't need to--and it does everything right. You have a keeper! I wouldn't hesitate to use it as the centerpiece of a main listening system, especially with a C-80 and T-1020. That's gonna be super nice!
 
Okay... puttin it thru the paces , a tad premature but hey. I'm going at half power and with CD and oooh , la la... yeah u right! Mighty fine amp indeed. Gets better with more power. I like it. I've not been a real big fan of Yamaha gear ... but I'm warming up. Next up, LPs ... lets see what this baby can dish out! goodn's I'm sure....very neutral but with a tad of warmth giving me whats on the recordings. Nothing less and nothing more.

Cheers,

Bob
 
I just got an m4 also. I use it to drive my Khorns - the combo will blow your goosebumps off. It is unbelievable!
 
I'm digin this amp. Played some LPs and it got my girl up and dancin. That's about all I can say on that. Doesn't get any better. I couldn't ask for more.

Hey Brandon I checked out your gear pics posted at the bottom of your post in you sig line - what's the Technics TT you have there? That looks VERY cool!

Cheers,

Bob
 
Sl-1210m5g

I'm digin this amp. Played some LPs and it got my girl up and dancin. That's about all I can say on that. Doesn't get any better. I couldn't ask for more.

Hey Brandon I checked out your gear pics posted at the bottom of your post in you sig line - what's the Technics TT you have there? That looks VERY cool!

Cheers,

Bob

So you played LP's with the Yamaha C-80?

I bought a stock SL-1210M5G about 5+ years back and slowly upgraded with KAB stuff, footers, threaded record clamp, fluid damper, Zupreme* headshell.
http://www.kabusa.com/m1200.htm

* headshell sold at LP Gear not KAB
plus it sounds as good as it looks. lol

Kevin has since discontinued the record clamp I have and coming out with a new design that is a push on, that has an internal thread so it can be further adjusted by turning it but I wish he would at least sell both,
because I had the previous rubber model which was effective till I got the super mat and it just did not do as good with 180-200g records.

plus it sounds as good as it looks. lol
 
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