Cr-420

Roboturner91

Super Member
I just bought this piece on Ebay, kind of a spur-of-the-moment purchase.

I hope I do not come to regret it, but I've been wanting an older Yammie for a while now and the price was right ($40). From the seller's description, I believe he misunderstood the FM muting feature as a malfunction of some kind.

The item in question:



Do not have in hand yet, obviously. I know that the lights on the tuning meter and dial are both out, but the FM/AM/stereo LED's are fine. Otherwise, all it supposedly needs is a good cleaning, and maybe buff the faceplate and knobs up a little bit for appearance's sake?

I plan on using this with JBL 630 speakers, which are 4 ohms. The photo of the back panel showed a 4-ohm maximum load, and you can run two sets of speakers simultaneously, so I don't expect any problems there. Would my thinking be correct?

If all goes well, I plan to swap this in for my current Technics integrated amp. Which should be a significant loss in pure wattage, but I'm thinking the "Yamaha sound" (and that variable loudness control) will make it a worthwhile trade-off.

Any other ideas on what to look for would be appreciated, thanks!
 
Nice little receiver. Not very powerful but it does the natural sound thing very well. I replaced the lights thanks to dgwojo. Very easy, even for me.
I dont know what your technics pushes wpc, but the 420 pushes about 20 wpc. That aspect may underwhelm you, but it should sound quite nice:thmbsp:
 
I got this thing in today, and yes it is a very nice little receiver. It looks much, much better than I expected judging by the above picture, the nicks aren't nearly as noticeable and the wood case is damn near perfect.

I need to open it up and clean out all the pots and see what all is dirty. But I'm very pleased with the sound so far. The loudness and tone controls are pretty scratchy, but those are easy fixes. The tuner is waaaaaay out of alignment but I'm not too worried about that.

A behavioral questions: The "FM" LED stays on, at all times, as if it were a power indicator. Changing to phono, aux or tape makes no difference, it just stays on. Is that normal?

Also, how do I get the balance ring/knob thing off? It's real dirty and I'd like to clean it but it doesn't just pop off and I see no screw there. Same for the tuning knob.
 
It is a great sounding receiver - I have one (unrestored) and love it to beans!

Don't know re the balance knob, I have never removed mine.
 
The more I listen to this thing the more and more I like it. At first it sounded kind of thin, but after about two hours I came back and it sounded almost exactly like I thought it would in my head. That variable loudness makes a huge difference in my office, where it feels like I'm always been volume levels with my old Technics amp.

After opening up the case it was in almost pristine shape. In fact, the tightness of the screws and general cleanliness inside makes me think it was barely used and then maybe stored for a long time.

The lamps are out and I've ordered new ones, but other than a couple dings in the faceplate, this thing cleaned right up and looks almost good as new. I may look for a new faceplate just to get that newly restored feel.

Great little receiver and perfect for my office. Nice conversation piece too, I've already had a couple of my clients ask about it.
 
After new bulbs and a little bit of cleaning:



:banana:

The only thing really left is the tuner string, which is still usable but slips a lot. Somewhere in my shop I've got a yo-yo which will be sacrificed for the cause, just gotta muster up the courage to take it on.

If anybody has any tips on re-stringing this particular model, please share. It doesn't look all that complicated but I've got big clumsy sausage fingers that get the best of me sometimes.
 
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You can buy dial cord on eBay, it will work much better than yo yo string. I still have the CR 420 that I bought in 1977 at Federated in Costa Mesa. All I've done is change the lamps, works great
 
Very nice buy! It's a decent sounding,cute little receiver. I have a CR-420 with the "reserved for Yamaha headphones" badge that fits in the two headphone inputs when not in use...a nice little touch!
 
Nice unit. I have one that is mint, except for the bulbs. New ones on the way.

And yes, the FM light is on regardless of input selected.
 
I liked it so much I ended up buying a CR-620 as well. The 15 or so extra watts should prove to be a decent upgrade and I should easily be able to flip the 420 for what I put into it.
 
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