Yamaha T-2

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"If it sounds good, it is good." Duke Ellington
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I've wanted a decent tuner for late night headphone listening of KPLU in my office. I was thinking about getting another T-85 like the one in my main system but was hoping to get something a little smaller. The T-2 has always intrigued me so I have been keeping an eye open for one. One popped up on that auction site one morning for a decent BIN price so I hit the button.

Description said it worked perfect so I was hopeful. Well it just showed up yesterday. What a beauty! I was glad to see it is in great cosmetic condition. I was not prepared for the weight of this unit, certainly not the tin can case used on my T-85 tuner.

I installed it in place of the T-85 in my main system. All the lights seemed to work so I tuned to KPLU, my favorite NPR station (Turn, turn, turn, I do miss the pre-program buttons of digital tuners just a little). KPLU came in crystal clear but was in news mode. :boring:

Spun it over to 102.5 KZOK, which is typically the strongest channel in the area, just in time to hear Plant sing the start of "Baby I'm going to leave you". Awesome! Although I'm only using a dipole, it sounds rock solid!

Later in the evening I listened to KPLU Jazz for several hours. Fell asleep in the chair and woke up about 1am this morning. I guess that is a good sign?

In addition to the sound quality, I have to say this tuner has an elegant look and feel to it. It’s much more subtle and simple then the t-85.

I believe it was over $700 dollars back in 1978? You could certainly get a much bigger and more impressive looking tuner for less money at the time. Looking at the lit readouts in the dark on this simple face makes me realize how special the look was to Yamaha. It’s quite the little gem with timeless quality.

The T-85 seems to have a little better DX performance. The T-2 struggled with a couple of stations that the T-85 locked onto with no problem. On local strong stations the T-2 simply sounds more like my other sources. This was with both using the same dipole antenna. Granted neither of these pieces have any work that I know of so they both could possibly perform better with some maintenance? I also need to get a better antenna!

I think the T-85 will go in the office and the T-2 will stay where it is. :yes:

T-2net.jpg
 
I knew that was a nice one when I seen it on the bay. But it looks a lot nicer sitting in your house.:D :thmbsp:
 
My tech called yesterday to tell me my T-2 is finished. He's realigned and relamped it; I gave him some Silmics for recapping the power supply and some Nichicon ES for the output caps.

Probably pickup next week.

Did yours have the missing red paint issue on the meter needles? Can't tell from the photo. My tech had no suggestions on repainting mine so will leave as-is.
 
I was just getting ready to see if the needles can be repainted. But then got side track. Ended up working on my M-4 Amp. (Recap) When finished I will try to repaint the needles on my T-1 since that is cheaper to replace than the T-2. I will post pictures at that time.
 
Needles seem to be red but they are hard to see.

Took a peek inside and all looks good in there. Mostly Elna caps.
 
I used Model Masters fluorescent red for the last needles I did. Looked great. Picked it up at the local hobby shop.
 
Mike,

How much trouble is it to get to the meter needles? Do I have to tear into it again?
 
Mike,

How much trouble is it to get to the meter needles? Do I have to tear into it again?

Had to remove the tuner from the top cover. Everything is mounted upside down on the top cover on that tuner. If I remember correctly, after that they come out easy. The plastic case of the meter came apart easy, think it was just taped together. Did it over several days. Had to put several coats on for it to look right.
 
Taking the motherboard out of the case was what my tech griped about as so time consuming. Since it's all back together, I'll just save that touch up until next time it needs to be opened.

Thanks, Mike.
 
Taking the motherboard out of the case was what my tech griped about as so time consuming. Since it's all back together, I'll just save that touch up until next time it needs to be opened.

Thanks, Mike.

I will be doing mine in a couple of weeks so I will post pictures.:thmbsp:
 
I've read somewhere that the red or orange paint flakes of and can even get the meter stuck. You can scrape the rest of gently clean it with rubbing alcohol and repaint it with enamel lacquer.
 
I've been enjoying the T-2 more all the time. I just never knew radio could sound so good! Guess I've never had such a fine tuner before. Several times I've had friends over that found it hard to believe it was not a CD or LP playing.

Its not just clear, but very musical in quality.
 
hello !

Here some pictures about a CT7000 meter renewed :thmbsp:
 

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