I'm sure that there are lots of sonic gems out there that have been cast by the wayside through the years as *better* pieces have come out and replaced them. If you think about the relationship between electronics and speakers, you can see how there is certain amount of a "dog chasing its tail" going on here. For instance, you buy a better preamp and you now see how good your power amp really is. Or you buy a better power amp and you see how good your preamp really is. Or you buy a new pair of speakers that are really good and it shows you things about your electronics that you didn't *get* before. You can do endless perturbations on these scenarios and wonder how anyone really knows how good a piece of gear actually is. Which brings me to the Yamaha C2a preamp...
I have not spent near enough time with the C2a to render any type of final judgment on its sound quality. But I will tell you this; it's a damn fine preamp and one I think I could live with over the long-haul. Stunning is the word that comes to mind as I listen to a variety of music on a variety of formats.
Tim asked me before If had listened to R2R and LPs through the C2a yet and at the time Tim asked the question, I hadn't. Now I have. They both sound really, really good through the C2a. I wish that the C2a didn't have fixed 50 ohm loading in the MC mode. If you load MC cartridges down too much, it tends to rob the top end and make it sound closed in and dull. In reality, there is no clear-cut consensus on MC loading. Some will load (in reality unload) every MC cartridge at 47k because that is the only *right* setting (think HP and his band of merry-men followers). Others think that all MC cartridges should be loaded down in order to function correctly and not have a runaway top end (think Dave Wilson when he used to be a reviewer for TAS). The reality is that once you get above around 1K, you have pretty much unloaded the cartridge. All I can say is that last night when listening to my Denon 103R (the Benz Glider has been removed and is awaiting its new home on the SME 312S), I thought it sounded really good. I heard plenty of top-end air and didn't neurose over the loading. My 2 track 15 ips tapes sounded scary good. "Stunning" was the operative word of the night.
Even with digital, I'm hearing things that I didn't before. One of the things is notes trailing off into blackness whereas before, they just used to come to an abrupt end. There is a decay there now that had gone unnoticed and unheard before. The C2a is spooky quiet with its excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Even when you think your electronics are really quiet, sometimes there is another level of quiet that makes you take notice. I took notice.
In closing, I do think that the Yamaha C2a may well be a sonic gem that has been discarded for the new flavors of the month (and years) that have come after it and surely must be better. After all, none of us have ever bought a new something for our systems and thought it didn't sound as good as the older piece it replaced right? The fact that it sounds as good as it does (and it sounds damn good) and I only paid $350 plus shipping is just crazy. Those who believe in their wallet more than their ears would never consider things like this.
When my expensive gear breaks down, I tend to buy something else to listen to during the repair process because I don't like to be without music. I knew when I sent my Counterpoint SA-5.1 off it was going to be a long-haul before I saw it back again. That's why I bought something that I thought would be really nice and I could easily get my money back out of when the Counterpoint came back. So I bought an ARC LS-17 and an ARC PH-3SE to listen to. I never warmed up to the LS-17 because it sounded like tubes trying to masquerade as SS. When my brother offered to lend me his Counterpoint until mine returned, I jumped at the chance and happily sold the LS-17 (I kept the PH-3SE for safe-keeping). I returned my bro's 5.1 when mine came back and I certainly had no idea it would have a freakish problem that took out the left channel. In retrospect, I'm glad it did because otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten mad and bought a SS preamp and I would have never heard the C2a. The 5.1 might have some 'splaining to do when it comes back next week.
