Yamaha M-80 Mods FINISHED! GOLD!!!

[bluesmoke]

Hi!

I gave in... It was sitting on my floor waiting to be sold, but begging to be worked on. Took 3 solid 12 hour days (not including the parts shopping spree), and has turned out quite well.

Trying to remember all the work I did...

1) Gold binding/bananna posts have been added. Mounted on a very strong anodized black aluminum plate.

2) Twisted feed line length to relay board has been reduced

3) Speaker feeds connected directly to the relay posts! Not through more traces.

4) Yamaha uses different relays for different outputs, so relay 1 cleaned, relay 2 replaced with relay 3 (unused) (relay 1 is supposedly an arc reducing type, relay 2 has gold plated contacts; don't ask me why they chose to do this)

5) Speaker posts A and B are accessed by switch (C is disabled; why connect in series patched through another relay???). Posts C are hardwired in parallel with B, that way if you want to bi-wire... easy!

6) Removed the dried up rubber insulation sheet on the top of the transformers. A possible option to replace in the future if desired.

7) The enclosure may still be a bit scratched up (not my fault; previous owner), but the guts are nice and clean now! Front faceplate is in good condition.

Possibly to do:

- Adjust Bias... One side does run a bit warmer than the other. Measuring looks like it might be a bit tricky, so I'll do lots of homework before attempting. Advice appreciated if available. Will hold off, maybe buyer will prefer to do it.

- Replace transformer rubber mounting washers. I'm sure by now they have hardened some. Need to find a place that charges less than 80cents per piece!!! (hate home depot)

- no other ideas!

Still sounds great, if not better! Immediate clean audio from the relays! Have started to burn it this weekend. Very lush warm sound.

Still available! $450 or good offer, local Toronto pickup preferred! I'd keep it, but no space, and no need for a while. Original for-sale posting ad is somewhere in the marketplace section.

[jleaman]

Pic's of Inside ? And Front ?

[bluesmoke]

Just getting to that....

Biggest time waster was trying to figure where to put the relay board, as the original crappy-plastic yammy binding posts suspended the board near the transformers. Found a good spot (reducing lead lengths, and still good airflow.

Thanks free mounting holes on the heatsinks, I could securely bridge the gap to suspend the board. (the 4 grey wires).

Picture 1... guts out!

[bluesmoke]

Part 2... guts out, another view...

[bluesmoke]

part 3...

relay up positioning, looks good but impossible to mount...

[bluesmoke]

part 4...

board mounted down, ugly but secure.

[bluesmoke]

part 5...

cover protector ON! Looks much better now....

[bluesmoke]

part 6...

Lookin' at the posts...

[bluesmoke]

part 7...

Put the cover back on... looks good seeing the transformers with the copper shielding, and without the crumbly rubber topsheet they used to have. Probably helped with sympathetic vibrations...

[bluesmoke]

part 8...

All done! Just a front shot...

Looks to easy, because you don't see any of the HELL of making a mounting plate for the posts... actually, wait for the next post...

I may toss in a shot of the gold plated relay at some later point. Never took any, but I'll keep the one I pulled as a backup.

There are actually 2 speaker out boards, the one you don't see in any shot was pulled out earlier. It's just square with no useful parts. The jumper Yamaha used for it is just a decent grade ribbon... yeek.