Yamaha receiver restoration

I picked up an old silver-face, wood cabinet Yamaha CR-640 receiver on Facebook Marketplace a couple of weeks ago. I got a great deal on it as the seller wasn’t sure if everything worked and it hadn’t been used for a while. But it looked great and I have some skills with electronics, so I figured I would give it a shot and bought it on faith.

As it turned out, the entire system worked almost perfectly! After a little exterior cleaning, it looks practically mint. The amplifier, tuner, and everything else electronic worked perfectly. Mechanically, none of the lights worked and the volume and balance pots were pretty scratchy.

A few squirts of no-residue electrical contact cleaner took care of the volume and balance controls. Today I broke out the Pinecil soldering iron, heat-shrink tubing, and a light replacement kit from eBay and completed the restoration. Four bulbs were simple twist-in replacements. The other four bulbs were a little more complicated as the old bulbs had to be cut out and replacements soldered into the wiring. Thankfully, all of the replacement bulbs worked perfectly and everything now lights up as originally intended.

I guess I should have waited until tomorrow (2023-04-06) to complete the restoration.. The original inspection label on the back is dated April 6th, 1979, so tomorrow is it’s 44th birthday!

Now it’s as good as new and sounds fantastic. Not just fantastic for a 44-year-old receiver, but fantastic overall. It’s a beautiful and functional relic and it’s built like a tank with repairable circuitry.

I have a small space where I use the receiver, so I paired it with a set of new Dayton Audio B652-AIR 6-1/2" 2-Way bookshelf speakers with AMT tweeters from Amazon and a used Polk PSW10 10" subwoofer from Facebook Marketplace. Both choices seem to be working really well for my near-field listening purposes and musical tastes. (The bookshelf speakers are at the corners of my desk and the subwoofer underneath in maybe a 12’x12’ office.)