Wow, it's hard not to laugh about how small the otherwise fairly large M-80 looks in comparison. Even the CD player looks to be bigger.

Now that you have this much power from such a quality amplifier backing your Energys, do you still want to go active?

- JP

Both the CX-10000 and CDX-10000 outweigh the M-80, but that's an amp I would never find laughable. Chuckleable maybe, but never laughable.

For now I'm not going active. If I do go active I will still maintain the speakers passive x-over. In the short term I may play around and bi-amp with the MX-10000 & the M-80. Long term I'll tri-amp with the MX-10000 and 2 B-1's. That is contingent upon Echowars getting my non-working B-1 repaired. The other B-1 (which already works fine) is also at Echowars getting refurbished.

Oh, I wasn't laughing at the M-80. I've a lot of respect for how good that amp sounds. It was more of a chuckle at the disparity in size, seeing something I already thought good sized to be dwarfed so.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading your impressions and sonic comparisons between the MX-10000 and the B-1s, M-80, 3020, and so on. I'm also with Jorge that a comparison between the CX-10000 and Krell would make for good reading as well.

I bet by the time you've finally satiated our interest, you'll be very sick of typing zeros.

- JP

UPS Damages Dept called today and left a message. I returned their call and left a message with a time that they could reach me tomorrow. Hopefully UPS or the seller will cover the damages.

I also heard from Yamaha on the faceplate:

I'm surprised that a part like that is even available. $4.00 for shipping? That must be a nominal fee, because the faceplate easily weighs 5lbs.

i would think you could commission a local machine shop to do one for much less than $1100.

It's unlikely that any machine shop would be able to replicate that faceplate to the same standards for $1100.00. Start with a 4" x 19" x 9" billet of aluminum, CNC machine to precise tolerances, then anodize and silk screen to exactly match the original.

The service manual shows that the Front Panel is part of the Panel Unit which also contains the front glass and the meter assembly. No wonder it costs so much.

I'm not surprised that they still have parts in stock for the Centennial Editions, though I think it a bit of luck to have such a primary, model specific component as the faceplate still on hand. While helping vinyltocdr@msn.com find relays for his A-88X, I learned that Pioneer and others still stock a lot of parts for models decades back. I guess they hold onto the old parts stock until demand finally empties the bins. With so few '10000s out there, the demand on the supply evidently hasn't been great enough to use up the stock.

$1100 is quite a bit to take care of such a little flaw (the price to repair does make it seem much more minor). Though, I wonder if it might be possible to recuperate much of that cost be selling the old meter/faceplate combination to some other MX-10000 owner who might want the parts.

While I don't know much about this, I'd think a good machinist with a CNC could do a lot better than a $1000 cost to duplicate that faceplate. They do custom engine parts all the time and those have tolerances measured in thousandths of an inch. Matching the cosmetics would be the only issue, but with the right person, it might be simple to do.

- JP

I would consider having a machine shop fabricate a new faceplate if payment was contingent upon my acceptance of the finished part.

That's a good point you make about the Panel Unit assembly having value in spite of the damaged faceplate. The VU meters which are functional must be worth a bit, as is the front glass. I'll probably buy the new Panel Unit regardless of how the damage claim is resolved.

Got this email today from the seller of the Yamaha Centenial gear.

nice, thats a lot better outcome than i would have expected.

Alright! That's about the best outcome that could have realistically come of it. This way you'll have a spare set of meters to boot and lights that work.

- JP

Are they going to cover the 1000+ cost of a new face? If so, dynamite!!!

fantastic news MarkB!!!

Wow. Great solution. Mark, that amp of yours is fantastic sound and appearance wise. Glad to see it will restored.