Find the companion MX-10000 and you have one of the finest amp/preamp combos ever made. And one that's built to last. I owned the MX-10000 / CX-10000 combo some years ago and am very sorry I parted with them. Blew the roof off of my house and my eardrums and did so beautifully. Very rare, yes (not as rare as just 100 units made though). If you search the net you'll see that there are those who will pay big $$ for units dead or alive. Yamaha made these wonderful monsters with the finest materials available at the time and built them to last. Very high quality engineering. The price point in the late 70s is what did them in along with the beginning of the move away from solid state (so I've read). There was not a large enough market for Yamaha to justify building these monsters. Same fate even occurred with the downsized, but still monstrous 1000 series which retailed for over $2k per unit in 1978 $$s. I believe the 10000 series retailed in the neighborhood of $3-$4k in 1978 $$s but can't remember for certain. After phasing out production on the 10000s and 1000s and the wonderful CR series of receivers,Yamaha began marketing to a broader market in order to follow the money. I do not feel Yamaha was ever quite as good sounding again audio-wise (to my ears). I very happily own a Yamaha MX-1000U / CX-1000U combo now and it stands tall to both the Krell(especially) and Mac I owned previously. Real natural sound with power that seems to never end, a terrific phono stage, and many other quality feature functions with a very serious no frills look in BLACK. The 10000 is even a couple of magnitude finer than the 1000s.
Lucky you!
