WTB:Late 60's, 70's Early 80's Stereo Receiver

[ohiomike]

Vintage audio equipment....gotta dig it. Those ol rms numbers the old receivers 'claimed' to put out were way under rated. I have a 2238 Marantz that claims 38 per channel but really its more like double that, and my 2265B Marantz will blow most any of the 'new' speakers out there unless you are spending $thousands$ for a pair.

And vinyl played on a good turntable cannot be beat for sound either.

The other day I had our new Pioneer 1021 receiver (800 amps) tuned into a local station run through a couple of 3 way floor speakers and it was rocking pretty good. I went into the other room and turned on the 2238 to the same station, ran it through a couple of similar speakers and there was no comparison, the Marantz blew the other away in sound quality and quantity.

[Firedog]

How about a Kenwood KR 5030?

http://vintageelectronics.betamaxcollectors.com/kenwoodstereoreceivermodelkr-5030.html

Freeeeeee!!!!

You just need to stop by the Firehouse one day when I'm on duty and it's yours. Hell I'll even throw in a cup of coffee. The only issues: the A & B speaker selection apparently doesn't work (I was only using the A side up until 2 weeks ago) and it will drop one channel occasionally but it got better after I used some electronics cleaner on it. Probably just needs another good cleaning which may also fix the A/B thing as well.

I'm currently waiting to pop for a new power supply for my Linn Sondek LP12. The Valhalla board finally gave up the ghost and I just need to decide if I want to replace with original, move over to an aftermarket replacement or upgrade to one of the DC motor conversions.

[serpentracer]

I wonder why kenwood quit making stereos. they had some nice stuff back in the day.

[ohiomike]

Mostly they all went cheap...everything but the price. I've got an old Sherwood cassette player but the rubber bands inside deteriorated, and I have a sweet Pioneer SX 636 that I recently picked up. Had it playing some fm music, then I pushed a button and I knew immediately there was a problem....button felt all gummed up....and the fm quit playing. Couldn't get the darned button to release. So I can see it needs to be cleaned and serviced, but that's no biggie. For a couple hundred $$'s or so think what it will sound like. NONE of the new stereo electronics sounds anywhere near as good. My little Pioneer SX 434 sounds freakin awesome and it pushes much less rms power. My Marantz 2238 is in getting re capped and cleaned, and the next one to go in is the Marantz 2265B, but I'll have to wait to save some more $$$ first.

Back in the 90's I had an old Kenwood. Great receiver, but it started having 'channel' problems too, plus static. Took it into a couple of reputable shops and they said it would be cheaper to buy a new one than to get the old Kenwood fixed.

[drc32-0]

Speaking of old receivers,I just picked up my old (1981) Nakamichi 730 from Stereo Lab in Columbus.I bought it about 7 years ago at an auction sale for $130.It's a way under rated at 105wpc @ 8 ohms;tons of clean,detailed power.It had a relay go bad and some weak caps replaced.

I also just got my Technics SL1700-MK2 turntable serviced and my Nakamichi 700ZXL tape deck went in for service when I picked up the 730.All of this stuff is about 30 years old so I thought I better get alittle maintenance done if I want to keep running them.

[Earache]

I rock a Pioneer SX-3700, ( http://vintageelectronics.betamaxcollectors.com/pioneerstereoreceivermodelsx-3700.html ), which I bought new back in the late 70's or early 80's. Mated to a pair of RTR Towers.

Also have a Sansui 100w tube amp - no preamp, tuner or anything, just power.

Amazing how much I paid for this shit back in the day - today's shit is cheaper and specs are much better.

[ohiomike]

Todays electronics is cheap shit that costs big bucks, and the specs sound better, but those specs are deceiving. Audiophiles know this and buy up these old stereo pieces. With the 80's we saw the beginning of the end of those days and when the 90's and onward got here everything became cheap plastic throwaway junk.

I've got this big bucks Pioneer home audio system pushing something like 800 watts and while it sounds good, my little 2238 blows it away easily. Listening to vinyl on my dual 1218 through a set of Marantz floor speakers and Rectilinears III Highboys makes the digital sound coming through my Bose and reworked American Accoustic speakers sound second rate, imho.

Am thinking of letting my Pioneer SX 636 go though. Let someone else have it all claned up for their listening enjoyment.

[Helmutt]

Back in '89/'90 when I was working in home audio, it was all about Bose and Onkyo - been out of that game since then but still own my Techniques prologic components that work great to this day - Was no guru back then and I'm still far from saavy, but I've been involved with guitar equip these last 20 yrs and home audio amps should be rated the same as instrument amps - I use a Line6 100w tube amp for my stage gear, but have played through a 20w Orange amp that blew mine to dust......huge difference with class A amps vs. the rest. Big bucks for sure, but seems we used get what we paid for though:( Todays market just wants more money for R&D work and technological advancements, but give us junk internals/components......its a lose, win, lose??

[Pokey]

I have an "approx" 1983 JVC receiver that is still rocking to this day. I also have an Onkyo CD player that I got back in 88 that is probably better than anything out there now.

[pittsm]

I may have one in the garage to sell ya, I'll look around for it if your interested

Sent from my extremely awesome captivate...