My bedroom system for years was based on a Fisher 400 driving a pair of Infinity Monitors. (I bought the Fisher for 10 cents at a thrift store) I did not find the Fisher to have the FM sensitivity I needed so drove FM through it from an H H Scott stereo tuner. The final result was just WOW! I never tired of the sound coming through the Fisher, and while not wishing to get into the "woo-woo" area of home audio, the soundstage was such that while watching a stereo vcr ( also of course "plumbed" through the Fisher), I and my lady clearly heard and enjoyed a 360 degree soundstage. I'm not kidding about this, and I attribute this to the vcr's rendition of what I'm sure was the video's "time delay" codings on the audio track of the videotape. And in search of this phenomenon tried several vcr's. But let me tell you, when we were propped up most comfortably in bed watching a video and suddenly, so very clearly, heard pure, solid & full range sound coming from, but for the bedroom wall, sound from the sides of us and even from BEHIND us,(should be impossible, no? As the bed was solid against the wall) we just looked at each other without a word. The one thing I will say is that while I am not a member of the NRA, you or anyone may attempt to pry my Fisher 400 from my cold hands.....and if you are successful, my ghost will do its best to harass you at every opportunity. Period.
Old Classic Receivers: A Mistake to Buy?
I was contemplating purchasing a 70's receiver, as I used to love the construction and appearance of the Sansui, Kenwood, Pioneer, Marantz. However, when I ran this by an audio friend, he said, "Forget it."
He says: They sound terrible. The caps & resistors used before the early 90s' were dreadful. The electrolytics are drying up and will start crackling and substantially degrade the sonics. The switches and controls used were almost never sealed, so they deteriorate and make noise and can't be fixed even by taking them apart and cleaning them.
Tuners: He says that nearly all non-digital tuners used varactors, which go out of alignment and cause problems, so no old tuners, with the exception of the Mac MR-78 and possibly a few others, are worth dealing with.
I am tempted to believe all that he is saying is true, but I see a market for these items, and also know that people claim they are still using these pieces for 25 years.
What's the truth here? Can some of the techies enlighten me?
He says: They sound terrible. The caps & resistors used before the early 90s' were dreadful. The electrolytics are drying up and will start crackling and substantially degrade the sonics. The switches and controls used were almost never sealed, so they deteriorate and make noise and can't be fixed even by taking them apart and cleaning them.
Tuners: He says that nearly all non-digital tuners used varactors, which go out of alignment and cause problems, so no old tuners, with the exception of the Mac MR-78 and possibly a few others, are worth dealing with.
I am tempted to believe all that he is saying is true, but I see a market for these items, and also know that people claim they are still using these pieces for 25 years.
What's the truth here? Can some of the techies enlighten me?