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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?
kevziek
christen2014
1 posts
 
Hi, I know this is an old post but I have a Sansui G9000 pure power receiver hooked up to Mach 1 speakers and it still sounds great. It looks and sounds like new. No bleeding caps and the tuner still functions as new. I know this is hard to believe but I have cleaned it inside and out every 6 months since I got it in 1982.

This receiver was originally hooked up to Cerwin Vega and Polk audio speakers. For a while I used it as my main amp for my surround system. This thing will rock the house and you can hear it up the street when it gets cranked (Not very often).

So don't listen. If you buy an old receiver and it was a top end one chances are it will last a long time. My new Onkyo's 7.1 surround amps and receivers had always had issues and the Pioneer elite system was not much better.

I have a Denon DP-62L with a grace cartridge and a Pioneer PR 707 hooked to it as well and it sound great.So buy and enjoy.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,907 posts
 
Old audio gear is like old cars...they have unique charms but usually require some maintenance to continue to run well as time goes on. Not as much or as regular as cars, but you get the drift.

I am fond of the old stuff too. Some of it is very good still even by modern standards. Pricing on the used market is usually in line with the actual value compared to other options. Some pieces might carry a premium due to being "collector items" for various reasons, usually having something to do with unique performance or design.

o not a mistake to buy, but realize that any receiver, old or new, has to make compromises to fit everything in a relatively small package and still perform well, especially with things that matter for best performance with many modern, smaller full range speakers, like size and quality of the power supply, there will almost always be better performing options out there, both old and new.
ricktpt
35 posts
 
The money that's spent on them tells the whole story.  In particular for Pioneer's receivers.  The SX-xx50 and xx80 series hold their value for the same (good) reasons classic Mac gear does.  But they are meant to be used with the speakers (Bart Locanthi designs like the L-x00 and HPM x00 series) with which they were designed to be mated.  They  don't do simultaneous high current and high voltage as well as new specialty amps do.  If you use a reasonably high sensitivity/efficiency speaker, they sound better than anything mass market has offered since.  The 950 and larger (and newer) are bargains in terms of quality per dollar.  I'd grab em all day long.  (In point of fact, I have.  I've got a 980, two 1080's, a 1280 and two 1980's, all kicking it in vintage systems through out the house....)
mesch
3,414 posts
 
Hey, an old thread I enjoyed browsing through!
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa
4,867 posts
 
Okay ... if you want to build a bedroom or dorm system on the cheap, ched out the Sherwood 7100 or the 7100A. The 7100 is more tube-like and the 7100A is more of a solid state sound. 

I've had a Sherwood 7100 in my bedroom for a few years now ... twenty bucks at a thrift store. Really fine examples can be found on Ebay for a hundred bucks. 

Here's one that looks to be in near mint condition:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sherwood-S-7100-A-Vintage-Receiver-Beautiful-Condition-Works-Good-/172171537...

Happy listening ...
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