Old school hi fi systems

[Alfred_B]

I'm growing nostalgic about the old school stereo systems from the 80-s. no 5:1 surround sound, very old tech but still they looked cool.

Unfortunately, these are getting rarer and rarer.

Yesterday I saw an ad for a Radio Shack M-601 system that is claimed to be in a good working order. $150 and local pickup.

Any ideas who made these things? It's made in Japan.

 

[CharBaby]

They were made my a great number of audio companies. Technics was only one of the companies that made them for Radio Shack and even JC Penny MCS brand. Yup, even JCP was into audio equipment at one time and they were quite good. But, mainly from the lowest bidder.

I am currently selling off my '70s stereo equipment and 400 LPs. They're selling but, going slowly.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I have two flagship Realistic monster recievers (120 watt per channel). One from the mid 70s and one from the early 80s. These were made in Japan by Foster.

 

[Donald]

You may need to have work done on amps that old. The electrolytic capacitors will not last forever.

Most people would be looking for Macs, Marantz or Dynaco

 

[aquariuscsm]

The old silver face 70s-80s Pioneer monster receivers are some of the best.

 

[Ursatdx]

Kenwood had some good stuff.
KR4070 would rock my room.

 

[danez_yoda]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL8R-vJRo54

I used to drool over this guy in the 80s. Still a very cool looking amp that put out some mean power.

 

[Eddie]

I built a HEATHKIT HIFI system. I remember it used two pair of matched Mullard output tubes to produce 20 to 20,000 hz with +/- 2% distortion? Sounded great for many years.. Ed

 

[Cujet]

The old Pioneer SX1980 is sort of the "holy grail" of classic receivers. It's 270 watts per channel is enough to satisfy even the most demanding rocker. Unfortunately, people recognize the value and they sell for big bucks. Still, it's worth searching for.

https://www.cnet.com/news/how-can-30-year-old-receivers-sound-better-than-new-ones/

I have a much lower end Pioneer receiver of the same vintage. It's sound quality is quite good and it has no bad habits. No hum, no noticeable distortion, and a great equalization circuit for turntables. (this is a key factor for many modern units, that simply fall short when used on turntables)

Couple a quality classic receiver with a Technics 1200/1210 series turntable along with some quality AR floorstanding speakers and satisfaction is nearly guaranteed.

Look at the size of that power supply!!!!!

 

[Eddie]

If it doesn't use vacuum tubes it's not that old. Ed

 

[Leo99]

I use more modern amps because my old ones were too crackly but still use the big old speakers. Have some big Polk speakers and some medium size JVC speakers. The JVCs sound surprisingly good with a cheap little amp and Bluetooth connection to the source.

 

[Propflux01]

This was my baby. Pioneer SX-3700. I saved up for it washing dishes. I had it until 2014 when a tornado took it away.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I have a few components from the late 80s, still sitting at my parents' house:

 

[JeffKeryk]

We still have a Marantz stereo system from back in the day.
If you want 2 channel stuff today, you can look to companies like Creek Audio.
World class sound for a fair price.

Creek

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by Alfred_B
I'm growing nostalgic about the old school stereo systems from the 80-s. no 5:1 surround sound, very old tech but still they looked cool.

Unfortunately, these are getting rarer and rarer.

Yesterday I saw an ad for a Radio Shack M-601 system that is claimed to be in a good working order. $150 and local pickup.

Any ideas who made these things? It's made in Japan.

That's a little pricey for rat shack.. IIRC they didnt sound that great. My Buddy was in sales for Allied and he "borrowed" a lot of gear.

But neither did the Yamaha mid level stuff sound too great, being bright and dynamically constrained.

At that time I think I was running a Conrad Johnson PV4 Tube preamp and a Apt Holmann power amp. Spinning records was a Thorens semi automatic turntable. and a Grace F9e or Promethius Green modded Grado doing Cartridge duty. Many loudspeakers came and went From A/D/S 810 II (U.S. Braun) to KEF Corelli.

By the 80's I had moved on past the grey sounding Shure V15 or the resonant Audio Technica or Signet..

But, I still think the old V-15 M91ED with a good nude diamond stylus was the better Shure than its later units Like that overhyped and surprisingly underperforming V15 Type V MR.

Ahh the good old days when I could hear.

 

[cwilliamsws6]

I have an Onkyo TX-4500 made in (I believe) 1977 that I got from a garage sale for $10 a few years ago. Have it hooked up in my room to 2 Technics tower speakers and 2 old Rockford Fosgate Punch HE subs in a ported box. Kinda ghetto but I put it all together when I was 16 and it gets the job done for me.

I have an Onkyo DX-C200 CD changer hooked up to it, a Sony dual tape deck, a Sears (BSR) turntable/8-track player, and on one of the tape inputs I have a Bluetooth-to-aux device hooked into an aux-to-RCA adapter and powered off one of the switched outlets so I can connect my phone to the receiver.

I have a homemade coat hanger dipole antenna hooked up to it and at nighttime I can DX AM radio stations. At night I can pick up WSM and listen to the Opry. I can also regularly pick up Zoomer 740 from Toronto.

 

[PimTac]

I used to have a old Phillips receiver. I liked it so much I bought a turntable and a cassette player from the same brand.

Before that I had a Zenith all in one with the wedge shape look. It didn't last too long but the speakers did and they got hooked up with the Phillips set.

 

[SevenBizzos]

My dad is still rocking a Sansui receiver and speaker combo he brought back from Vietnam in 1972ish. The set up still sounds great. Full range is clear and the bass still rumbles from them. He's still a cassette guy too.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Cool.

I got a NAM era world voltage Sansui TT I am refurbishing from the PX.

I have a N.O.S. Stanton light tracking L720 MM cart to go on there for the full effect.

 

[jhs914]

I have a McIntosh MA6100 amp sitting in my closet that I need to get rid of along with some Polk Audio speaker and subwoofer. I don't have the room for a proper set up anymore and like an earlier poster said, my hearing has deteriorated to the point to where the sound quality is lost on me.