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The Grand Wazoo
06-03-2009, 16:01
Receivers - why do we hate them in the UK, when everywhere else the attitude is so very different?

I think they're great & have a few!

Although my big system (that's evolved over many years mostly from used kit) gives me huge pleasure...... I just like music. I don't care what it's played on, it's always better than no music (though I have to wonder a bit when I see kids on the street listening to their music through the speaker of a mobile phone).

Some of the best times I've had with music have been listening to shonky old kit!!

I'm off work today, so I'm catching up on what's been going on here, while listening to Bert Jansch's first album - LOUD!!. I'm playing it from the PC through an old Pioneer SX-440 which is juicing up a pair of Genexxa ribbon speakers.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4217/imgp1614.jpg

I'm not doing any critical listening and there must be 101 things about the sound that you could criticise, but I'm sure as hell enjoying the noise it's making!

It cost me 99p on Ebay & I got a pair of speakers chucked in with it! I gave them away.

As well as this, I have a Sansui 350a and a Yamaha CR1020 (- no proper photos of these at the moment, cos they're in my 'working-away-from-home- pad').

The Sansui........
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/513/350aa.jpg

The Yamaha.......
http://www.thevintageknob.org/YAMAHA/CR1020/CR1020.html
http://www.mcqart.com/cr1020/

..............and I've just sold a Marantz 1515L to some lucky, lucky person.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2482/imgp1555.jpg

Other stuff will come and go but I love the Yamaha and will never sell it.
Anyone else got some low rent receiver gems?

Beechwoods
06-03-2009, 16:26
I'll take some pictures later of my Amerex 3-in-1 8-Track-Receiver-Amp. Googling it turns up nothing. I picked it up for about £15 on eBay a few years ago. It's been retired because I now have a better 8-Track in the form of a Realistic recording machine, but the Amerex was fun. Good sensitivity, didn't need an aerial connected to pick up any of the major stations :)

The Grand Wazoo
06-03-2009, 16:38
........... Good sensitivity, didn't need an aerial connected to pick up any of the major stations :)

The Accuphase & the Sansui are both like that.
That little Sansui never fails to amaze me - it is also the biggest 24 watts of solid state that I've ever heard! It's got a hum in one channel & needs some knobs though.

I'd love to see pics of this mythical beast you own!

Beechwoods
06-03-2009, 20:17
Chris,

Well here's the 'legendary' Amerex TX-800 8-Track AM/FM Reciever with integrated 50w Amp. I've never tried this as an amp so can't say how it sounds in that respect. I used to run the 'Tape Out' into my Line Amp...

It all works apart from the tuning dial light.

I think the MPX option is FM minus the multiplex carrier, for when you're recording to Dolby encoded tape, where the carrier can cause issues...

Other than that it's a pretty basic (though rare, given the lack of internet coverage) little receiver :)

http://homepage.mac.com/beechwoods/AOS/amerex_8tr/amerex_01_s.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/beechwoods/AOS/amerex_8tr/amerex_02_s.jpg http://homepage.mac.com/beechwoods/AOS/amerex_8tr/amerex_03_s.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/beechwoods/AOS/amerex_8tr/amerex_04_s.jpg http://homepage.mac.com/beechwoods/AOS/amerex_8tr/amerex_05_s.jpg

http://homepage.mac.com/beechwoods/AOS/amerex_8tr/amerex_06_s.jpg http://homepage.mac.com/beechwoods/AOS/amerex_8tr/amerex_07_s.jpg

The Grand Wazoo
06-03-2009, 20:37
Nice one.
That was someone's pride & joy once upon a time!

I always though it was a step too far in cost-cutting when hardboard backs & bases started turning up in audio gear.

Beechwoods
06-03-2009, 20:43
One of the notable things about it is it's form factor. It's very wide and very shallow. 47cm wide and 8.5cm high. Most modern gear with standard form factor is around 43cm wide. It doesn't stack that well... I suppose it might have been at home in a sort of side-board system. Being an all in one maybe it wasn't designed to integrate with other items.

Just seems odd :)

The Grand Wazoo
06-03-2009, 20:49
I think that's the thing, who could have wanted for anything more but the old Garrard SP25 sitting between that little sucker and a stack of Top of the Pops lp's from Woolies!!

Perhaps a Ronco record cleaner

Luxury indeed

DSJR
06-03-2009, 22:59
They'll go up in value now I'm mentioning them, but the Harmon Kardon HK430, 730(750?) and especially the HK930 were superb units. I missed a mint 930 for £50 a few months ago too..

The best big Yamaha was the CR1000. The ones that followed weren't as good, especially the 75 Ohm aerial input on the 1020 was a disaster according to a review at the time. The 300 Ohm input was much better.

Some of the Luxman receivers were good too, especially the more powerful ones, but the later Pioneer ones (434/636 etc.) were horrid things, the need to reduce distortion taking the music away with it.

Finally, the Tandberg's were cool, especially the 2075. Oh, and the Beomaster 4000 and 4400 were very good to excellent as well and new cap kits can be obtained to rejuvenate them.......

The Grand Wazoo
07-03-2009, 19:09
I alway fancied a Luxman 1050 (all that rosewood was a little over the top, I thought), or a 1120, and yes, the Tandbergs sounded fantastic but I always thought they looked a bit dowdy and DIN sockets on the smaller / older models (yeuch).

DSJR
08-03-2009, 11:52
I remember we took on Trio (pre Kenwood in the UK) and their stuff was quite good I remember.

The weak receivers for sound really were the mid seventies Pioneers and Technics and I have to say that some of the Rotels weren't that hot either. Just 'cos they're old and well built with fantastic flywheel tuning doesn't guarantee a good sound, believe me!

I suspect few of these are still in one piece, let alone working, but the Goodmans Module 110 and 150 (?) were great performers IIRC - good design ruined by cr@p components and flimsy build.


P.S. Just get a Nytech and allow it some time to warm up and stabilise. The sound will beat most of the "happy Jappy" receivers out there.

The Grand Wazoo
12-04-2009, 23:18
To me some of the best pieces were relatively low powered, not particularly highly specified in the features dept., & ostensibly pretty run of the mill........but oh so sweet sounding!

aquapiranha
13-04-2009, 22:10
I had a nice sounding Rotel....

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb256/aquapiranha/Various%20HIFI/CIMG2996.jpg

The Grand Wazoo
28-04-2009, 23:25
I had a nice sounding Rotel....



I'm sure there's a Boo Hewerdine song / Clive Gregson & Christine Collister album called 'Love is a Strange Rotel'.........................maybe not........

aquapiranha
28-04-2009, 23:27
I'm sure there's a Boo Hewerdine song / Clive Gregson & Christine Collister album called 'Love is a Strange Rotel'.........................maybe not........

Maybe if you had a japanese accent?

The Grand Wazoo
28-04-2009, 23:34
Maybe if you had a japanese accent?

No, that would be 'Rove is a Stlange Lotel'

James G
13-05-2009, 13:04
No, that would be 'Rove is a Stlange Lotel'

Chris, I think you've spent some time in Japan! :lol:

The Grand Wazoo
31-10-2010, 23:39
I've just spent a good part of the day today indulging in my fetish for 70's receivers and have been playing about with a few. One of the objects of the exercise was to compare a big old Sony to a big old Yamaha. This was to compare them as amplifiers. The tuner sections, I'll be doing later.

So I took my long pre - power amp interconnect that runs from the little room with the gear in it & plugged it into the Accuphase CD player & then to the Yamaha & Sony in turn. I used a set of Cyrus solid core speaker cables & some home made jumpers to single wire the Mirage M3si's.

The Yamaha CR-1020 went first & I was reminded of just how good this receiver is & why I like it. Although I use it every day, it rarely gets to stretch out & gallop because it normally feeds a pair of speakers that sit just over an arms length away, so high power is not usually required. Feeding the Mirages, though, is different as they seem to suck up big amps & still ask for more. It grabbed hold of the Mirages with both hands & hung on. All in all, it was pretty much thumbs up, really.

So, on to the Sony.
This an STR V5 that was kindly donated by a fellow forum member (thanks again Dave!). The tuner section looks like it might be a good one with a 5-gang set up for FM.
This is fully 5" deeper than my Levinson power amps, not quite as tall and a full 19" wide (whereas the Levinsons are 19" rack mount width - so the casework is a good bit narrower than the width of the faceplates).

Sony STR-V5
http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/4334/dscf1477z.jpg


The end of the testing period - teeny weeny Genexxa's / big bruisin' Mirages / Sony on the floor / Yamaha perched on top of a Levinson / cables everywhere!
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/650/dscf1480x.jpg

I spent the rest of the day with the Yamaha knocking out several albums worth of music. It sounds great & if push came to shove, you could do a lot worse.

Rare Bird
01-11-2010, 00:21
That Yammi is a classic that takes some beating..

aquapiranha
01-11-2010, 06:53
Nice LX-5's. I know someone with a pair and they sound great.

The Grand Wazoo
01-11-2010, 07:16
Nice LX-5's. I know someone with a pair and they sound great.

It always surprises me what they can do when you squirt some proper whoomptie up 'em! They're very capable indeed.