PDA

View Full Version : Aurex/Toshiba



Ninety4degrees
11-04-2022, 14:04
I'm not really sure this counts as either classic or vintage.
But bear with me.
For the price of a round and out of curiosity, knowing nothing about the brand execpt for the vague recollection that Aurex was the higher end in the Toshiba catalogue I have just picked something slim and looking decidedly 1980's, though without the big hair.

https://i.postimg.cc/KcK7txdg/aurex1.jpg

Aurex SB-A70 - clean and tidy, sounds pretty good with good detail if a little top-end bright in the setup.

Along with the Amplifier were the equally slim Tuner and Equalizer (not tried these yet).
ST-S70 Tuner and EQ-500 Equalizer. (can add pics if there is any interest).

So I'm wondering if anyone has any recollection of Toshiba Aurex gear?
Did it have any kind of rep?
I haven't been looking out for it and it was just a cheap punt, but I don't recall seeing a lot of it about.

Macca
11-04-2022, 14:43
I know of it, that's about it. I think pretty rare in the UK.

Would like to see what the full stack looks like.

palace
11-04-2022, 15:18
I'm not really sure this counts as either classic or vintage.
But bear with me.
For the price of a round and out of curiosity, knowing nothing about the brand execpt for the vague recollection that Aurex was the higher end in the Toshiba catalogue I have just picked something slim and looking decidedly 1980's, though without the big hair.

https://i.postimg.cc/KcK7txdg/aurex1.jpg

Aurex SB-A70 - clean and tidy, sounds pretty good with good detail if a little top-end bright in the setup.

Along with the Amplifier were the equally slim Tuner and Equalizer (not tried these yet).
ST-S70 Tuner and EQ-500 Equalizer. (can add pics if there is any interest).

So I'm wondering if anyone has any recollection of Toshiba Aurex gear?
Did it have any kind of rep?
I haven't been looking out for it and it was just a cheap punt, but I don't recall seeing a lot of it about.

I had a Toshiba Aurex PC-X60AD cassette deck with their own ADRES noise reduction system probably the best noise reduction method I have heard I believe even better than Dolby S I once read that a studio engineer made an ADRES recording from a 10" 15ips master tape was indistinguishable from the original. At the time Dolby held sway and much was made of saying the distortion doubled if it was out of alignment, in 4 years or more my one stayed aligned until it was dropped & irreparable I even preferred it to a Nakamachi Dragon when recorded and played in ADRES in Dolby the Dragon.

Ninety4degrees
11-04-2022, 15:53
I know of it, that's about it. I think pretty rare in the UK.

Would like to see what the full stack looks like.

There are some feet rececsses on the Tuner but not on the EQ, no idea which way they should be stacked.

https://i.postimg.cc/V6Hkgy07/stack.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/G2ppv3t8/Manual.jpg

Macca
11-04-2022, 16:01
tidy - you just need the speakers now:

https://i.ibb.co/vh7GsBY/aurex.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)

Ninety4degrees
11-04-2022, 17:04
Ha, yes the original owner threw in some Aurex speakers, not as nice as above. Foams all perished, poor vinyl wrap, been in
the Garage for a while.Were a made in UK set though. Rank drivers for bass and mids. Couldn't see a model number.

Macca
11-04-2022, 17:31
They seem to have done quite a few speakers under the Aurex name. Are you going to re-foam and re-wrap them? Would be good to have the full set all working and minty.

Sherwood
11-04-2022, 22:04
I had a Toshiba Aurex ST100 tuner. Bought it for very little at the original Richer Sounds store. Excellent sound quality.

Ninety4degrees
12-04-2022, 07:45
I was giving it all a once over last night and it all seems to be in good working condition, indeed the tuner does sound pretty good and is sensitive in tuning, I quite like it.

The purpose of slim profile "thing" has me a little confused. The Amplifier has a tape input, but i'm assuming the the Tape Deck would not have been slim in profile and there is no dedicated CD input so I'd guess this model was early 80's and probaly wouldn't have been around for long.

Bit of an odd layout iside the Amp, the extruded heat sink is unusual for sure, I'm guessing over heating may have been an issue in development, but they are packing quite a bit into the smaller form, it's no heavy weight but for its size the almost 6kg feels pretty substantial.

All items "made in Japan" and the build quality is good. Over all I'm pleased with the punt for the price of a couple of pints.

I'm not sure I'll bother refurbing the speakers, a quick internet trawl suggests they may be a version the Aurex SS-D2 (without the captued speaker cable)

walpurgis
12-04-2022, 07:54
I had many Toshiba and Toshiba/Aurex items over the years, including pre-amps and power amps, they were all nicely built and sounded decent.