Avoid These 6 Mistakes When Buying a Vintage Receiver or Amplifier

Comments · 240

• FO

  @ForeverAnalog · 1 year ago · pinned

  Join my newsletter and email with me directly here: <a href="https://forever-analog.kit.com/e62f13d86e">https://forever-analog.kit.com/e62f13d86e</a>

  10

• TA

  @taineasy · 8 months ago

  I am a retired service tech (35 years) and have seen vintage items come to me a range of condition. From repairable to not worth repairing. The one thing that I noticed early on is that vintage stereos and amplifiers in wooden cases have many more heat related issues than those with metal cases. As an example 1970&apos;s Marantz receivers/amps in wood cases are twice as likely to need service work. Wood cases do not dissipate heat very well. Wood absorbs and holds heat, where metal dissipates heat. I know the wood cases appeal to many people but are very inefficient. How many modern high end amplifiers and pre-amplifiers have wood cases? Not many, because its a really bad idea.

  9

• LE

  @LeonTroutskiunplugged · 1 year ago

  Great advice, I would add.... &nbsp;Beware the &quot;flippers&quot; that say, Serviced, cleaned, gone through, etc. Unless the guy is an actual tech, no receipts, that means nothing. Still do the other DD, though. Especially let it warm up for a bit.

  42

• KE

  @keithvincenttucker9923 · 1 year ago

  Best score I ever made was a Pioneer SX-880 at a garage sale in 2023 for $100 CAD. As an added bonus it works perfectly. Still the receiver in my main system.

  16

• DA

  @DavidStuart-c2f · 6 months ago

  Found a &apos;80 CR 820, after buying one new back in 78/79, then letting it go by chasing unicorns. Had it driving Speakerlab 30&apos; (again, unicorns). Last yr or so, found one at a garage sale for $15. Listened to it (trying to not drool), ended up giving him &nbsp;$20. Volume/Balance shaft noisy (static). Thought it was possibly a &nbsp;bad &quot;pot&quot;, but lo &amp; behold, the locknut on the rear of the shaft just needed to be tightened down. Had tried a newer Yamaha. Nope. Denon? Nope. Something about digital - it may indeed be more accurate, but alot of times you&apos;re sacrificing warmth, depth and width of &quot;soundstage&quot;, and... just that &quot;human &quot; touch. The taking in of a breath, the mechanical sound of a drum kick-pedal -- all the idiosyncrasies of what makes music enjoyable. Music is more than just a &quot;1&quot; or a &quot;0&quot;. Back to the story - haven&apos;t been able to replace the S&apos;lab 30&apos;s for anything less than a small fortune, so I guess these Dahlquist dq30&apos;s will do for awhile. Add to that a Rotel 1572 cd player, some BlueJean Cables, and I&apos;m back in Analog Heaven. It&apos;s been a long &amp; expensive road to get back to where I started, but soooo worth it! Keep the Faith !!! .-D

  1

• WI

  @WilliamGreen-l5m · 2 months ago

  Whoopsie! &nbsp;In my previous post I remembered the replacement transistors incorrectly. &nbsp;You’d think that since I buy these in lots of 100 and use them up fairly quickly that I would keep the numbers straight. &nbsp;I do remember where I keep them. &nbsp;So to avoid confusion, &nbsp;the 2SC458 is replaced by KSA1845, and the 2SA725 or 726 is replaced by KSA992. &nbsp;In both cases, the basing is the same, pop them in and they will work very well!

• AN

  @Anibon1000 · 1 year ago

  I purchased &nbsp;Sherwood S-7100 and S-7100A from USA about 18 yrs ago in mint condition and they are my favourite receivers.

  5

• MI

  @mikecampbell5856 · 1 year ago

  Some great advice here Aaron! I bought my first system in 1975 so I&apos;ve been around awhile! I have a 1974 Marantz 2220b that puts out a whopping 20wpc and I put it in my main system from time to time. It drives my speakers with plenty of power to spare! It sounds wonderful and after buying a new face plate from Vintage Hi Fi Audio it looks like new. My son gave it to me so I have the price of a face plate some LED lamps and a piece of vellum paper invested.

  7

• TO

  @TonyBzy · 1 year ago

  Just found a pioneer sx-650 at goodwill for $40. My introduction to the hobby! Excited!

  5

• BE

  @beccachannel1083 · 1 year ago

  My first, now vintage, receiver was a 25 or so watt Rotel. It was a beauty. And remains so.

  4

• ST

  @stephenross4333 · 1 year ago (edited)

  Original owner of a Pioneer SX-1250, bought in 1978 or 1979. Still have it. The unit I bought to replace the SX-1250 (only because it was too heavy to move as a college student) was a NAD 4250-PE receiver. What got me back into the hobby is that I needed to get the NAD repaired, and the shop I took it to said he couldn&apos;t repair it. I moved to McIntosh &amp; Audio Research.

  6

• MO

  @motownrockerusa · 1 year ago

  As a teen my best friends dad had a 15 watt pioneer with a pair of JBL L112 3 way loudspeakers. OMG it was Loud. You&apos;re correct, sometimes WPC doesn&apos;t mean much.. Great podcast with Kevin BTW. 😊

  8