My Top 5 "NEVER BUY" Vintage Stereos

Comments · 1.3K

• JI

  @JimmerSD · 9 months ago (edited)

  I had a Carver TFM-15CB on the bench last month which the customer had battled problems for years. <br>Back and forth to different techs until he gave up and put it in the closet. <br>I found a bias resistor on the base of one of the L output transistors which had never been pushed through the board was making intermittent contact. This was a factory defect. It had solder covering the pad and when you visually inspected it on the bottom of the board it looked like a normal empty hole covered with solder.. <br>It would make connection through surface tension and then lose connection and would trip out the protect relay. <br><br>I corrected the fault, replaced some marginal caps and the protect relay and sent it home to a very happy customer.

  75

• RO

  @robhicks2117 · 10 months ago

  The warm glow of the old stereo receivers reminds me of my teenage years in the 1980&apos;s! Especially every night when I would listen to music at a low volume tuned to my favorite radio station when I went to bed.

  45

• AR

  @ArloIsFromMars · 1 year ago

  In 2013 I found an Onkyo M-504 as well as a P-304 together at Goodwill for $5 (five dollars)!!!! I took it home and it worked perfectly. I had just bought a vintage Pioneer Sx-750 receiver, but the Onkyo blew it away in every measurable way. I sold the Pioneer and the Onkyo still performs flawlessly. I got lucky I suppose

  83

• KY

  @KyaniteXFR · 6 days ago

  I have two Carver amps that have been to Carver Audio Repair. The 4.0T that my buddy had redone, then decided he wanted to go another direction. And a TFM-35 that I bought during COVID that had been done a few years earlier for the cost of the repairs (no-brainer). I still used the 4.0T daily and the TFM-35 is my backup. I wish they had 12v triggers, but otherwise they have been great.

• ST

  @stevet7487 · 1 year ago

  I have two Onkyo Integra M-504 amps with their companion pre amps, the Onkyo Integra P-304. One set has been in operation for 30 years and are in pristine condition. The other set are still New, sealed in their boxes. At some point, Circuit City was having a discontinuing sale on Onkyo, and I picked up a second set, as well as two Onkyo Integra A-809 Integrated amps. One of those is still sealed in the box as well. I&apos;m knocking on wood hoping the 504 I&apos;m using hangs in there.

  23

• GH

  @ghimesiii · 1 month ago

  One of the most underated amps ever , excellent soundstage , excellent built, excellent look , metters are amazing construction with separately ballistic circuit , needle has rubin movement support , excellent THD for his age, 0.001 at maximum power ,dampling factor 180,,130 watt/chanel in 8Ohm /240w /chanel in 4 Ohm,can go down to 2 Ohm , built like a tank . I have M5060R ,it was from golden age of HiFi, 1979 and still work great , fully recaped is a real value for money and music . This is my opinion .;)

• BO

  @bouipozz · 6 months ago

  Finally! A youtube video that actually reduces the prices on ebay

  4

• AF

  @Afterschoolspl · 8 months ago

  Bobs daughter was my neighbor in the early/mid 90s. She had a supra that was the show car for carver car stuff. It was the beginning of my obsession with 90s car audio.

  5

• JU

  @JustinRoby9311 · 1 year ago

  Pretty sure the Grundig at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq4doHUmKDs&amp;t=286">4:46</a> is the same one my Granddad had. His was a mono. The record player failed, but the radio (AM/FM, and SHORTWAVE!) still worked fantastically when he got rid of it in the mid-90s.

  10

• TA

  @TAGUPNBLUE · 2 months ago

  I bought one from a thrift shop for 20 bucks I loved it took me 10 minutes to fix the problem I got a 1500 unit f o r 20 bucks something I&apos;ve been waiting for for 10 years the sound out of it is fantastic it has all the bells and whistles and then some I listen to it what comes out of it in heaven

• KE

  @kenhicks8524 · 1 year ago

  I had a 250wpc Onkyo M-5090 when I was stationed in Okinawa back in the &apos;80s. I loved those meters!

  10

• FO

  @foxfakenews3293 · 3 months ago

  I bought a 504 about 20 years ago based on its reputation. &nbsp;I GOT to hear it and have never been so disappointed in an amp. &nbsp;My PS Audio 70 watt integrated amp blew it out of the water. &nbsp;So did my 25 watt Nachamichi receiver I found in a thrift store. &nbsp;The 504 was slow, lacked detail, and lacked clarity. &nbsp;I sold it on ebay for what I paid for it and was glad to be rid of it. &nbsp;I now use a 120 watt PS Audio power amp with a Superphon preamp and run everything through a PS Audio DAC with ADS L710/2 I paid $8 for in a thrift and 1290/2s. &nbsp;All bought used at pennies on the dollar. &nbsp;I later found a 50 watt Superphon amp for $10. &nbsp;For those that don&apos;t know Superphon was started by one of the owners of PS Audio. &nbsp;He left because he wanted to make high end audio that was affordable. &nbsp;He ran into one major problem. &nbsp;None of the audiphile shops would take them because they felt they wouldn&apos;t be able to sell their high profit inventory. &nbsp;So, if you ever see a Superphon, jump on it.