Intruders-Alert

I don't run across the real good old stuff anymore, everybody got wise and snarfed them all up, now those old high-powered stereos from the 70's bring big bucks when you can find them.

So I've had to relax my standards. Still find a nice score from time to time. Found this one at Goodwill this morning...spent about 25 minutes wiring up whatever components I could find on the shelves to verify the amp's condition and all the functions are good. They are.

This is an 80w (continuous) x 4 channel receiver, with signal outs for powered sub and center speakers. That's enough to make the windows buzz a bit



$12. Yay!

$12. [emoji106]
I've got a Pioneer SX-737 that will wiggle your woofer.

navigator wrote:$12. [emoji106]
I've got a Pioneer SX-737 that will wiggle your woofer.

I always liked the SX series, especially the x80 series (SX-780, SX-1280, etc)...yours was earlier, blue dial, IIRC? Nice units [emoji106]

YUP.

navigator wrote:YUP.

Cool!

Ya know, every Pioneer vintage high power I've had has died from heat stroke. I see now guys put the CPU fans in them. Great idea! I'd do it if I had one...

Most of them that black ventilation grille is pretty distorted from heat. That's a sign...

You can find all sorts of stuff at Goodwill. I love perusing that place. My wife bought a nice stainless steel mandolin slicer in perfect condition and still in the original box for $5 that we found costing $125 on line. She spotted it, I would have never guessed it cost that much. That sumbeech will slice ultra thin. Home made potato chips are a delicious blast that the grand kids beg for and we know exactly what we're eating. [space] [emoji106]

Back in the mid 90's I was at a local (high end) audio shop talking with one of the sales people. They sold used quipment which was I was looking at.
They are actually still in business today. Anyway, I told the guy I'd love to get my hands on one of those old Marantz quads for my game room. I'm not sure if surround sound was even out yet. Well he just went off on Marantz, how crappy they were and how they're a dime a dozen used. He goes on, in fact someone dropped one off for repair and just left it here. He's says, if you pay the repair bill you can have it! I'm like sweet, can I see it? So he takes me to the back and there was a stack of old amplifiers stacked one on top of the other from the floor up to about 6 or 7 feet high, and my Marantz was stuck in the middle. So we did the paper work, I don't remember what it cost to have it fixed maybe $125. Then my salesman says here let me me show you one more thing. So we go back to the counter up front and he pulls out a book they use to show you the value of used stereo equipment. He say's see here, it's only worth $60........ then he says wait a minute that was last year, the value this year is $85. Then he scratched his head for a minute or two and then says, wow, they're going up in value! No sh!t... LOL But he stuck to his word and I got my quad (Marantz 4300) and have it to this day. They're worth a lot more now. Those old Marantz's may not be super accurate but they have a soft vintage sound you just can't find with today's equipment...

Now that looks like something you would have in the cave to amuse your little brother.

JFL Live wrote:Back in the mid 90's I was at a local (high end) audio shop talking with one of the sales people. They sold used quipment which was I was looking at.
They are actually still in business today. Anyway, I told the guy I'd love to get my hands on one of those old Marantz quads for my game room. I'm not sure if surround sound was even out yet. Well he just went off on Marantz, how crappy they were and how they're a dime a dozen used. He goes on, in fact someone dropped one off for repair and just left it here. He's says, if you pay the repair bill you can have it! I'm like sweet, can I see it? So he takes me to the back and there was a stack of old amplifiers stacked one on top of the other from the floor up to about 6 or 7 feet high, and my Marantz was stuck in the middle. So we did the paper work, I don't remember what it cost to have it fixed maybe $125. Then my salesman says here let me me show you one more thing. So we go back to the counter up front and he pulls out a book they use to show you the value of used stereo equipment. He say's see here, it's only worth $60........ then he says wait a minute that was last year, the value this year is $85. Then he scratched his head for a minute or two and then says, wow, they're going up in value! No sh!t... LOL But he stuck to his word and I got my quad (Marantz 4300) and have it to this day. They're worth a lot more now. Those old Marantz's may not be super accurate but they have a soft vintage sound you just can't find with today's equipment...

Those were good units. My stepfather had that same one when I was growing up.

Some years back I found a Pioneer SX-780 for $15 at a garage sale. I was SO happy. I'd wanted that receiver since high school. When we moved and downsized, I ended up giving it to someone. Then I started seeing what they go for. Good example of one of those will set ya back $250 or more now...

I bought a pair of Baby Advent speakers off craiglist last night to go with the new receiver. The guy was one of those who dabbles in trading and repairing...he had a SWEET Sansui G-5700 he wants $300 for, and if I didn't get outta there quick I would have talked myself into it.

Identical, but not actual unit.



If it had mechanical VU meters, I'd be $300 lighter today. I'm a sucker for mechanical meters. Watching those needles bounce to your rocking the house is just so cool. That is a large part of my love affair with the SX-xx80 series of Pioneer, aside from that they are just drop-dead gorgeous units...they are fully kitted with meters. The ones higher up the chain from the 780 have four...AM signal strength, FM tuning, and two channels output. They are beautifully indirectly lit, and look so nice in a dark room. And as you mentioned, they have that warmth of sound that these new IC units just lack. They have no soul.

If I found an SX-1280 I could afford, I could die happy.



Look at the freakin' CAPS in there



This is precisely why CPU fans are such a great addition. My friend had a SX-880 back in the day and that black grill above the caps got so hot it started sinking into the cabinet. They make some serious heat when you're workin' em. And we did

GOTTA LOVE KNOBS, SWITCHES, DIALS .... AH

JFL Live wrote: ... I told the guy I'd love to get my hands on one of those old Marantz quads for my game room...

[emoji2] Back in the day I had a set of Marantz HD880s. They fuckin' rocked man!

I had a Kenwood amp and tuner with Advents to crank my Nigel Tufnal!

For me,...I went for Fidelity over Volume. ;IDunno:

Some of us old timers were really into stereo equipment back in the day and it is so cool to have a vintage piece or two that you still use. Funny this topic came up now because I recently sold out a lot of my collection. Back in December I gave my basement a complete face lift and needed to clear out the stuff I wasn’t using. In order to sell it, I hooked everything up together so I could demo each piece. I ended up selling the Pioneer 707 reel to reel, The Paradigm Monitor 9s, the Polk Audio RTA-11Ts and the Polk Audio SDA book shelf speakers.





The amp in the middle I bought off my brother in 1979. It’s a Kenwood Model 600. I took it in recently to have the volume and balance control cleaned. You know how old stereos get scratchy when you adjust the volume sometimes, drives me nuts. The guy who fixed it said you need to check this unit out online, they’re worth quite a bit of money now. Then he asked me where I got it and I told him my older brother bought back in mid 70’s and I bought it from him. The guy told me it’s a rare unit, they mostly sold on the west coast for a while and if your brother bought this new in Iowa back in the 70’s he must have bought it from me, because I was the only dealer who had them… small world. When I got home I looked it up and they can sell as high as $1,600 now.




This is what I have left. The entertainment center I built in the late 80s. The small speakers are home made. The larger speakers are Phillips DMS 4s that I bought in 1975. They were great in their day but sounded like crap today. So I got online with PartsExpress and ordered new woofers and tweeters and now they rock!




There's also a vintage Pioneer PL51A Turn table in there. The side stands are full of record albums.





Of course no man cave would be complete without a disco ball and laser lights! [emoji41]

Nice!

[emoji106]

I don't remember who built it, I wanna say it was one of the God-Mode Sansuis that had like 300w per and quad, it had the coolest level meter ever...it looked like a radar scope, it was a simple CRT of a sort, with four quadrants and concentric circles indicating power levels, and in each quadrant a blue fuzzy light would "reach" out from the center, indicating the current power level of that channel. I think something about the character of the light told you something too, but I don't remember what. But it was so cool to see.

You guys are makin' me cry. That was some of the best old audio equipment ever made, but lets not forget Samsung, Yamaha, Akai and Teac either. They were all good stuff.

Yo-

This thread takes me back. It must’ve been 1978 or so. My buddy had a killer Marantz system in his bedroom. We would crank up Heart’s Barracuda on the turntable and it was f’n awesome, his mom would come in yelling at us turn it down.

There is nothing in the world like the sound of music on vinyl. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. [emoji106]

Speaking of Barracuda, check this out.

Gretchen Wilson & Alice in Chains - tearing it up!
And she’s a country singer by trade.

BoDog wrote:Speaking of Barracuda, check this out.

Gretchen Wilson & Alice in Chains - tearing it up!
And she’s a country singer by trade.

I've seen that. She freakin' NAILED it.

My boss at the warehouse was a radio DJ. He knows her. He and his wife used to go out with her and her whatever. He said karaoke with her was amazing. [emoji2]

I can watch the video over and over, just killer. [emoji106]