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Old Classic Receivers: A Mistake to Buy?

I was contemplating purchasing a 70's receiver, as I used to love the construction and appearance of the Sansui, Kenwood, Pioneer, Marantz. However, when I ran this by an audio friend, he said, "Forget it."

He says: They sound terrible. The caps & resistors used before the early 90s' were dreadful. The electrolytics are drying up and will start crackling and substantially degrade the sonics. The switches and controls used were almost never sealed, so they deteriorate and make noise and can't be fixed even by taking them apart and cleaning them.

Tuners: He says that nearly all non-digital tuners used varactors, which go out of alignment and cause problems, so no old tuners, with the exception of the Mac MR-78 and possibly a few others, are worth dealing with.

I am tempted to believe all that he is saying is true, but I see a market for these items, and also know that people claim they are still using these pieces for 25 years.

What's the truth here? Can some of the techies enlighten me?
kevziek

Showing 2 responses by c123666

c123666
871 posts
 
I just acquired a 1970's Yamaha CR600 receiver in mint condition inc shipping for 100 bux. It works perfectly; all controls..no snap, crackle, or pop. The tuner works wonderful. These old yamaha (the crx00 series and not the subsequent cr x20 and x40; the cheapening started after the 00 series in my opinion) receivers were, and are, excellent if they are in good condition.

I picked up a pair of Boston Acoustics CR8 speakers in perfect condition for 75 today. I think that Yamaha receiver and the Bostons are going to make a good xmas present for my 17 y/o son. Course, he'll probably destroy the speakers with his hip hop garbage but that is another story. I suppose if I included a Technics sl200 DJ model he'd think I was way cool.

The old Yamaha T2 tuner was great; still is. So was their C2a preamp

Carl
c123666
871 posts
 
The old stuff sounds very good once it has been gone through and rebuilt. These things are 20 to 50 years old. When someobody is advertising a Dynaco SCA35 for 200 with the description of "original, looks good, works fine, sold as is" you should expect it will require new tubes and components (caps, resistors, wiring) as well as a general cleaning. Expect to put at least 250 into any of the older tube stuff.

Good stuff when rebuilt with modern parts. The Pilot receiver for sale right now is a good example of something that would sound good and be useful and it has already been gone through.
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