Stereo Receivers

[Captain Bacardi]

After 20 years my Technics receiver finally went kaput. Unfortunately, it seems to be unrepairable - it needs an interphase circuit, which no one makes anymore.

So now the question of what kind of receiver to get as a replacement. Since I'm 20 years out of the loop, does anyone have a good suggestion? I definitely need one that has the phono jacks (or something where phono jacks still work). I've done a bit of a search online, but haven't found anything that has photos of the back of the receiver to see if it has what I need. Any ideas?



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Dave]

Dig around for a good, old, USED one, Cap! My reciever is a SHERWOOD, circa 1988; All Metal, Black Cabinet and with not only Input for PHONO but even VIDEO and CD!



Dave

...I'm sure you'll find YOUR "Soulmate Receiver"...!!! :goofygrin:

 

[Harry]

I haven't had to shop for a receiver for about six years. The one I did buy at the time, a Sony, has served me well. This one got me into 5.1 surround sound for the LaserDisc/DVD collection, and still sounds good to me today. It has phono inputs, too, surprisingly.

At the time, it was the next-to-top-of-line model in the mainstream Sony line. The higher up model had some useless feature (for me) of powering speakers in other rooms, so this one was perfect.

The problem with a lot of the receivers out there is their complexity. It used to be, bring 'em home, plug in the tape deck and turntable, and turn it on. Nowadays you have to figure out remote controls, surround sound settings, "room" modes, programming radio stations into memory - all kinds of stiff that makes it nice once it's set up, but is a pain when you just want to "play."

I guess if I had to buy one today, I'd head to a dedicated high-end stereo type store and see what they had. Perhaps head to one of the big box retailers to compare notes and make the decision then.

As for phono inputs, if you don;t find one, you can always get a preamp pretty reasonably. Then you can use a regular "Aux" input on the amplifier.

Harry

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Boy you're right on the complexity issue, Harry. I don't know why nobody makes any "plain" receivers anymore....everything is geared up to be an "entertainment center."

I don't know if you'll find anything with a Phono jack anymore. My 3-year-old Pioneer receiver does not have one, and it's a pretty nice receiver. You can still get a phono "adaptor" that will allow you to plug a turntable into an aux jack...I think Radio Shack has those. Not sure what (if anything) they do to the signal, qualitywise.

 

[Mr Bill]

Boy you're right on the complexity issue, Harry.

The problem with a lot of the receivers out there is their complexity.

That complexity issue is why I raised the question a couple months ago in preparation for my home theatre... I look at the back of these A/V receivers and there's not just your three leads (Video, Audio L and Audio R) but inputs for component video, digital sound and video and tons more... HD only makes it more complex. On top of that I'll want to run my incoming cable signal (and Cox's version of Tivo) into the theatre as well. Still looking for a good online website illustrating basic to medium to complex theatre wiring schematics (liek the ones Pioneer and Monster Cable used to make jointky back in the early 90s)... The two buyers guides I managed to pick up were not particularly helpful...

--Mr Bill
crushed to learn N'Sync's Lance Bass is gay. I guess if he was in that other boy band they'd've been called The BackDoor Boys...

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Also if your planning to connect to a turnertable take note, when I was searching a few years back I couldn't find any new receivers that had the phono connectors. I ended up with an older model out of box from Circuit City, it's a Onkyo (it's big and weight's a ton) but I saved alot of money and it's worked great for years, I primarily use it for my turntable in my music room.

 

[Rudy]

After 20 years my Technics receiver finally went kaput. Unfortunately, it seems to be unrepairable - it needs an interphase circuit, which no one makes anymore.

So now the question of what kind of receiver to get as a replacement. Since I'm 20 years out of the loop, does anyone have a good suggestion? I definitely need one that has the phono jacks (or something where phono jacks still work). I've done a bit of a search online, but haven't found anything that has photos of the back of the receiver to see if it has what I need. Any ideas?

Depends on your budget, and what you need:

Do you need a remote?

Are you running in stereo only, or do you have any plans for surround?

Do you ever use your tuner (AM or FM)?

Do you need phono inputs? YES

What other components do you have hooked up to it? Tape deck, CD player and/or recorder, etc.

The mass market has all gone the way of surround receivers with no phono inputs, and few (if any) tape loops. They also don't sound very good--I have a two year old Pioneer in my family room as a surround system, and it has the typical "bright" sound of a lot of today's components. My main system smokes it.

You may end up looking somewhere else than the mass-market components for only a few dollars more. Something that has just the basics you need for music listening. If you never (or rarely) use your AM/FM tuner, then get an integrated amp, most of which still have phono inputs. Finding something used is a gamble--if it's from the last several years it should be OK. But in components from the 80s or earlier, you might risk getting something with aged parts inside--capacitors are known to dry out if they're unused, and they'll short out.

Marantz still makes a stereo receiver with phono inputs: the SR-4320. If you find a receiver without the inputs, though, you have to buy a phono preamp and use it on an auxiliary input, if the receiver has a spare one. Thing is, the $20 preamps sound like garbage; you'd have to spend $80-$100 to get one that's as good as what you had in your old one.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Remote? No. I'm not that lazy - yet....

Probably just stereo, as my DVD system is already surround and DTS.

Rarely use a tuner, because radio just plain sucks anymore.

Other components are cassette deck, CD player, CD recorder.

I obviously have some looking around to do. I was hoping for the old days when I could just walk into a store and walk out 15 minutes later with what I need. I just hope whatever store I go to there will be someone who actually knows what a phonograph is!

Thanks for the suggestions!



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Mike Blakesley]

Might be funny for you to post your shopping experiences here.

Go in and ask for a Victrola and see what happens! (Although "phonograph" might get a similar reaction.)

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi,

How much money do you have available. If you can go 700-900.00, why not a McIntosh integrated amplifier or a MAC series receiver. Parts and service are still available on their older models. The MA 6100 integrated amplifier or a MAC 1900 receiver would make a super long term choice for you. Try www.mcintoshaudio.com for nice reconditioned units with warranty. If you want new, try a new Marantz. You could find a nice unit for $500-800 there.

 

[Rudy]

Remote? No. I'm not that lazy - yet....

Probably just stereo, as my DVD system is already surround and DTS.

Rarely use a tuner, because radio just plain sucks anymore.

Other components are cassette deck, CD player, CD recorder.

I obviously have some looking around to do. I was hoping for the old days when I could just walk into a store and walk out 15 minutes later with what I need. I just hope whatever store I go to there will be someone who actually knows what a phonograph is!

Thanks for the suggestions!



Capt. Bacardi

So, it looks like you need a system with:

Phono Input
CD input
Two Tape Loops (one for cassette, the other for CD recorder)
One or Two Auxiliary inputs

I don't know if your budget includes the Marantz or McIntosh gear that Kent mentions (it's all well-built, very musical sounding gear, of course...Kent has a lot of nice equipment at his place ), but I'm also wondering if a nice integrated amp by NAD or something similar might do the job for you. Having the extra input might even give you the option to add an XM Radio receiver or other audio source like an MP3 player or one of those music servers.

Actually, if you don't mind vintage gear, a nice setup would even be a Hafler DH110 preamp and either a DH220 (110w/ch) or DH500 (250w/ch) power amp. I have both a DH110 and DH101 (an earlier model) preamps, and they both have plenty of inputs on top of sounding very musical. Both these preamps have two turntable inputs. David Hafler was one of the engineers behind Dynaco of the 50s and 60s, creating such classics as the Stereo70 and Mk III tube power amplifiers, and the PAS2 and PAS3 preamps. I've also had good luck with my Carver M500 power amp--love the big meters on the front panel.

You mentioned SACD in another thread--if you ever consider you might want to go the surround route for music, it might pay to get a receiver with that capability built in. You'd specifically need a 5.1 channel analog inputs for SACD, as the receivers can't decode the digital stream from SACD. (Long story...) You might not get a phono input though, meaning you'd have to go with an external preamp, which is something you could actually tuck behind a shelf and forget about it.

 

[Mike]

http://www.usa.denon.com/default.asp

 

[Mike]

OK, Im a little confused... are you looking for an amplifier or an integrated amp, or what?

For me, a reciver is the same thing as a tunner. What works, and what's broke?

Also, feel free to move this post to the ignore thread... I'd understand.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Rudy]

For me, a reciver is the same thing as a tunner. What works, and what's broke?

Technically a "receiver" is a power amp, preamp and tuner all in one package. An integrated amp is the power amp and preamp in one package. Separates are power amp and preamp in separate components. You can still buy just a separate tuner, which plugs into a tuner or auxiliary input on a preamp or integrated amp.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I think I solved my problem. On Sunday afternoon I went to a BBQ joint, and next door was a pawn shop. I decided to go in just for the heck of it (not to mention to get out of the heat) and there was a Phillips surround sound system that included a phono jack! It's fairly new (a couple of years old) and I got to mess around with it quite a bit and talked the girl into letting me have it for $150 (it was marked at $225). On top of that, there was supposed to be a remote included but she couldn't find it, so she let me have a couple of DVDs to make up for it. (I can always buy a cheap remote.)

I had forgotten what a pain it was to put everything back together - it had been over 8 years since I had bought the house and the bookcase I have my stereo system in is a little crowded, so it was all about trying to figure out what wire went where. But it works and I can play my LPs now!




Capt. Bacardi
...back in full swing online...

 

[Dave]

Just got my In-Laws' Stereo Receiver/Pre-Amp yesterday!

It's way backwards from my prized Sherwood Receiver/Pre-Amp, but I miss the Lighted Radio-Dial and theirs in just plain, off-white incandescent light at least has bulbs that work, whereas the one LED which lights the digital display on my old one burned out shortly after I got it and just isn't worth the bother going into and replacing...

I got a "PHONO" input for my turntable and the "AUX" input is for my CD, so I'm all-set... And there is a switch outside of the Selector Knob which controls Tape Monitor Playing/Recording mode if I were to ever install a Tape Deck... Ah, but only one electrical outlet in the back for plugging in equipment (decided to make it for my phonograph so I can easily unplug it to change the needle on the tonearm without the turntable going on) as opposed to the two (for Phono and CD) that my old one had...

Unfortunately at 18" it will not fit in my cabinet where I have my CD and record player and my old one was 17" but my narrow audio component cabinent only has 16-and-a-1/2" width, so luckily a bookcase next to my Stereo equip. is where the Receiver can go...

Also went from the Black, all-metal cabinet to a Woodgrained cabinet and it's a Techniques brand, just like my turntable... I enjoy it a lot and it sounds good, though I had a few bugs to work out, such as the fuse for Right sound being blown so I only had Left sound and connecting both speakers to the Main and Remote speaker outputs meant only hearing the Left channel of my records and CD's which sounded a LOT worse than the sound coming only through ONE left speaker, on the left, alone...

A good system and had my "local mechanic", who sold me the replacement fuse which goes in a small compartment right ON the back of the unit instead of inside, for $2, give it a once-over and it's in Top-Shape!

I just wish it had a LOCKING Balance knob like the old one did; hard to "eyeball" the knob to be sure it IS right in the middle and I got it just right... --AND Left...!

So now I can sell the old one as well as my In-Laws' speaker set (Radio Shack Realistic brand, no match for my RCA pair, also purchased from R.S.) and turntable... (A Nikko semi-auto which my fully-automatic Techniques outdoes!!!) All of which they gave me to sell for 'em...



Dave

 

[Moondog]

HOLY COW - hope I die before my system does. It's old - - so am I. But I wouldn't trade what I have for almost anything I've heard elsewhere.

Take care...

George

 

[Rudy]

I still have my good ol' analog separates...just got 'em out of storage. I was using my older Sony ES receiver for awhile, but I still hear a big difference when I hook up the "big rig". I'll probably go with a tube amp next time, maybe a pair of Dynaco Mk IIIs (especially if I can rebuild them myself). I'd love some new tube gear, but the good stuff costs a small fortune.

 

[Dave]

"FM--No static, at all", eh?

Well, fortunately I've saved both the AM and FM antennae from my old radio-receiver...

First I'd done the occasional radio listening on the AM "dial" so I retrieved the AM antenna from my parents' house (where I must've not done any radio listening) since here on the new system it was badly needed to get ANYTHING on "Amplitude Modulation"... Luckily the antenna wire is of a reasonable length, too...

Oh, but little did I know, months later that I would suddenly find myself wanting to hear what's on "Fidelity Modulation", too... So I made, yet, another trip to mom & dad's where the FM ant' from the old unit was saved...

(It's a rectangular-shaped device, which attached to the back of the stereo on a bracket and continuously broke off, so with the no radio play that unit got, I stashed it away with the AM one, a larger rectangular-shaped deal which sits on its own mount...)

Well, I had to increase the length of the wires via a couple cuts off a spool of wire that I bought at Radio Shack and secured them to the wires to the ant' with a couple of small plastic connector-caps I had...

And a picture above my stereo set-up (with a metal frame) was where I elected to hang the FM ant' from, so I could at least draw in the strongest stereo signals that I can actually listen to regularly, from the FM dial...

A set of LED's which are three, red and two, green (which before, I never knew were green) gauge the signal strength on both AM and FM and there is also a red Stereo LED which goes on with the AFC Auto switch, on and the AFC, off plays the FM in mono and while I had the antenna laying around, that was how I got the best signals, before hanging the antenna high up made the difference...

--So now I find myself rediscovering FM radio--in stereo--both listening in the car and at home...!

Dave


--See? Lookit!...:

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