Good vs bad vintage brands

The Shocker

Super Member
When looking at Vintage receivers, I often see brands I remember as a youth, but are no longer around, and I don't know whether these brands are good or not.

The first one was Sansui, and I since learned these are very good receivers.

What about the following brands:

1. Sherwood
2. Realistic (Radio Shack house brand)
3. Fisher
4. Scott

Any opinions of these brands?
 
3. Excellent pre 1969
4. Excellent pre 1973
1. Best when USA manufactured, early Japanese built equipment very good.
2. Depends on model and era, Realistic made virtually everything from not so good, to some excellent items.

With Sansui, model dependent and era dependent. Sansui made some superb gear, some OK gear, and some gear best forgotten.
 
It all depends on what you call vintage, many brands from the 70's are well thought of and might not have a high value but are great sounding receivers.
 
There are no bad vintage brands IMO. Non that I can recall anyway. Even some Sears LXI and JC Penney's MCS equipment performed WAY better than they had any right too. You generally get what you pay for. There probably were some bad models however from nearly all brands including Sansui, Yamaha, Marantz and the like. Your better to research a specific model of any piece of vintage equipment before buying it.

Realistic equipment takes a back seat to none of the other popular brands when it comes to both build and sound quality $ for $. I've bought a lot of their equipment and have never been disappointed. I replaced my Mach One speakers because I wanted a more refined sound, Not because they were bad. Indeed, The oiled walnut cabinets were first class, And for loud rock and pop they can really impress. There Nove line and Optimus T series (tower) speakers were IMO their most competitive speakers.
 
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Also be aware that many brands were bought and sold. For instance you can find a Sherwood, KLH, Fisher or Scott brand on items from as late as the 2000's. This doesn't mean the original company still exists and so the generic quality of the gear is secondary to the marketing value of the old name.

Cheers,

David
 
Sherwood, go 30 to 60 watts prior to 1976.
Realistic, go 30 and up watts prior to 1982. Don't get the STR-250.
Fisher, do a lot of research.

Scott, very good in their hayday prior to 1974 and good for a few years after that. But wait, there's more. Scott totally missed the boat when it made the change from tube to ss in the mid 60's. They went with little boxes that were way over built and hard to work on. They kept putting out lots of models that were to much alike. And they were very greedy with the power. Scott had everything it needed to be a front runner but thought they new what we "should" buy and had no clue as to what we "would" buy.
If Scott had put out a 50 watt big box ss receiver in 1969 the tale might be McIntosh, Pioneer, Marantz, Scott...………
But no it's Scott, Realistic, Lafayette, Magnavox, Sylvania...…….. .
 
Pretty much every brand made good and not so good gear back in the day. Three rules of thumb for older receivers
  • Condition is critical - good condition is a sign that the equipment was well cared for, and cosmetics (other than cleaning) generally can't be fixed
  • More weight is good - bigger transformers, bigger heatsinks, and overall higher quality
  • Avoid any receiver with a turntable built into the top and/or an 8 track slot in the front
There are exceptions, but this is a good place to start
 
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There are no bad vintage brands IMO. Non that I can recall anyway. Even some Sears LXI and JC Penney's MCS equipment performed WAY better than they had any right too. You generally get what you pay for. There probably were some bad models however from nearly all brands including Sansui, Yamaha, Marantz and the like. Your better to research a specific model of any piece of vintage equipment before buying it.

Realistic equipment takes a back seat to none of the other popular brands when it comes to both build and sound quality $ for $. I've bought a lot of their equipment and have never been disappointed. I replaced my Mach One speakers because I wanted a more refined sound, Not because they were bad. Indeed, The oiled walnut cabinets were first class, And for loud rock and pop they can really impress. There Nove line and Optimus T series (tower) speakers were IMO their most competitive speakers.

Big issues with store brands, is spare parts availability. Service information is much harder to come by also. Some of these units are rebranded items (which are available under better known brands, with easier support). Some are unique to that brand in one or other ways. Things to consider. In general, items which are discrete transistor are much easier to repair, those can have substitute transistors if one or more fail you, and tend to be more maintainable over time than IC based equipment. Do your research, find out with these brands what the better items are, and seek out the better gear offered. The store brands like Sears LXI and other Sears Audio Brands, and The MCS Series from JC Penney have good and less good items.
 
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