Any Kyocera R-851 Receiver Owners Here?

vintagestereo

Addicted Member
If so, stand up and be counted!!! :banana:

I just set up my R-851 after reading an old ad extolling the virtues of its MOS-FET Amplifier. I don't know why, but the sound is so sweet, it sends a shiver down my spine! Do you have the same experience with yours?

Jazz sounds AMAZINGLY good, especially on the Bass notes and horns!!! WOW!!!! Can't wait to hear my marginally more powerful, follow-up Receiver, the R-861, which also has the MOS-FET Amp., this time a 100x2. :scratch2:

I haven't AB'd my R-861 with the R-851, but hope to shortly. :naughty:

Truly, the R-851 is great sounding receiver in every respect.
 
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A friend of mine had one. I remember it being the heart of a very sweet stereo system. I actually ran into him and his wife at a stereo salon in KC where he was buying the Kyocera--I was just stopping in to look at the fancy gear. KC was about 100 miles from where we were living at the time. This was at the height of the power watt war, and Kyocera choose not to play that game, instead touting the quality of sound over the quantity of sound. Well, I like those big TOTL receivers, but the Kyocera was nice. Tandberg and JVC were a couple other brands that didn't join the big watt ranks (though JVC made of couple of very nice 120 wpc units).
 
bully said:
A friend of mine had one. I remember it being the heart of a very sweet stereo system. I actually ran into him and his wife at a stereo salon in KC where he was buying the Kyocera--I was just stopping in to look at the fancy gear. KC was about 100 miles from where we were living at the time. This was at the height of the power watt war, and Kyocera choose not to play that game, instead touting the quality of sound over the quantity of sound. Well, I like those big TOTL receivers, but the Kyocera was nice. Tandberg and JVC were a couple other brands that didn't join the big watt ranks (though JVC made of couple of very nice 120 wpc units).

Bully -- I was beginning to worry that this thread would get no replys at all! Thanks so much for that bit of perspective: quantity vs. quality. At moderate volume levels, the Kyocera is hard to beat. In fact, this guy decided to include it in his "Hall of Fame", along with some other very interesting gear! The R-851 is listed under "1985":

http://www.audioemporium.com/hall_of_fame.htm
 
I'ts been so long since I listend to one of those, I simply don't recall what it sounded like. However, I have been very favorably impressed with the sound out of some Kyocera gear.

I purchased a Kyocera CD player for my Dad back in the 80's. It sounded quite nice, until it finally died one day. :sigh:

I personally have one of their D-811 cassette decks. I must say that it is truly one of the most exceptionally good sounding cassette decks that I have ever heard. I have a Nakamichi Dragon too, but in some respects I actually slightly prefer the sound of my Kyocera. :thmbsp:

I had a Kyocera Tuner too, but was not as impressed with it's sound, depite it's super cool ceramic base. :sigh:

Another friend of mine used to have a set of Kyocera's big power amps. If I recall correctly, they were some very nice sounding amps! :thmbsp:
 
Just a reminder not to pass up an opportunity to hear the 60 w/ch Realistic STA-2200 MOSFET receiver. I have to say that I was shocked to hear how good it sounds.

I aspire to R-851 ownership.
A couple of days ago I lost an auction for an R-851, but I'm still trying.
 
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wualta said:
Oo, pretty! Now me REALLY want one.

What really amazes me about the R-851, it how good the FM Section is. I was A/Bing vs my Pioneer F-90 (which is the best seperate Tuner I've got and widely considered one of the best of the Digital Tuners) playing both through the Kyocer's Amp. and the Kyocera's Tuner literally spanks it. The F-90's seperation is slightly better, but the Kyocera's output is noticeably cleaner with no trace of hiss!! THAT, I LIKE!! :banana:
 
vintagestereo said:
What really amazes me about the R-851, it how good the FM Section is.
I'll just bet they used ceramic filters! (a little Kyoto Ceramics joke)

I wish there was something decent on FM to listen to these days. Classical stations going away, jazz moving to AM... Still, it's nice to have a good tuner, even if it only gets used for your kids' little toy wireless microphones.

But that is a seriously good-looking receiver. Thanks for posting the photo.

Sudden Thought: Does Kyocera spec the amp for 4 ohm (or less) loads?
EDIT: No. The owner's manual is even a bit cagey about the 85 w/ch rating at 8 ohms. It does mention that 4-ohm loads are okay; it just won't tell you what the amp will put out.
EDIT/UPDATE: You can now see Julian Hirsch's complete review, graphs and all, in the Feb 1984 issue of Stereo Review, accessible online at
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-HiFI-Stereo/80s/HiFi-Stereo-Review-1984-02.pdf
 
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Review on HiFi Classic Net -
The amplifier section's 85-watt rating proved to be extremely conservative. With both channels driving 8-ohm loads at 1,000 Hz, the output waveform clipped at 110 watts per channel. Into 4-ohm loads, the clipping power was 149 watts, and even with 2-ohm loads the R-851 delivered a potent 120 watts per channel. The dynamic-headroom measurements showed that the power output into low load impedances is limited by the power-supply regulation rather than by any internal protective circuits (none of which were triggered during our tests of the receiver). With the prescribed 20-millisecond tone-burst signal, the clipping output into loads of 8, 4, and 2 ohms was 136, 213, and 265 watts, respectively. Since the receiver is rated only for 8-ohm loads, its clipping headroom was 1.12 dB and its dynamic headroom 2.05 dB.

Driving 8-ohm loads, the distortion of the amplifier section rose from about 0.005 per cent at 10 watts (it was below the noise level at lower power outputs) to 0.017 per cent between 70 and 100 watts.

With 4-ohm loads the characteristic was similar, the distortion climbing from 0.0065 per cent at 10 watts to 0.03 per cent in the 50- to 120-watt range. Even 2-ohm operation did not significantly degrade performance; the distortion measured about 0.017 per cent from 10 to 30 watts and 0.05 per cent at 100 watts. The amplifier distortion was nearly independent of frequency. At 85 watts output (into 8 ohms) it ranged, from 0.004 to 0.008 per cent between 20 and 20,000 Hz. At half power the distortion range was 0.002 to 0.005 per cent, and at one-tenth rated power it was below 0.002 per cent up to 10,000 Hz, reaching 0.005 per cent at 20,000 Hz. The power-amplifier's slew factor exceeded 25, and it was stable with simulated speaker loads. http://www.hifi-classic.net/review/kyocera-r-851-444.html
 
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