ERC 1405 receiver - any info?

eb2jim

Super Member
I got one of these at a rummage sale for cheap. It is Japanese, and appears to be a early to mid 70s affair. Build-wise it looks a lot like an old Realistic I had, but it is a low watt low-end thing and good for the garage. Cleaned up nice and works fine. I am curious if anyone knows who or what ERC was, and where these things were sold.
 
ERC= ElectroBrand. Usually known for low end compacts. This was one of their high end components. Very nice mid fi. Likely made by Foster Electronics (now known as Fostex). Should sound nice and be reliable and easy to repair and maintain.
 
Hi - ERC stood for "Electra Radio Corporation". We had 3 of these 1405 receivers in the house at one point. They were decent, modest-power receivers with good sound and a "quadrasonic" feature as well as magnetic and ceramic turntable inputs. We bought each of them from "Tech Hi Fi" back in 1978 as part of a bundle with a pair of Studio Design bookshelf speakers and a BSR McDonald turntable. This was the perfect package for a dorm room. Some had a silver face, others had a smoked glass face, but both had green backlighting. I've replaced the drivers in my speakers a couple of times over the years, but the receiver is still running (a friend has it now.) On the back it is stamped "ERC Bayonne, NJ" but I believe it was manufactured in Japan (not sure). It's a good, solid unit that has been running for for 38 years with absolutely no problems. Hope that info is useful to someone - I know this is an old thread. :)
 
I've been struggling for years to remember the brand of my very first receiver and it popped into my head today for no apparent reason. Google brought me to this post, for which I am most grateful. Now I have a chance to replace it, having missed if for almost 40 years.
 
Hi - ERC stood for "Electra Radio Corporation". We had 3 of these 1405 receivers in the house at one point. They were decent, modest-power receivers with good sound and a "quadrasonic" feature as well as magnetic and ceramic turntable inputs. We bought each of them from "Tech Hi Fi" back in 1978 as part of a bundle with a pair of Studio Design bookshelf speakers and a BSR McDonald turntable. This was the perfect package for a dorm room. Some had a silver face, others had a smoked glass face, but both had green backlighting. I've replaced the drivers in my speakers a couple of times over the years, but the receiver is still running (a friend has it now.) On the back it is stamped "ERC Bayonne, NJ" but I believe it was manufactured in Japan (not sure). It's a good, solid unit that has been running for for 38 years with absolutely no problems. Hope that info is useful to someone - I know this is an old thread. :)
Please if anyone can help, my girl has a 8305 model. I would love to get it back running for her as it was a family heirloom. I need a replacement stylus, but I don't know what to look for. Again please help, and many thanks
 
replacement stylus

Welcome to AK. If nobody with truly encyclopediac knowledge of ERC-branded products comes along, I think you are probably going to need a good close-up picture(s) of the cartridge for which you need a stylus. Some online stylus vendors offer to try to match from pictures, like turntableneedles.com (no affiliation or familiarity).

It may be helpful to see whether your receiver's turntable is actually BSR-branded, though I don't think that will be enough by itself to figure out what stylus might work.
 
I work on the road, so I'm not home at the moment. These are photos she took of it last night. Does that help at all?
 

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After several years, I finally found a copy of the ERC 1405 for around $70 shipped. It needed a little TLC, and is far from great shape, but it is just as I remember, and it makes me feel like I'm 14 again, but without the drained bank account. I've got too many vintage projects on the go right now to pay any more attention to it for the time being, but I plan to put in temporary service at some point in the future. The sound is unremarkable, but not awful. I have much better headphones nowadays, and even a cheap pair of HiFimans sounded pretty good, way better than my old pair of Koss from back in the day. Distortion and clipping is still there after 12 o'clock, so one needs to be careful.

The receiver uses a single Sanyo STK413, which is reliable, but cheap. I wouldn't risk this with any decent pair of speakers I have around the house.

Thanks again for this thread!

ERC-1405.jpgERC-amp-chip.jpg
 
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