Concept 16.5 - how rare is it really?

Njord Noatun

Super Member
Just picked up my "new" (one-owner!) Concept 16.5 today - more about that later; need to get back so I can take some photos to post - but let's just say I am very happy!

The Concept series of equipment was a house brand of Pacific Stereo. Not really knowing the number of PS locations or where they were located outside California, does anyone have a feel for how rare the 16.5 really is, either in terms of original sales volume, market share or currently surviving units? I have an automatic subcription for the 16.5 over at a certain listing service, and I receive emails much less than once a month for a unit up for sale (There was also one at Santa Clara CL this week), suggesting that they are at least somewhat hard to come by.

I don't expect anyone to have any hard numbers, but it would be interesting to hear your opinions on its rarity relative to some of it peer group 160-200 WPC SS receivers such as:

Yamaha 3020
Marantz 2385
Sansui G9K
Pioneer SX-1280
etc.
 
Hey...congrats on your 16.5

I've got one also, and really like it tons and tons.

I'd say that it is much more likely to come across a 16.5 in the Western USA, and pretty dang rare to find one on the Eastern side, unless it migrated there somehow over time.

I recall somebody at one time trying to verify how many were produced, but I don't think it was a huge production run, comparitively speaking. I think I recall the hearing that the person who designed/built these 16.5's, was personally buying them up himself.

Hopefully, someone will post further information, because it is indeed a fantastic receiver!

Looking forward to your review!

be well

marko
 
I've got one, too. vintagestereo has one. oldtubes has one. Not too many I'd guess, relatively.
After I got mine I sold the SX-5590, KR-9600, KR-9400, The Receiver, G-9700, and gave away the TX-8500MkII that had a problem channel.
 
As bully said I have one. I bought mine at one of PS stores in St. Louis Mo. in 1980. Mine is now in North East Ohio. Most people out here have never heard of the Concept brand.
 
I have one, too. I just took it in to get the tuner aligned, and a general checkout (it was working fine, but while he was aligning the tuner, I said put it on the scope and take a long look at everything).

My tech said it had been a long time since he had seen any Concept, not just a 16.5.

It got put on his test bench next to a Technics SA-1000, which he said "has so many problems, I don't know where to begin."

It came back with a clean bill of health, tuner aligned, and he and another customer in the shop were wondering if I was thinking about selling it.

He had a lot of stuff to trade that I lusted after, but it's sitting downstairs right now. I successfully resisted.
 
I have 2 16.5 both acquired over the past year and 2 11.0's also. All four of them came from California.
 
My PS invoice has a list of Pacific Stereo stores in 1980 and there were ~56 stores in California, 4 in Georgia, 15 in Illinois, 4 in Missouri, 16 in Texas, 5 in Washington, and 3 in Wisconsin. I believe all the stores in Mo. closed in the early 80's.
 
Gee, I thought I was happy with the Concept 11.0 I picked up last month, but now I am hankering for a 16.5! Well, I should not complain as the 11.0 is the next best thing! :banana:
 
Out here in Commiefornia...

There doesn't seem to be a shortage of Concept receivers in Silicon Valley. I run across the smaller Concept receivers constantly. I see quite a few 4.5's, so from what I have seen, they must have been the highest selling of all of the units.
I personally have owned four 11.0's!! And I could have had another if I wanted it. The price was certaintly right.
Now, on the other hand, I have not encountered very many 16.5's. They occasionally pop up on CL, so they're around.
For me, the hardest of the monsters to find were the Yamaha CR-3020 and the Technics SA-1000, it has taken almost 20 years to get my hands on them.
If I absolutely had to have another 16.5, I am confident I could get a hold of one within a few months.
If I see ANOTHER 11.0, I'm going to run away from it.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :D
 
Some more 16.5 production data to go by.

Inspired by the designer of Concept line of receivers' "fuzzy memory guesstimate" of some 1,200 model 16.5 produced, I decided to do some investigative journalism of my own, and contacted "known" 16.5 owners here at AK asking them to PM me the serial number of their receiver. Of course, serial numbers are not always consecutive, and even then, manufactured numbers will always exceed that of actual sold numbers, for all kinds of reasons.

At any rate, here are the serial numbers I have been able to collect at this point, in chronological order:

Theblackknight 100522
ReEdger 100748
Lbpete 100834
Mech986 101497
SoCal Sam 101697
Yacbweq 101789
KR7600 (1) 101842
Oldtubes 101955
Vintagestereo 102117
Non-AK (CL 12/26) 102146
Carve It 102268
Marko 102416
Njord Noatun 102678
KR7600 (2) 102725


The data suggest that production quantities may have exceeded 2,000 units.

I am still hoping to receive data from the other suspected 16.5 owners I know of - Acidmike, Bully, as well as from a post over at the Conceptaudio group at Yahoo.

If I missed you and you own a 16.5, or come across one, please send me the serial number by PM or post here, and I will update this post accordingly.

Best regards,
 
I had to move and contort myself to see to serial numbers on my 16.5's.
One is serial #101842 and the other 102725.
 
I wonder what percent of them actually still exist. Theres probably TONS of owners who have one and never intend an selling it but also arent audio geeks anymore and just use it for everyday listening and wouldnt be interested in posting on AK, learning about others, etc. Sort of like my friend whose dad had a Kenwood kr9400 and he uses it everyday but never messes with it, or moves it or is intereseted in buying more audio etc.

PS--I guess I have one of the earlier ones! only the 522nd one made.:yes:
 
I've seen one AKers' 16.5 and two others locally on CL for $300 and $350 in the past year. A bunch of 11.0s and one for $100.

EDIT: I guess since California had a lot of Pacific Stereo Stores there are still a bunch of Concept stuff around here to be found.
 
I've seen only one Concept here in Hong Kong, and it wasn't a 16.5. Since this board has made me aware of them, I've been keeping a lookout for one, but they seem to be very scarce around these parts!
 
hey i've got a concept 16.5 what table should i be using a pioneer pl-50, kenwood kd-2070,technics sl-1500,sansui fr-3060,pioneer pl-50? and what is a good cart to use too something under 100 bucks?
 
You may want to start a new thread with that question, rather than restarting a thread that died 5 years ago... :yes:

John
 
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