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Optonica SM-4545? Made by Pioneer?

thedelihaus

thedelihaus

Nocturnal transmissions
Anyone ever hear of a company called Optonica? Looks like it might be a re-badged Pioneer.

It's an estimated 40-60 watt unit, made in Japan.

Anyone familiar with the brand? Was it in fact something made by pioneer and re-badged?

model depicted an Optonica brand SM-4545. It's an estimated 40-60 watt unit, made in Japan.

NOTE TO MODERATORS- I'm not interested in value- just if Optonica was indeed made by Pioneer or another company. Thanks! :thmbsp:
 

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Optonica was made by Sharp. I just picked up an SM-4646 integrated amp and an ST-3636 tuner. The amp is very interesting because it's got 3 seperate transformers. It seems to be very well made gear. The amp is pretty heavy. Probably 30-40 lbs. From what I can tell it's 80 wpc. It sounds damn good by the way too! Maybe even better than my Kenwood KA-7100.
 
Optonica had NOTHING to do with Pioneer. As stated before, it was Sharp's "high end" (more like "higer than Sharp end"). The pre-1981 gear is usually well-built with a few interesting twists, like the "triple-delta" power supply mentioned previouisly. However, after Optonica went digital, the quality went out and it became junk. It disappeared shortly thereafter.

At its height, the line included a massive 125 wpc Receiver, an $1,800.00 Cassette Deck, a "Mikage" Granite plinth Turntable and some nice mid-power Intergrated Amps and matching Tuners. Optonica's claim to fame was the Automatic Program Search System (APSS) which was used on their Cassette Deck (as well as Sharp's).
 
Just picked up some Optonica stuff today

Optonica SM-4545 Integrated amp and and ST-3535 Receiver. Sounds great. They came with a pair of EPIC speakers, another total oddball. The gentleman who sold them to me was the original owner- said he bought it all togetehr in about 1978. He threw in the water rings on the cabinets for free.

I posted a video of them in action on Youtube.

Note to moderators et. al.

I'm not selling them.


/a slow death for anyone waters a plant on a speaker.:tears:
 
...

Optonica is nice stuff, but my receiver (just out of the shop and within spec) has always sounds a bit harsh compared to the Scotts (SS) and the MCS. It's definitely speaker sensitive. Likes EPI fine, not so much for A/D/S. I'll get to try it with Infinity RS5000 once I finish servicing them.

Nice controls and good looks. But still trying to find synergy :scratch2:
 
I have a Optimica AM-FM digital tuner, ST 3300. Simple, black, no signal lock, so you tune like a dial. No pre-sets, 1.9 uV sensitivity and a bargain.
 
Buried, but I still love it!!! :D an Optonica SM-3205, that has always worked flawlessly. :)
 
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I used to have an Optonica Integrated Amp and liked it . Never had a problem out of it .
Can't think of the Model number but it was a little brother to yours .
:thmbsp: on it being a Sharp model ..:yes:

Barney
 
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