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Realistic STA-225

hurricanestv

hurricanestv

Member
got it thrown in with a set of RS Nova 8b's. Guy offered to throw in a Realistic tape deck and turntable, but I had no interest. Took the STA-225 on a whim, not knowing a thing about it.

Case joints were loose, couple of gouges, wood was DRRRRRYYY. Controls were very noisy. Couple of bulbs were out. Guy had the original owners manual and a copy of the service manual.

Got a few minutes with it:

- offset was almost dead on...3mv/9mv...nice.
- tuning is fun with that auto magic lights/action. gets good reception FM and AM.
- glued and clamped the case nice and tight.
- howards restor-a-finish and feed-n-wax made the case look decent. filled the serious gouge with filler and just stained it.
- deoxit-ed the controls, nice and quiet.
- cleaned up the dust.
- the loudness is either not working properly or is a terrible design...way too bass heavy to be used even at low, low volume.
- the tone bypass button makes one channel go wonky. may need more cleaning.
- someone replaced an original bulb and it's burned out already. other burned out bulb is stock.
- automagic green/white light change works, stereo tuner indicator red/white change works.

She's playing in the garage now with some cheapie sony bookshelfs. I don't think this is worthy of the time/money to recap or even mess with the bulbs, but it's sort of a cool walk down memory lane. i had a realistic receiver of some kind as a kid...not this high up the RS line, though.

If I get some time, I'll scan the OM and SM for the AKdatabase. In the meantime if anyone is looking for info in them, shoot me a note.
 

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Nice find! Not very common. I might be interested in scans of the OM & SM to see if they would work for my STA-220 as it looks almost the same. Neat receivers although I'm not real crazy about the slide volume controls.
 
Yeah the slide volume was something I never cared for. It looked cheap to me...like Soundesign cheap. Even though it wasnt the case...it just didnt look right to me. I dont know how many of these I past up on cause of that.
 
Faderlube is the formulation specifically made for the volume (fader) sliders.

One of the better early Radio Shack receivers. Nice tuner and sweet sound.

But do clean all the other switches and contacts.
 
AnalogDigit said:
Nice! That was a TOTL model back in it's day. Some Realistic Receivers were noted to be bass heavy when the loudness is engaged. http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1975/ Page 4.
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terra1 said:
Faderlube is the formulation specifically made for the volume (fader) sliders.

One of the better early Radio Shack receivers. Nice tuner and sweet sound.

But do clean all the other switches and contacts.
Click to expand...

AD is right about the bass heavy loudness. My STA-95 (similar wattage to your 225--newer) has the same problem. But the tuner is OK and it has a 'smooth' top end. Just have to back off the bass a little. Not a bad mid-level unit (although it was near the top at one point).

cnh2
 
A Google search for "realistic sta-225" brought up more than a half-million results with audiokarma.org at the very top.

My STA-225 (which weighs a ton but that's part of its charm) works great for picking up the local FM classical station and it's on all day at nearly subliminal volume level but I feel that I'm still getting a full sound spectrum. The LOUDNESS button comes in handy when I want to crank it up or down slightly.

Is there a favorite source for owner's/instruction books in this forum or elsewhere? The STA-225 has some mystery settings such as Q-VOX and FM MUTE and I wouldn't know exactly how to change the bulb if it burned out. I have some TEAC, Yamaha and Sony tape decks which also lack any support literature. I haven't searched that hard but I guess I'm hoping for one-stop-shopping for missing instructions for old technology.
 
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Q-Vox = Quatravox. Radio Shack's pseudo four channel effect when using pair of speakers in front and pair in rear.

Similar to Sherwood's Dynaquad. Routes ambient sounds to rear channels. Do not hookup any 4 ohm speakers when using two pairs of speakers.

FM Mute should be the same as any other FM Mute on a receiver. Will cut down noise between stations as you turn the tuning knob.
 
terra1 said:
Q-Vox = Quatravox. Radio Shack's pseudo four channel effect when using pair of speakers in front and pair in rear.

Similar to Sherwood's Dynaquad. Routes ambient sounds to rear channels. Do not hookup any 4 ohm speakers when using two pairs of speakers.

FM Mute should be the same as any other FM Mute on a receiver. Will cut down noise between stations as you turn the tuning knob.
Click to expand...

terra1,

Thanks for the info. By the way, I posted in Introductions about looking for and finding videokarma.com but apparently having to register separately. I guess the relationship is a sisterhood of the web that doesn't share everything between them.

~ Merman
 
I may take up "collecting" Rat Shack stuff and I say that with love. I have a "trashcan" SA-500 amp that runs my office sound and just cleaned and polished an STA-95 that has the best tuner section I have ever seen. Need to redo the wood cause that damn thing came in 3 pieces but that will be my next project. Great find IMO!
 
AnalogDigit said:
Nice! That was a TOTL model back in it's day. Some Realistic Receivers were noted to be bass heavy when the loudness is engaged. http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs/1975/ Page 4.
Click to expand...

My sta-84 was the same way. It had that tubby sound that I didn't like at all with whatever speakers I connected to them, until I hooked them up to a pair of Nova 7b's. Then it was wonderful.

Try connecting it those 8b's and see if it improves.
 
BruceRPA said:
Yep, the STA-225 was surprisingly good, especially the tuner section.
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BruceRPA said:
Someone needed information on the Realistic STA-150 during the transition period from the old server to the new server so the thread was lost, I think. Anyway, here is the radio Shack catalog page scan for the STA-150.

That same lost thread also requested info on the STA-220 but after searching through all of my old RS catalogs I was not able to find it listed. I may have overlooked it. If anyone can post what year it was introduced or shown in a catalog I can scan the page and post it later.
Click to expand...

When I first registered back at the end of September, I posted a couple of questions and comments about my STA-225 which I bought at Goodwill for $17.99. It's tuned to the local classical FM station and on all day at low volume. A previous owner cut 2 of the built-in antenna wires on the back so it does not pick up any AM but I guess I could simply solder them back together someday.

The STA-150 looks very similar and the description explains several functions that were slightly mysterious to me. Thanks for posting that. I couldn't find my previous post(s) until I tried Googling it.

NOTE: Just found my original post right where I left it. (Here).

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=6306677#post6306677
 
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Hey guys I'm looking for dial tuning cord and a layout for this receiver. Stupid me cut the cord while replacing the lamps so.....help!
 
The $17.99 Goodwill price sticker is still attached to the top of my STA-225 and marks the spot where I place my Montgomery Burns action figure. I've owned the tuner for about ten years and use it exclusively for 24/7 background music at low volume, even approaching the subliminal level late at night. The speakers are from my Magnavox 20P244 portable turntable which still works fine (even plays 78s) and was acquired new shortly before the 1969 moon landing.

For me, the mystery knob or button settings were the Q VOX, AUTO M and FM MUTE. After some Googling and fiddling, I settled for ignoring the Q VOX and FM MUTE but found that the AUTO M(agic?) seems to lock in my FM stereo channel which occupies a very narrow sliver on the dial and has stronger competing signals right next door. All of the lights burned out years ago but it is pretty obvious when I'm hearing my makeshift stereo surround sound with the speakers 10' apart. Anyhow, the tuner is up to the task of delivering clear sound at very low volume and I'm happy with it until the signal fades or drifts. I thought my speaker wires were too old until I figured out by trial and error how to get and maintain a pretty consistent musical experience.

Who knows, maybe I'll cough up enough dough to order the owner's manual someday.
 
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