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advice and opinions, por favor

Good choice for $100

  • Total voters
    15
  • Poll closed .
Heck, I don't know which crowd I'm in... not enough power? Too much? Audiophile? Soundstage? Impedance? Ohms? Don't know what any of that is, really.

I just love music -- classic rock (The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Stones, Tull, Frampton, Grand Funk), guitar rock (Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani) progressive rock (Porcupine Tree, Marillion, Flower Kings, Steven Wilson, Yes, Genesis) and more laid back stuff like Dylan, Sufjan Stevens, Neil Young, and America. I'm 51 and I've been in love with music since I was 10 when I had a crappy 8-track player hooked up to crappy car speakers in my crappy bedroom.

I can't really explain anything, I just know what sounds good to me.
 
one19 said:
Heck, I don't know which crowd I'm in... not enough power? Too much? Audiophile? Soundstage? Impedance? Ohms? Don't know what any of that is, really.

I just love music -- classic rock (The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Who, The Stones, Tull, Frampton, Grand Funk), guitar rock (Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani) progressive rock (Porcupine Tree, Marillion, Flower Kings, Steven Wilson, Yes, Genesis) and more laid back stuff like Dylan, Sufjan Stevens, Neil Young, and America. I'm 51 and I've been in love with music since I was 10 when I had a crappy 8-track player hooked up to crappy car speakers in my crappy bedroom.

I can't really explain anything, I just know what sounds good to me.
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No explanation needed. Just be sure to keep it being about the music first and you'll be fine. :cool:
 
I bought a Sansui G3000 from the original owner in mint condition for $100. That's 26 wpc . I think if you look you'll find better. Low wattage with efficient speakers should be more than enough. I hardly ever turn my Sansui up above 2
 
My first re-entry back into Audio was it's bigger brother the CR-420. Hooked it up to some decent 70's JBL bookshelfs and could not be happier.

I've since bought larger pieces of kit but the little Yamaha still takes pride of place in the dining room.

Put it this way, you'll always get your money back if you don't like it.
 
Well, I went and checked out the Yamaha CR-220. It's pristine -- I mean immaculate. Could have just come out of its box for the first time. And it sounds great.

But 15 watts isn't going to cut it for me and my office. The seller played several tracks from different sources and it sounds beautiful, natural, and clean. But when I went to turn up the volume, it was already at 8. So I fidgeted with the loudness setting and EQ'd the lows and highs. And I turned it up to 9 with loudness set at max. And we could still easily talk to each other over the music without raising our voices. He had it going through some nice Paradigm bookshelf speakers with a 5.25" woofer and good cables. Checked the speaker back and the nominal wattage was low.

That unit just didn't get very loud. I don't need to shake the foundations and I don't have parties in my office. Still I need more than what I heard today. I immediately knew that this receiver wasn't going to be right for me.

No worries! I shall continue the quest.
 
That's half the fun. Keep an eye out for a Harman Kardon 430/730. There are many others that will fit the bill, but the twin powered HK's are really nice. Don't discount larger Yamaha's. They are quite nice and tend to fly under the radar compared to some others.
 
one19 said:
Well, I went and checked out the Yamaha CR-220. It's pristine -- I mean immaculate. Could have just come out of its box for the first time. And it sounds great.

But 15 watts isn't going to cut it for me and my office. The seller played several tracks from different sources and it sounds beautiful, natural, and clean. But when I went to turn up the volume, it was already at 8. So I fidgeted with the loudness setting and EQ'd the lows and highs. And I turned it up to 9 with loudness set at max. And we could still easily talk to each other over the music without raising our voices. He had it going through some nice Paradigm bookshelf speakers with a 5.25" woofer and good cables. Checked the speaker back and the nominal wattage was low.

That unit just didn't get very loud. I don't need to shake the foundations and I don't have parties in my office. Still I need more than what I heard today. I immediately knew that this receiver wasn't going to be right for me.

No worries! I shall continue the quest.
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I'd say that it was the speakers themselves that weren't making it. I have a pair of Klipsch Forte speakers that when hooked up to a ten watt tube amplifier easily reach EVICTION NOTICE sound levels. Understand that it wasn't the "unit" that didn't get very loud, it was the speakers that didn't get very loud. The "nominal wattage" you noted is of very little concern, it's the speaker's "sensitivity" specification that matters here. I've got a good friend that has a pair of speakers that reach OMG:yikes: sound levels (crystal clear music) with a 4.2 watt tube amplifier.
Like I said before and I'm saying again, find the speakers you want to use first, then find the amplifier necessary to drive them properly to achieve your purpose. The other way around is BASS-ACKWARDS.;)
 
ggregg said:
True, 20-40 wpc were the norm in the 1970's and the sound was great.
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Actually the early 70's is when the wattage wars began and sadly the horse power wars were winding down. Bob Carver launched his Phase Linear 700 & 400 around 1971. In 1974 I moved up from my Dynaco SCA-80Q (40 wpc) to a Marantz 2325 (125 wpc). The Dynaco wasn't powerful enough to power the JBL L100s I bought with the Marantz. I gave the L100s to my older son years ago. He powers them with a Mitsubishi power amp (70 wpc) temporarily while his Carver Research Lightstar amp gets a refurb. I think it's around 300 wpc into 8 Ohms and stable down to 2 Ohms. My old Phase Linear is getting rebuilt/restored also and I'm sure someone in the family will want it.
 
Never said there were not big amps around, or big receivers after about 1974. But what most people had, and could afford, were mid priced receivers, which were 20-40 wpc in the early and mid 1970's.

Sure some had separates, I was selling audio in the late 1970's, but 70% of the folks bought receivers and 70% of them bought lower priced ones.
 
I also picked up an Onkyo 1500 II, and I like it. It sounds good, looks great, has an awesome FM tuner, and a nice quality feel for a low level receiver. It does use a Sanyo STK pack, so I only run it with 8+ ohm speakers. Genuine STKs are hard to come by, so I don't want to push it with 4 ohm loads. To be honest, I don't like to run 4 ohm speakers on any of my unrestored vintage receivers.
 
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