Any Realistic experts out there?

[oregoncruzer]

I'm looking at picking up a Realistic STA-115 which comes with a Realistic SA-155 (possibly 150) integrated amplifier. Searching here and/or on Google produced very little except a hit on The Audio Circuit with a picture of the receiver (not the amp). Audio circuit said that these models were manufactured in the mid 80's until who knows. My questions are: Is anyone familiar with this particular model? Is it even a solid-state receiver? Are the later model (late 70's on) Realistic models the same quality as earlier ones? Or should I run kicking and screaming away from this? It sure looks cool ( I couldn't find a pic of the amp).


Link to The Audio Circuit page (the only place I could find any scoop on this): http://www.audiocircuit.com/index.php?c=REA&m=STA-115&cc=921#STA-115

 

[BruceRPA]

I don't remember anything unusual one way or the other about the STA-115. The best that I can do is say that it was a decent inexpensive receiver. With the right size speakers it will sound just fine. Here are some catalog page scans. Send me a PM with your email address if you want high-res full size jpeg files. The files are too big to post here. The SA-150/155 amp and matching TM-150/155 tuner is similar to the SA-102 and TM-102. Both have been mentioned many times elsewhere on AK. They are small but surprisingly good (for the price) low power amplifiers. Members use them for a lot of different applications. They make a decent headphone amplifiers but they don't have enough power to drive speakers like the Minimus 7s to their potential.

If the price is right, go for it. It is inexpensive equipment but none of it should be considered kabuki or junk by any means.

 

[oregoncruzer]

right on! My main interest is the Elac 50H with the equipment, but the price is a bit high if I just took the TT into account. They seem like decent small units. I just have a pair of Paradigm bookshelf speakers, so i should be good.

Thanks for the info!