Curtis Mathes Receivers...

diddlybopper

diddlybopper

Super Member
Ran across one at thrift.Anyone familiar with them,looks like part Sony,knobs and faceplate,part Pioneer??Any way to tell in the innards?Or did they mfg their own?
Exterior quality appears to be on the cheaper side.
 
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Wow "CURTIS MATHAS" ? COOL ! Now there's a vintage receiver I don't have in the piles . But NEITHER do I have a "PACKARD BELL" ( Did they do audio as well as TV'S ? )..WAY , Back in the day (60's) I'd get those 2 companies confused with "HARMAN KARDON." "Enjoy"
 
Once upon a time Curtis Mathes was a premium TV brand. A higher end maker. Then they went the way of auc, and more recently the name was sold and they slapped the brand on TV's sold at Kmart.
 
When I went back to the thrift store they had it scheduled for the trash bin,got it for $2.99.You can't even buy a gallon of gas for that anymore,anyway one channel was out and it was in pretty sad shape,shoulda bought the gas!Now it's in my trash bin minus a few parts.I've gotta put a halt to this insanity...everytime I visit this board someone has just found a "wonderful,clean,powerful,rare etc.wombat"or some such thing and I get the urge to run out to one of several thrift stores in my area to see if that "wombat"is there!!
Just remembered another thrift store I haven't been to in awhile!!tomorrow.

Suggest the mods start a new thread entitled"Man,Look What I Found Today"
 
I have one. It is a pretty cool unit, and I haven't seen another one. However, I had my DMM set on the wrong setting, touched speaker outs and smoke. :smoke: Never did get to see how it sounded, though it is on the top of my list to fix..... out of curiosity if nothing else.
 
How old is it? Curtis Mathes used to make reallly good stuff. Later on they rebranded other peoples stuff (but sometimes pretty good stuff, or so I heard). Then the Kmart thing bully mentioned happenned.

I found a CD player in a thrift a while back. It was made in 1987, which I think is right in the middle of the rebranding era. I posted about it before I bought it, but apparently nobody had seen one.

I popped the lid, and it was full of technics IC's and a burr-brown dac. I guess its a technics. It works. I doubt its anything special, but I've never auditioned it seriously.

John
 
That Curtis Mathes CDP is indeed a Technics/Matsushita player. Matsushita made some good working-man's CDP's back in that time frame.

TP
 
In a rare moment of sanity I did not buy a pair of Curtis Mathes speakers. They were a relatively recent looking pair of well built substantial 10" three ways with a dome tweeter. I was suprised at how serious they seemed, though I did not get a chance to hear them. I do not need another pair of speakers just to use, and I figured that even if they were superb, the name would make them a difficult sell on ebay or where ever.
 
Nat...reselling them as"RARE" would not have been an exageration.

How do you account for that fleeting moment of sanity?Did you do anything different that day? :lmao:
 
Since when was "need" ever a consideration for bringing more finds home? :D :D :D

Todd in Beerbratistan, who has a really patient wife ;)
 
A Curtis Mathes System was the best stereo I ever had, and the one I wish I had Back the most! I don't know what the year was, late 60's I'd guess. It was a console stereo in a wood cabinet. It had two three-way speakers w/ crossover. A draw at the top opened up and had a tuner and a turntable. a sweet tube amp was mounted on the drawer, behind the tuner which had a flat faceplate that you looked down on, as if your standard stereo tuner were stood on its bottom and stuck in a hole in a table.
Hope your find is as good as mine was!
 
I was going to suggest HiFi Engine as a possible source, but they don't even have a Curtis Mathes listing in their library. Bummer.
There was (and I hope still is) a very interesting Curtis Mathes site with lots of history - can't remember if there are manuals - that you could google.
 
Sorry guys my cut and past got me; it should have been the Curtis Mathes B703
 

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@Dave Sanders

There was another thread started this Thursday on this exact model with the same picture you just posted and that the OP mentioned he was interested in purchasing.

Curtis Mathes B703 Receiver

I am not sure how one would be able to get the answer I'm after... it seems other Curtis Mathes posts tell me that their items are rare. I have the opportunity to purchase a Curtis Mathes. The own knows little about it. People say that the company made great TVs that are highly sought after...
www.audiokarma.org

Are you trying to service the unit before selling? the reason I ask is in trying to help out on the other thread I could not find any info on manuals service or owners wise

As I suggested in the other thread you could try contacting Glenn however his site is pretty wonky and hard to navigate

Curtis Mathes Receivers

Curtis Mathes Receivers
curtis-mathes.com
 
If the image is the same then it most likey is from the same listing on KSL.com classified:
classifieds.ksl.com

Beautiful vintage Curtis Mathes stereo receiver . Phono record player input can hook up Bluetooth made in Japan

$180.00 Beautiful vintage Curtis Mathes stereo receiver . Phono record player input can hook up Bluetooth made in Japan for sale in North Logan, UT on KSL Classifieds. View a wide selection of Home Audio Receivers and other great items on KSL Classifieds.
classifieds.ksl.com
I was interested in it but only if I can find the tech data to support fixing it.
 
Definitely the same unit based on the pics, In my humble opinion the asking price is way too much not sure how the seller came up with that price.
 
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