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Help Identifying A Stereo For Mom...

hotrodman21

hotrodman21

Active Member
P6230418.JPG P6230410.JPG Hello all,

I've posted plenty of times about my stubborn Pioneer Turntable, that after a bit of love, ended up being the best sounding turntable I've ever heard. But, now I need your help for my mother.

We're moving, and this means plenty of stuff is going to the curb. Unfortunately, last night, her childhood stereo was one of those things. I tried my best to fix it, but, when it comes to circuit boards, I'm out of my league. My Pioneer is from the 60's or 70's so it's all mechanical. The only "circuit" in it, is the one to turn the pilot light on, and the audio, which is still just a few wires.

Mom has extremely fond memories growing up, playing her Michael Jackson, Corey Hart, and Prince albums on this turntable, making a couple Christmas mix tapes for the family on the cassette deck, and listening to the radio on this, and was sad to see it go. I need your help tracking down a listing.

I want to get her one where everything works, as, nothing worked, except for the tuners on this unit.

Before we sent it to the curb, I snapped a few pictures. It was awesome, and I was sad to see it go as well...

I greatly appreciate your help, this will surely make her day, and I cannot wait.
 
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If it were my mom, I'd upgrade her a little [actually, probably a lot] rather than tying myself to those identical components. Like maybe stay with the brand, and near the era, but not that particular rack system. You may find it so challenging to find that working well that you will need to adopt this - or some other - approach anyway.

My mom still uses the Pioneer SA-5500 II and HPM-60s I gave her almost forty years ago. Matching cassette and tuner. Just keeps on workin' well. It would be fun to replace. Good luck in your search... I do realize that nostalgia/memories are a part of this.
 
Well, as much as she might have loved it, the reason that there are not many of these BPC's around anymore was their cheap built. They were not meant to be long lasting but they conveyed the looks what made sense for people that had them. Most of them were biting the dust and went the same way yours went. Either mechanically or electrically the point of failure was built in :-)
With a little bit of luck you might find something similar at a Goodwill or SA. Let us know what you come up with.
 
Those speakers look phenomenal! She actually had really decent speakers for the receiver that came with it, some of the clearest I've ever heard, but, they didn't go very loud at all, the stereo was rated for 100 Watts of power, but the speakers sounded about 50 Watts at best, I think I read somewhere, that they are 40 Watt speakers. They came with the stereo back in the day. I heard those a long time ago, maybe they sound different to my maturing ear...
 
darg said:
Well, as much as she might have loved it, the reason that there are not many of these BPC's around anymore was their cheap built. They were not meant to be long lasting but they conveyed the looks what made sense for people that had them. Most of them were biting the dust and went the same way yours went. Either mechanically or electrically the point of failure was built in :)
With a little bit of luck you might find something similar at a Goodwill or SA. Let us know what you come up with.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it didn't look well-built at all... I didn't have the heart to tell her though.

I have a stereo for her that I just need to track down a new needle for... My grandmother gave it to me to get me into records six years ago, when I was just a young'in of twelve. She sure succeeded! I wore out the needle on that Dueling Banjos 45. And Ventures, and others... I've since moved on to my beloved Pioneer PL-50. The stereo she game me was an All-In-One TEAC GF-600. (Weird Crappy Interweb Picture Posted) I just need to track down a new needle for it. I know it's not the best stereo, but it was very well made (to my eyes, I could be wrong about this) She doesn't want to have High Fidelity, she just wants to listen to her Phil Collins albums again. If you guys could help me find a needle for this, that would be awesome. I literally wore it out, it pops anytime there's bass.

She found the owners manual today for her stereo, so it got me searching...

Thanks guys, you're awesome!
 

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I understand the sentimental value, don't get me wrong. But that first unit is a cheesy unit built for Sears by Sanyo. Very similar to the low end Fisher Studio Standard rack systems of the day. They were lousy when they were built, I sold them, and it's really not the system if someone wants a dependable stereo system. That Teac is a more modern version of the same thing, although being newer, it might have a little life left in it. Unfortunately those turntables are really not very good. A newer Crosley is practically the same thing and in all honesty, if one is looking for a system like this cheaply, might be the best bet.

If it were me, KLH, Harmon Kardon, and a few others, made all in one systems, in the early seventies, that were pretty decent. I'd keep my eye out for one of those, unless you can talk her into components, then problem solved. There are also a few outside the box options, I can think of. Like a component turntable, through an add on phono preamp, and into the aux inputs of a Bose Wave radio. Not my cup of tea, but maybe something right up your moms alley.

Popping anytime there is bass, is usually not indicative of a bad needle. More likely a blown speaker.

Also keep in mind that watt ratings have little to do with quality or something being better than another. Some of the finest, most accurate systems are low wattage. Speaker watt ratings have nothing to do with the volume or quality of the sound they put out. It's only a suggested maximum input level.
 
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I want to go down a different road. Perhaps the scenery will be nice enough for you to drive down it. Those cheap stacked systems ( not really stacked components, just a single system that looks stacked) were very fragile and performance was not very good. Today you can get e very decent new system with true components and not for a lot of money. For example:

Parts Express.

Dayton Audio B652 Air speakers currently $50 a pair

Yamaha R-S202 receiver AM/FM/ Bluetooth $150

For $200 that is a real nice system, head and shoulders above the all-in one stacked system.

What is missing is a turntable. UTurn Audio has a real nice turntable (the Orbit)

You need a phono preamp for this set up, but the UTurn Audio folks can supply one.

I guess we are talking around $400 for the whole shebang.

If you buy new, you get warrantied gear and a real good chance that everything will work out of the box.

That Bluetooth is great to have. I have an iPad that has Bluetooth. I could play stuff from the internet via my iPad to the Yamaha.

Just a idea.
 
Did anyone else just get a little 'OMG I'm old people' shock when first seeing this pic:

index.php


And then reading this:

hotrodman21 said:
But now I need your help for my mother.... Unfortunately, last night, her childhood stereo was one of those things.
Click to expand...

I had one similar to that when I was a kid. And it just kinda hit me weird to hear it referred to as mom's childhood stereo - I feel a little older now than I did before I read this thread.
 
Does the top half of that thing lift off the bottom half? (Looking at the picture of the rear, I think the answer is yes)

I inherited a system that looked a lot like that, but made by Panasonic. I'll dig around for pictures, I'm sure I have some somewhere. The system is long gone. It looked very similar, possibly Panasonic built that for Sears?

For what it was, it wasn't terrible. Very neat little package that didn't take up a ton of floor space for somebody that wanted a little music. The speakers were the notorious Thrusters.

I'll wager you can find a Panasonic sold a lot more of those than Sears did.

bs
 
That one was made by Sanyo/Fisher for Sears and I think you would be surprised how many of them are out there under the Sears, Sanyo, or especially Fisher label. I sold that stuff new. Familiar with the Panasonic units also and quality wise, they were a bit of a step up. Thrusters were one of the better crappy speakers around during those days.
 
I'm with ggregg on tracking down one of those Fisher or KLH all-in-ones. Pretty good stuff in a compact footprint. Don't forget Centrex by Pioneer, either.
 
Kingshead said:
Found this on eBay but no shipping available.
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I'd really quit looking at those junky ass rack systems. There are better options out there. Something like that Soundesign you posted earlier, only better. Which is what electronjohn and I have already recommended.
 
ggregg said:
I'd really quit looking at those junky ass rack systems. There are better options out there. Something like that Soundesign you posted earlier, only better. Which is what electronjohn and I have already recommended.
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I agree, but if his mom wants it who are we to say different.
 
Just trying to save them some grief. I sold rack systems in their heyday and am very familiar with the marketing concept. Other than some decent Yamaha and Pioneer ones, and of course Bang & Olufsen, which was in a different league altogether, most were the eighties version of the cheap seventies console stereo. It seems that they are jumping at the first things they come across. Finding the good stuff can take some time. A compact stereo, even a cheaper one with a nearly bulletproof BSR, from the seventies, would be easier to run and more reliable in the long run.

But you are correct. Whatever floats your boat.
 
bshorey said:
Does the top half of that thing lift off the bottom half? (Looking at the picture of the rear, I think the answer is yes)

I inherited a system that looked a lot like that, but made by Panasonic. I'll dig around for pictures, I'm sure I have some somewhere. The system is long gone. It looked very similar, possibly Panasonic built that for Sears?

For what it was, it wasn't terrible. Very neat little package that didn't take up a ton of floor space for somebody that wanted a little music. The speakers were the notorious Thrusters.

I'll wager you can find a Panasonic sold a lot more of those than Sears did.

bs
Click to expand...
Yeah, it did.

Mom has memories in it, but isn't extremely partial to it, she likes the TEAC, but, again, I would like to treat her, new house, new system.
Although, I only work at McDonalds, so, unfortunately a four hundred dollar system is out of the question. She likes simple stuff, I tried to talk her into component stuff, but she doesn't want anything so complicated. Her exact words were, "Brandon, I don't need any of your 'High Fidelity Stuff' like you have, I just want to listen to Purple Rain."

She knows I'm searching for her, but she hasn't found out just how in-depth this has gone.
 
ggregg said:
Just trying to save them some grief. I sold rack systems in their heyday and am very familiar with the marketing concept. Other than some decent Yamaha and Pioneer ones, and of course Bang & Olufsen, which was in a different league altogether, most were the eighties version of the cheap seventies console stereo. It seems that they are jumping at the first things they come across. Finding the good stuff can take some time. A compact stereo, even a cheaper one with a nearly bulletproof BSR, from the seventies, would be easier to run and more reliable in the long run.

But you are correct. Whatever floats your boat.
Click to expand...

The problem is, if his mom isn't comfortable using the equipment it won't be. Many people really really really don't care about sound quality, really.

My lady has a few older lady friends that live alone, it's not uncommon for their stereos to be of lower quality than the OP's mom, and both speakers stacked on top of each other on one side of the tv.

They really don't care.
 
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