MCS 3253 score

[yrly]

Picked up a working MCS 3253 receiver for $12, dial glass was cracked but it should be fairly easy to cut another just a long square rectangle, kinda dirty but relatively scratch free, the faceplate shold be just about perfect once I clean it all up. Not quite up to my glistening MCS 3125 cosmetically but with some work it should be close. Let you all know how it sounds after I clean the controls later tonight. Actually its rather heavy for its rated power so it should be reasonably decent...

 

[yrly]

Come to think of it... thats the first score of the new year! Maybe a good sign, 2nd day in and already one receiver

 

[Bill]

yrly, I use a 3253 in my garage system and it is a pretty good receiver. Build quality up there with the best. 53 watts per channel ain't to bad. I got mine off of eBay for $25. Mine had the usual MCS problems, dirty push button switches so yours will probably need cleaning too. They are hard to get to but worth the effort. Can't go wrong for $12.

Bill from Indy

 

[yrly]

Nothing new with the pushbuttons, were bad on my 3125 too. Fully expecting it and I never even played around with it other than to see that it put sound out to speakers at the store.

 

[yrly]

Well I fired her up before cleaning... actually the controls were free of noise?! Kinda surprised at that, thought that was a sure fire thing they were gonna be noisy. So I took and cleaned it all up anyway, took a good while but at least with that big case its not terribly cramped. Has nice big 10,000uf caps, not bad for something of this power range. Sounds pretty good, even got a good number of FM stations in the basement without even hooking up an antenna. One lamp is out, but I will worry about that tomorrow. I guess I can't complain, $12 for a working receiver. Probably keep this one around a while even if I can't immediately use it.

 

[MCS Guy]

IT should be a great receiver for its power rating. I have been wanting to pick up one of these receivers for awhile, but I just cant bring myself to another receiver when I dont have the room.

 

[yrly]

I needed it like a hole in the head! But I have this compulsion, when I see any sort of halfway decent gear at the thrift store I just buy it. 9 times out of 10 the price is so dirt cheap I can't refuse. Like those giant Electro-Voice Fours I picked up, like I really needed a huge speaker I have nowhere to put, but how can you refuse for $5? I guess it gives me something to do clean them up, save them from a dumpster, its like another charity work.

Back to the MCS 3253. It works very nicely. I cleaned it up pretty good internally, but I cant find my open bottle of "Renew" car wax which I use for getting the faceplates back to that beautiful glow. I dunno if they still make it but I bought several bottles of this at a dollar store a few years ago. I usually try different stuff when cleaning these up. Orange Glo works great for the cabinets but the faceplate usually is the hardest thing. I one day tried this stuff on a dirty Sanyo I got for $2. My god does that stuff work great! I did a smaller Pioneer I grabbed at the flea for $3, I think it was an SX-450, and the darn thing looks so good you would think it was just made yesterday. It also does not seem to harm the lettering at all either (I usually reserve this stuff for really dirty receivers though). This 3253 is remarkably scratch free on the faceplate (case has a few nicks from component stacking) but once clean it should shine almost as nice as my 3125! Not bad for the first score of the year, hopefully this year will yeild many more!

 

[Kamakiri]

I can't wait to meet your wife one of these days. She has got to be a freaking saint.

 

[DaWoofer]

E-V Fours

What do you think about those 5 dollar speakers?

 

[Iagent]

I grew up with a MCS 3253, and it blasted through many a party. Now all I have are the knobs as the electronics finally degraded and failed. That was a very nicely built reciever for a JCP special.