Muntz??????

[gotvintage?]

I recently purchased a Muntz 5000 receiver for $10 and know absolutely nothing about it.Anyone know this critter? Also got the speakers for $15.They are a three way the size of a bookshelf speaker that also have a passive on the back...model M360....any clue? Thank ya'll folks.:tresbon:

 

[ZebraBlvd]

Welcome to AK gotvintage?. Pictures of the receiver would really help. Seems as though it ranks right up there with Bigfoot as to the number of times its been sighted. I'm sure that there are members here that can chime in with some good info.

Hope you stick around, this is the place for audio knowledge.

 

[cademan]

I'm not sure if Muntz is still around, but years ago I owned a 1950's Muntz brand black & white TV with no power transformer. The tube heaters were series wired!

 

[Bob91343]

I used to be a warranty station for Muntz, which later became Clarion. Their stuff worked, and that was about it. The urban myth (check Wikipedia) is that Madman Muntz would go into the lab where they were designing TV sets. He looked at the picture and, with his diagonal cutters, snipped a part out of the circuit. If it didn't stop, he snipped another part. Soon the set quit working. He said to the engineer, put that last part back in and close it up, the design is complete.

His motto was "I wanna give them away but my wife won't let me!" And he had pics taken of himself with his hand in his shirt, a la Napoleon.

 

[Cogsinister]

I had one, picked it up for $5.......it went up in smoke so i trashed it.........no huge loss.....

 

[Brian]

Muntz is still around. It has shrunk to a automotive audio store in California. Do a search on the unit as there was some discussion on the receiver and the company awhile ago.

 

[mhardy6647]

Google Earl "Madman" Muntz and all will become clear.
Muntz invented "value engineering" - their TVs were the absolute bare minimum of circuitry to produce sound and a picture (sometimes, that is). His name was even "verbed"; the highest homage imaginable! The verb "to Muntz" means to eliminate all the frills (and then some).

 

[PacificStereo]

Ah, yes, Madman Muntz. I remember him and those stores. I guess Lou Adray "borrowed" that slogan from Earl, because it was on the front window of his place forever. It read, "Lou wants to give the cameras away...BUT HIS WIFE WON'T LET HIM!"

 

[gotvintage?]

I'll try to get some pics asap...The design of the receiver is a simple but well thought out and constructed design...The sound is quite amazing and I run Carver,Fisher RS-1060,Thorens and a few other pieces that are revered as "the best"...the Muntz 5000 can handle itself quite easily...

 

[Wazz]

Wow, so he cut out all extraneous components? That would give you an esoteric minimalist design like the fringe audiophiles lust after, minimum parts count to muddy up the sound, just the least amount of stuff to make music, so it is more pure? If everyone else trashed their Muntz receivers, well, in a few decades you will have a collectable that others will lust after. In old radio collections, it is oddity and rarity as much as quality.

 

[electronjohn]

Yeah...that's a keeper! If it sounds good...who cares who made it?

 

[gotvintage?]

the quality of it is high end for sure as I see nothing inside that screams cheap.....even the display glass is real glass...Also...anyone ever heard of JM Labs Magnine speakers?....got some of them to...strange things as thay have a 2 inch cone tweeter and a 6X9 bass driver....sound is jaw dropping sweet....anyone? anyone?