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Nice find? Optonica SA-5406

Sray

Sray

New Member
Hey all,
New member to the forum. I have recently started getting into vintage audio gear in part thanks to you guys. I have been reading and learning about all the different receivers out there. The one thing that I have learned is that good deals are hard to come by these days with vintage audio. It appears that there are a lot of people out there snatching up all the receivers on the cheap and then selling them for top dollar.

I have been hitting garage sales, swap meets, vintage shows, etc with very little luck. In fact I got to one of the garage sales that had mostly vintage audio stuff. I got there 20 minutes after it started. There were no receivers left. I asked the guy about them and he said a guy was sitting out front of his house for like 30 mins before it started and when he opened the garage door the guy came in and asked how much he wanted for the whole lot. The guy was in and out within 10 mins and bought all the units. That is how it has been going so far.

But I did come across what I think is a pretty decent deal. I found a guy on one of the selling apps that was selling an Optonica SA-5406. I had never heard of that brand. I did a little research and found that it was a Sharp. Not the greatest brand but the guy said the unit is in NEW condition. Apparently his grandparents owned some kind of audio business back in the 70-80s and this was wrapped up in a box in their garage. I was intrigued so I met up with him. I was shocked at the condition. I would give it a 9.9 out of 10. It has a few tiny scuffs on the edges of the face but that is it. They are not knicks but more of a scuff where it just barely took the black off the edge. The wood casing is literally like new. No signs at all of use. The unit fires up and works like new. No static or popping when adjusting knobs. It is a beautiful unit. I paid $100 for it. I think it was a good deal. It sounds so much better than my early 90s Onkyo receiver.

This is a pic of the unit. Not my unit as I have not had a chance to take pics but this is exactly what mine looks like.
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Does anyone have any info on these Optonica's? I would like to learn/understand more about the quality/performance of them.

Shawn
 
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Sray said:
I asked the guy about them and he said a guy was sitting out front of his house for like 30 mins before it started and when he opened the garage door the guy came in and asked how much he wanted for the whole lot. The guy was in and out within 10 mins and bought all the units
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Chances are these will end up for sale on eBay or locally on CL.....this vintage Audio is big business and trades like Gold. You'll just need to get to these sales earlier if you want to have a crack at the good stuff (all part of the fun in finding this stuff).

Sray said:
I found a guy on one of the selling apps that was selling an Optonica SA-5406
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Optonica makes some good gear and I think you did fine for this vintage receiver. Good luck with your search!!
 
Yeah the more I listen to this receiver the better it sounds. And I have it hooked up to a pair of old Klipsch rear surround speakers I had in storage. I believe they only have maybe 6" speakers (at most) in them but they sound amazing. I think once I get/build a good set of speakers for it it will sound even better.

Definitely will keep my eye out for more Optonica's.

Thanks for the input guys!
 
I have been looking for a optonica 5901 silverface to add to my collection for almost a year now, never have found one but a 5905 came up for sale which is a black face version I snatched it up, it's a mighty fine receiver
 
tater415 said:
I have been looking for a optonica 5901 silverface to add to my collection for almost a year now, never have found one but a 5905 came up for sale which is a black face version I snatched it up, it's a mighty fine receiver
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Yeah I have yet to find any other Optonica's for sale locally. I see them on eBay but I would never buy from there. Way over-priced.
 
tater415 said:
I have been looking for a optonica 5901 silverface to add to my collection for almost a year now, never have found one but a 5905 came up for sale which is a black face version I snatched it up, it's a mighty fine receiver
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I just picked one up. I love it, but it's dusty as hell inside. Any recommendations on what to do to clean it?
 
Congratulations good score, I would use compressed air that will get most of it out, if it's been in a smoking environment you're going to have to use water and dish soap and a little elbow grease. can you post some pictures of your optonica
 
Yes, the Optonica SA-5406 is an absolute gem. A monster. The one I own, I scored for $60 from Craigslist but it needed work - The tuner needed alignment and there were a bunch of bulbs out. I spent $250 for a full servicing and since then, this big momma has been the flagship of my collection. Hold onto it. They are becoming scarce.
 

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Doomahachy said:
Yes, the Optonica SA-5406 is an absolute gem. A monster. The one I own, I scored for $60 from Craigslist but it needed work - The tuner needed alignment and there were a bunch of bulbs out. I spent $250 for a full servicing and since then, this big momma has been the flagship of my collection. Hold onto it. They are becoming scarce.
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What’s the difference between that and the 5407?

Optonica info is infuriatingly scarce.
 
I got a nice Optonica SA-5406 for free recently. I went to pick up a pair of Fisher XP-7B speakers for $20 to restore and the guy found out i restore electronics so he gave me the Optonica because he couldnt get it to work. I got it home and played with the controls and it fired right up. Im guessing he had the tape switches in the wrong position so he couldnt get any sound. Its missing a knob cover but i found on on the bay and its on the way. I will probably keep this one in my collection since it looks so unique. Gotta touch up a couple nicks in the black face but otherwise its in great shape and sounds sweet after some Deoxit. Yeah i cleaned it inside and out after these pics but i forgot to take pics of it clean.

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Did not think this beast would use STK chips ...STK are as goog as discrete, until they blow.. but this will never happen if you take good care of your amplifier.. Thank you for the pics !
 
UgroundRaver said:
I got a nice Optonica SA-5406 for free recently. I went to pick up a pair of Fisher XP-7B speakers for $20 to restore and the guy found out i restore electronics so he gave me the Optonica because he couldnt get it to work. I got it home and played with the controls and it fired right up. Im guessing he had the tape switches in the wrong position so he couldnt get any sound. Its missing a knob cover but i found on on the bay and its on the way. I will probably keep this one in my collection since it looks so unique. Gotta touch up a couple nicks in the black face but otherwise its in great shape and sounds sweet after some Deoxit. Yeah i cleaned it inside and out after these pics but i forgot to take pics of it clean.

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Replace the 4 or 5 fusable resistors. I’ve seen quite a few of this model DOA and it was just the resistors.
 
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