We were at a neighborhood garage sale yesterday and at one of the first places I stopped I spotted a vintage receiver: an Onkyo TX-2500. It was being sold by the original owner, who bought it new in the late seventies and said it had been used, and not used gently, at many dorm parties when he was in college. It was dirty and missing the case screws (but not the case, which is fine) but he said it still worked. So I thought, why not? Gave it a good cleaning inside and out last night and fired it up this morning. The seller was right: everything works. That includes the dial lamps, the tuning and signal meters, even the LOCKED, TUNED and STEREO FM lights in red and green, which my wife likes ("Christmas colors" as she says 
). The tuner is really good for an entry level receiver, better than a Marantz 2226b I had once (which had been serviced and aligned by a tech). The dial pointer is right on the money and this little Onkyo is picking up every station in our area. CDs sound good through the tape monitor and records sound really good--it's got about as good a phono stage you'll find in an entry level receiver. The only issue is a little static in the volume control, so it's going back down to the basement for more Deoxit. Fortunately I'm taking a few vacation days from work so that will happen today.
Otherwise it's running like a top. What a little gem of a receiver. It may end up going to my son. Attached is a crappy cell phone picture that doesn't do it justice.
). The tuner is really good for an entry level receiver, better than a Marantz 2226b I had once (which had been serviced and aligned by a tech). The dial pointer is right on the money and this little Onkyo is picking up every station in our area. CDs sound good through the tape monitor and records sound really good--it's got about as good a phono stage you'll find in an entry level receiver. The only issue is a little static in the volume control, so it's going back down to the basement for more Deoxit. Fortunately I'm taking a few vacation days from work so that will happen today.Otherwise it's running like a top. What a little gem of a receiver. It may end up going to my son. Attached is a crappy cell phone picture that doesn't do it justice.
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Unfortunately those were the owner's "party days" as he put it, and the original paperwork and packaging are long gone. From what he told me about the way it was used (cranked at dorm parties), it's amazing it's still going strong. The was a lot of dirt embedded in those knobs! After hitting the volume pot with another round of Deoxit, the volume control is static free and this little Onkyo has a pair of Celestion 3 speakers singing. The great thing about garage sales and rummage sales is you find cool stuff you weren't even looking for or didn't know much about. I love these pleasant audio surprises.
