I can relieve you of your conscience.
Realistic 31-2020 equalizer
- Thread starter deeder7001
- Start date
Freaksmeout
New Member
I bought the 31-2020a (black) new in the mid 80s. I remember the day in Radio Shack when I fell in love with the unique spectrum analyzer lights. I have used it weekly on my regular setup. And still use it today. 35 years, 8 trips to and from college in the late 80s. 5 residences and it's still going strong.
My current system is all black components. I am building a second system in all silver. So I tracked down a 31-2020 (silver face) model to match.
They are simple, smooth,, solid well-made units. I love them.
And about that IMX Expander button. Yep...it's weird. But I do occasionally select it for a different listening experience. I always thought it brought a bit of a "live" feel/sound to it.
My current system is all black components. I am building a second system in all silver. So I tracked down a 31-2020 (silver face) model to match.
They are simple, smooth,, solid well-made units. I love them.
And about that IMX Expander button. Yep...it's weird. But I do occasionally select it for a different listening experience. I always thought it brought a bit of a "live" feel/sound to it.
Hi-Fi_Luvr
New Member
I got a black one along with an Onkyo TX-844 receiver from my brother-in-law, I'm still learning how to use it. There's an owner's manual at manualslib.org, but i also ordered a manual on eBay from England for it. I never had a 20 band equalizer in my life. I had a cassette boombox with a 3-Band equalizer on it in the mid-'80s, but that's it. That was easy to use. This is a different beast. So different from just regular bass, mid and treble controls.
Just picked up a black face unit for $1 out of a thrift shop untested bin. Plugged it in and tapped the rca cables against some metal, all eq frequencies lit up. Looking forward to tearing it apart and cleaning it up. Like everything else from this era, it's yellowed from smoke. Now that's a true sign of a vintage unit!
Jordan Levy
New Member
Does anyone know what VR401does?
it is the input level to the display.
yes, there are 2, one on the front panel, one inside.
i had hoped it would brighten the display since it is going to b2 but it does not.
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Jordan Levy
New Member
Ah thought so. Well I got one of these for very cheap in good condition the seller thought it was broken tho surprise to me works just fine.
I had 2 over the years. One of them had corrosive glue holding down the main filter caps and was all over rhe bridge rectifier diodes and a few resistors in the area. All the leads were corroded.
You might want to take a look if you plan on keeping it.
One also had several 'lytics that were well out of spec.
Jordan Levy
New Member
Surprisingly they didn't go to crazy with the glue on this one and it hasn't gone corrosive yet but yeah probably should scrape it off and you're right about those caps I suspect a couple of them are bad but they're such weird values.
Yes they are. On a few of them i had to parallel a cap on the solder side.
Jordan Levy
New Member
I'm hearing a slight very high frequency buzzing/chirping from the left channel that goes along with the bass. It seems like interference coming from the display, and it goes away when the display level is set to minimum. Would anyone happen to know what causes this?
