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Something I Didn't Consider with Vintage Receivers

captouch

captouch

Addicted Member
Within the last month, I picked up a Kenwood KR-6050 and Sansui 7070. But they didn't have a home any my existing racks, where were full, so I purchased a new A/V stand and put it together over the weekend.

Took a lot of time figuring out what would go on what shelf for cosmetic and safety reasons and last evening had everything set to assemble the system.

BUT, something I didn't consider or even think about - these vintage receivers can be very wide. Both Kenwood and Sansui won't fit in the rack - the space between the posts is only 19.5" wide and the receivers are over 20". Rude awakening and now I have to stack both of them on top of the stand instead of having them on the shelves. :thumbsdn:

At first I thought it was the stand itself, but my older stands are similar spacing - they just weren't meant to accommodate these wide vintage receivers.

Beginner's mistake, but something to consider when thinking about options to house your vintage equipment. . .
 
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I really like the bigger Sansui G series receivers. Unfortunately, the biggest ones are very wide and have inputs on the SIDES of the receivers making them not usable in my current entertainment center.
 
Some receivers, like the early Pioneers (low wattage also) and the Marantz 22XX, will fit into a rack. It is frustrating that you have to buy a custom rack or make one yourself. I would like to have a rack myself that I could display my 1010, 1250 and 1280 with a turntable on top.
 
Putting home audio components in a rack were not popular until mid 1980's. I would imagine that is the time receivers began becoming a standard of 17 inches in width.

Bear in mind in the 1970's downward audio components were housed on table tops and home entertainment wall units.

Best Regards,
 
Yep. Been looking for a rack that would hold my Pioneer for 31 years. Haven't found one big enough that I like yet.
 
I had to take the wood veneer sides off a receiver one time to fit it into a rack. The electronics were thus exposed, but it didn't matter since access to the sides was limited by the 1/2 inch or so of clearance.
 
Have to figure out something for mine too,current rack will only take up to 19''.
My Kenwood Eleven and Fisher 2015 are both about 23'',guess i will have to use some kind of shelving unit.
 
I have one of those Ikea Expedit 2x4 shelves and it lays the long way on it's side.

It fits all my records in the shelves and on top I have my Marantz 170dc, JVC QL-A7 and Marantz 3250. Everything is at a good height too.

So far its the only thing that's worked for me. Plus around here you can find them used for $30 or $40.

-Rocko
 
Some of the open glass shelved models are huge. Look for them used on CL and such, as often they are at near give-away prices. I found a couple real nice ones, wish I could remember the names, with 26" wide shelves, open on all sides. They cost about $400 new, IIRC I paid about $70.
 
Yeah. That's why I used adjustable shelving. Wood planks and cinder blocks. The budget shelving of choice among first time apartment dwellers. Worked fine for my Pioneer SX-3900. Later got a rack on sale with open sides.

I suppose some of the hardware shelves or carts sold in places like Costco can also do in a pinch nowadays.
 
Since I'm only having to stack two components, my situation is workable, though my concern is that the two left feet of the Sansui 7070 (30-35lbs) are sitting on the grate/vent portion of the Kenwood, and the Sansui has small feet. So the force per unit area has to be high. I wouldn't worry too much about the cover apart from the grate, but I don't recall how the grate is built into the cover.

For now, I put padded furniture cups under the Sansui feet in an attempt to spread the force over a larger area and have the contact area be softer. Seems OK for now, though the Sansui sits slightly lower on the left side where the grate is (either it's heavier on that side or the grate may be a little recessed).

Just a couple more inches of width and things would have been golden. A business opportunity for someone - audio racks for vintage gear!
 
I would also be concerned about the Kenwood grates having enough clearance for venting any heat. Hope it doesn't get too hot with stacking.

Another way to distribute the weight would be to use flat boards instead of furniture cups for the Sansui to stand on. Whether you use 4 small pieces for the feet or a couple going the width or depth of the Kenwood. They can be whatever dimension that would look or work the best. That way you could possibly put the weight across the wood case of the Kenwood instead of the grate.

Hopefully this is only a temporary situation until you can get a more permanent solution.
 
I empathize with you. A number of 19" wide receivers and a classic Barzilay with only 18" of entry width. 1 receiver at least is also too deep to fit.
 
These type of shelves work very well. They can support around 200lbs each shelf.

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I have a rack made out of those shelves myself, but since getting a SX-1980 and G-8000, it's become a little too narrow unfortunately, a SX-1010 is about as wide as it will fit. I need to get a bigger one. But, they work very, very well as a rack and I can recommend them. A bonus too, they are nice silver chrome which accents the silver faced gear! :thmbsp:
 
terra1 said:
I would also be concerned about the Kenwood grates having enough clearance for venting any heat. Hope it doesn't get too hot with stacking.

Another way to distribute the weight would be to use flat boards instead of furniture cups for the Sansui to stand on. Whether you use 4 small pieces for the feet or a couple going the width or depth of the Kenwood. They can be whatever dimension that would look or work the best. That way you could possibly put the weight across the wood case of the Kenwood instead of the grate.

Hopefully this is only a temporary situation until you can get a more permanent solution.
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That's an really excellent idea, I'll hunt for some planks. I just bought the rack and I can't see returning it and buying another at this point (Amazon, I'd probably have to pay return shipping for the 79lb package), so it's not likely a temporary solution unless I buy a smaller receiver and sell the Kenwood.

I've only got one set of speakers and three receivers - instead of rigging up a receiver switch box, I just have 3 sets of speaker wire, so any given receiver gets part-time duty only. The Sansui will be the primary and the Kenwood secondary, so I don't expect the Kenwood to be on most of the time, but I'll be mindful of the heat. Also, it's a small room (10x10, roughly), so I don't have to turn the volume up very high to get nice volume. I'm not even at 2 on the dial (9 o'clock) to get enough volume for most recordings.

Would've just been nice if one of them fit in the shelf as I originally planned though!
 
I guess if you are going to try the pieces of wood as a possible solution, I might also apply some adhesive to the bottom of the pieces and apply some kind of padding like felt to avoid scratching the cabinet.

These are not particularly elegant solutions, but sometimes when you don't have a lot of custom racks, we get creative. I have even used large empty prescription bottles, empty speaker spools, or Deoxit plastic caps as risers to provide more room for venting hot amps when stacking.
 
Interesting thread.
It was difficult for me to find anywhere suitable to store my recently acquired Kenwood KR-9600,what made matters much worse was the fact that it's wooden cabinet had thin ventilation vents on top,which wouldn't take much weight,so i couldn't place anything heavy on top it.
In the end,i acquired some long pieces of wood,which i attached via bracket and screws to the bottom of the table legs to make them slightly higher,so now it's residing in the conservatory.Admittedly it looks a bit of a "bodge job",but it's the best i could come up with,considering it wasn't allowed in the main rooms.



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Ha That's funny ,I remember when I got my Pioneer SX 980 way back when it wouldn't fit in the rack that the SX 650 ,turntable and ctf650 tape deck were in (an 80's type rack with smoked glass doors ) plus it was way to heavy for it not to mention ... you don't want one of those or anything like it cooking in a rack behind glass doors I never thought about it when I was buying the 980 either :scratch2:
anyway enjoy your new toys .
 
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