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That Technics smell...

Sansui Louie

Sansui Louie

Curmudgeon
In my office system, I like to rotate pieces in and out frequently, just for fun. After recently sending another NAD piece to the dumpster (are they the Bose of components?), I dug out an old friend...

Technics SA-5370 receiver.

As a teen, I saved up money from raking leaves and putting in piers for people on the lake to buy a Technics SA-5170, which got me thru college and then some.

I've noticed a distinct electronic odor unique to this series of receivers when they're at operating temp.

Memories....
 
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Louie, which NAD piece did you trash? I have a NAD receiver in my garage that is very well built. I also have a dead matching CD player LOL.

Evan
 
A 3140 I've been fighting with for a few years. It just has too many issues to track down any one of them. I've deoxit'ized and cleaned and fiddled with it numerous times, gotten sick of it, put it away, dragged it back out...so on. Still plagued with intermitten horrible, speaker damaging noises, weird static, channels dropping out, buzzes & hums, all of which come and go at will.

This is the third NAD item I've sent to the Big Dumpster In The Sky. I'm starting to think it's my duty to eliminate this stuff from circulation, to save others from frustration.

Oh, forgot about a cassette deck I picked up a few years back. One look under the hood on that...wow. I've seen nicer low-end Sanyo's and Fishers.

Anyway, I'm enjoying Le parfum des Technics
 
scratch 'n' sniff...

technicses-1.jpg




I can tell you that that 5270, at least, has that parfum in spades.

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I think that this series of Technics was the best looking of their receivers. It would really be fun to get hands on a 5770 or 5760
 
Sansui Louie said:
Well, with my NAD experiences, you'd become an expert at doing so in no time at all!
Click to expand...

Have owned five NAD pieces over the years, a 7120 receiver, a 3020 amp, a analog tuner (can't recall the model), a L40 CD combo and still have a 80's 7240PE receiver. With the exception of the tuner, which had ongoing alignment problems, I never had a moments trouble out of any of them. A buddy of mine has a 80's era NAD receiver and cassette deck, still in daily use without any probs. Granted the early stuff wasn't built all that great and were prone to have bad AC switches and other quirks. But my personal experience has been otherwise. To each their own.
 
I have a Technics SA5560, and you're definitely right, it does have a smell of its own. And I thought this was a sign of something seriously wrong... Very nice-looking receiver and great sound, though! I agree about unreliable Nad products, I've had several of their integrateds with relay problems and I've had a few Nad cd players with dead displays. No complaints when it comes to the sound, though.
 

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Technics stuff running temps a a little on the warm side. They need space to cool.
I always thought the smell was due to the aromatics cooking out of the wood cases! They definitely have that imported electronics smell.
 
sa-505

My wife came through the door the other day after I had changed around my spares and said, "What's making that 'electronics' odor? Are you sure that none of this stuff is going to burn down the house?" Do you suppose she was referring to this?

PICT1514.JPG


All 12 of the little wire lead fuse type lamps were burned out when I got this unit. I replaced them with 8V 250mA lamps. That's 3 amps of current and a lot of heat. Were the originals lower amperage than 250mA? I tried installing only 6 of the 250mA lamps and the dial was pretty dark.

This receiver stinks as far as smell goes, but it does put out a pleasant sound. ;)
 
I'm seeing a trend here- my 5760 has an electronic smell of sorts. I noticed it as soon as I brought it in the house. Not a burning smell, though, but I've encountered the odour a long time ago around older radios and such. I'm really curious, is it coming from the capacitors or ...:scratch2:
 
My new Yammie was apparently in fact new, the seller claimed it was from an estate sale barely used, while warming it up on low volume, a distinct smell was about, the next day at full tilt boogie, it filled the large room even stronger, hard to discribe. Friends said it smelled like a new car in the 60's left out in the sun. That's the best discription I can give. Now a couple of weeks later, it's settled down. still has a hard to describe sent, yes, I just sniffed it!:D.
I don't think my SAE or Kenwood had a scent really. Now the two old Marantz 2270's, there's a nice one! I wouldn't call it bacony, like someone posted, nice though, very intoxicating, *wood* inducing:D my great pal Star (ex-stripper) has a great ear and a great nose, I'll get her over to sniff my stuff. I'm serious. Sorry I don't have any Technics, though I just missed being able to sniff this tasty number,http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ndexURL=0&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting
That would have been fun :D

stuwee
 
Yeah, the old receivers have that, well, old receiver smell. I get 'em shipped to my office, and in that enclosed space it really smells it up when I first power 'em on. I dunno, but I kinda like it...
 
so...

drugs and alcohol just weren't enough. you've resorted to gear sniffing.

sure, it seems like a harmless high, but don't you realize the dangers?

gear sniffing is a gateway to more harmful practices such as transformer licking.

if you don't get help, we'll find you someday in a dark alley with a syringe full of capacitor juice sticking out of your arm.
 
lguise said:
so...

drugs and alcohol just weren't enough. you've resorted to gear sniffing.

sure, it seems like a harmless high, but don't you realize the dangers?

gear sniffing is a gateway to more harmful practices such as transformer licking.

if you don't get help, we'll find you someday in a dark alley with a syringe full of capacitor juice sticking out of your arm.
Click to expand...

Thanks for scaring the hell out of me!
 
never cared much for technics. my reason is somewhat silly. the small town i grew up in had only one audio dealership. the only brand they carried was panasonic and technics. in fact, that is still all they carry, though the last time i was in there, i was told that technics is no longer.
 
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