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Vintage reciever for under $100
- Thread starter lanteau
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analog addict
Glory or Death!
Lots of good stuff...
...under $100 if you don't need TOTL or massive power. Try your local CL... Lots of wonderful old Pioneer, Sansui, Marantz etc available if you're willing to be picky for the most part, and then willing to act in a hurry when the right one comes along....:thmbsp:
...under $100 if you don't need TOTL or massive power. Try your local CL... Lots of wonderful old Pioneer, Sansui, Marantz etc available if you're willing to be picky for the most part, and then willing to act in a hurry when the right one comes along....:thmbsp:
EricC
Super Member
Prices are very deciving when it comes to vintage. You can get a receiver for free one day and the next it could need extensive repairs. The only way to trully stay under $100 in my opinion is to buy one that has been serviced by one of our techs. I got a SX-950 for $85 on craigsist and it was in great condition. A year later it needs serviced. My CA-1000 that was claimed to be working on ebay needed over $100 in repairs. If you don't mind taking a chance then ebay or craigslist can be fine but the components in vintage equipment do not last forever. Every unit I have bought so far has needed opened up for one reason or another.
For now on I look for items that come from a tech I trust, are being sold by someone I trust, or are practically free. I would advise you to talk to some of our techs to see what they have for sale. I always use Rob (merrylander) since he is local. Its worth trying to stretch your budget for his units.
For now on I look for items that come from a tech I trust, are being sold by someone I trust, or are practically free. I would advise you to talk to some of our techs to see what they have for sale. I always use Rob (merrylander) since he is local. Its worth trying to stretch your budget for his units.
Roypercy
Super Member
The older Sherwood gear sounds wonderful, and prices are generally lower than other brands. I've gotten a number of vintage receivers (too many, my wife would say, but what does she know?) and only paid over $100 once, for a Setton RS-440 - it was just too pretty and rare to pass up. Craigslist is a great place to look, stuff comes up all the time where I live. Some of the cheaper units I've been impressed by:
Realistic STA-2080 - $25, CL
Sansui G-5500 - $20, Salvation Army
Sherwood S7200A - $10, tag sale
Kenwood KA-8004 integrated - $50, CL
Optonica 5205 $25, Ebay
In fact, Kenwood gear can be really great and generally sells for less than Pioneer, Marantz and Sansui.
Enjoy the hunt!
Realistic STA-2080 - $25, CL
Sansui G-5500 - $20, Salvation Army
Sherwood S7200A - $10, tag sale
Kenwood KA-8004 integrated - $50, CL
Optonica 5205 $25, Ebay
In fact, Kenwood gear can be really great and generally sells for less than Pioneer, Marantz and Sansui.
Enjoy the hunt!
Brian
An Old Geezer
Let's step back for a second. What size room, what type of music, if you have speakers what are they and how load do you like to listen to? Also, how much of your time do you spend listening to FM or expect to? What other sources will you be using and how many? Will you be expanding the system and hence want/desire the flexibility of a preamp output / power amp input? All of these weigh into making a suggestion. Power is not the only factor and for most applications is not the most critical so consider other factors/specs related to a unit.
Without some basic information, you're going to just find out what each of us has in our inventory.
Without some basic information, you're going to just find out what each of us has in our inventory.
Why limit yourself to only $100.00? For $300.00 you'd have SO MANY more options and you'll be MUCH happier in the long run.
mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
where (regionally) are you located, lanteau?
ya know what, that is without a doubt the best advice yet.vintagestereo said:
research, find THE unit for you, and buy it.
elese, you will be purchasing sub 100 dollar receivers, and soon you will have 12, and none are totl, and you could have had three total, and been happier.
i am in the process if trying to slim down to three, problem is, i love about 5 of em, and am fond of the other 7
anyhoo, if you happen to find an hk670, the hundred bucks you wanna spend would be very, very well spent there.
good luck!
vintagestereo said:
Because the gentleman's question was about a receiver for under $100, because that's how much money he has to spend, or is willing to spend.
Lanteau, welcome to AK!!
As I'm sure is becoming quickly apparent, you're going to get lots of suggestions, because there are literally dozens of excellent receivers available in your price range.
There are several Sherwood receivers that you will like a lot. I currently have two that I'm listening to, one S7100, and one S7200A. Both sound very sweet, with plenty of punch for nice listening, as long as you're not trying to drive tough speakers.
If you do some reading in the Vintage Solid State Forum, you'll quickly find out that there are quite a few members who really like the Concept line. While the big ones are serious money, I currently have a Concept 2.0 that's really a nice sounding receiver, and well within your price range.
I highly recommend that you spend some time in the Pioneer Forum, where you'll find too many great receivers to list in my reply.
Do some reading, make a "short list" of the few that look interesting, and start your search. It'll be a gas!
Of course, once you start, the addiction is incurable.
Once again, welcome to AK!
Clay
Last edited:
Welcome to AK, Lanteau!
As one of the resident Concept-nuts on this forum I would like to chime in and suggest you consider one of the smaller (2.0, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 - 20wpc, 25wpc, 35wpc, 45wpc, or a 7.5D - 75wpc) Concept receivers: They are very solidly built and all have - I believe - external pre-out/main-ins. I have to date never heard anybody say a bad thing when comparing these "small" Concepts to their peers from Marantz, Pioneer, Kenwood, etc. You should have no problem finding most of these models in good shape on the "Big Board" for under $100.
Good luck.
Best regards,
As one of the resident Concept-nuts on this forum I would like to chime in and suggest you consider one of the smaller (2.0, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5 - 20wpc, 25wpc, 35wpc, 45wpc, or a 7.5D - 75wpc) Concept receivers: They are very solidly built and all have - I believe - external pre-out/main-ins. I have to date never heard anybody say a bad thing when comparing these "small" Concepts to their peers from Marantz, Pioneer, Kenwood, etc. You should have no problem finding most of these models in good shape on the "Big Board" for under $100.
Good luck.
Best regards,
I picked up a very clean Onkyo TX-4500 with a set of Radian III speakers for $75 on CL. It needs 2 or 3 bulbs for function indicators (fm stereo lamp, etc) but thats minor. There are lots of good sets for under $100 if you're patient and shop around. There are also some overpriced heaps. This is old stuff, and things fail after 20+ years.
Roypercy
Super Member
Brian said:
Not to be overly sensitive, but as I read it the man was asking for a few suggestions for decent receivers that could be had for less than $100. I listed a few (very few) of the pieces of gear I either own or have owned, which I got for less than a hundred bucks, that I thought were worth considering. I also answered his specific question about Sherwood. What is the problem with that?
Far as I can tell, the man wants to get into the hobby inexpensively. When I was starting out (as I still am in many ways) there were tons of people adding to my confusion by piling on more and more considerations and variables, when what I often wanted was a few simple straightforward suggestions. Let the man start off slow.
Doctordirt
Silence is Broken
lanteau said:
Welcome lanteau and congrat's on your first post. :thmbsp:
Following Roypercy's lead, I believe that you're after reviews of equipment that can be had, You did not make any mention of how to obtain, so I won't include any suggestion of this type in my reply. I will also assume that the use of the word "value" in your question means "good". And in trying to factor out my preferences, i will describe their strong points.
I have not paid more than $25 for any of these:
#1 Project One Mark IIIB -- Very well-balanced and clean sounding. I wouldn't hesitate to pick up any in this series good amount of features compared to others in it's price range
#2 Sherwood 7210A -- This has the period look to it and has lots of low end punch. Mine has that vintage sound to it. If you need low end, go with the Sherwoods
#3 Marantz 2245 a little harder to find in your price range. It is "eq'd somewhat different then most others, seems to have freq. boost in the 1-5KHz range. Hence the two martini sound. Warm and vintage.
#4 Sansui G3000 Lite on the lower end Decent "average" receiver
#5 HH Scott 330R Only got to play with this a little bit so far, but it seems well balanced
A few brand that are under the radar on the big e are radio shack, Onkyo, sometimes Sony and Mitsubishi. Wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger on any of these brand either,
Welcome to AK.
You didn't mention speaker choice but the following should be benign mates with most speakers.
I'll second (or is it third) the vote for the Sherwoods. (Lots of us Sherwood fans tend to be from Chicago where Sherwood used to be based.) IMO an S8900A, S7900, S7100A or S7100 (all US models) will be very listenable, more powerful than they should be and prone to being left on all day while you enjoy the music. Good tuners too.
I am not familiar with the later Sherwoods made in Japan but they seem to be highly regarded here on AK.
About 1980 or so my sister had an HK 430 receiver that I always admired. It is one of the X30 series of mid-powered receivers that followed the highly regarded HK 330c. Different sound than the Sherwoods as I recall. Perhaps more accurate but not as rich sounding as the Sherwoods but it has been awhile. Good tuners in these HK receivers too.
I have a later HK 350i that I picked up at a garage sale. Although you'd think it is more powerful than its 20watt ratings, I would characterize it as kind of dry and analytic sounding. It makes a nice garage receiver though with a pretty good tuner. Might need to be recapped.
You didn't mention speaker choice but the following should be benign mates with most speakers.
I'll second (or is it third) the vote for the Sherwoods. (Lots of us Sherwood fans tend to be from Chicago where Sherwood used to be based.) IMO an S8900A, S7900, S7100A or S7100 (all US models) will be very listenable, more powerful than they should be and prone to being left on all day while you enjoy the music. Good tuners too.
I am not familiar with the later Sherwoods made in Japan but they seem to be highly regarded here on AK.
About 1980 or so my sister had an HK 430 receiver that I always admired. It is one of the X30 series of mid-powered receivers that followed the highly regarded HK 330c. Different sound than the Sherwoods as I recall. Perhaps more accurate but not as rich sounding as the Sherwoods but it has been awhile. Good tuners in these HK receivers too.
I have a later HK 350i that I picked up at a garage sale. Although you'd think it is more powerful than its 20watt ratings, I would characterize it as kind of dry and analytic sounding. It makes a nice garage receiver though with a pretty good tuner. Might need to be recapped.
