Which vintage receiver(s) would you pick?

[arem]

Hi all - I have a family member who has amassed a collection of 70's stereo gear that he has decided to get rid of in an effort to downsize. He has given me a handful of receivers and told me to keep what I want and to sell the rest. So I put it to you in the know, which piece or pieces are worth holding on to? Everything is in working order but nothing has been recapping or restored in any way FWIW. And my current setup is a Rotel RX 975 receiver thru Rega RS1 bookshelf speakers. My receiver choices are:

- Harmon Kardon 670 (correction, I initially said 630)
- Marantz 2000
- Sansui 2000A
- Sony 7045
- Rotel 603

All advice and information is greatly appreciated, thanks everyone!

 

[daveg3588]

Harman Kardon 630

 

[malden]

Yes, Harman Kardon 630

 

[jimbo2k]

For me it would be the Sony 70xx, as I have a 7055. Open it up and it looks like a rats nest, turn up the volume and its heaven. Dont ever burnout those Sony Ics, It took me a year to find the NOS replacement

 

[bandg69]

Welcome to AK Arem. My choice would be the Sony first and then the Sansui.
Sony made some great sounding receivers in that series.

 

[SoCal Sam]

Marantz 2000 is the dog of the lot. The rest are pretty good efforts. HK 670i is the newest of the lot and not the best made but it sounds the most modern.

 

[malden]

is it this one?

 

[Oldsansui441]

Personally l would go the Sansui or the Sony . I haven't had any experience with the Rotel's but l am thinking that would be a nice unit also.

 

[elnaldo]

If you plan to restore it and keep it going for another 30 years, I think the use of unobtainable parts or the difficulty to work inside could be another point to keep in mind.

 

[BilboBaggins]

I just had a sony 7045, and while it was really nice with those dual concentric controls on it and the nice wood cabinet, I found it picky about the speakers it liked. I am not familiar with the Sansui 2000a, but if it is anything like the 2000X I have now, or the straight 2000, I would lean towards it. Not familiar with the Marantz 2000 or the Rotel models you mention, nor the HK 670.

 

[arem]

Yep, that's the one. Sounds like the Sony or Sansui are the faves, I guess I'll start with those. If anyone else has opinions to share please chime in, I'll report back when I've had a chance to do some listening.

is it this one?

 

[arem]

So a little follow up, so far I've spent time with the Sony and the Rotel. Both sound surprisingly good to my ears, definitely a smoother sound than my more modern Rotel receiver. The Sony probably sounds a bit fuller, definitely more low end response. In fact during my listening tests a problem started to arise when playing music with a lot of bass info going on, after a few minutes a static-y crackling sound would appear, then the bass would rise dramatically and then disappear altogether. I'm assuming this is due to some capacitors going bad so I'd like to get it in a shop to see what else it needs.

The Rotel is very nice as well, as I said maybe a bit more bass shy and I'm not sure the mono switch is working correctly, but easy to listen to for hours. I'm planning to try the Sansui next, I've found that the tuner dial string seems to be broken, and it has some lights out but it should be otherwise operational. We'll see.

 

[Oldsansui441]

Good to hear you are enjoying their performance, sounds like the Sony needs a bit of work, would be well worth it though.

 

[432HzBob]

Someday I want a big old big block Sansui receiver with all sorts of cool buttons, knobs and switches that all works and weighs at least 40 pounds.

 

[markkb]

I have both the Sony 7045 and Sansui 2000a. Both give me good sonic experiences.

The Sony STR 7045 is a near copy of the previous STR 6055. I don't believe it has any IC's. These early Sonys have a very nice build. Crackling in the controls/switches are common, and I would start there with a deoxit treatment. Read the deoxit sticky under 'general audio discussion' forum if you plan to do this.