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Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #90930]

Wed, 25 September 2019 19:08

Kingfish
Messages: 555
Registered: November 2012

Illuminati (1st Degree)

Does anyone here have any experience in doing this? I just want to specifically identify it, find what kind of tools I'll need, etc....

The time has come to where I can start digging into an old unit I've had in my shed for over 10 years now.

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Re: Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #90934 is a reply to message #90930]

Wed, 25 September 2019 21:17

gofar99
Messages: 1948
Registered: May 2010
Location: Southern Arizona

Illuminati (5th Degree)

Hi, Let us know what brand and model. If that is not available photos of the inside and outside are often helpful. If it is a tube type ...what tubes and how they are positioned (photo helps too). Some of us have experience in these things and can probably assist.

Good Listening
Bruce

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Re: Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #91000 is a reply to message #90930]

Wed, 02 October 2019 13:21

Kingfish
Messages: 555
Registered: November 2012

Illuminati (1st Degree)

I will get some photo's in a few days. I did notice that the power cords have been cut off at the base so there is a little extra work on that end as well. I'll put the speakers in here as well.

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Re: Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #91102 is a reply to message #91000]

Wed, 30 October 2019 13:04

Kingfish
Messages: 555
Registered: November 2012

Illuminati (1st Degree)

I'm running out of time today, but the receiver is the Sony brand with the serial number 90374. The other part is simply a cassette player......Realistic brand.

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Re: Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #91776 is a reply to message #90930]

Tue, 28 April 2020 20:27

Silver
Messages: 116
Registered: December 2013

Viscount

It's been a few days Kingfish, I'd love to see what you got. Maybe I could be of some help as well. The era you're talking about makes them antiques at this point and I have always loved antiques.

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Re: Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #91788 is a reply to message #91776]

Wed, 29 April 2020 10:12

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18784
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

There is some vintage equipment that is restored and/or moded because of its high sound quality. But most times, you know it if you got it. Equipment like that was considered high-end when it was new.

And there are other vintage items that are restored just because they're antiques. Not so much for sound quality as for aesthetics. Old tube radios come to mind.

But to be honest, most sound gear from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s wasn't all that great. For that matter, most stuff made since then isn't all that great either. Audiophiles often refer to the average quality gear as being "midfi" or "home theater in a box."

I wouldn't probably spend time restoring midfi gear from a few decades ago. I definitely would restore a nice reel-to-reel tape deck or turntable, or a nice amplifier or something. I might restore a cassette deck, but probably not one from Radio Shack. Then again, now that the Shack is gone, I might restore a "Realistic" brand device just for nostalgia.

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Re: Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #91790 is a reply to message #91788]

Wed, 29 April 2020 10:50

gofar99
Messages: 1948
Registered: May 2010
Location: Southern Arizona

Illuminati (5th Degree)

Hi Everyone, I tend to agree that much of the stuff from earlier times is not worth the effort to restore or even use. There are however many exceptions. The audio from my main PC (I'm using it now) feeds a 1970 Marantz integrated amp. It is easily equal to most of the top gear now. I have two Marantz receivers (a 2250 and a 2265B) and both are quite excellent. My main turntables are an Empire 598 (ca 1973) a modified Dual 701 (ca 1975) and a Transcriptor Saturn (ca 1975). The newer Sota (ca2012)and Pro-ject (ca 2008) I have are IMO a big step down from the others in terms of reliability and performance. I use an Akai reel to reel (about 1978) and a Nakamichi cassette (possibly 1980). I have several speaker systems from the 70's and 80's including Altec Lansing and Klipsch. All good stuff. There are many more examples out there. I do restore vintage radios, I have several but not for the sound quality, just because they are intereting. I too would not bother with Radio Shack stuff although some they sourced from high end companies is pretty good. All this is not to say that all new stuff is junk either. I really like my Martin Logan ESLs, several of the new phono cartridges, the Sony HD FM receiver I use, the SMSL DAC on my laptop (feeds the main system), the OPPO Blueray player and the FIIO media player I tote around at times. Note: for an analog guy to admit to using digital stuff will probably come back to haunt me. Confused

Good Listening
Bruce

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Re: Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #91840 is a reply to message #91790]

Thu, 07 May 2020 07:32

Madison
Messages: 332
Registered: June 2017

Grand Master

I'm surprised by the assessment that mostly junk came out of those eras. Audio devices sure seemed made of better components that lasted a long time, unlike the plastic stuff we see today. Wasn't a lot of that gear made in the US at that time?

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Re: Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #91841 is a reply to message #91840]

Thu, 07 May 2020 07:51

Barryso
Messages: 203
Registered: May 2009

Master

The gear from the 70's may or may not have sounded good but generally it was built pretty well. Some of those old receivers, mid fi they may be, were built like tanks.

I recall Harmon Kardon used to have different manufacturing for different component lines. Their cheaper line (the stuff I could afford) was built overseas. Their state of the art gear was made in the USA. That stuff was WAY beyond my means.

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Re: Refurbishing '60's or 70's Era Stereos [message #91843 is a reply to message #91841]

Thu, 07 May 2020 10:50

Wayne Parham
Messages: 18784
Registered: January 2001

Illuminati (33rd Degree)

Well, and to your point, some of those 1970s receivers were wonderful. I agree with you about Harman Kardon gear. And Marantz made some good stuff too. That was also the era of the entry of higher-quality Japanese imports. Some of them took us by surprise because most considered Japanese gear to be cheap and low-quality. But I remember how much Yamaha gear surprised me. By the late 1070s, I think they were my favorite brand of receivers.

Maybe I should clarify myself, since I think my comments are what veered this thread into a discussion about what "junk" was made in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

In a lot of ways, the 1950s and 1960s were when things were made the best, in my opinion. It was also America's boom years, and there was a lot to like about things "Made in America." And as I said, I think by the late-70s, Japanese manufacturers were starting to make some really good stuff too.

But what I was trying to say was there was a lot of junk made back then too, as in all eras. And there was a lot of equipment that wasn't terrible, but that wasn't particularly good either. Think about all those "console stereos" of the 1950s and 1960s. And the "all-in-ones" of the 1970s, having a record player with ceramic cartridge on a plastic tone arm, AM/FM and eight-track tape.

And even many separates were pretty bad. There were lots of cassette decks in the 1970s that sounded terrible, especially the top-loaders. You could find really great cassette decks by the late 1970s that rivaled reel-to-reel performance, which was amazing given the tape speed. But most cassette decks weren't all that hot. Same with turntables. There were some excellent ones, but many of the lower-priced turntables were nasty little plastic things with ceramic cartridges.

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