[Eric Adams]

I just got back from the ARCI meet and thought of Ron. They had two tables with nothing but stereo equipment. Fisher, Scott and Marantz.
The stuff looked clean. Well, there's always Radiofest!
   

   

[Phlogiston]

Are there BIG numbers on those little white tags?

[Eric Adams]

Funny, I never thought to look!

[Ron Ramirez]

Chicago is about a million miles away from here. Okay, it's 296 miles from here to the Loop. Still, more than a day trip.

I called it, folks, in another thread...stereo receivers, tuners, amplifiers, etc. of the 1960s-1980s are becoming the new "antique radios." These items have been turning up at swap meets for more than a few years now...and their number is only going to increase, along with interest in them.

[PhilcoMike]

Ron you and I have been hanging out at the Audiokarma forum for a while. The vintage receivers are becoming the "muscle cars" of today. Every guy who had one wants another one to replace it.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php

A while back I spotted a Pioneer SX-850 or 950 at 35mph. Turned around, bought it off the side of the roadside table for $70 bucks and rocking it today. Ballpark pricing is around $400 and they are selling for that.

The difference is that these things seem to be appreciating more than old radios.

Enjoy.

Mike

[Chuck Schwark]

So…my Heathkit AR-29 Stereo Receiver (with Pecan Wood Case) is (or will be) slowly appreciating in "collectors" value? Hmmm…



Chuck

[Ron Ramirez]

PhilcoMike - you're on Audiokarma?

I've only been on there since the first of this year, shortly after I got on this receiver kick.

You raise an excellent point. The receivers of the 1970s are the ones that my generation wanted but couldn't always afford. I remember in my youth, admiring the Marantz receivers and thinking, "Never can I afford one of those..." So now I have a 2215-B. Sure, it's a low end model, but it's a Marantz and it does sound good!

Anyway...the receivers that people remember from their youth are now being purchased and repaired/restored by those same folks, now older. Excellent analogy with the muscle cars, too, and it's basically the same story; if you couldn't afford a muscle car when they were new but now have the $$$$$$ for one, you go and fulfill the wishes of your youth.

I can't really explain why I'm into vintage Fisher gear; they just appeal to me for some reason. Sort of like Philco did more than two decades ago. I avoid the Sanyo Fisher junk and generally stick with the genuine Avery Fisher stuff, although I do have a 401 from the Emerson-Fisher period (after Avery Fisher sold out to Emerson but before Emerson sold the brand to Sanyo).

I missed out, in a way. I have read that until about 10 years ago, the early Fisher SS gear was really cheap. Now it's appreciating fast. The tube-type Fishers are very expensive, and certain SS receivers, chiefly the 500-TX, are becoming so.

[Phlogiston]

So, I set my Marantz on top of my Cuda' and I feel complete nirvana.

[PhilcoMike]

Ron,

I have been on Audiokarma for almost 4 years. Go by "PioneerMike" I think I dropped you the link a while back.
Glad you are enjoying it. Just be careful of some of the audiophools discussions.
They have a tendency to degrade into picking the flysh_t out of the pepper.....
In all seriousness it is a great resource for information, schematics, etc.
There is a guy called "markthefixer" that is beyond guru status on Pioneer brand receivers.

Here is a snapshot of my other world, vintage audio gear.
Bogen: CHB 100 Challenger Amp
Bose: 201 and 141
Dual: 510 w/Shure V15 IV
JBL: L-40
Pioneer: CS-99A, SX-850, SX-750
Sansui: 5000A

Thanks,

Mike

[Ron Ramirez]

You may have, Mike, I am sorry but I do not remember.

I've only been hanging out in the Fisher section and Barter Town so far. I don't have a lot of time for reading every part of AK (it is a huge forum), plus here, Facebook including the Facebook Philco page I started but have more or less turned over to Felix-Antoine Gravel due to time constraints...etc. I have to get some workbench time in somewhere.

You have some neat stuff! I remember seeing the Bogen Challenger amps being advertised in the McGee Radio and/or the Burstein-Applebee catalogs back about 100 years ago, just before and just after I moved from Kansas City (where McGee and B-A were located) to Kentucky in 1972. It's funny how I remember seeing the Bogen Challengers in those catalogs, when I never had any interest in those amps.

I have, or had, the Realistic version of the Shure V15 cartridge, but in my last two moves, I do not know what happened to it.

And I just bought the little brother to your Sansui 5000A - a 2000 (not an A or an X, just 2000).

[Arran]

There is one huge difference between stereo gear of the 1960s and 70s verses the so called "Muscle Cars", the "Muscle Cars" were originally purchased by younger buyers, usually in their 20s or 30s, and then ended up being sold second and third hand to still younger drivers. The ones that didn't end up getting crashed by their original owners ended up getting driven into the ground by their second or third owners.
I'm not sure if the same could be said about high end stereo gear in terms of target market, it was generally marketed towards anyone who had money to burn. Also most stereo equipment of it spent it's life inside and was used but not abused, muscle cars by their very nature invited abuse, drag racing, speeding, etc.
While there is a nostalgia craze right now for stereo gear, there also used to be for transistor radios maybe 15-20 years ago. With the transistor radios so much of it came out of the woodwork that now only the early and rare sets get anything above three figures. This doesn't mean that the audio equipment will go the same way, but unlike transistor sets they take up more room, and if it doesn't work there isn't really much to look at.
Regards
Arran

[PhilcoMike]

Arran,

I guess you didn't spend as much time as I did in audio showrooms drooling over the gear that I hoped I could afford. Come to think of it that sounds a lot like being in Chevy dealer showrooms in the late 70's as well......

As for the rough life versus pampered life see how many SX-1950 receivers still remain compared to the ones that ended up on the curb for the trash man. I for one blew my share of output transistors in amps which is kinda of like throwing a rod in a small block at 6K rpm....

I think I'll stand by the analogy.

Thanks,

Mike

[radiohenry]

In the last year I have seen one or two Pioneer AFT11 on E-Bay sell for $50-100. That really suprised me because as far as I understand that may well be the first unit manufactured under the Pioneer name . Previously Pioneer was Fuiken Electronics . ( spelling may be wrong.)I have seen the AFT 11 advertised as Fuiken and also seen it as Pioneer.
It is am,fm sw with dual tuning eyes.
Henry

[Ron Ramirez]

As for the rough life versus pampered life see how many SX-1950 receivers still remain compared to the ones that ended up on the curb for the trash man. I for one blew my share of output transistors in amps which is kinda of like throwing a rod in a small block at 6K rpm....

And, remembering the Sherwood S-8900 I owned as a young adult: I acquired it with bad electrolytics in the power supply. I replaced them, and then had a very nice receiver for several years until it began blowing fuses again. At that point I got rid of it, opting for one of the then-new Pioneers. By that time all of the receivers had gone to the all-black appearance with digital readouts. Needless to say, I don't have that Pioneer anymore. I don't even remember which model it was.

So, you could say that I acquired the Sherwood worn out, rebuilt it enough to make it go several more thousand miles, and then cut my losses when it blew up again.

[Ron Ramirez]

Speaking of Pioneers, radiohenry...Did you folks know that the Allied brand receivers of the late 1960s are rebranded Pioneers? So, I wonder who made Lafayette's receivers? Or Radio Shack's Realistic receivers, for that matter?