Category: Vintage Hi-Fi

Among the "monster" receivers of the late 1970s, this was never one of my favorites, although I understand it is very much sought-after by collectors. There was just something about the design I found off-putting.

Sansui AU-2000 Integrated Stereo Amplifier (1977-79)

I think I just orgasmed.

(But not $3800 worth. Yes, that's what they're asking for it.)

Beautiful.

Pioneer TX-8500, SA-8500II, and JBL L-100s, all from the late 1970s. Unobtainable back in the day, but after a quick perusal of eBay, surprisingly within reach today. Hmmm….

Nope, nope. Don't need any of it. And my husband would kill me. Anyway, I'm still waiting to get my good Kenwood receiver back from service so I just need to be patient.

And honestly, I don't play vinyl nearly as much as I used to…although I do go through periods!

Financially unobtainable back then…

…and even more so now.

Sony STR-6800 and a pair of mirrored Yamaha NS-1000M loudspeakers. Personally, this was always my favorite Sony design aesthetic, and those Yammies…what can be said? Probably some of the best sounding speakers I've ever heard. Out of reach financially back in the day, and nearly so today (if you can even find them in such beautiful condition as presented here).

I really struggled with a title for this post. I thought about Forget Everything I've Said Previously: Vintage Audio SUCKS, Geeking Out, and Done With It, but now that I've calmed down I settled on what you see above.

[Warning: Heavy stereo geek rambling ahead. Proceed at your own risk!]

As you probably don't remember, last May I put a bid in—and won—a vintage Kenwood KR-7400 stereo receiver. After receiving it and assessing the condition, I dutifully delivered it to my service guy in Prescott and we discussed what I wanted done. In addition to all the usual stuff (replacing capacitors and other out-of-spec components and generally getting it running) I also obviously wanted him to replace the dial bulbs since half of them were burnt out. I didn't want his usual LED upgrade as I'd attempted that on my previous KR-7400 and I didn't like the results (too many visual hot spots), but rather he replace them with more incandescent bulbs.

I heard from him in November when he started work on the unit. He told me that the type of bulbs used in the 7400 weren't being made any more, but he could hand-solder leads onto the nearest type of bulb which would work both electrically and physically in the unit. I told him to go ahead, having every confidence that this would produce the desired results.

I picked up the finished unit about ten days ago. It looked and worked great in his shop, but by the time I got it home, something had come lose, and one of these custom bulbs wasn't working. A cursory glance told me that it had actually burnt out. I wasn't a happy boy was pissed!

Changing out these bulbs isn't a simple matter; Kenwood soldered everything into place (sound like any other recent—cough, cough, Apple—company?) so it wouldn't just be a matter of popping another one in a socket. I told Randy about the bulb and he said that one of the solder joints had probably come loose and shorted while transporting it back home. I told him that I probably should've listened to him and gone the LED route initially, but if I was going to have to drive it all the way back up to Prescott for him to fix, I'd like to go ahead and use LEDs since the original bulbs weren't available any longer. He said he didn't know if he had the necessary type in stock, so I said I'd go on eBay and see if I could find an LED kit that met with his approval and deliver it to him along with the receiver.

I found a kit, asked him if it would be what he needed, and ordered it.

Then, late last week, while going through stuff in preparation for our move next month, I happened across a complete set of original dial bulbs that I'd bought for my previous 7400 back in 2016. I didn't use them because I ended up going with LEDs at the time.

Taking this as a sign from the gods, I got in touch with Randy and told him what I'd found and said I'd attempt the repair myself; that I'd done this type of thing on this model in the past and didn't blow anything up, so…fingers crossed!

While the LED kit arrived last week, I decided to stick with the incandescent bulbs, and undertook the project this afternoon. I swapped out the one burnt out bulb, but it was dimmer than Randy's replacements, so I ended up swapping them all out. It was white-knuckle stuff at times, because I am not good with a soldering iron, but they're all replaced and the dial now has a nice, uniform brightness across the entire length.

Why go to so much trouble for what are essentially running lights? One of the things I always liked about the illumination on this unit was how it seemed to change color; during the day it had a decidedly blue-green tinge, but at night it was very obviously blue.

I've been spinning vinyl since I got it all buttoned up this afternoon, and I'm absolutely blown away by how it sounds. I remember now why I kept this particular model for so many years, and once proclaimed it as being "the last vintage receiver I'll ever want or need." My previous 7400 sounded good with the Infinity loudspeakers I had since graduating high school, but this one absolutely sings with my JBL L166s.

I remember drooling over this line at Jerry's Audio. IMHO, some of the most beautiful receivers ever made.

Financially unobtainable to me back in the day when it was new. Even more so today.

I always loved the look of AKAI gear, even though I never owned any. The company had the 70s brushed aluminum design aesthetic down to a T, but were different enough from the big players at the time to stand out.

Like my comment? ?

I used to have a hundred of these things. Now, maybe a handful squirreled away somewhere and nothing to play them on.

Akai made some really cool equipment back int he day. I loved their design aesthetic, even though I never owned any.

I always liked the look of this series of Technics receivers, but I was never impressed by the sound.

These mini components came out shortly after Technics units appeared on the scene. Initially I had some buyer's regret with Technics because these Mitsubishi units seemed…well…more. Now, some 40 years later I think the Technics have them totally beat on aesthetics, if not raw power.

Cosmetically, it's near-perfect. Functionally? It's rough, especially the tuner section. And save for two, all the dial lamps are burnt out. The controls are noisy and need serious cleaning, and of course there are a ton of capacitors that need to be replaced.

I notified my guy in Prescott of this new purchase and he said he'd worked on this model before and it will be "significantly easier" than "those little silver wonder boxes" I had him working on previously.

So it looks like another day trip up north is in the works…and if all goes well, I'll have this back by Christmas.

We all have our hobbies obsessions.

I spotted this beauty on eBay a couple days ago. It's a Kenwood KR-7400 stereo receiver, dating from 1975. It's the same model receiver I'd owned since 2005—thinking it would be the last bit of vintage gear I'd ever want or need because it sounded so phenomenal—but foolishly let go of in the aftermath of the fire 18 months ago. The auction described it as "powering up and playing, but no other testing was done." Except for a few minor scuffs on the veneered edge panels, it is in excellent cosmetic condition.

The auction had a buy-it-now price I could not ignore. I should have it by the end of the week. I'm calling it an early birthday present to myself.

To be honest, at the time of the fire I hadn't been using its predecessor. But I didn't want to ever get rid of it. It was stored in the den closet, one of two areas that bore the brunt of water damage. I'd also somewhat fallen out of love with it with the arrival of my quirky Technics units a few months earlier and frankly, it needed some TLC that I did not have the skill set to provide. (I attempted to swap out the burnt out incandescent dial lights with LEDs and let's just say I was not happy with the results.)

Still, as the months drew on, I regretted abandoning it. This prompted the purchase a year ago of the model that came out a year later that replaced it, the KR-6600. As excellent a receiver the 6600 is, I've never been fully enamored of it.

Ironically, it was that purchase that prompted me to search out a competent vintage service tech because while it worked just fine, it arrived with a few minor issues that needed to be addressed (not the least of which were the 40 year-old undoubtedly long-out-of-spec capacitors lurking under that metal top case that the previous owner specifically noted had not been replaced).

And that is why the quirky Technics units went north to be refurbished first. While the tech I found came highly recommended by the vintage community, I didn't want to risk having that new-to-me Kenwood trashed; the Technics units would be a test to show me if the guy knew what he was doing.

And as I mentioned, he more than proved himself.

So…depending on the actual condition this new purchase arrives in, either it or the 6600 will be the next project for my technician.

October 1999. I don't really remember the events leading up to it, but I must've been bored at work and thought I'd start throwing out some search terms on eBay. Imagine my surprise therefore, when this beauty from 1979 came up in the results.

I remember when these first arrived on the scene. I was entranced by the design. Similar to Pioneer of the era, but the LED power meters were definitely something new. (These came out around the same time as the quirky C01 series components.) I don't remember at this point if I saw these or the C01 series first, but in any case I was blown away.

Then I priced this series of receivers. The higher-end models with all the bells and whistles (which, naturally, I wanted) were out way out of my budget even back in 1979.

But on eBay 20 years later? Bidding was modest. Initial bid was $79, and by the time I jumped into the fray it was around $135 as I recall. I put in a bid for $200 and waited.

Several days later, I got notice that I'd won the bidding. I got this monster for $159! After several months of use, however, I began to miss my old Yamaha gear and ultimately replaced that and ended up selling the Technics. I can't tell you how much I wish I'd held onto it (like an embarrassingly large number of so many other pieces of hifi that have passed through my hands over the years).

I couldn't find any current listings for this model on eBay, but this auction shows how much these units have appreciated over the last 20 years since those heady first days of eBay.