Good low-priced stereo recvr?

James Romeyn · « **on:** 18 Apr 2006, 03:05 pm »

Don't even know if any exist, they might be gone in favor of ht. My son-in-law needs one. New, not used. Any suggestions? Thanks all...

jswallac · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 03:32 pm »

Check out the Outlaw Audio RR 2150. It just came out and includes some very nice features such as a USB input. Very retro looking. It even got a pretty nice write-up in Stereophile, for what that is worth.

gitarretyp · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 03:36 pm »

The lower priced marantz receivers are decent.

sts9fan · « **Reply #3 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 03:45 pm »

yamaha rx-777 is pretty nice too

JLM · « **Reply #4 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 04:12 pm »

The new Panny 55 is supposed to be very good for stereo (about $250 delivered from J&R). Wayne from Boulder is a believer.

Bemopti123 · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 05:02 pm »

Any vintage Harman Kardon 30 series, eg: HK 430, 730, 930 receivers. Circa 1970s, all massively well built, sort of sleeper items in ebay. I fetched one myself and I am waiting for its arrival (the Harman Kardon Twin Powered 730.) Paid around $100 for it on ebay. Most likely will make many pre power combos of today a very hard run for the money. If rebuilt, can run on for a good 30 more years.

electricbear · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 06:25 pm »

For good sound quality check out the Rotel RX1052
For the best cost no object Magnum Dynalab is the way to go.
For good value for money Denon DRA685
For inexpensive Integra dtm 5.3

James Romeyn · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 08:26 pm »

Here I was wondering if there would be any response at all! Thanks everyone! Good ideas!

Quote from: Bemopti123

Any vintage Harman Kardon 30 series, eg: HK 430, 730, 930 receivers. Circa 1970s, all massively well built, sort of sleeper items in ebay. I fetched one myself and I am waiting for its arrival (the Harman Kardon Twin Powered 730.) Paid around $100 for it on ebay. Most likely will make many pre power combos of today a very hard run for the money. If rebuilt, can run on for a good 30 more years.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I had a 730 & 430. It's almost impossible to believe but one of them, the 35W 430 I believe, has dual transformers & is actually a DUAL MONO receiver! I saw the transformers w/ my own eyes. It's crazy. Maybe the only one on earth for all I know. Can you imagine a mass-produced dual-mono Asian-sourced receiver, today? Did you really have to pay $100 for a non-rebuilt? The last one I bought was about $25 from a pawn shop.

They do sound unbelievably sweet. But 35 years later you do have to replace almost all the passive parts, plus I'd imagine there's no way you can find semiconductors from the early '70s is there? Weren't they FM only, another high-end indicator that there was no AM for sports & talk radio? I'd love to have one in new condition. But we digress, the son in law needs a new receiver, not one older than he is!

Baranyi · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 08:49 pm »

How much would it cost to rebuild an HK 730. That was the receiver I took to college!

thayerg · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 10:17 pm »

Vintage equipment doesn't always sound good. Compared to more recent good equipment the frequency extremes may not quite cut it. I listened to a massively built HK integrated from the late 'seventies swapped with a recent Rotel. The latter was a whole lot more refined, detailed and transparent. You could make the case that listening to the 'Stones on the HK would be more fun (big bass) but I'd guess listener fatique would have set in long before you'd have finished a single album.

Whoever said "If the first watt sucks why bother?" spoke what I think is the greatest truth of amplification if not audio itself. Believe me, those old class AB amps from when everybody only looked at RMS watts numbers were not necessarily so wonderful in the first watt.

Wayne1 · « **Reply #10 on:** 18 Apr 2006, 11:35 pm »

Quote from: JLM

The new Panny 55 is supposed to be very good for stereo (about $250 delivered from J&R). Wayne from Boulder is a believer.

It is BOLDER, actually

I do use a SA-XR55 in two channel mode in a bedroom system. While it does have 7 channels of amplification in it, you can very easily use it as only a 2-channel receiver. In fact, you can "passively bi-amp" in two channel mode using four of the channels to run to the woofer and tweeter, if the speakers can accept it.

It has multiple digital inputs and analog inputs. It accepts and decodes all the latest DolbyDigital and DBX modes. You can use 4 mm banana plugs on all the speaker wiring. It does have an AM and FM tuner built in.

IMHO it is the best deal out there for a receiver. Used with the XL-S speakers and XL-SUB from AV123 and a SqueezeBox, you can have a great sounding 2 channel rig for around a grand.

avalon65 · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Apr 2006, 02:14 am »

Quote from: sts9fan

yamaha rx-777 is pretty nice too

I'll second this. I just replaced my strictly 2-channel RX-770 with their latest RX-797. The nice thing about these Yammies is they have good power, a classic purist look, clean remote and sound very pleasing. My shameless plug is if you're interested in RX-770 let me know. I don't believe you mentioned how much you or your son-in-law are willing to spend.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Apr 2006, 02:39 am »

Quote from: Wayne1

It is BOLDER, actually

So it is!

In all the time you've been here I've always read "Boulder" too!

BradJudy · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 Apr 2006, 03:04 am »

Wayne doesn't like being mixed up with the fruits from my neck of the woods.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #14 on:** 25 Apr 2006, 07:22 pm »

Quote from: thayerg

Vintage equipment doesn't always sound good. Compared to more recent good equipment the frequency extremes may not quite cut it. I listened to a massively built HK integrated from the late 'seventies swapped with a recent Rotel. The latter was a whole lot more refined, detailed and transparent. You could make the case that listening to the 'Stones on the HK would be more fun (big bass) but I'd guess listener fatique would have set in long before you'd have finished a single album.

Whoever said "If the f ...

Thayerg
I suppose the old HK integrated wasn't rebuilt? What if all it's passive parts were replaced? Do the silicone semiconductors muddy w/ age? Transformers? I'm sure it's meaningless anyway, because totally rebuilding a virtually zero value receiver makes so little financial sense. The only exception is if the owner got tons of joy from having an old vintage ss receiver restored to or exceeding its originaly glory. But who wants to live without a remote? Obviously the older receivers, especially w/ real wood cases, look much better. It's much more difficult to find a good tech to service old ss components vs. decades ago. And very expensive, because the guys who do it know they are extremely rare. It doesn't make financial sense. I needed a ss amp & thought about getting one a few years old out of warranty. That makes littel financial sense also, IMO. Good service is very rare & expensive nowadays.

I can't believe we got to 2 pages on this post!

mcrespo71 · « **Reply #15 on:** 25 Apr 2006, 07:44 pm »

Quote from: RibbonSpeakers.net

Don't even know if any exist, they might be gone in favor of ht. My son-in-law needs one. New, not used. Any suggestions? Thanks all...

It's hilarious how everyone ignores the original posters requirement for a NEW receiver. I guess people only read the thread title nowadays.

James Romeyn · « **Reply #16 on:** 25 Apr 2006, 11:15 pm »

Yes, they even got me on the bandwaggon waxing eloquently about old audio gear gone decades ago! And I started the thread!

Bemopti123 · « **Reply #17 on:** 26 Apr 2006, 01:41 am »

Quote from: RibbonSpeakers.net

Yes, they even got me on the bandwaggon waxing eloquently about old audio gear gone decades ago! And I started the thread!

I call this creative "hijacking" of a thread..But, responding to Crespo's comment, I saw the title of the thread without bothering to take into account the "New" word. Maybe this was due to my fetching an old HK receiver.

I know that the cost of refurbishing caps and other components might not make sense at all with almost a 30 year old receiver, but then, many things in like make little financial sense....easier to junk something not working and get something new, but there is this satisfaction in owning a piece of very good functioning vintage gear...that is why they are called "classics."

New is good to an extent, but I am going back to an era, to see what it sounds like. I got the receiver and before I shipped it to be reworked, I hooked it up and it sounded very good...powerful, not like a 45 watt receiver it is. I got to open the top and wow, checked those two beauty of transformers in the unit. When I get it back, I will put it neck to neck against the better reference gear I have and see what it was all about.

markmarc · « **Reply #18 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 01:44 pm »

For $600 the Outlaw is a very good choice. One of my writers did the very first review in the January issue. A real bargain would be the HK 3480 for about $250 shipped for a refurb unit from HK's eBay website. Comes with the full manufacturer's warranty, and at 120 wpc should have no problem driving most quality speakers.