Somebody has to do it. I went through a phase of trying to buy better Japanese 70's gear a number of years back and found nothing but trouble. I had a Kenwoood KA-7100, a 60 watt integrated amp, in my late teens which survived into my 40s. Went I went to replace it from units I found on Ebay they were all a mess, some misrepresented as working , some not broken at first necessarily but broke shortly thereafter and deemed un repairable.
I then got the bright idea of buying the TOTL Luxman receivers which I coveted for years and even when old not cheap, half working, orreally basket cases that were also simply not repairable, for a reasonable price anyway.It sounds Like you are interested in restoring/refurbishing the piece you get. I never had a reliable repair person, and burnt boards and such are really ridiculously difficult to find in some cases.
However I have had good luck with older units, from the tube era, and have found good success with Fisher and Sherwood.I have had some successes with a solid state Marantz amp 250 M IIRC (just barely younger than the tube units). I ham handedly made it play a very low ohm load and it caught fire. My BAD! I also really loved a very early Accuphase pre amp. Even that dropped a channel but I traded it for other gear to a guy who could fix it.
I then got the bright idea of buying the TOTL Luxman receivers which I coveted for years and even when old not cheap, half working, orreally basket cases that were also simply not repairable, for a reasonable price anyway.It sounds Like you are interested in restoring/refurbishing the piece you get. I never had a reliable repair person, and burnt boards and such are really ridiculously difficult to find in some cases.
However I have had good luck with older units, from the tube era, and have found good success with Fisher and Sherwood.I have had some successes with a solid state Marantz amp 250 M IIRC (just barely younger than the tube units). I ham handedly made it play a very low ohm load and it caught fire. My BAD! I also really loved a very early Accuphase pre amp. Even that dropped a channel but I traded it for other gear to a guy who could fix it.