Old Classic Receivers: A Mistake to Buy?

So did he ever buy anything?  Do you still think it was overpriced KEV?  Check out the prices today!!  You could have made a fortune even if you didn't like the way it sounded.  I sure do love the way all my old 70s Marantz gear sounds and it all performs flawlessly!!  I have Marantz 2385 2285b 2500,  several 300dcs and 170dcs and 3250s 1180dcs on and on and on.  People are blown away when they come to my house to hear my rigs.  Occasionally the pots need to be sprayed with dioxit but that's it!!  I have had a few pieces recapped but they often sound identical to the ones that haven't been recapped.  The stuff today is junk.  The 70s Marantz were the best sounding stereo compononts off all time period end of story.  Seperates were better than receivers but even receivers blow away new stuff.  The boards are so thick and have so much copper in them you wouldn't believe it!  I've tried newer amps with massive power and they have nice solid bass but the mids are harsh and tinny sounding.  You asked if anyone has had it for more than four years?  Me and it's all forty years old so I think it's built well!  It's hard to take someone seriously that doesn't actually own the gear and do side by side testing.  The new Marantz $2000 receivers weight like 20lbs.  They are alarm clocks Kev!

Love reading these posts about the vintage gear.
I too am into vintage. 
All my Marantzs’ from the 70’s sounds awesome and wouldn’t trade or sell it for anything.

i guess it’s whatever your into.

smokey

Old receivers are all ancient history as the parts are toast.Many people have no cash so they must use junk and pretend it sounds good.

I just put together a vintage bedroom system around a rebuilt Marantz 2265b by Mike Zuccaro and Spendor SP-1 speakers. It shocked me just how musical, non fatiguing, and enjoyable this system sounds.

I have to partially agree with the original statement.  Think of a stereo receiver as a rotting basket of fruit.  Once that fruit has finished rotting, you have to cut out all the ortten parts and in many cases it's just not worth it.

In 1967 our family bought a 140w sherwood 7800 AM/FM receiver.  By 1984-5 it was not working properly.  Turns out the selector switch had rusted.  But, it failed in a way (Only the FM section wasn't working) that appeared like it was an electronics issue.  I am kind of a klutz (despite graduating the previous year with an EECS degree from MIT), and screwed it up a lot before I figured out the actual problem.

If you have ever worked on a British-Leyland car (triumph, mg, mini cooper), you will understand.  If you don't drive those cars for 30d, everything stops working, all the electrics are brass and they corrode and stop working.  The car must be driven or else it fails - totally, and i mean everything, no ignition, no headlights, no nothing!

With many stereo receivers this can happen too.  Although nearly 100% of components can be replaced with modern components, i think a lot of people buy these items for the challenge and because they are handy enough to swap the components themselves and they enjoy having the look of vintage items in their house.  The more modern (1982+) stereo receivers had excessive feedback amplifiers to get the specs down to 0.08% or 0.05% THD.  That really screws up the sound in some way that many people can't quite explain.  So they buy an older receiver with the 0.25%, 0.5%, or 1% THD (our state-of-the-art FET Sherwood 7800 is an example of a great receiver with 1% THD).  Having said this, I just bought a vintage 1990's cassette deck, a Yamaha KX-W952, and it just arrive at my house 30m ago ...

By the way, our Sherwood S-7800 cost $349 in 1967.  I am amused that today you can have one for the low-low price of $255-$299.  Not worth it, imho.  Once you experience a "do not repair" stereo component, you are through, for life ...