Vintage receivers???

tonykay

Read a few reviews on XM radio today.............almost every one said, good programming, terrible SQ.............If that's the case it doesn't seem like something I'd want to pay a subscription fee for . In all fairness, the reviews I found were at least two years old, so perhaps things are better. Seems that in the push to provide a high number of channels and appeal to the largest subscriber base, they've compressed the audio and quality sucks..............Just regurgitating what I read, no personal experience with it.............Being able to listen to my flavor of the day would be great, but if the sound is as bad as people claim.........well, my system is pretty decent. I can easily hear differences in CD recording quality, so bad radio would likely be a no-go for me...............thanks though :)

I did a complete overhaul of a Marantz 2270 that I bought a few years ago with a kit that had all the instructions and parts. I also bought new high quality filter caps for the power supply. It’s really not that hard to do over several evenings and, with a multimeter, one can easily bias the new output amps, and adjust the phono section, tuner and other parts of the circuitry just fine. The hardest part was installing the new vellum, led lights for the dial, and replace and adjust the string for the tuner pointer. The end result is wonderful and the sound quality is superb. Doing the project allowed me to appreciate the high level of workmanship and design that went into these components. They don't build them like this anymore. The quality of Marantz was tops in the 70s and it is easy to see why they charged a premium for their receivers relative to Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood and others.

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.

shadowcat2016,

I can't really defend the SQ of XM radio. I only listen to it in the car. I am hard pressed to find enough time at home to sit and listen to my CDs, cassettes and vinyl, let alone the radio. As always, my comments are probably unique to me, but I did leave FM radio (in favor of XM)  behind back in 2005, and I've never looked back. I'm not even sure what it costs anymore (I pay annually, but whatever it is, it's well worth it to me! Just for the nostalgia of it, I would be interested in a McIntosh MR78 or a Marantz 10B, if I could find one at a reasonable price.