Quartz synthesized receivers of the 80s....any good?

z-adamson

Addicted Member
Been seeing a lot of these lately...

Seem to always have the silverish face, wood sides + back and a large black digital display.

Many have good specs ie. 100wpc, 8 ohms, 0.05% tdh.

Anyhow, what is the consensus here regarding these receivers?
 
I have an Onkyo TX-3000 (1981), which is the center of my main system.
It's a fantastic receiver, with a very nice warm tone to it.
The higher end Onkyo units of its time began to integrate in a digital displays.

Googled pic:
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What about Realistic sta2500, sta2600, sansui z7000, z9000?

Not worth a hoot for collectability, resale value is nill, but specs look good on paper. Not sure about their restorability.
 
They're all good when they're working properly. At their age more often than not there will a problem somewhere and are ready for servicing.
 
yes, they are great. but caveat, if an fm section problem arises - harder to fix as the chipset might be difficult
 
A lot to of these receivers perform really well and haven't seen the appreciation that some of the older more classic gear has.

Before diving in, really check the forum for info on service issues. As motorstereo and quaddriver noted these units use a lot of integrated circuits and hybrid components that may no longer be available and also impossible to find substitutes for.

Tom
 
A lot to of these receivers perform really well and haven't seen the appreciation that some of the older more classic gear has.

Before diving in, really check the forum for info on service issues. As motorstereo and quaddriver noted these units use a lot of integrated circuits and hybrid components that may no longer be available and also impossible to find substitutes for.

Tom

Certainly not a fan of ebay semis. But between places like Bdent and ebay, looks like for now the ICs are at least available for the 2600.
 
A lot to of these receivers perform really well and haven't seen the appreciation that some of the older more classic gear has.

Before diving in, really check the forum for info on service issues. As motorstereo and quaddriver noted these units use a lot of integrated circuits and hybrid components that may no longer be available and also impossible to find substitutes for.

Tom
Even service manuals seem hard to find.

How would you come up with bias, offset setting procedures?
 
The Luxman R-117 is highly regarded.
I also vote for the Pioneer SX-D7000.
 
One of may favorites, although I just sold it last week, was my MCS 3248 (NEC built). 45 clean WPC with sliding top wood cabinet.....simple and handsome and sounded the same way. The guy I sold it to (off of CL) actually researched it and saw in here on AK from the threads I posted about it last year. He emailed me a day after he got it telling me how much he liked it. The 3233 I picked up (Arvin built) that has less power but the matrix sound go for more money but is not nearly as well built as the 3248.

The Realistic STA-95 is from the same era (1980ish) and one I will never sell. It was my uncle's, who bought it new, and sat un-used for a looooong time. It is a great sounding receiver.

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I have this 1980 Sansui 3900Z. At 18 pounds it sounds, works and looks good enough but I never us it. Rated 40 watts, doesn't sound like it has any more.
It deserves more credit than I give it. I say it was at the tail of the good Sansui.
 

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I have this 1980 Sansui 3900Z. At 18 pounds it sounds, works and looks good enough but I never us it. Rated 40 watts, doesn't sound like it has any more.
It deserves more credit than I give it. I say it was at the tail of the good Sansui.
I have the 3900z, 4900z, 5900z, 7900z, and the 8900zdb and they all sound absolutely wonderful. As to specifially the 3900z, I built a set of speakers that will handle the 3900z at full throttle, but not much more. Even at full volume there is no discernible distortion whatsoever. And it is very loud for the rated 40 wpc. It does indeed have a little more than the 40 watts, but like everything else, that is the level at which they spec out for distortion. These units are very underrated simply because of their predecessors, the G line. When in fact, they are of pretty much the exact build quality aside from just lacking a few features that the G line has. A subsonic filter being one of the essential missing features for turntable use. That and the motorized volume control for the 7900z, 8900zdb, and the 9900z.
 
I have the 3900z, 4900z, 5900z, 7900z, and the 8900zdb and they all sound absolutely wonderful. As to specifially the 3900z, I built a set of speakers that will handle the 3900z at full throttle, but not much more. Even at full volume there is no discernible distortion whatsoever. And it is very loud for the rated 40 wpc. It does indeed have a little more than the 40 watts, but like everything else, that is the level at which they spec out for distortion. These units are very underrated simply because of their predecessors, the G line. When in fact, they are of pretty much the exact build quality aside from just lacking a few features that the G line has. A subsonic filter being one of the essential missing features for turntable use. That and the motorized volume control for the 7900z, 8900zdb, and the 9900z.
Yep. it works good. But I'm not seeing the build quality. And if this 3900z is 40watts then my 50 watt 5000A is 100. My little 3500 even kicks it around.
 
That Onkyo is nice, but my inner nitpicker is nagging me because it is quartz locked, not quartz synthesized. The difference is they use a conventional tuner with a quartz circuit to tweak the tuning, while a true synthesized tuner uses varactor (solid state) tuning diodes and no moving parts. There were a few with digital readouts but regular tuners (pioneer F-5 tuner, Onkyo TX 8500 mkII, SAE VI tuner, Kenwood KR-7X0 series receivers, Nikko Gamma 40 tuner and some others.. Anything later than early 80's is probably digital synthesized. My 2 1/2 cents...
 
Yep. it works good. But I'm not seeing the build quality. And if this 3900z is 40watts then my 50 watt 5000A is 100. My little 3500 even kicks it around.
Build quality went down with just about everything after 1980. And the switch from TO-3 outputs to the MT200 didn't help much either as far as heat dissipation goes. If your 3900Z isn't putting out the 40 watts into 8 Ohms, then something must be wrong. And to let you know, I also have other Sansui receivers as well. My main unit is a 9090DB plus I have the QRX-6001 and QRX-7001 Quads as well.
 
I have this 1980 Sansui 3900Z. At 18 pounds it sounds, works and looks good enough but I never us it. Rated 40 watts, doesn't sound like it has any more.
It deserves more credit than I give it. I say it was at the tail of the good Sansui.
Those Z units are pretty good.I've had a couple.
 
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