• Please note that Audiokarma will be offline briefly for updates early on Monday morning, September 28th.

The Ugliest Receiver Ever? Nikko STA-501

hadrian333

hadrian333

Active Member
nikko1.jpg


I ran across this receiver on ebay and I just had to have it because it was so ugly. After I restored it, I showed it to SoCal Sam and Vintagestereo and they both thought that it was beautiful. It was a shame because when you just see a photo of it, it's hard to tell that the front panel is a solid piece of aluminum extrusion. The knobs are solid aluminum and the lighted power switch actually is quite pretty.

nikko2.jpg


The rear panel shows the usual Nikko signature. As most of you know already, Nikko was the largest supplier of circuit breakers for JNR (Japan National Railroad) and that gave them the start in the electronics industry. This unit uses the self resettable fuses made by Nikko as you can see on the rear panel with the 3 red buttons on the left side of the photo.

nikko3.jpg


The internal photo shows a clean layout. The amplifier is transformer coupled like the AR receiver yielding a very warm sound.

nikko4.jpg


The bottom photo shows 4 T0-3 germanium output transistors. Again, a very clean layout.

Although this receiver is low powered, when I hooked it up to a pair of JBL L110, it actually sounded really good. It's so funky looking that I actually like it. Your thoughts?

With warmest regards,

Tom Ishimoto
Northridge Electronics
 
Register to hide this ad
I like that Nikko!
I think some of the upper end Yamahas are sort of clusterfuckish, but the galaxy commander and it's crazy early-mid 80s brethren are all pretty nasty. JVC had some ugly stuff, as well.
 
Has a similar design feel to the old Allied shortwave radios.

I like it. Well done.

Cheers, Snade
 
Very nice presentation, as always, Tom. Just wish it could have been shown "lit up".

As for the Galaxy Commander, it's still one of my favorites for being so "over the top". :yes: :D
 
If my fugly H-K 450 receiver didn't sound so good....I'd use it as a door stop!
Maybe on Halloween night, I'll get a big box, paint it up to look like an H-K 450 receiver, put candy in it...and see the frightened little children reach for "candy" inside that monstrosity!?

Steve
 
Galaxy Commander? Definitly early-mid 80's when 'digital' crap became the craze. Reminds me of a Pioneer sx-50 I had as a kid, with the little 'map' at the bottom. Honestly looks like an old Pioneer (same vintage as above) mated with a Quasar VCR my uncle used to have... ewww!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom