Optonica receiver SA 5905
- Thread starter richd860
- Start date
This stuff was on the market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Balify is exactly correct; you might want to post in the Vintage Solid State forum for specs. This is the right place to ask about pricing. If you decide to keep one please consider a recap and tuner alignment after all these years. Good luck!
Bluebook says it was 125 wpc and retailed for $800 in 80-81. Sounds like you might have a worthwhile pickup there Rich.
Damn! That is a looker:thmbsp:. Is that a pic of your 5905 Rich?
I bought a SA5905 today. I'll just say the price was very right and I'll decide later if I should keep it or not. It sounds like this may be a highly sought after unit and when I'm done with it, it will be very sweet, indeed! Right now it's trashed and needs a thorough cleaning. I am going to rebuild the wood casing this summer. It's been battered and the vinyl wood grain cover is delaminating. I will decide whether to redo it in particle board like it is and recover in vinyl wood grain or use a nice whole grain piece of wood. Doing the latter would indeed make this unit a one of a kind. The first thing will be to clean all the electrical components. Then I can put it on the scope to check circuit paths before connecting any peripherals.
If anyone is interested, I just ran across an Ebay listing for a brand new unopened box SA5905! The story is sad. The gal that owns this is getting help from someone to help her sell stuff from her mom's house. Back in the late 70's, her dad wanted some TOTL stuff, went to the stereo shop and the salesperson sold him the 5905 and Cerwin Vega U321's. The dad brought them home, put them in his man cave basement to set up and he passed away! The boxes, unopened were left in the same spot all this time! The helper sold the speakers and has the 5905 on Ebay for what may be the decent price of $2500. With no market data, it's tough to know if this is high or low. One sold in 2020 on the Canuck Audio Mart for $1250US. I'll share this on a couple of the other AK Optonica SA5905 queries as well.
If anyone is interested, I just ran across an Ebay listing for a brand new unopened box SA5905! The story is sad. The gal that owns this is getting help from someone to help her sell stuff from her mom's house. Back in the late 70's, her dad wanted some TOTL stuff, went to the stereo shop and the salesperson sold him the 5905 and Cerwin Vega U321's. The dad brought them home, put them in his man cave basement to set up and he passed away! The boxes, unopened were left in the same spot all this time! The helper sold the speakers and has the 5905 on Ebay for what may be the decent price of $2500. With no market data, it's tough to know if this is high or low. One sold in 2020 on the Canuck Audio Mart for $1250US. I'll share this on a couple of the other AK Optonica SA5905 queries as well.
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Yes! I was glad to see the reply here and on a couple of other Optonica threads! Mahalo!!
Or, just start a new thread.
I wanted to preserve the consistency of the old threads and first see if there were people still being pinged, reading and responding to the old threads which we see thanks to responses and dialogues like yours. And especially since I read that there were those keeping an eye out for the SA5905. I deduced that they had a better chance of seeing the original thread because of their query here rather than starting a new thread were they wouldn't get pinged and know there was a brand new 5905 available. Mahalo for assisting to reaffirm my logic.
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markshan
Sir Thrift a Lot
Why not particle board then a nice real wood laminate?
I could go that route. What's your perspective? I have options. Either way, it will be a fun project. It would be more cost effective with particle board and laminate. But I may splurge for a nice whole grain.
jberger
Super Member
I'd be afraid that a solid piece of wood might warp over time from uneven heating on one side. Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) is very smooth and stable (as long as it stays dry, like Gremlins), and gives you a good surface for an exotic wood veneer. Use sharp finetoothed blades when cutting for a smooth cut.
Mahalo, I appreciate your perspective! I'd look for hard wood and should have been cured if I go that route. I understand what you're saying about moisture content. I'm pretty good with wood working, not an expert but good. But now that you're making me think about it, a good wood veneer would be nice and that in itself can be expensive enough and that gives me more choices. I couldn't get my head away from the cheap adhesive backed wood looking vinyl! LOL. I'm used to thinking about laminates for table tops and such! LOL. This has reminded me of a little Padauk wood veneer I did for the dash of my boat many years ago. It's still there!
