I think I like this unit already. We recently had a station change formats from one I listened to one I won't. I thought I was going to lose that format, but they relocated on the dial to a weaker station that nothing in my house picks up, until this Tandberg showed up, without the Magnum Sleuth that I got with it, just the T-antenna laying on the table.
Tandberg was hard to find and expensive when new. I read that the TR-2075 was about $1000 in another thread. That was probably $200 more than the similarly powered Luxman (R-1070) which we know was at a premium price point. I can see the different construction may have caused this high price on Tandberg units.
There is no stamped sheet metal chassis with the boards mounted to it. This receiver's chassis is a framework of extruded aluminum pieces. There is a picture of the tops of the meters that shows the disconnects for the meter lights and the stereo indicator led. Simply unplugging these from the board and a couple screws releases the top half of the front panel, FM dial, meters and such. Other sections can be removed also. I have included a picture of the 40 wpc Onkyo TX-2500II for comparison, the Tandberg is 45 wpc. One obvious difference is the Onkyo has an enclosed transformer. I don't know if this makes a difference.
As far as the cabinets of these two, the Onkyo has a stamped sheet metal, wood-grained vinyl covered piece to cover the sides and top. The Tandberg has two rosewood veneer side panels and a top made up of a veneered piece and another extruded aluminum piece all of which interlock. The aluminum chunk is the piece with the cooling slots in it. All I can think is Ka-Ching $$$, even compared to the full wooden surrounds on many components from the era.
The Tandberg also has 5 presets for the FM (well it is FM only). This system of buttons and tuning knobs is interesting in a non-digital tuner. The tuning knobs below the buttons can be removed as a set which was good because three of the knobs were not right (split or broken where they attach) and needed to be glued back on to the adjustable resistor shafts, if that is what they are. The signal strength meter converts to a station indicator when using the presets, giving a total of 6, if you count the station tuned on the dial. Nice feature for a low end receiver.
This unit is a later unit from Tandberg with the black/white dial and not the blue dial I prefer, but for a later unit, why was Tandberg limiting the unit by providing only DIN connections for the two tape decks and phono? Earlier units have both. Saving the home market at the expense of more business in the rest of the world?, while cutting costs? I guess I see why they are no longer producing these types of units.
I picked up a Marantz Model 18 for Bolly a few months back and had it hooked up to my Magneplanars for a test drive. This 40-wpc Marantz was very impressive in sound quality and bass power with these power hungry speakers. I have not tried the Tandberg on these speakers yet, but that is next. The other units I have tried are a Pioneer SA 9500, SA-8800, Kenwood KR-710 and a Sansui AU-777. None of these could touch that Marantz. If the Tandberg is even close I will be very happy even though it will be driving other speakers.