1980s b.p.c. stereos, were any of them good??

S

stereorob

Super Member
Banned
we all know the all in one black plastic p.o.s. systems from the 80s, the worst decade of stereo gear. there are many many many of them out there and now they are getting to , dare i say, "vintage" age. :no: anyways, thrift shops are flooded with them and i find one on the side of the road it seems like every trash night. you know, the cheezy double cassette deck, bullshit 5 band e.q., digital tuner, and a ceramic cartrige t.t. thats so cheap i feel like im gunna break it every time i touch it. lol, sad to say, b.p.c. is here to stay, so i guess i have to adapt and change with the times and learn to love this crap. now for my question, were ANY of them any good? seriously, and are any of them collectible or rare? is there anything i should keep my eyes peeled for? soundesign, yorx, mcs series, lxi series, fisher sub-studio-standerd?

any help or opinions would be great! this is not a "rant" or "piss and moan" thread, im just curious of whats out there. :scratch2:
 
Register to hide this ad
I found a late 80s early 90s range model Sherwood for $5 with some Polk Monitor 4.5 for $5 for the set.

The Sherwood sounds pretty nice for a low power receiver. Gave it to my nephew. I would actually use it for myself. 1140 model IIRC.

Low power, warm and clear at low levels. I didn't know that Sherwood was started around '53 in Chicago.
 
Maybe if your 15 and all you can spend is 15 bones for a stereo, but even then I'd would advise to be frugal and diligent at the thrifts and piece a better system together. Some may not sound ear splitting horrible but they are all pretty much junk and most of them will cause permanently damage to playback source, be it vinyl (no counter weight, anti-skate) or cassette (poorly aligned heads forced into the tape).
 
i had a sherood bpc receiver from the 80s awile back, it was called the "optimum digital receiver", i dont remember what model it was but it had a decent sound! i was suprised at the build quality of it too! sherwood made some really nice tube-type gear in the 50s, i have a s-5500 int.amp that i love!
 
Sometimes I think BPC gets such a bad rep on this site for only two reasons. The first being the front panel is plastic and the second is the color. Hence the name.

If it had shiny, silver anodized aluminum face plates a lot of posters wouldn't look down their noses at it. But then, it may not be old enough for the vintage aficionado's.:D
 
i dont mind plastic gear, as long it it doesent have a cheap plastic feel to it, mostly the buttons or knobs, for example a lever made of thin bendable alluminum with a plastic knob at the end, i dont like that... i dont like tapedecks with buttons at the bottom that dont line up evenly,
i dont mind the color though. i think i dislike silver or chrome plastic faces more than black.
i would rather have a black unit made of plastic than a silver one.. or grey for that matter.

i think we use BPC more than just plastic crap because the majority of the plastic ones are black.
 
BPC light airboxes with wildly overpromised specs or BPC-LOOKING things like a Yamaha A700? :scratch2:
 
Did the MCS line go that far? I thought they stopped the MCS line before that time period. Some of their silver stuff was built pretty well.
 
I don't know of any 80's stereo's that are collectible or rare. There might be a few. Maybe some receivers from the early 80's like the Realistic STA 2300, Radio Shack's last 120 watt per channel stereo receiver.
 
BPC?
Ah, BPC!;
"BPC – black plastic crap- cheaply made electronic components that lacked the sonic quality, visual appeal and durability of components most commonly manufactured in the 70’s, but continually produced by some high quality and usually high cost manufacturers. - A step below BOTL.", AK glossary.

First thing I learnt today :D

So there should be nothing collectible about ANY BPC unit, hence the C.
Don't know any unit that looks like a piece of BPC but actually isn't...
 
I am owner of a 80s Kenwood "Black Plastic Crap Computer Controlled Linear Tracking Turntable System P-53"

It was NOS with original packing and I bought it two years ago for nine Euros. Hooked it on my 1958 Harman Kardon TA 230 Stereo Festival Receiver and believe it or not, it sounds fine.

I love this turntable because nobody else loves it. And its a neat contrast to my pretty big Bang&Olufsen turntable collection.
 
In the 'very late 80s' and throughout the 90s Sansui made great amplifiers including alpha amplifiers for it's domestic JN market and a few models for it's selected overseas markets like Germany and England. During this time period they did try to regain thier name after selling all the PBC during the 80s. They never bounced back, but really made some fine audiophile type amplifiers before they went broke and sold the company, first to Polly Peck, then Polly Peck sold to the company to the Chinese (basically). Many of these amplifiers had MOSFETs installed. Unfortunately, many of the parts are extremely hard to impossible to find if you need them, like the MOSFETs.

The AU-1111 is 'said' to be thier 'finest' sounding solid state amplifier. They did produce many 'truly audiophile' models in the 90s for the Japanese market, but they still went broke.
 
Last edited:
davidro said:
Wouldn't NAD3020 series belong to the 80's? Mine's got metal panel I'd have thought though.
Click to expand...


I would not say that the NAD 3020 really belongs into the "b.p.c. category". This is a fine solid made low budget amplifier. Belongs into this era, indeed.
 
HarmanKardon said:
I would not say that the NAD 3020 really belongs into the "b.p.c. category". This is a fine solid made low budget amplifier. Belongs into this era, indeed.
Click to expand...

Same goes for some Yamaha gear...

Although from '84, my R-5 receiver gave me many (as in 20+) years of enjoyment...
 
aidynphoenix said:
i think the nad 3020 looks good except for the push buttons on the front
Click to expand...

Yeah? I quite like it. I'm normally a big fan of knobs but look at this:

f0018137_4c88d61b134de.jpg
 
It looked like BPC to me until I tried to pick it up - the Luxman R-117 (and it's lesser siblings).
160 watts per channel and significant dynamic headroom, MC/MM phono inputs give it significant cred. Plastic buttons and a metal faceplate. This was from after Alpine bought out Luxman and the tuner section has a bit of a car stereo feel to it.
I found mine at the dump for free so you never know. (Stock photo.)
JimB





3-front-R117date.jpg
 
Luxman made some excellent integrated amps as well in the 80's with the unfortunate horrible cheap-ass black plastic styling...the LV-105, 107 & 109 are the ones I've heard. Definitely not junk sound quality wise.

If you don't mind the look (..and feel) of this stuff and you see one of those in a dumpster, don't even think twice about it, just grab it..!!

I personally can't stand that black plastic look and "pez dispenser" feel of the controls of a lot of this 80's gear so I can't bring myself to pick any of this stuff up... :no:
 
stereorob said:
i had a sherood bpc receiver from the 80s awile back, it was called the "optimum digital receiver", i dont remember what model it was but it had a decent sound! i was suprised at the build quality of it too! sherwood made some really nice tube-type gear in the 50s, i have a s-5500 int.amp that i love!
Click to expand...

This one had mostly or all Japanese components inside, even the switches, headphone jack, caps and alps pots. Made in Korea, heavy transformer.

Not bad at all for $5, and I do like those Polk 4.5s that came with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom