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Looking for Audio receivers

J

justshoemark

pfm Member
Hi all looking for a good reciver to use.
Looking for one with a big amp side 50w minimum.
What should I look for.
What are the bang olufsen beomasters like? Or are the Japanese ones the ones to go for?
Many thanks
 
Are you looking for a new receiver? Off the top of my head there's the Cambridge Audio AXR line, The Yamaha R-N#A line, and the Outlaw Audio RR2160MkII.
 
They have become crazy expensive.
I've always fancied a B&O 4400, owned a 3000.2 in my young days.
Not easy to source in VGC working order, there's a few Danish specialist resellers which might have stock.
 
Yes they have got expensive. But they would probably cost alot to produce today.
I have a beomaster 4000 in need of repair beomaster 6000 in need of repair.
But not sure if they are worth doing or how to send to. As the cost w
Maybe more then there worth.
 
Flavour of the seventies and maybe early eighties and judging by eBay and other ad's, there are still plenty about, incl. the Sansui, Pioneer and Marantz line-ups. However, your 50 w.p.c. is pushing it for many of those . Had quite a few of these incl. the top Marantz quadraphonic with oscilloscope plus B & O 3000s (impossible to repair !). Good luck but I am sceptical if any of those can hold a candle to more recent amplification in s.q. terms. Beautiful, impressive and a light show they certainly were and are, so good luck with your anachronistic search. :)
 
I use to own a Goodmans 110, got rave reviews when it went on the market. Sounded pretty good to me. Don't be put off by the name, Goodmans made some good audio gear in the 70's
 
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If you are located in Europe (or UK !) you should have a look at a Tandberg receiver.

If elsewhere, a good "monster" receiver from the Japanese known brands is a good option.

FYI : monster receiver means 100 watts/channel and up.
 
Yamaha above is a good shout. I love the higher end Pioneer SX range, SX1250 is a real peach… however any of them are going to need a proper service if it hasn’t already been done (properly) in recent years. A proper service on and elderly receiver like that isn’t just a re-cap, but often a re-wire and several new transistors. It won’t be cheap, but certainly in the case of the pioneer, there’s little below £2k new that’ll come even close.
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
certainly in the case of the pioneer, there’s little below £2k new that’ll come even close.
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Thats interesting as I have often wondered how my Naim Superuniti stack up against these old receivers.

Actually my SU is currently used as upstairs receiver, radio and amp only, even TV works through it but DAC seem sometime a bit muffled, maybe its the broadcast.

Its not 100W or above but that don't annoy me the slightest - its a pretty robust thing (apart from the screen).
 
pfbaat said:
Thats interesting as I have often wondered how my Naim Superuniti stack up against these old receivers.

Actually my SU is currently used as upstairs receiver, radio and amp only, even TV works through it but DAC seem sometime a bit muffled, maybe its the broadcast.

Its not 100W or above but that don't annoy me the slightest - its a pretty robust thing (apart from the screen).
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Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of absolute toss from the 70s that seems to sell based on “retro cool factor”, but some of the higher end Jap stuff is genuinely excellent, stuff that was expensive when it was new. Sony have made some superb gear over the years too. Keep in mind, if the kit I’m talking about were price adjusted for inflation, it’d be very pricey… I think a Pioneer SX1250 would probably be £4-5k in today’s money. It was always premium kit.
 
Bought a Beomaster 5000 (50W/channel) about 12 months ago really for remote functionality and it's ability to drive both passive and active speakers - very pleasantly surprised with it - was running very hot at first but that is a known problem with age and quite easy to rectify.
Also it is quite easy to control capacitance on the phono input due to parallel DIN and RCA input sockets, theoretically it is loaded with 100pf but found they are not fitted.
 
Yes always like the look of the big Japanese ones but again for a good working one there abit out of my range.
Yes I have had a beomaster 5000 before was very good to be honest.
I have managed to find a very kind person on the beoworld forum who is going to take a look at my beomaster 4000 so I may see how that turns out.
 
There are a lot to choose from - Yamaha, Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui - and the European ones that are not nearly as commonly mentioned such as Tandberg, Uher, Nordmende etc, most of which never get a look in.

Just bear in mind they are no longer cheap, and before you buy, you should have someone lined up who can fix them for you when something dies in it. That sounds like I'm trying to put you off, but the reality is that it is likely something will die within the next few years in them (unless completely refurbished, which will of course mean top dollar price) and then you either have a big doorstop, or someone lined up to fix it.

Given that, it seems sensible then to buy one that has lots of information on repair already. This means Marantz, Pioneer in pole position, followed by Sansui and Yamaha. If you want to check this out, just do a search on youtube for "[yourchosenmodel] repair". If there are lots of videos then you can sure there is lots of info out there.
 
I've had a couple of nice receivers over the years, the Tandberg 2075 and the Sansui 9090. The Sansui is a contender for one of the best ever made, and fetches very decent money indeed.
The Sansui was very good - excellent sound, pretty good phono input (bit hissy IIRC but might have been using an MC with it), excellent tuner section pulling in Irish stations in clear hiss free stereo. If you can afford one, a good way to jump.
The Tandberg I had longer ago, but from memory nearly as good in most respects (was using different speakers then so hard to judge definitively, big Tannoys then, Ureis now) and the tuner maybe even superior. Also, the 2075 mk2 is reputed to be even a little better, as is the scarcer final model, the 2080.
Both are beautifully made.
You would be very happy indeed with either, and have, in either case, one of the finest receivers ever in production.
 
The Armstrong 600's were rated at 45Wpc but would do more than that - particularly the later versions. Note also that:

1) The difference in audible level between 50W and 45W is tiny.

2) For musical peaks designs like the 600s deliver rather more than the sinewave RMS rating.
 
fran said:
There are a lot to choose from - Yamaha, Marantz, Pioneer, Sansui - and the European ones that are not nearly as commonly mentioned such as Tandberg, Uher, Nordmende etc, most of which never get a look in.

Just bear in mind they are no longer cheap, and before you buy, you should have someone lined up who can fix them for you when something dies in it. That sounds like I'm trying to put you off, but the reality is that it is likely something will die within the next few years in them (unless completely refurbished, which will of course mean top dollar price) and then you either have a big doorstop, or someone lined up to fix it.

Given that, it seems sensible then to buy one that has lots of information on repair already. This means Marantz, Pioneer in pole position, followed by Sansui and Yamaha. If you want to check this out, just do a search on youtube for "[yourchosenmodel] repair". If there are lots of videos then you can sure there is lots of info out there.
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Absolutely, I’ve done a couple of full restorations on top flight Pioneer receivers and it is no trivial task at all. Any unit that hasn’t had a proper restoration WILL have issues, lots of the small signal transistors go leaky, they’re obsolete, so there’s lots of cross-referencing of data sheets needed to find substitutes (unless you’ve done it before and had the foresight to keep your records safe, I didn’t 😩), every section is on a discrete board… it isn’t really a good thing because they’re all wired together using wire wraps and the wiring will all be brittle, a full re-wire is the only guarantee of reliability… even if you haven’t had to undo the wire wraps, disturbed wires have a habit of fracturing internally causing more hidden issues, … and old electrolytic caps are old electrolytic caps, they will all need replacing. Budget big for that. If I were to bill the same hourly rate as I get paid for my day job, plus parts, the bill will be into four figures.
 
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