Sherwood S-7100A Receiver

Another amazing low wattage amp arrived this week, the Sherwood S-7100A receiver. This unit has a beautiful walnut veneer case. The unit is rated at 18 watts per channel and is quite highly regarded.

Under rated to the Pioneer's and Marantz of the same era but an absolute great sound receiver. The bass is full and the sound stage is spot on. I had this unit powering the Visonik Euro 7's and I am impressed.

I cleaned the pots and need to replace the bulbs.

The Classic Receivers site has a good write up on this unit as does Seventies Stereo.

Along with the Yamaha CR-400 I am really enjoying the low wattage receivers.

Single Ended Tube Amp

A little update on the Electrohome tube amp that I recently picked up, first off it is a Single Ended tube amp as opposed to a Push/Pull tube amp. There is a tone of debate on which sounds better and for the price I paid for my amp there is no debate.

The 6BQ5 tubes run around 5.7 watts per channel of pure Class A power, plenty of power for very efficient speakers at a normal to semi loud listening level.

I have run the gauntlet of speakers through this amp and only two pairs really shine and bring out the best in the audio signal and believe me this amp is extremely revealing, open and absolutely clean and clear, so much I hear things I never heard before.

So, which speakers sounded best with this amp?

Tannoy Oxford Gold, hands down winner....

There is something about the horn loaded tweeter that is spot on with this amp. The Oxford Golds are 93db efficient and the 10" woofer rounds out the solid bass perfectly. The tweeters are nearly time aligned with the woofer, so the sound is great. The highs sparkle, the mid range is spot on as if you are in a studio with the musicians and instruments right in front of you, it really is amazing to listen through these speakers. When listening to my audio sources through solid state equipment, the Tannoy's do not shine as well as they do with tubes.

Another great speaker to run with the tube amp is the Sound Dynamics 10S, once again a very efficient speaker at around 96db, the bass is much fuller with the Sound Dynamic but the overall sound is more like you are at an 1000 seat concert room.

The recessed horn loaded tweeter throws out a wider sound stage and is not recording studio precise as the Tannoy's. These speakers are time aligned due to the recess of the tweeter, smooth across the mid range and deep in the bass. Like I said these are like you are at the concert where as the Tannoy's you are in the studio.

I am absolutely  awe struck in what I am currently listening to and feel that I have reached a peak in performance and I will find it hard to top this set up.

Current vintage audio stuff for sale in Vancouver

My collection is pretty good and deep right now and I need to sell a few gems.

Speakers for sale from  my collection:

EPI 100V, Classic old school speaker fully refurbished with Solen caps, how they should have made it originally.
Absolute pristine condition. $150.00. Stands not included.

SOLD

Celestion Ditton DM110, Great British loudspeaker, made even better with new Solen Caps. Excellent sound stage made even better post upgrade. Stands not included $120.00. Grills in perfect condition.

Camber 2.5 Speakers, A well made Canadian classic that can rival an Energy 22. Super deep bass for a 7 inch woofer and a perfect sound stage image. Mirror imaged and an exceptional build quality. $120.00 stand not included. Grill in perfect condition.

SOLD

Well matched Rotel RX-830 receiver with a pair re capped Mission 700 Leading Edge speakers with Solen caps. I can not say enough about these two pieces together, you would swear the musicians are right in front of you. $200.00 gets you on the road to great vintage sound.

Aurex SA-5000, Same as the Toshiba SA-5000. 50 watts per channel of Direct Coupled goodness. Seriously well built amp from when Toshiba was at their best in home audio/visual. Toshiba is not as well known but made exceptional products in the 80's. $120.00

JVC R-S33 Receiver, second from the top of the line, this JVC receiver is a strong 40 watts per channel that runs "Class A" amp with "Class B", like a hybrid. The best in design and aesthetics from JVC in the 80's. $120.00

Local cash sales in Vancouver only.

Contact me through the Blog at psdave@gmail.com

Realistic STA-84 Receiver

I stumbled across a 1977 Realistic STA-84 receiver that was in mint condition with the original owners manual still taped to the unit.

This receiver was rated at 25 watts per channel and has a cool glide path FM in the tuner and quadraphonic sound

It was exceptionally clean when I opened the beautiful real wood veneer cover. Just a bit of dust was scattered when the compressed air hit it.

It appears to be a really well made Japanese receiver with a pretty heavy transformer and two 5600uf caps neatly in place.

The amplifier rail has Sanyo electronics installed so I wonder if Sanyo had made this to Realistic spec?

This unit shows no scratches in the face plate of the veneer case, it is absolutely mint for it's vintage.

I cleaned the pots and the volume slider with contact cleaner, this removed the scratchiness from the unit.

I also found that the "Perfect Loudness" was really muddy in the bass region and the unit sounds best when the bass and treble are at this setting.

So what a bout the sound? Well this is the second Realistic receiver that I have owned and I was impressed with the System-7 that I sold off about a year ago.

The sound from what little information there is out there that it is a warm tube like sound and that the 25 wpc are a little understated.

Once I got the system up and running I was simply astonished in how good this unit sounds. The STA-84 as I had set it up had the perfect amount of bass that was clean, very clean. Where this unit really shines is in the mid range and how well the transparency is in the music. The highs where spot on with out being brash or harsh.

I managed about 5 hours of listening time since Saturday and have run the receiver with speakers that image really well already but this amp kicked it up the sound stage to a new level. 

So far I have run mostly 2-way speakers including the B&W D5, Mission 770 Freedom 4's, Audio Spec Perseus (which are a harder pair of speakers to drive.) the EPI 120C'c (wow) and the Advent 2002's

To be honest I will have to do a side by side with the Myryad T-40 and see which one sounds better, it is that good for Realistic.

This receiver will definitely be sticking around for a bit. There is plenty of music and speaker combinations I want to explore with this unit.

The Realsitic STA-84 probably flies under the radar of most Pioneer, Kenwood and Marantz aficionados and therefor can be had for a reasonable price. This unit is well worth picking up if you come across one.