Nice collection.How does that 901 sound now with the recap,notice a difference?
Hi Dave,
I opened up the unit and saw the electrolytic caps were swelling on the power protection board. I did the recap in phases over a couple of months, so it was a gradual improvement. While at it, I cleaned pots and switches and replaced the relays. It was definitely worth it. It seems recapping the drivers and the tone section made the most difference. I want to take it to a professional shop to see if it still meets factory specs, but it sounds so good I do not want to part with it for any length of time. I must say these receivers are built like tanks and amazing quality (steel knobs with set screws, metal face, and meters with movements, steel chassis and very little plastic, cable trays to route wire to the rear of the unit).
Rick
I lived through the monster receiver era but never owned one. For one thing the real monsters were pricey for me back then -- would be today too if new prices were adjusted for inflation. More importantly, I was already into separates at the time. Nevertheless I love the monster receivers and "silver era" equipment in general for the visual aesthetic point of view.
What characteristics epitomize the Silver Era? I thing the following ...
- Obviously, silver faces -- black was rare in the '70s except for some Sansui
- Analog tuning dials and meters instead of neon or (later) LED or LCD
- Rotary knobs e.g. for selectors instead of push buttons
- Toggle switches instead of in/out buttons
- Largish size -- analog dials and knobs and switches took up a lot of space. Large sized reach giganticism by the end of the '70s
- Internally, discrete components vs. chips or LSIs, though the latter became increasingly common thru the era.
These characteristic applied to the monster receivers but also other components such as these Pioneer integrated amp and tuner.
I love the looks too.The analog tuning dial was the coolest,back when radio was still big.They were expensive back then but they aren't today except for a few of the TOTL models.I definitely want to get some separates from that era like Phase Linear or Harmon Kardon Citation.
I'd love to but no cash flow as of now.Maybe in a month or 2 if you still got em.Got any pics?
I was wonderin if any of you guys have any monsters in your gear collection.I've got
Pio. sx-1280
Hitachi sr-2004
Onkyo tx-8500mkII
Optonica sa-5605
Sansui g-9000
Ken. kr-9050
Audio Reflex AGS-152
The last one is pretty rare sold only in Canada but who made it,I don't know.