Vintage Equipment

Finally got a set of cans ( grados 225x) and sitting down to jam on the new tube THE fisher. Needs some more repair work but it’s bliss tbh. The best thing about new hardware is the need to go thru old vinyl to listen again. I did stock up on about 6 albums to try the new system out (not gonna lie). Good times. And a break from reality. And thank god for edibles. :)

ETA: sticky pudding the prices for any vintage electronics these days. Damn! I mean damn!!! For those paying attention I have a house of dynaudio and they are too too power hungry for tubes. I am about to say fuck it for vintage speakers (klipsch/jbl) and ask the crowd for suggestions for newer speakers for THE fisher.
 
Hi! I have a friend who is trying to get an old record cabinet running. The table gets power from the cabinets built in amp. Is it a common thing to do to convert vintage equipment like this so that the table receives its own 115vac from the wall so that he can put his own amp in that would just power the speakers?
 
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Tys1 said:
Hi! I have a friend who is trying to get an old record cabinet running. The table gets power from the cabinets built in amp. Is it a common thing to do to convert vintage equipment like this so that the table receives its own 115vac from the wall so that he can put his own amp in that would just power the speakers?
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I would only bother with keeping it original tbh. That's the way those old consoles were meant to be.
 
Help requested.

I picked up this somewhat unique Realistic STA-240 to tinker with.

STA-240.jpg

I was able to find the original Radio Shack catalog, I haven't been able to locate any schematics or a manual in the usual spots. I also emailed a request directly to Radio Shack.

STA 240 Catalog.jpg

Does anyone know where I might find one?

Thanks in advance.
 
I think it's the red book that guy is holding in the photo. (Sorry; couldn't resist.)

I don't know any special places to go on internet that you probably haven't already tried, but I wonder if you have a good relationship with any local electronics repair shops around you ... particularly ones run by someone older who might have worked on these decades ago, and could have these repair documents in his library that he would let you make a copy of (or might just sell/give to you if he's near retirement).

That's a cool looking piece of gear, anyway. I hope you can help it regain its full potential.
 
groceryboy said:
Help requested.

I picked up this somewhat unique Realistic STA-240 to tinker with.

View attachment 135016

I was able to find the original Radio Shack catalog, I haven't been able to locate any schematics or a manual in the usual spots. I also emailed a request directly to Radio Shack.

View attachment 135017

Does anyone know where I might find one?

Thanks in advance.
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Beautiful piece, some of those Realistic units are right up there with Yamaha for design and build quality in this era.

Problem is lots of these store brand pieces didn’t have the sales or documentation big names do. You’d probably have the best luck making a public thread on AudioKarma, or maybe HifiEngine, but I find AK posters more willing to be helpful and not rude. Are you planning on just doing the standard re-cap, deox? If so they should be able to help, you might just have to pull some parts and find matches off the board vs the schematic, not ideal but most receivers aren’t that different within their respective eras. You can always just bring it to a tech, detailed service manuals are probs best for beginner projects, but there’s something about learning by immersion too haha.
 
I wish I could help you out. That is one nice-looking piece of kit.

edit: this might be a wild swing, but AudioKarma user ctodd picked up an STA-240 with manual in 2019. He’s still an active user, so there’s a chance you might be able to message him and either request photos or buy the manual off him, if he’s still got it.
 
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groceryboy said:
Help requested.

I picked up this somewhat unique Realistic STA-240 to tinker with.

View attachment 135016

I was able to find the original Radio Shack catalog, I haven't been able to locate any schematics or a manual in the usual spots. I also emailed a request directly to Radio Shack.

View attachment 135017

Does anyone know where I might find one?

Thanks in advance.
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I would try over on audiokarma as @kvetcha said

Sharp looking unit, from the aesthetics I would guess that was made for them by Yamaha, Nikko, or Pioneer maybe
 
Thanks for the replies!

Radio Shack sent a message into their warehouse. It will be interesting to see if they have anything. The live chat rep sent me a link to hifi engine initially.

I will try posting something on AudioKarma this weekend.

If I end up getting something I am going to make sure I upload a pdf of the manual.

I was going to clean, re-cap, do a lighting retrofit, etc. I have an STA52B to practice on first. Should be fun.
 
groceryboy said:
Thanks for the replies!

Radio Shack sent a message into their warehouse. It will be interesting to see if they have anything. The live chat rep sent me a link to hifi engine initially.

I will try posting something on AudioKarma this weekend.

If I end up getting something I am going to make sure I upload a pdf of the manual.

I was going to clean, re-cap, do a lighting retrofit, etc. I have an STA52B to practice on first. Should be fun.
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Radio Shack still exists?
 
kvetcha said:
Foster Electric, aka Fostex.
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It's funny how many Japanese companies had their stuff rebadged for US chains, most famously Realistic and MCS probably. My first vintage receiver was a Rolecor RTA-530 which was made for E. J. Korvette by "Roland Electronics" — not the 70s company that made the 808 drum machine, but the predecessor to Rotel! Now Rotel is alive and well, and Korvette's is relegated to the memory of baby boomers.
 
zombie.modernist said:
It's funny how many Japanese companies had their stuff rebadged for US chains, most famously Realistic and MCS probably. My first vintage receiver was a Rolecor RTA-530 which was made for E. J. Korvette by "Roland Electronics" — not the 70s company that made the 808 drum machine, but the predecessor to Rotel! Now Rotel is alive and well, and Korvette's is relegated to the memory of baby boomers.
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I never knew this about Realistic, who made their stuff? I used to make fun of their products because it's just such a terrible name for a technology company.
 
Mather said:
I never knew this about Realistic, who made their stuff? I used to make fun of their products because it's just such a terrible name for a technology company.
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More like who didn't haha. AFAIK, Fostex and CEC were primary vendors, but you'll hear Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Trio and others. I guess Realistic was a more palatable name for North Americans. Of course then you had Japanese companies that played a similar game themselves, Trio for instance marketed over here as Kenwood to sound more western.
 
insheepsclothinghifi.com

The Best Vintage Audio Speakers for the Modern Audiophile | In Sheeps Clothing

Three modern sounding loudspeakers with an old-school aesthetic from Klipsch, JBL, and Wharfedale. Consumers and manufacturers love to wax poetically about “vintage” when it comes to loudspeakers and amplifiers but I’m not sure I buy into it as much when it comes to most vintage loudspeakers...
insheepsclothinghifi.com insheepsclothinghifi.com
 
groceryboy said:
Thanks for the replies!

Radio Shack sent a message into their warehouse. It will be interesting to see if they have anything. The live chat rep sent me a link to hifi engine initially.

I will try posting something on AudioKarma this weekend.

If I end up getting something I am going to make sure I upload a pdf of the manual.

I was going to clean, re-cap, do a lighting retrofit, etc. I have an STA52B to practice on first. Should be fun.
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Here is the link to HiFi Engine in case anyone else is interested.

Realistic STA 240 AM/FM Receiver | Realistic Gallery | 2012-07-22 04:32 | HiFi Engine

www.hifiengine.com www.hifiengine.com
 
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