Technics Sa-500 Rcv - Mint - Karma

RuSsMaN

You guys DO realize, you can 'static' a super clean vintage peice like this, if you don't have an immediate use. It's just as vintage and cool as the old cameras, antique art glass vases / bowls, and bric a brac you've got consuming the shelves.

My first rig, a small Fisher-Price turntable, with built in amp and speaker, circa 1975 or so. A real mono stylus. I was allowed to spin the family records, until my mom came in and found me listening to my favorite song at the time, Octopus's Garden. I was not only listening, but holding a matchbox car (lightly) on the record, watching the wheels spin. She decided, I wasn't quite ready for Abbey Road, or any of her other 'special' albums.

The first 'hifi' records bought for me (not including the story records, ala 'Pokey Little Puppy' etc), were Kiss 'Love Gun' and 'Dynasty'. We used to sit down as a family, and watch the Kiss movies on TV. I have a picture of me somewhere, about 6 or 7 years old, painted up like Paul Stanley for Halloween. EXACTLY like Paul.

First album I bought for myself? I'm guessing 3rd or 4th grade? Def Leppard - Pyromania, on Polygram cassette from 'Hit Records' in Dallas. I took it to school to show everyone how cool I was, and what I had. Especially Angela Dixon. God she was fine. I used to listen to it on a small tape recorder - the medium sized black jobs, with the top loader, and speaker built in. My little brother was a couple years old, and when I played the track 'Foolin', he thought it said (and proceeded to sing outloud) 'Ka Ka Ka Kool Aid".

My first 'real' rig, a 50wpc Realistic receiver, and tape deck - and some Pioneer 2-way 10" speakers. I bought small round plastic 'trash cans' to use as stands under the speakers, and get them off the floor. The first upgrade was adding a 12" Realistic passive subwoofer, a Sears LXI top loader CD player, and a 10 band EQ from a pawnshop. I was a pig in ****, how could it possibly get any better than this?

What influenced me the most? Has to be pops. I have very fond memories of listening to everything from Victory at Sea, to Waylon and Willie. The old Maganavox console sounded GREAT, and times were good. I was fascinated by how it would play one side of a record, then 'knock' the next one down and start playing it. Mom was a housewife, raising me and running a furniture reupolstery business part time out of the garage - and pops was driving a truck for UPS, and getting his pilots license. I'm smiling just typing this, memories I will hold dear forever. A simpler, kinder time if you will.

That my audio friends, is a short synopsis of where my sickness began.

Cheers,
Russ
(NOT in, I've been blessed with enough vintage gear, this really should go to someone else)

polkatese

dorokusai wrote:

I thought a cool stereo system was supposed to get you laid....!

That only happened to Rob Lowe, in a movie!

*About Last Night, Demi Moore, 1985ish*

nadams

Okay, here goes. My first system that I "inherited" was my dad's old Realistic setup. It had a topmount record player on top of the receiver, which also allowed for hooking up tape decks and the like. It also had 2 way speakers, some crappy things with paper surrounds and no woofer excursion whatsoever. Had 'em hooked up to my computer, one sitting on either side of my computer chair, for true stereo sound .

From there, I went to a speaker box from the back of my brothers dodge colt. It had two 12" subs in it, but enough room that I could mount two 6 1/2" mids and two Optimus supertweeters. Got the receiver that I still use to drive my current speakers, and I was in "LOUD" heaven (which is what I was into at the time, of course). So yeah, car stereo system in my bedroom. Wasn't any good for high fidelity.

From there, I went to my monitor 5jr's, added in a pair of RadioShack Nova6's for low end excursion, stacked on top of a pair of Micro-Acoustics MA3dx speakers, which had 8" Rockford fosgate subs in place of their stock drivers for even more low end excursion. Again, not the greatest for sound quality, but it was a step in the right direction and it introduced me to Polk.

Then came the monitor 10's, now the SDA's, and I'm hooked on Polk . I also love vintage sound from my Pioneer SX-450 (15wpc), and my Marantz 2220b (20wpc). If I were to get this, it would go into place driving my SDA2's, for the ultimate (to me) in vintage sound. My poor old JVC 100wpc "modern watts" receiver is getting tired. Do you think it has anything to do with all the crap I've put it through over the years?

dorokusai

Polkatese - LOL, I love Polkies.

steveinaz

Russ
The memories are great, I remember my Uncle Roy playing his drum set to Duke Ellington records on an RCA console. The kids (me included) watched with amazement, Uncle Roy was, and is a hell of a jazz drummer.

My other "fondest" memory had to be my first real purchse, my Pioneer SX-780 receiver. I saved up for months, finally scored it at a Checkerdome stereo super sale in downtown Saint Louis. I sat up all night just staring at the thing---it was gorgeous. Power meters on a black background, beautiful brushed aluminum finish....man I was shittin' in tall cotton.

beardog03

I would like to be in this one also ..

It all started long ago, when I was a kid..
My dad played the vibes, and my uncle and granpa played the drums..
I play drums, my brother plays drums, my other brother plays the bass, and my little brother plays with himself...alot..!

When I was a kid, Pop`s used to build Heath kits and his own speakers..
I will never forget the sound he could get out of his gear...he used to put sand in the bottom of his speaks..!!
I got my first set when I was ten...I used to rock the house!
Man I thought I had "the" setup..!
I went through the Bose 901 series IV with all the bose eq`s and such..
Big speaks, and "high power" recievers..
I had my dad`s reel to reel until it was stolen a few years back , along with all my gear, and almost everything I owned..
Last year around October/November when I fractured my knee and cracke dthe bone under it, I decided to get back into my music, having time on my hands to enjoy my RT2000i`s....my pride and joy`s...I had the Yammie RX-v795 AVR and CDP, and thought I had a killer rig..
I looked on Polks website to get new grill covers, and was directed to the Forum..
The first time even seeing what a forum was..
I thought that in Honor of my dad/best friend (he died from asbestos cancer at 59, in `96), I would put together a rig that he would be proud of..
I got my first Rotel/seperates rig from this very forum..
I met Mark (Doro) who guided me through my first real purchase(s)to put together a descent rig..
I met Russman, and a bunch of other outstanding people, that were into it as much as I was, but knew much more than I even thought of..
Enter Jesse, who still, along with Mark, and Russ...
(and a few others) still guide me on my quest to acheive what My Pop`s was always looking for...a system that Pop`s would be proud of...
I have gained much knowledge, and made solid friends on this journey..
Thanks Mark..
Thanks Jesse..
Thanks to all the members that I have met, and gotten help/advise from.

Thanks Mathew Polk , and Ken, and Al, Stu, and all the folks at Polk..
Thanks for Polkfest...one of the coolest , most memorable events I have ever experienced..

And most of all....Thanks Pop for the gift of music....
Ya, I`m in...all the way in..!!

ESavinon

In please.

I really can't remember my 1st rig. I believe it was an old hand me down panasonic quad receiver with matching speakers and turntable.
What got me into this hobby? I guess my mother's fond love of music.
I remember when i was 6-7 months old being placed in a shag throw rug in the living room right in front of my parent's stereo system. I would sit there listening to music for hours. Later on when i was 1 yrs old, i remember hugging a speaker everytime i would hear certain songs.

dorokusai

I know there are more Polkies with stories out there....if you can talk about being **** or not ****....and scream at each other about an XBox....I would imagine you can tell a little story and say "In" or "Out".

DollarDave

My first rig was a POS Panasonic all-in-one jobber. I even built an "entertainment center" for it in high school shop class. Real oak, real nice, I got an 'A'. Too many years and some really bad steroes later, I graduated to Harmen Karden and paired that with some really cool Epicure Model 2's - the ones that were sorta wedged from back to front. For some reason, I sold them to my brother and purchased some Klipsch Lascala's - these turned out to be way too much for my appartment. I traded the Lascala's for a pair of Chorus II's and some KG-4's. Still way too much. I decided that the sound of any Klipsch was basically loud and irritating. To this day, I can't stand the sound of any of them...my brother still loves the Epicure's. Fortunately, Audio King would let you trade them damn Klipsch in for up to a year - that led me to my first Polks. I scored a pair of LS-90's and a pair of LS-50's for those damn Klipsch. I made love to them for quite a few years before I recently started into home theater. I have since purchased TC series in-walls for all channels. My Christmas present will be a new Pioneer Elite or HK. George Daniel Karma'ed me a Yamaha DSP 100 recently and I will be putting that up for someone else to catch the home theator itch. The LS-50's are long gone and the LS-90's recently went to a friend up in Sioux Falls. I miss them, many memmories are tied to those, many singles memories are tied to those, many married memories are tied to those. Good news is, the wife really likes the in-walls and I can start spending again! That means I can go buy some Monitor 7's to go with a vintage reciever like this Technics...

I'm in.

dorokusai

Did you take that picture with a View-Master?

Tour2ma

...

halo

I'd like to be "IN" on this very merry karma Mark

It all goes back to my Dad and, to some extent, my two older sisters. Every evening, after getting home from work, Dad would pour himself a drink & turn on the mamoth Panasonic Quadraphonic receiver and relax while listening to jazz through a set of Jensen 23 acoustic suspension speakers. Mom would always tell us not to disturb him while he was relaxing so, if you wanted to be with Dad, you had to sit quietly and listen with him. He still has the system today but had to replace the woofers on the Jensen's because the foam surrounds rotted away and the receiver has been retired due to a noisy volume pot.

My sister's rooms were upstairs and they used to listen to music on a large piece of furniture with a radio, turntable, and speakers built into it. It looked like a huge desk or dresser and the center and the right portion on the top lifted up to give you access to the turntable and "receiver". There were cloth grills on the sides of the front which had the drivers behind them. The most outstanding memory and I have of those days was when my sister brought home "The Wall" by Pink Floyd. I didn't understand why my mom was so upset at the time but I guess, given the source material, she figured my sisters were getting stoned. Typical overreacting parents. My sisters introduced me to more mainstream music.

By the time I was in 3rd or 4th grade MTV was really taking off - Dire Straits "Money for Nothing", Van Halen "Jump" "Hot for Teacher", Motley Crue "Looks that Kill", Ratt "Round and Round", Scorpians "Rock You Like a Hurricane", Eddie Grant "Electric Avenue", Cindi Lauper....Ah the list goes on and on and on.

Anyway I was bugging my parents for something to listen to music - I was not allowed to use Dad's stuff without him present and my sisters didn't want me touching their stuff either - so they gave in and bought me a GE mini boombox with a tape player. I just listened to the radio back then. The first cassette I purchased was 1984 by Van Halen.

A few year later my brother went into the Marine Corps and I "inherited" his all-in-one Sanyo stereo. I was a big solid piece of plastic that looked like separate components when viewed from the front. It had a turntable on top, a tuner under that, a 5 or 7 band EQ under that, and a double cassette deck on the bottom. It came with two-way Sanyo speakers that had solid, fairly large, cabinets of a front poted design that housed a 6 1/2" woofer and a 1" or 2" dome tweeter.

In 1988 CD's were the new kid on the block and the Sanyo wasn't going to cut it anymore (couldn't add any components to it) so for my 8th grade graduation present I got a Scott receiver, Pioneer CDP, & a Pioneer Double cassette deck. It was great for about two weeks. Then I blew the Scott receiver. I got an Onkyo TX-830 as a replacement on my birthday a few weeks later. The Onk revealed how weak the speakers were so I couldn't listen very loud.

Halfway through my freshman year I made the honor roll and I was rewarded with a trip to Highland electronics (think of it as the first Best Buy or Circuit City). I was kind of budding car nut (plus I had limited funds to work with) so when I was told to pick a pair of speakers I settled on a pair of Jensen 6 by 9 speakers. I figured that when I got a car I'd never be home so the speakers would make the transition. I had them sitting on top of the Sanyo speakers cabinets. My father said I was never going to get good sound out of them that way so we took apart the Sanyo speakers to utilize their cabinets. Dad came up with a nifty base reflex design mounted inside the cabinet to allow the 6 by 9's to work with the 6 1/2 hole in the cabinet.

They say ignorance is bliss. That system lasted until I was about 21 and I couldn't have been happier with it.

I started to think I could get more out of it after my brother got home from the Corps with a slew of the new equipment and I began to experiment with different components and speakers. The Onkyo your receiver was the only constant during that time of change.

At 30 I decided to redesign my Bose home theater and I found Polk Audio when I was introduced to the R series by a salesman at Circuit City. That led me to this forum (the first forum I'd ever been a part of). I've gone from listening to music through my home theatre to getting back into two channel and I've been on the hunt for vintage Polk's, separate components, better cables and interconnects since then and now I'm venturing into tube gear.

So many different people have helped me here, most of all: Mark, Jesse, and Rich but I'd like to thank everyone for their efforts. I'd especially like to thank my wife for being so understanding. Sorry for the novel everybody

labrat

In please,

My first rig was an early 70's vintage receiver abondoned when the owners moved with a pair of Montgomery Ward's bookshelves that I found in my parents closet. The rig kept me going through Junior High and High School just pretty much listening to the radio and enjoying the new found concept of stereo - at the time there was a lot of hype about stereo AM radio but didn't have the money to try it at the time.

I went through a several "garbage" rigs composed of whatever was available from rummage sales and friends cast offs until I was fully employed and splurged on set consisting of S4's with the cs250s and a PSW1200. In addition to the theater thing (hope it is OK to mention it), I was in heaven with the simple S4's with the sub filling in the bottom when used as a two channel rig (2.1). A modified version of the S sytem still lives in my bedroom, the fronts have been replaced with S8's and bring me great joy as a two channel rig.

The old Hitachi RCV has been mated with a pair of Yamaha bookshelves and still going strong in the kid's bedroom. It is interesting to watch a 3 and 6 year old "negotiating" what to listen to as they fall asleep each night.

I have a pair of Monitor Juniors sitting that I keep thinking would make the basis of a good rig - if only I could lay my hands on a RCV that would be a good match these vintage bookshelves . . .

Thanks for your consideration,

Scott

dorokusai

CLOSED I will announce the winner sometime today. Merry F'n Christmas.

dorokusai

25 qualified individuals but there can be only one winner....PEERSOOL

Please EMAIL me your shipping address and I will have this out the door next week.

dorokusai@comcast.net

halo

WOW! I really don't know what to say. I can't remember the last time I won something. Thanks so much for this Mark!

I'd like to echo almost everyone's sentiments in that this was a very generous karma. You've got a heart of gold broham

RuSsMaN

Outstanding.

Tour2ma

Congrats, peersool, great write up...

Mazeroth

Kick **** Doro, and congrats peersool.

halo

The receiver arrived last night and I wasn't able to spend any time with it until tonight but all I can say is "Holy Crap"!!!

This is a beautiful piece of equipment. Mark's description is 100% accurate and, as always, the packaging was bomb proof.

This was an awesome karma. I can't thank you enough. You've got a heart-of-gold Mark, pure-gold Now all I have to do is figure out a way to pay this forward

disneyjoe7

Very nice Peersool,

And you're right Mark / Doro has a "Heart of Gold" IMHO

Tour2ma

peersool wrote:

You've got a heart-of-gold Mark, pure-gold

Don't spread that around... after all, he's got an image to protect.

dorokusai

I'm actually an ****, but I'm glad that you dig the RCV Victor.

michael_w

Great karma Mark. Glad to see you made someone very happy.