This was my first receiver. I bought it for $200 in the late 70s right before HS. Just 12 watts of power but sounds great and is the hub of my garage sound system. Thanks for the memories!
I just picked up a 52B at the Dayton Hamvention, and had the same surprising experience as you with the build quality and performance. I have been into audio for quite a while now, and clearly remember how Realistic was not taken seriously back in the day.
Realistic Audio was Excellent in the 70's. They made a lot of great audio. Nice video. It is so great you have so much knowledge on how to repair these cool vintage receivers. They don't make stereo equipment like that anymore
I like the nice amber dial on this. The oldest catalog I can find this in is the 1977 catalog, (though oddly it doesn't say New for 77). It retailed for 199.95, and produces just 12 watts per channel, 20-20k, with .9% THD.
Beautiful. I just repaired a late 70s Zenith Turntable and have it Proudly displayed in my living room along with my Technics SA-203. That's now become our official Music and Drinks room : )
I have a Realistic STA 64 that after some work is like it just came out of the box. What a unit! The wood case were custom to a point but would have to be special ordered if you did not want the walnut veneer and most were not going to do it for an off the shelf. A lot of folks think of clock radios and such when you say Radio Shack but back when stuff like this came out they had some pretty nice stuff. They put the same quality as the bigger names into their stuff but they were not known for their big power where a lot of the money comes into building power receivers. I got around that by using a 7 band EQ and a 40 watt per channel power booster from a car. For a 12 year old kid in 1980 my system was jamming.
I had a low end Panasonic quad 8-track receiver for a while- it had a similar sliding shelf sort of cabinet. Quite a lot of metal in it too given its generally low performance spec. Unobtanium proprietary NEC amps- 2 of 4 blown and only maybe 5 watts apiece anyhow. Ended up scrapping it- harvested the good scarce parts and moved to a spiffy jvc quad which is a lot more fun. Really enjoy your audio tech videos- many thanks- the longer the better :)
ELNA caps, the gray ones seem to last forever. They also make the circuit boards for sansui, pioneer, and Japanese marantz. I'm not sure who else but this stuff is bullet proof.
Little known is many of the STA models ( STA 52) sold by radio shack were made for them by Pioneer and companies like Sansui and Teac contributed a lot to their tape decks and reel to reel machines and their more expensive tuner amps. At one time radio shack was the largest manufacturer of raw speakers in the world
Neither Pioneer or Sansui made anything for Radio Shack. Most of the receivers mid-70s to mid/late 80s were manufactured by Tandy Electronics. The ones with slider volume were made by Foster Electric. Foster also made the STA-90/95/960.
@@TheShackGuy Sorry Ed but in my shack store we sold them and the makes I mentioned above were made for the shack .Take a look at Realistic TR-3000 Teac X-3 IN GOOGLE IMAGES.receivers as well were farmed out the the major manufacturers under licence to radio shack
Ah yes, I remember 'realistic', tandy, hi fi, we once had one of their shops along 'Streatham High Road, I am currently repairing a 'Trio 9400 big receiver, it is better known as 'Kenwood 9400, circa 1976, 1978, model, which was going to be thrown until I got my hands on it, on each channel a couple of the Japanese B and D power transistors will need replacing due to short circuit, and here in South London I occasionally find hi fi dumped, such as NAD 302, working, a amp__jvc a10x, left channel short circuit, npn pnp's been with the japanese B and D prefixes replacing to stop power resistor glowing red hot, a marantz_75SR1020_2A, needing attention, on pre amp power transistors, I'll do that at a later date, a citronic sm330 audio mixer, I wished I had not thrown out those old analogue level meters, we live and learn, but lovelly to see someone like you with that wonderful interest in old hi fi and to bring it back to life, thanks for some of your tips, we can all learn from each other, regards to you, Vince, Sylvan Road, Crystal Palace.
If the DCA55 is doing that try swapping 2 of the leads and try again. With the caps only change the small 10-100uF caps in the amplifier only. Will make a big difference. Bigger ones are likely still OK and only need changing if they are leaking or swollen. Controls will benefit from a spray with Deoxit through the bottom of the unit and turn it end to end about 10 times. 16W per channel is RMS, not peak, average or guesstimate.
I have this same receiver I got from eBay for $40. It has static in the right channel is all I can tell so far. When you turn down the volume you can hear it best. It gets louder as the unit powers down after the power button is off. I figure a possible channel filter cap issue but I'm just a kitchen table tech and don't know many service procedures. A filter cap you wouldn't think would do that but may be. What do you people figure from the problem and my diagnosis ?
+Chas S: After opening the unit, I found that there's a blown cap that appears to be in the power supply board. It's burned at the bottom of the cap and the case has a faded area in that location. Something had blown in that board, as to what I don't know but the area at the cap bottom is burned pretty good. The receiver still works tho.
Can you test those transistors with a standard fluke meter? I don't have the fancy tester like you do but have the same issue with one channel not working in my STA-52
Hi I have a STA 52b receiver, I restored mine. All except the stereo indicator bulb. I'm looking for the bulb that lights up the stereo indicator area on the face plate. Can not locate no do I know what the rating is for it. Would you happen to know? And where does it hook-up to on the bottom on the chassis. Any help would be appreciated. Thank You. Mark
I picked up an STA-21 from savers and it sounds good but the left side of the heat sink gets progressively hot. I have swapped the transistors from one side to the other, and the heat remains on the left side. Do you have any guesses?. All the resistors ohm out fine. Thanks...
God Video! I know it's been a minute since you posted this but I just bought one of these and need to do some repair s to it. What transistor do you suggest to use to replace the Sanyo 2sd313's ? Mine are shorted on the left channel. Thanks for posting your videos.
I'm wondering if you can helpe me pioneer sx-580, i was replaceing 5 pin transistor on the left channel affter i turn it on there was a hum and left meter max out. I found out that i put in the 5 pin transistor backward. I dont know if something blowout or if smoething happen to the to the transformer. Do you know where i could start troubleshooting at ? REPLY
Just by checking the DC voltages in that circuit, and comparing them to the schematic, and the other channel. There weren't too many things to check, since it's a simple circuit.
Hello, I found your videos on repairing receivers, and was wondering if you do repair work for others? Wanted to get my old Sony receiver repaired. If not, I'm an ex TV repair man and was wondering how to get the schematics and repair info, to do it myself. Any help would be appreciated. I also am a subscriber of your channel. Thanks in advance.
i have an old pioneer amplifier receiver in my closet that's in need of repairs im not sure if contacts need cleaning or a fuse is bad but i don't have the know how to fix it it turns on and works but volume is off when i turn it up past a certain point it gets quitter not louder and when the volume us at a certain low the right channel will fade in and out n crackle at times so the sound seems of its always off!!
To get a longer lamp life add a series resistor of about 5R6 5W in the supply to the lamps, this will lower the surge at switch on and run them cooler.
I have a technics sa-80 from around 1977 and it plays better than my almost new one. So I'm keeping it as my main system. Somme time I put this 100 w system a little bit to far and the light for the dial start to fade. Mabe it needs a cap repalcement but... well it still play perfectely so for now I dont realy see the need for replace these for now.
Yes I have a newer Sherwood receiver RX-4503 210watts. I was just wondering if the amp part could be modified so I can get a deeper bass?..Sherwood has the low end filtered out.I guess so people will go out and buy a sub-woofer.I don't need a sub-woofer my speakers have two 12 inch woofers one 10 inch woofer and two 5 inch mids and two bullet tweeters apiece.they will shake the house.I have a older Sherwood that is only 55 watts a channel but the lower bass is passed through.
I always thought 'Realistic' was a strange name for a budget audio manufacturer. It's like they aren't sure if it's good enough to give it a 'real' name, and they don't want a load of court battles so it's their way of ensuring that customers don't take them too seriously.
Heh I think awhile back we talked about my Kenwood being around the same power output as this... still love that kenwood I have. Im using it instead of my MCS system due to the MCS's Phono section beind dead x_x
I have a Kenwood KA-801, for some reason the led for the meters stopped working, I opened up the unit and tried to see what the issue may be but Im having a little issue! I don't suppose I could get your number and pick your brain could I? Im fairly smart but this is making me feel pretty stupid lol...My name is Greg btw
You should also consider buying Chinese tester 2015 edition as a backup because the DCA55 is sometimes not to be trusted. Chinese tester 2015 beats DCA55 (latest firmware) in every-way. I had 2 PNP transistor which were intermittent - with the DCA55 the results were as being fine (every time) but the Chinese tester picked up the fault (HFE was low on one of them and forward voltage low on the other one). Its quicker too but the down side is that it has no housing but a smart person like you would able go around that. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2015-LCD-12864-Mega328-Transistor-Tester-Diode-Triode-Capacitance-LCR-ESR-Meter-/181861030068?hash=item2a57c318b4:g:3zcAAOSwPgxVMBnp
Hey take a look at the transistortester on microcontroller net I built mine for ~30 bucks and its damn accurate (tests almost all components) Also no glitches detected and it has a damn good UI
Ya, I've seen quite a few low power receivers that sounded better than more powerful ones for casual listening. Not really sure why. Then again, wattage isn't everything :-)
I'm pleased you high lighted probd with your transistor tester, I recently bought the same unit so will bear this in mind. Btw Maxx where do you get your schematics from? LOvin yer vids, keep up the good work :-)
Here in the UK, Realistic was sold by Tandy (Radio Shack) and was always seen as a "poor man's" option. They were never really taken seriously and were very cheaply made. They are virtually impossible to find now but nobody wants them anyway as they had so many issues. It's quite difficult to judge the sound quality from that video but it appears to be very poor, I'm surprised you are even bothering to repair it, it can't be worth anything.
Got about 30 realistic receivers, I'm leaning Sanyo made most of them. I don't understand why everyone ponders who makes these. Most electronics is made by a third party. Marantz was made the same way..
@@williamstaten8102 I worked there at the time, and the audio buyer in Japan is a source. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1laZVTI-3JgO9iTXwHc7I0mEpfSqb8O0bREcGWk10oiM/edit?usp=sharing
Got about 30 realistic receivers, I'm leaning Sanyo made most of them. I don't understand why everyone ponders who makes these. Most electronics is made by a third party. Marantz was made the same way..
Sorry guys, but I bought one of these brand new in 1977 and manual says 12watts RMS. But it was a good unit and had it for around 7 years. Sold it to a friend for cheap and he loved it. Good video Maxx.
This was my first receiver. I bought it for $200 in the late 70s right before HS. Just 12 watts of power but sounds great and is the hub of my garage sound system. Thanks for the memories!
I just picked up a 52B at the Dayton Hamvention, and had the same surprising experience as you with the build quality and performance. I have been into audio for quite a while now, and clearly remember how Realistic was not taken seriously back in the day.
Realistic Audio was Excellent in the 70's. They made a lot of great audio. Nice video. It is so great you have so much knowledge on how to repair these cool vintage receivers. They don't make stereo equipment like that anymore
I've come across a few older Realistic receivers among friends.. They always seem to have very nice clean sound and they are well made.
I like the nice amber dial on this.
The oldest catalog I can find this in is the 1977 catalog, (though oddly it doesn't say New for 77). It retailed for 199.95, and produces just 12 watts per channel, 20-20k, with .9% THD.
Beautiful. I just repaired a late 70s Zenith Turntable and have it Proudly displayed in my living room along with my Technics SA-203. That's now become our official Music and Drinks room : )
Thanks for the video. This was a blast from the past. I now miss my old Realistic ham and CB radios. I should have never let them go...
I have a Realistic STA 64 that after some work is like it just came out of the box. What a unit! The wood case were custom to a point but would have to be special ordered if you did not want the walnut veneer and most were not going to do it for an off the shelf. A lot of folks think of clock radios and such when you say Radio Shack but back when stuff like this came out they had some pretty nice stuff. They put the same quality as the bigger names into their stuff but they were not known for their big power where a lot of the money comes into building power receivers. I got around that by using a 7 band EQ and a 40 watt per channel power booster from a car. For a 12 year old kid in 1980 my system was jamming.
I had a low end Panasonic quad 8-track receiver for a while- it had a similar sliding shelf sort of cabinet. Quite a lot of metal in it too given its generally low performance spec. Unobtanium proprietary NEC amps- 2 of 4 blown and only maybe 5 watts apiece anyhow. Ended up scrapping it- harvested the good scarce parts and moved to a spiffy jvc quad which is a lot more fun. Really enjoy your audio tech videos- many thanks- the longer the better :)
ELNA caps, the gray ones seem to last forever. They also make the circuit boards for sansui, pioneer, and Japanese marantz. I'm not sure who else but this stuff is bullet proof.
Little known is many of the STA models ( STA 52) sold by radio shack were made for them by Pioneer and companies like Sansui and Teac contributed a lot to their tape decks and reel to reel machines and their more expensive tuner amps. At one time radio shack was the largest manufacturer of raw speakers in the world
Neither Pioneer or Sansui made anything for Radio Shack. Most of the receivers mid-70s to mid/late 80s were manufactured by Tandy Electronics. The ones with slider volume were made by Foster Electric. Foster also made the STA-90/95/960.
@@TheShackGuy Sorry Ed but in my shack store we sold them and the makes I mentioned above were made for the shack .Take a look at Realistic TR-3000 Teac X-3 IN GOOGLE IMAGES.receivers as well were farmed out the the major manufacturers under licence to radio shack
Ah yes, I remember 'realistic', tandy, hi fi, we once had one of their shops along 'Streatham High Road, I am currently repairing a 'Trio 9400 big receiver, it is better known as 'Kenwood 9400, circa 1976, 1978, model, which was going to be thrown until I got my hands on it, on each channel a couple of the Japanese B and D power transistors will need replacing due to short circuit, and here in South London I occasionally find hi fi dumped, such as NAD 302, working, a amp__jvc a10x, left channel short circuit, npn pnp's been with the japanese B and D prefixes replacing to stop power resistor glowing red hot, a marantz_75SR1020_2A, needing attention, on pre amp power transistors, I'll do that at a later date, a citronic sm330 audio mixer, I wished I had not thrown out those old analogue level meters, we live and learn, but lovelly to see someone like you with that wonderful interest in old hi fi and to bring it back to life, thanks for some of your tips, we can all learn from each other, regards to you, Vince, Sylvan Road, Crystal Palace.
Monstercat are pretty cool when it comes to using their music in videos and they certainly won't mind you using it in a demo.
That's a very attractive Realistic receiver and well built as well!
Another great video! Like your willingness to share.
If the DCA55 is doing that try swapping 2 of the leads and try again. With the caps only change the small 10-100uF caps in the amplifier only. Will make a big difference. Bigger ones are likely still OK and only need changing if they are leaking or swollen. Controls will benefit from a spray with Deoxit through the bottom of the unit and turn it end to end about 10 times. 16W per channel is RMS, not peak, average or guesstimate.
hi maxx im from phillipines, i've been watching all your videos, your great sir,
Excellent repair and sound!
Very pleasant to me your videos....they are nice.... good english...say...clear to me to understand..nice images and the subject is perfect...audio!
I have this same receiver I got from eBay for $40. It has static in the right channel is all I can tell so far. When you turn down the volume you can hear it best. It gets louder as the unit powers down after the power button is off. I figure a possible channel filter cap issue but I'm just a kitchen table tech and don't know many service procedures. A filter cap you wouldn't think would do that but may be. What do you people figure from the problem and my diagnosis ?
+Chas S: After opening the unit, I found that there's a blown cap that appears to be in the power supply board. It's burned at the bottom of the cap and the case has a faded area in that location. Something had blown in that board, as to what I don't know but the area at the cap bottom is burned pretty good. The receiver still works tho.
Finally, maxxarcade is back :)
Looking forward to new sound equipment repair videos :)))
Can you test those transistors with a standard fluke meter? I don't have the fancy tester like you do but have the same issue with one channel not working in my STA-52
Hi I have a STA 52b receiver, I restored mine. All except the stereo indicator bulb. I'm looking for the bulb that lights up the stereo indicator area on the face plate. Can not locate no do I know what the rating is for it. Would you happen to know? And where does it hook-up to on the bottom on the chassis. Any help would be appreciated. Thank You. Mark
for a receiver that does 16w a channel, it sure does deliver 16w :D
I have realistic rhapsody with a noisy preamp stage but I can't figure out how to get the board out. Any suggestions?
I still have my Realistic STA-785 from the 80's. Doesn't have near the cool factor that that unit does, but it still kicks.
I picked up an STA-21 from savers and it sounds good but the left side of the heat sink gets progressively hot. I have swapped the transistors from one side to the other, and the heat remains on the left side. Do you have any guesses?. All the resistors ohm out fine. Thanks...
God Video! I know it's been a minute since you posted this but I just bought one of these and need to do some repair s to it. What transistor do you suggest to use to replace the Sanyo 2sd313's ? Mine are shorted on the left channel. Thanks for posting your videos.
I'm wondering if you can helpe me pioneer sx-580, i was replaceing 5 pin transistor on the left channel affter i turn it on there was a hum and left meter max out. I found out that i put in the 5 pin transistor backward. I dont know if something blowout or if smoething happen to the to the transformer. Do you know where i could start troubleshooting at ?
REPLY
Great Stuff.
How do you replace the back lighting fuses. for the dial.
Name of the song where you had both channels working?
hello, i have this same receiver and it has a hum... do you think changing the transistors or caps might get rid of it?
how did you figure out it was the transistor?
Where can i find the bulbs?
I have a lot of stuff piled up to fix, just need to find the time for it all, which is proving really difficult.
Do you fix STA-52? Where are you located?
Just by checking the DC voltages in that circuit, and comparing them to the schematic, and the other channel. There weren't too many things to check, since it's a simple circuit.
Hello, I found your videos on repairing receivers, and was wondering if you do repair work for others? Wanted to get my old Sony receiver repaired. If not, I'm an ex TV repair man and was wondering how to get the schematics and repair info, to do it myself. Any help would be appreciated. I also am a subscriber of your channel. Thanks in advance.
i have an old pioneer amplifier receiver in my closet that's in need of repairs im not sure if contacts need cleaning or a fuse is bad but i don't have the know how to fix it it turns on and works but volume is off when i turn it up past a certain point it gets quitter not louder and when the volume us at a certain low the right channel will fade in and out n crackle at times so the sound seems of its always off!!
To get a longer lamp life add a series resistor of about 5R6 5W in the supply to the lamps, this will lower the surge at switch on and run them cooler.
you can get schematics for most old receivers from the (HiFi engine)web site.you must sign in as a member and the downloads are free
I have a technics sa-80 from around 1977 and it plays better than my almost new one. So I'm keeping it as my main system. Somme time I put this 100 w system a little bit to far and the light for the dial start to fade. Mabe it needs a cap repalcement but... well it still play perfectely so for now I dont realy see the need for replace these for now.
Hey Maxxarcade. I have the realistic sta 220. My dial pointer no longer lights up. Is this difficult to replace? Thanks in advance.
Just add an led
Yes I have a newer Sherwood receiver RX-4503 210watts. I was just wondering if the amp part could be modified so I can get a deeper bass?..Sherwood has the low end filtered out.I guess so people will go out and buy a sub-woofer.I don't need a sub-woofer my speakers have two 12 inch woofers one 10 inch woofer and two 5 inch mids and two bullet tweeters apiece.they will shake the house.I have a older Sherwood that is only 55 watts a channel but the lower bass is passed through.
Any computer vids coming up?
I always thought 'Realistic' was a strange name for a budget audio manufacturer. It's like they aren't sure if it's good enough to give it a 'real' name, and they don't want a load of court battles so it's their way of ensuring that customers don't take them too seriously.
also, are those simply two full range speakers or are they crossed over with tweeters somewhere?
They are two-way speakers with tweeters mounted in front. I have a video about them fairly recently, when I replaced the tweeters.
Heh I think awhile back we talked about my Kenwood being around the same power output as this... still love that kenwood I have. Im using it instead of my MCS system due to the MCS's Phono section beind dead x_x
Just wondering, what dummy load resistors do you use for testing amps?
where did you learn what you know to fix these things?
looks like a cool project
maxxarcade your videos are awsome
Added to the description.
I have a Kenwood KA-801, for some reason the led for the meters stopped working, I opened up the unit and tried to see what the issue may be but Im having a little issue! I don't suppose I could get your number and pick your brain could I? Im fairly smart but this is making me feel pretty stupid lol...My name is Greg btw
nice and easy tune up, but is it worth keeping or selling?
also i have seen you have shown your mlp side to youtube :P
I thought parts only available for like 7 years after the units were made
Old machine, but soud is still great even some caps are not their best. :)
Possibly. I have some server stuff to do.
You should also consider buying Chinese tester 2015 edition as a backup because the DCA55 is sometimes not to be trusted. Chinese tester 2015 beats DCA55 (latest firmware) in every-way. I had 2 PNP transistor which were intermittent - with the DCA55 the results were as being fine (every time) but the Chinese tester picked up the fault (HFE was low on one of them and forward voltage low on the other one). Its quicker too but the down side is that it has no housing but a smart person like you would able go around that.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2015-LCD-12864-Mega328-Transistor-Tester-Diode-Triode-Capacitance-LCR-ESR-Meter-/181861030068?hash=item2a57c318b4:g:3zcAAOSwPgxVMBnp
Hey take a look at the transistortester on microcontroller net
I built mine for ~30 bucks and its damn accurate (tests almost all components)
Also no glitches detected and it has a damn good UI
Ya, I've seen quite a few low power receivers that sounded better than more powerful ones for casual listening. Not really sure why. Then again, wattage isn't everything :-)
Help me fix mind, If I give you the make and model can you get me the schematic.
YAAAY NEW MAXXARCADE VIDEO!
had an old Pioneer SX (can't remember exact model) that had that exact problem. Crackling, static, and would burn up the speaker.
My Atlas started acting goofy and I found the battery was low. 123a I think?
The first one was this:
/watch?v=Cc8nVssbbTs
The other was shown in the video, near the end.
I'm pleased you high lighted probd with your transistor tester, I recently bought the same unit so will bear this in mind. Btw Maxx where do you get your schematics from? LOvin yer vids, keep up the good work :-)
Great video thanks again.
I hope you keep fixing amplifiers an receivers
i envy ur knowledge. i wish i could know at least 1/4 of ur knowledge. i wish i could repair any electronic
Awesome.
Another great video. You should start an online school. Then again, you already have.
Very Nice! I waited for one of these ;)
i have an atlas component tester too... it thinks everything's a capacitor. never had any luck with it.
Repair master!
used to have this one..
I can look for one, just send me a PM with the info.
Hi please send me the song track Maxxarcade :)
could have also been sold in a floor model stereo
Thankyou
i think it is around 1977 1978
that old Realistic stuff is probably made in Japan...I always thought it was pretty good quality.
i bet my Pioneer SX-636 beat this unit for offset. my 636 has 35VDC on the left output.
Here in the UK, Realistic was sold by Tandy (Radio Shack) and was always seen as a "poor man's" option. They were never really taken seriously and were very cheaply made. They are virtually impossible to find now but nobody wants them anyway as they had so many issues. It's quite difficult to judge the sound quality from that video but it appears to be very poor, I'm surprised you are even bothering to repair it, it can't be worth anything.
That looks a lot like a Pioneer.
It's not. Made by Tandy Electronics.
Made by Fisher Electronics in Japan.
Foster Electric, only they didn't make this. Tandy Electronics did.
Got about 30 realistic receivers, I'm leaning Sanyo made most of them. I don't understand why everyone ponders who makes these. Most electronics is made by a third party. Marantz was made the same way..
@@williamstaten8102 Sanyo made no receivers for Radio Shack.
@@TheShackGuy what makes your word true😄
@@williamstaten8102 I worked there at the time, and the audio buyer in Japan is a source. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1laZVTI-3JgO9iTXwHc7I0mEpfSqb8O0bREcGWk10oiM/edit?usp=sharing
If my amp dies, i know who i'm calling :P also /) nice OC
I believe those receivers was made by pioneer.
that would explain the use of the D313. my SX-636 has a D313 as a 13V regulator for the Tuner
Nope. Pioneer made nothing for Radio Shack
Got about 30 realistic receivers, I'm leaning Sanyo made most of them. I don't understand why everyone ponders who makes these. Most electronics is made by a third party. Marantz was made the same way..
Realistic STA-52 18 watts per channel
Sorry guys, but I bought one of these brand new in 1977 and manual says 12watts RMS. But it was a good unit and had it for around 7 years. Sold it to a friend for cheap and he loved it. Good video Maxx.
12 watts per channel RMS.
monstercat.goingquantum and spred the jams are free music chanels so maxyou will not have any problems
Looks like a rebadged Pioneer.
Manufactured by Tandy Electronics. Pioneer had nothing to do with it.
meter light no work.