Went to the Highway 50 Yard sale today.
Saw this and went home to check it out on the net,
because I really did NOT need another receiver.
85wpc. It's the Sharp effort to hit the top end of the market.
The build quality IS first rate. All metal knobs.

This is the grimiest piece I have ever bought.
Knobs and toggles were bent.
i'm HOPING it was in some sort of auto shop,
but I kinda doubt it because the crud was pretty isolated
on the controls. The guy I got it from looked like he was
working on an "I'm 35, but what with the methamphetamine
(he also had the disjointed grin) my teeth are 75. Plus!"
Cleaned it up before I could bear to touch it to -*test*-('") it.
by the time I was done, looked pretty much like the pix,
with only one nicked area at the top of the stainless steel face plate.
deoxed the switches, and the damned thing sounds pretty darned good.
85wpc, and according to the back will drive a 4 ohm load.

Sorry for the clumsy linkage.

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/vintage/.../15/157108.html

I dig the Optonica looks. I'm used to seeing 'em in black, so the silver one is odd.


I'd like to land a cassette player from Optonica- had some interesting designs.

I like the looks of almost, if not all, the Optonicas I´ve seen.

The good thing about them is that they can be had for relatively little money, since the brand didn´t have as much impact on the general public as the big names.

I bet you got a nice unit there. What are you going to pair it with?

Jorge

It really is a gorgeous piece.
They got it right, but like lots of products,
obviously never caught the fancy of the buying public
(or the marketing dept. missed the mark).

I paid $10 for the beast, which is a pretty good bang for the buck for 85wpc.

A lot of people can't see beyond the 45 minutes
it takes to clean up something. And I suppose the assumption
is if it's that filthy, it probably won't work.
But I went back just in time,
because there were two pairs of dudes right behind me
trying to find the buyer.

Jorge, when I get a new amp/receiver, I like to try it with speakers
that I haven't been impressed with before.
In my assortment, that's the KEF C-55 and KLH 20.
I'll give it a rip with the AR-3.
I also got my first subwoofer JBL PB-10,
and I"m looking forward to hearing what it does
with speakers that are "low-end challenged",
including the Scott S-17s. I love the high end on those.
Could sound like a trainwreck, but I'm there to listen.

Then I'll go to the Polks, Monitor 7 and RTA 8TL.
My hunch is either of those will be well matched.
Not sure how they will go with my Klipsch KG 3.5.

Here's a pic I filched off the net...

Dennis,

That receiver sure looks nice. For $10 that´s a steal.

I´m not surprised you´re not impressed with Kef C-55´s. A friend of mine has got a pair of those, and no matter what we throw at them in terms of partnering equipment it always sounds dull and lifeless.

Jorge

It's definitely a sleeper, Jorge.
It has DUAL TT jacks, and as fate would have it, I have DUAL DUAL TTs.


Hooked it up to the AR-3a set, and it is yanking in an oldies FM station
like it was next door. Showing about 80 percent on the meter.
Nice smooth action on the dial, too.

85 watts is plenty of power

Ironically, the Harman Kardon 8450 CD changer, you know the NEWER
piece I got at a garage sale, is showing "error" on every disk...

after just leaving the HK CD on for a while, it started working fine.
Changer works great, including from the remote.

In my opinion Optonica's black, or as they call it, Ebony amps and receivers were amongst the best looking of all the late 70's/early 80's vintage gear.

I love the tear drop knobs and how they were machine beveled on the edges to show an outline of silver. Classy classy classy!

ReEdger, my man!

Well, not yet, but soon to be my man!

I have your contact stuff in my organizer somewheres, but it's so...
disorganized.

I have a list of at least a half dozen speaker pairs I need surrounds for.
May be as many as 10, but I need to literally poke around some more.

I'll buzz you up on it soon. Just for the sake of making your job easier,
how much info do you need?
does it help to have the actual speaker models involved,
or do you just want dimensions of the drivers?

As for the receiver, it sounded GREAT with the AR-3A.
Synergy, I think. Can't wait to have them up to snuff.

And even the silver face optonica are pretty.
it was sitting there on the ground, and not one, but two
pairs of guys were circling it when I hoisted it away.

I'll bet you had some sharks circling that 5151! Nice pick up. I had two of the Ebony 85 watters at one time. Gorgeous pieces that were very nice sounding. In fact, both were a bit sweeter than the one that I kept! I kept the biggest Optonica receiver. I believe the one that I have is the SA-5909? 5908? I will have to go and check.

As far as the speakers go, you can give me the model numbers, but the sure fire way is to give me the Inside and Outside diameters of the old foam surround. Measure to the nearest 1/16" and that's all that I need.