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if you are into vintage electronics you
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know that the prices have gone crazy in
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the last 5 or 10 years and while
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everybody's looking at Pioneer morance a
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lot of people dismiss this vintage Hi-Fi
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brand and they especially dismiss the
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receivers from the era that I'm going to
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talk about today and they shouldn't
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because they are probably the best deals
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in Hi-Fi right now now there's no
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warranty now there's there's no
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guarantee now it may be dead on
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arrival but at their price does it
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really matter so sit down grab a cup of
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coffee and let's talk about the best
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kept secret in vintage Hi-Fi
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[Music]
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M we are talking about realistic m my
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first receiver ever was a used realistic
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actually I have one of them this one
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right here this is not the actual
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receiver but this is the same model I
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had when I was growing up this is the
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St
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700 a poultry 12 watts per Channel but
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when I was a kid this thing was awesome
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I had an Emerson CD player hooked up to
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it which was Walmart's house brand of
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electronics back when Walmart actually
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sold separate components it had
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everything I needed it had balance
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control it had base tone controls treble
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tone controls it had a loudness button
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it had one phono one Ox input and you
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can get these for like 60 bucks
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sometimes you may need some efficient
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speakers though but 12 watts in the
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early 1980s in the 1970s was way
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different from 12 Watts today this
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receiver was made from 1983 to 19 884
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retailed for
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$179 which was a very budget receiver
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even back then I got it used though
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because the store owner saw me in there
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all the time looking at it and he
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finally took pity on me he said come up
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with $75 and you can have it so I got it
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and it was my entrance into separate
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components I think I got it in 1987 and
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the reason why I remember '87 is because
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that was the year the nxs kick came out
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and that was my first CD very very good
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first CD in my opinion I also got poison
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open up and say all not as good but nxs
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kick still holds up but we're not here
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to talk about the STA 700 we're here to
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talk about the St
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2270 very much a step up in the
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realistic line that receiver retailed
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for around
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$400 in 1986 so there's almost a little
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bit of overlap the reason why these
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realistic 20 series receivers are such a
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good deal well some of them are such a
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good deal is because there was a bit of
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a transition out from the 70s analog
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tuner section to a digital tuner section
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they are kind of the Vintage ugly
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ducklings and it also comes after
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1983 a lot of people consider 1983 to be
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the cut off of the golden years of the
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two channel receiver but but but still
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made in Japan
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this one right behind me I think someone
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picked it up for me at Goodwill for
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about 20 bucks and sent it to me because
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he knew I was a big realistic fan I had
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another one it was the 2080 that one was
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really good so that one put out 80 Watts
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a channel but let's get to know the 2270
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a little bit better by the way there's
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one of these on eBay right now selling
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for
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$125 so over here on the left you have a
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big chunky power button boop boop just
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like that really cool chunky LED
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underneath the power button you have a
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headphone outputs I don't really use
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headphones that much when I am connected
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to a receiver but it's there next to
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that you have speaker a speaker B and
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this can drive two speaker two sets of
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speakers at the same time right here you
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have a power meter of sort it's marked
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as 8 ohms but you know it obviously
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works on anything else all the way up to
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75 Watts this receiver was rated at 65
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Watts so anyway these older receivers
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generally put out more power than they
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were rated for now here's something
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that's really interesting and was a
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Hallmark of realistics higher end
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receivers and that's having tone
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controls but having a mid-range control
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as well so these are all detented too
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very nice metal knobs even the Pioneer
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stuff that was coming up in the early
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80s was plastic so realistic really
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maintained a very nice build quality and
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they used metal knobs on everything so
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you have the mid-range control treble
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over here next to that you have a mono
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Aereo and a stereo expander the stereo
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expander was kind of interesting because
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you would turn that on and in theory
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what it was supposed to do is increase
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or decrease the Sound Stage in practice
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it just kind of made makes everything
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sound bad maybe it's like not working
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how it's supposed to be working but in
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my experience it didn't sound very good
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next to that you have a whole bunch of
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presets for your favorite radio stations
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and then the tune knob over here memory
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here we'll just turn on
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FM and you tune it like this
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um nice digital readout right here very
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nice very good presets over here you
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have tape one tape two and then the
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dubbings right underneath here the one
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thing is this type of plastic does pick
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up kind of like oil so you might have to
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wipe it off every now and again phono
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underneath that you have auxiliary TV
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back in the day TVs had RCA output so
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you could pipe the music from your TV
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and then you got your fm right there am
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right there down here you have the
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search button FM mute miix fill I try to
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look it up and try to find a menual for
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it can't find it and then you have a
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high fill right next to that over here
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you have a 30 htz cut and I don't know
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if that is like a subsonic filter for
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the phono stage or not then over here
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you got the magic loudness button which
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I use but on certain speakers you really
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don't need it one of the cool things
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about this receiver too is that you can
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use the tone controls in conjunction
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with the loudness control so if you do
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have a little bit too much base you can
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turn it down but what I kind of did is I
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just left the loudness off and then I
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turned the mid-range down on the tone
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controls and I was able to get the sound
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right where I wanted it even when when I
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was listening at lower volumes and then
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over here you have a very nice volume
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control it's all detented too and it has
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little numbers all the way around then
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under here is your balance also metal
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also detented in the
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middle very nice looking and then on the
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side you have real I like this sticker
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it says Walnut grained vinyl veneer so
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it's vinyl the sides I think some of
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these realistic receivers have actual
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wood on the sides
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on the back you have all your
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connections so on the top you have tape
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one in and out underneath there you have
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all of your antennas ax right here which
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is what I have my gelli labs deck hooked
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into photo stage right next to that with
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the ground wire right there speaker
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connections which I don't love they do
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feel a little bit cheap but this one is
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still made in Japan and then over on the
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other side you have two AC plugs right
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over here realistic brand was introduced
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all the way back in
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1954 and the name started off as realist
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however there was a camera company that
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used that same name they got into a bit
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of a battle so Radio Shack changed the
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name by the way realistic is Radio
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Shacks in-house brand so Radio Shack
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changed the name to realistic that name
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was slapped on everything from walkie
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talkies to I think ham radio speakers I
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think at one time even televisions
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Citizen band transceivers eight track
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tape recorders cassette decks and their
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well-regarded mock speaker lines I
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remember the little Minimus speakers I
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actually have a pair of those I have a
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vintage pair of Minimus speakers that
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one of my awesome Patron members sent in
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and I used them as Atmos upward firing
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speakers upstairs the brand was phased
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out in '94 they tried to make a comeback
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in 2016 with Bluetooth speakers but it
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didn't work out and Radio Shack went out
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of business soon thereafter 2270 was
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actually made in 84 85 and 86 65 watts
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per channel into 8 ohms also 4 ohm
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stable 4 to 16 ohm digital synthesized
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tuning has discre
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output transistors in its design which
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contributes to the reputation for
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durability and sound quality 200000
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series really underrated really kind of
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the best kept secret in vintage audio in
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my opinion these guys were really
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considered B if not C tier when it came
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to Pioneer morance Ken Wonder was
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probably a step down from Pioneer and
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Marines and realistic was a step down
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from that but I love them sonically I
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think this thing is just great I have a
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Yamaha
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cr800 receiver I think that thing puts
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out similar specs about 60 watts there's
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a few on eBay from that era but I don't
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see any CR 800s but I remember paying
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about
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$300 fine folks over at skylabs audio
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did it once over and replaced a whole
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bunch of caps and other components on it
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my point is is actually I prefer the
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sound of the realistic a little bit
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above the Yamaha cr800 the cool thing
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about the Yamaha cr800 is it has a
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variable loudness control only has base
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and treble tone controls but the
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variable loudness control can kind of
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get you where I get with the realistic
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what is your experience with realistic
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it really was my Gateway into Hi-Fi and
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I know probably for a lot of people it
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was their Gateway into Hi-Fi some people
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are really big fans of realistic and
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really seek it out I at one time had a
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whole bunch went on a bit of a buying
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spree when it came to Vintage audio got
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a little obsessive about vintage audio
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right now I'm down to only four vintage
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receivers but at one time I had about 12
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of them I do regret getting rid of my
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2280 I just dropped it off at Goodwill
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but if you can find the STA any of the
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2000 series you're in for a treat and
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most of of the time you're in for super
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high value when it comes to Vintage
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audio the STA
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2100 is kind of realistics monster
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receiver and those go for $1,000
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sometimes 800 to I found one on eBay for
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1100 one thing I love about the 2200
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series is that they're a little bit
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younger and therefore a little bit more
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reliable maybe there's really no
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guarantees in vintage audio but if
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you're on a tight budget and you want
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something different and you're willing
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to take a bit of a chance or if you want
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to dip your toe into vintage audio and
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you already have your other system set
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up then the STA 2000 series from
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realistic is something that you should
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really consider they're great they're
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fun they have a very Dynamic Sound but a
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little bit spicy on top so you may find
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yourself having to turn down the treble
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on the top depending upon what type of
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speakers that you have but you get
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Japanese build quality at some pretty
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affordable prices if if you like this
00:12:59
video you really need to check out my
00:13:01
previous video it was the death of
00:13:04
iconic Hi-Fi companies like ads Infinity
00:13:08
Advent Boston Acoustics I talk a little
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bit about awesome vintage speaker brands
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that are no longer here I will'll put
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that video right here go ahead and click
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on it it's a lot of fun so don't binge
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watch anything on Netflix or Hulu binge
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listen and fill your soul with happiness
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and with that I'm Randy I'm the cheap
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Audio Man
