Great content as always. The way you present these gems is fun and honest. The vibe you transmit reminds me of a great phrase: it's not the one who have the most toys that wins, it's the one that plays with the most toys.
Love that unit. As much as I love and prefer digital tuning, that Yamaha is just too bloody gorgeous. If you get a chance, try to pick up some Kenwood tuners. They always made superb machines for that. Even their car stereos has surprisingly strong tuners. Also quick story, many years back, my sister and I were driving back from Rasputin Music in Stockton in the family's old '88 T-Bird, and one of the front lug nuts was a little, well, not right. We're driving about 70 MPH down the freeway playing a CD on the cheap $130 Kenwood stereo I put in it. The entire dash was doing the lambada, and the player wasn't missing a beat. Wasn't anywhere near their best car player, but was plenty solid.
That ground jack won't help with regards to lightning strikes, but what it will do is take care of that problem where you had to put your hand on the unit. Connecting to a "real" ground will provide a ground path to dissipate static noise as well as act as a "ground return path" for the external antenna system. The most likely candidate for a "real" ground in most modern home audio setups is going to be through another piece of gear that uses a 3 prong adapter to go to a grounded wall outlet.
Great video!! The inside of this tuner just packed with really neatly laid out electronics is such an indication of it's fabulous quality!! I think you got quite a bargain!!
In 1980, a lot of audio equipment companies were going the route of digital tuners. Pioneer led the charge on that idea. The price of their fluroscan tuners and receivers are fairly high these days. Just take a look at how much the Pioneer SX-D7000 goes for.
Since you can't use an external antenna in your condo because of the HOA, you might want to play around with some different indoor antennas. For example, Terk and Magnum Dynalab make some decent ones. The Magnum Dynalab SR-100 is pretty cool looking too. Most tuners and receivers came with a twin-lead folded dipole antenna which often works pretty well if you are near a large metro area.
@@AudioThrift Yeah, I guess your channel "rule" is to only buy stuff from thrift stores, estate sales, etc. But since you seem to like tuners (which I think is pretty cool), having the best antenna possible for your living situation makes a huge difference for what stations you can receive and how good they sound, both in real life and for YT videos that feature tuners.
I think I can make an exception for something that I would consider a tool. An antenna that I use for testing/demos would definitely fall under that category.
1:07 What did you use to clean up that Technics ST-S3 tuner to remove all of the chain-smoking stains, etc? I usually use a very slightly damp microfiber cloth and it works wonders for knobs, buttons, faceplates, etc. without being harsh or causing any scratches. :)
I used several things... from isopropyl alcohol to Windex. Some things got GooGone. The Windex is great for the tops and sides since it's a detergent. I usually have to be careful with the faces because I don't want to mess up the printing. That's usually Alcohol on a foam tip swab.
What a sweet little system. Hi-fi has a weird history. Wood, then wood and metal, then fake wood/wood veneer over metal, then bead blasted/brushed aluminium, then plastic...now because hi-fi components are for rich people...anodised aluminium and/or wood.
I had a similar one of these from the mid-80's. I bought it in 1991 for $50 so it must have lost a lot of value in 6 years. Out of all the tuners I had I enjoyed this one the least as it sounded thin and couldn't get a proper hold of the university station I wanted. I ended up selling it in 2015 for...$50
I need to find one of those little car radio broadcaster things I can hook to my phone. I bet that would work with the RU-vid music, now that I think about it.
That ground clip WOULD NOT protect against a lightning strike - not no way, not no how (to quote the Emerald City Doorman). It's really a rudimentary ground for coaxial shielding (that silver foil sleeve inside the insulation on antenna coaxial cable, wrapped around the foam buffer - it's to minimize RF interference over longer runs of cable). The carrier in the coax (the copper center core) would attach to the 75 Ohm input post next to it. Anyway. Ah - HOAs and external antennas - US Federal court has established that HOAs CANNOT prevent you from having an external antenna on your home used for reception (TV antennas, mainly - but this would also apply to radio antennas that are not used for amateur or commercial broadcast). I'm in AZ, but since this is federal decision, wherever you are in the US, it should hold true. FWIW: Similar cases have been brought for Satellite Dishes, flagpoles, and Solar Panels - The HOA cannot prevent them. You might not want to spend the bread to hire a lawyer, but all you'd probably need is a letter from a law firm citing the cases involved (I'm not a lawyer, so your mileage may vary). Anyway. Pretty much any FM tuner will need an external antenna unless you're in a central city city area with very strong signals. Radio Shack used to have a connection on the power cord which would be screwed to a post on the rear of the receiver, which would somehow use the power cored for the FM antenna. Not sure how it worked, but it did. You may have that on the back of the Realistic Receiver in this video. Anyway. Be well.
Also, regarding the antenna thing... I remember we used to have these phones that would somehow connect all around the house by hooking to the power outlets. That always was weird to me... but they seemed to work fine enough.
Young Cory ( I presume you are young as nost people on RU-vid are younger than me ) you will be pleased to hear that since I started to try and fix stuff 6 months ago I have had a mains shock (proper 230v UK mains, not your weedy American mains) twice. Neither was pleasant. I am not deterred. Just more careful.
