Older ONKYO finds replace modern SONY receiver in here.

Gentle reader,

Again, thanks for taking the time to read my humble blog! I thank you also for your kind words. It truly makes me smile to hear (see?) from you!

Today, I'm going to show my latest change, not to the "listening room" system(s), but to the stereo I have here on the desk, inches from me. 

BTW, Gretchen, out miniature Dauschund, is on my lap, she can sense storms coming. Hates thunder and also the big guns at the local USMC base when they are practicing. So, it's a bit awkward typing......

Anyway, last week, I made my usual (25% off!) Wednesday stop at Salvation Army and for the 1st time in a LONG time they had a decent piece of audio equipment: An Onkyo A-RV401 integrated amplifier. In nice shape and since I still had my various cables in my bag in the car, and they had a pair of speakers that day too, I was able to test it. 

In here, since finding IT also at Salvation Army, a very nice SONY AV receiver, model STR-DE597. The slightly smaller brother of the STR-DE997 I use as the SACD multi-channel unit in the listening room, it was under utilized as a stereo only amp. 

The SONY is rated at 90 watts-per-channel, while the Onkyo is rated at 100. Not a big difference, you may be thinking. No, tisn't . However, the Onkyo while two channel only, outweighs the multi-channel SONY which also has receiver capabilities. Plus, since I only play stereo music in here, it is better suited.

But wait! It gets better! THIS Wednesday, on the way to Salvation Army, I was thinking it would be nice if they had the matching tuner. To my delight, they did! T-401 is it's model number. Alas, nothing to hook it to this week. So I took a chance.....

I like having clear FM reception in here, far from the stations. Thanks to the half-wave-length antenna I put on top of the house, I get it. The SONY excelled in pulling in the stations. So, I held my breath as I turned the Onkyo on, TADA! Works great. In fact being JUST a tuner, they packed it with features. 

I haven't looked for PDF files of the Onkyos so I don't know what all the various switches do, but the sound is AWESOME! I again thank my fabulous wife for buying me these BOSE 301 speakers years ago. They are still BOSE's top-of-the-line and have no business sounding as good as they do.

Oh, you want to SEE what I'm writing about? OK!

Below, is the two Onkyo components, from the front.

Below, is their naked rear views. Naked in they are unplugged and have no cables hooked up.

Below is the front of the just-replaced SONY.

Below is the naked rear of the just de-cabled, SONY. Note that the SONY, being far newer has the standard "F" connection for FM reception. The Onkyo has thumb screws for 300 ohm, 75 ohm and AM. So, I had to use the old (well, it's new, but old-fashioned) 75 to 300 ohm converter as you will see in the last photo.

As you can see, (above) the SONY has SO many connections related to video. It predates HDMI, so only has the analog component video HD inputs which are limited to 720p. Also, it supports eight speakers.

Below is the new "stack" with the SONY cassette player and CD players atop the Onkyo tuner, then the Onkyo integrated amplifier.

Below, the rear view fully cabled. If you are wondering, the antenna cable is way too long. I will come up with something more suitable.  Those RCA cables are the really nice ones that I bought from Parts Express: the #1 source for audio, video & speaker building components

 

Now, something completely off subject. My car, the Capri XR2 turned 111,111 miles, but I JUST missed it! However, I was driving out pickup, a 1997 Ford Ranger we bought in 2001 with 157,000+ miles on it and I had the camera ready when it turned: 222,222 miles! Fortunately, I was approaching a stoplight and was able to snap the following:

Pretty cool, huh? That old Ranger has been the most reliable vehicle. It's my first truck. I don't have the typical male truck/suv gene. 

Thanks for looking!

Scott