# Old better than new? Home recievers.



## Bitter (Aug 24, 2013)

I have an old Hitachi SR-603 and a newer Pioneer SX-2900. Neither are top of the line high power units, I managed to find some specs on both and I'm pretty confused.

Hitachi SR-603 | Owners Manual, Service Manual, Schematics, Free Download | HiFi Engine
Pioneer SX-2900 | Owners Manual, Service Manual, Schematics, Free Download | HiFi Engine

Clearly the Pioneer has more power by a decent margin, so it should drive the speakers with much more gusto than the Hitachi, right? All settings being equal (EQ, Bass/Treble knobs set to 0, loudness off) the Hitachi sounds WAY better. Much more powerful sounding than the Pioneer despite the disparity in power between the two. Granted the speakers I'm using are of the same vintage as the Hitachi so they're not so good (actually cobbled together with a pair of Kicker DS400 because the original tweets had rotted out) but I'm shocked. I've been using the Pioneer now for 6 months and just switched back to the Hitachi and was totally blown away almost literally, it's got a much warmer sound like it's driving the speakers to their potential where as the Pioneer sounds very weak and cold. What gives?

Or is this page correct about the output?
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/hitachi_am_fm_stereo_receiver_sr_603.html Lists it as 80W.


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## Bitter (Aug 24, 2013)

I took a look at the backs of both. 
Pioneer says 250W
Hitachi says 145W



Also of note, my old Hitachi (SR-304) is at work powering the shop stereo, 4 bookshelf speakers with at least 2 dozen feet of wire to each. It cranks out WAY more sound through those speakers than the old "300W" bookshelf 100000000 CD changer unit that was there before it took a swan dive and shattered. Are these old Hitachi just way under rated or did they figure out how to break the laws of physics back then?


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## SaturnSL1 (Jun 27, 2011)

Old receivers are the **** dude. If it's heavy as hell and has a big silver face, it's going to be a sweet receiver.

I wish I still had my old MCS 

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm159/oldstereonut/mcs-2.jpg


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## AAAAAAA (Oct 5, 2007)

To know you would have to bench them. My guess is the one you prefer makes more power. They weren't rated using the same methods most likely.


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## Bitter (Aug 24, 2013)

That actually makes sense. I'm pretty sure that both Hitachi are using a class "G" amplifier, I did a little reading and for the time they were very efficient. I finally got all the switches cleaned out and working correctly the 2nd go round with contact cleaner, some more black gunk washed out but not as heavy this time and all the push buttons seem to cleanly latch on and off without cutting in and out. I finally don't have to play with the buttons to get the sound to work all the time. I need to do something about the 8" woofers and horrible boxes of the same vintage as the Hitachi, those are fairly lackluster compared to the stereo itself. 


I'd like to run a 6.5" sub across the left and right channels somehow, any suggestions on how to bridge it? I can post a photo of the back where the speakers hook up.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

no bridging on most home audio receivers.

use a dual voice coil driver.

there are plenty to choose from in 8" and up, and maybe a few in 6.5" as well.

if 6.5" is just to have a smaller box, you could take a pair of nice 8" drivers and mount isobaric to get your dual coils and the small box, win win.

Of course, you can also isobaric mount a pair of 6.5" drivers as well.


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## Bitter (Aug 24, 2013)

6.5 was simply to reuse an existing ~1.5 cube ported tube that pretty much matched a particular TB driver for running down to 30hz, to keep costs down and to use up what I have laying around rather than collecting more junk.


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## Bitter (Aug 24, 2013)

Alright, so I got both these old speakers setup with the recycled Kicker DS400's in them and all the speakers in phase, one woofer was out of phase and probably had been for decades. I put the bass tube on one channel with it's ****ty speaker, another recycled thing. It makes a nice footrest under my desk, makes a little sound but doesn't really contribute. I'm fairly happy with how this sounds but I have little volume below 60-70hz so I'd love to put this in the 1.5cube tube to see how it behaves. What do you think?
Amazon.com : Tang Band W6-1139SIF 6-1/2" Paper Cone Subwoofer Speaker : Electronics

Again, I'd like to recycle the things I have on hand to keep costs and clutters to a minimum. I'll maybe have a Mark Levinson 8" sub from a Lexus GS430 soon, we're hopefully replacing one in a customer car at work so I'll take the old one, replace the surround for $25, and do something with it. That might be worth putting in a vented box with a plate amp or making a tube for. I'm going to hold off on the TB driver until I know if I'm getting the Lexus sub to repair.


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