My STA 2080 receiver

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by GuildX700, Jul 2, 2014.

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  1. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    I'm on my old laptop and was just digging through some pics looking for something, found a folder of audio pics, here's my 1981 Realistic STA 2080 receiver, got it 3 years ago on e-bay for $85 in as near new condition. It has 4 lovely analog meters, L/R watts and 2 for tuning, strength and center.

    I liked it so much I snagged another one for a similar price, but when it arrived it had 1 dead channel. The seller was very good about it and let me keep it for free, so now I have a parts doner if needed.

    Right now it's hooked up in my workshop system.


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
     
  2. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    Nice. That was a great deal.
     
  3. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    :bdance:

    And it has 2 phono inputs!
     
    bluemooze likes this.
  4. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    I noticed that. My brother-in-law has a similar Realistic receiver from the 80s - don't remember the model number. It also has 2 phono inputs. I think it is rated at 100W per channel.
     
  5. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    I've been using this old receiver quite a bit lately, I have done some some cap replacement, a new 12 gauge homemade power cord, tuner alignment, and cleaning of all the input jacks being used.

    This old gal sounds amazingly good now for what it is.

    I recently hooked up a turntable, a recent score of a Denon DP-59L to its phono section for the first time last week, and I am really surprised at how dead quiet the phono section is, and very slick sounding too.

    [​IMG]
     
    bluemooze likes this.
  6. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    They were great receivers, and not cheap, either. I coveted this model at the local Shack back in the day - as I recall, its FM tuner sounded exceptionally good.
     
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  7. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    I would have to agree.

    Given the format's limited sound quality, FM sounds great on this. I use it for FM listening quite often.

    I also have Pioneer Elite's F93 & F 91 top of the line tuners. I prefer the F91's sound, & the F93's ease of use.
    But considering how expensive those standalone units were in their day this old receiver stands up very well indeed.


    It's built very well and the fact it is still working perfectly 34 years later is a testament to its build quality.
    Not sure who was the manufacture of this for Realistic back then, but they did a good job.

    Heck, none of the controls are noisy at all, no static when turning them, and the tuner has a wonderful, medium heavy flywheel that gives a great feel when tuning. The 2 analog VU gauges are great for dialing in the stations too.

    Just recently hooking up a great classic turntable to it now gives me a strong appreciation for it's phono section too. For it's time it is amazingly dead quite, you can turn the volume up when in phono with no record on and the background noise is near nothing. It seems to live up to it's spec of a 90 dB phono S/N ratio.

    It's also nice that it has a tone control bypass switch. It's a keeper for sure.
     
    sunspot42 and timind like this.
  8. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    FM probably sounded a lot better back when this beast came out, too - they didn't compress the signal entirely to hell, the way they started doing in the mid-'80s.
     
    GuildX700 likes this.
  9. ronm

    ronm audiofreak

    Location:
    southern colo.
    Those Realistics are cool.I passed on a nice thrift model a few years ago because I just had too much gear and no need for it.Now......I wish I would have at least tried it out then flipped.
     
    GuildX700 likes this.
  10. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    There are a few really choice ones, there's one with a torridial power transformer and 120 WPC which had to be changed due to a lawsuit by Pioneer over the transformer design, that one is the most sought after.

    I also have an STA 90, that was nicknamed "the sleeper" in it's day as in testing it blew it's specs way out of the water and had a lovely sound.

    Here's the my STA-90:
    [​IMG]
     
    ronm likes this.
  11. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    By and large, Radio Shack/Realistic receivers were better than average. Many were superb choices. Foster, and Hitachi made many of them in real life. I as a rule never underestimated them. And the STA 2000 is for me one of the finest receivers made by anyone, anywhere.
     
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  12. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    The 2000 is a wonderful receiver. Although similar, the STA 2100 is the real gem of their line though IMO.

    STA2100:

    [​IMG]



    [​IMG]


    STA2000:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  13. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    And I also rate the STA 2100 as a sibling. A gem.
     
    GuildX700 likes this.
  14. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    The 2100 I really coveted. That was a top-of-the-line piece of kit for the era. Stunning FM tuner, I thought.
     
    McLover and GuildX700 like this.
  15. Rockos

    Rockos Forum Resident

    Dang that is a nice Realistic receiver. Realistic and Sanyo put out a couple of heavy hitters.
     
    GuildX700 likes this.
  16. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Realistic even bested Sanyo. The STA 2100 FM tuner is one of the best ever in any receiver. In the top 10 of such ever performance wise. And RF is my business.
     
    GuildX700 likes this.
  17. Rockos

    Rockos Forum Resident

    I have the Sanyo JCX-2600K and it's a beast. Not sure about the specs compared to the Realistic. I really liked the Realistic receivers, wish I still had mine.
     
  18. VinylSoul

    VinylSoul Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lake Erie
    Why do the realistics look so much like a pioneer? I was under the impression that when pioneer came out with new models it would sell the old line to realistic and they would make a faceplate for it and sell it as a realistic?
     
  19. GuildX700

    GuildX700 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    AFIK no Realistic models were ever made by Pioneer.
     
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