Some questions about early 70's equipment

[Cat3TRD]

Hey guys,

A friend of mine asked me to help them test some audio equipment, to see what works and what doesn't. They have a garage full of stuff.
I was told that from the stuff that works, I could piece together a system as my "pay". I'm not too familiar with some of these older brands, and i was hoping someone could sort of point me in the right direction.

I wrote down the brands and model numbers of the best looking/working pieces. Most of these are receivers, and there's also two turntables.

Starting with the receivers,

Panasonic RA-6600 -best condition
Sansui 9090DB -one of the lights is out, but otherwise fine.
Pioneer QX-747 -again, one light's out, but otherwise fine.
Marantz 2015 -nothing wrong with it, just surface scratches.
Marantz 2275 -I haven't seen it up close yet, but it looks pretty clean. I'm pretty sure it'll work. (It's tucked away across the garage, and we haven't cleared a path to it.)

and the turntables,

Pioneer PL-518X
Pioneer PL-8

If anyone knows anything about any of these, please let me know.
I've searched for each one individually on the net, and couldn't find any reviews for any but the Sansui 9090DB and the Pioneer QX-747. The QX-747 received a bad review. The 9090DB received a good review, was called the last good Sansui.

thanks!
-Justin

PS: I've got to pick out my setup on Saturday the 6th.

Edit: I've decided to go for the 9090DB as the receiver.
Still can't find anything at all about those turntables.

[psonic]

try http://www.classicaudio.com/value/

yea the sansui and marantz 2275 look good

[Cat3TRD]

thanks for the reply

Based on that site, I guess those turntables are post 1980.
i found a picture of one... but nothing else about it.
http://www.classic-audio.com/pioneer/pics/pl0518x.jpg

i've read that the PL-518 sans X is a mid level TT... and i assume the 518X is probably fairly similar in quality.... either way... it's the better of those two tables(PL-8 & PL-518X), it works and it's free. So, i'll most likely go with the 518X. Unless my friend finds some more turntables hidden away somewhere else.

[kelsci]

Pioneer QX 747; I think this was a quad receiver. How good as a quad receiver it was in decoding at that time I do not know, but I did not like the sound quality of Pioneer equipment in the 1970s. The bass response on these things either lacked a deep end or sounded like a rubber band.

Marantz 2015; For a small 15 watt per channel receiver, and effecient speakers it did a fairly good job for a small room. Had the typical Marantz tone at that time.

The number ending in 5 series on Marantz years ago played very well. The 2275 was no slouch. I have never heard the Sansui 9090B but it could be just as good of better than the Marantz on its own terms. Many people wrote favorably on audioreview.com on its performance.

[Woochifer]

The vintage Sansuis were very well built units, and I grew up with a Marantz 2275 and can attest to the sound and build quality of that unit. If anything, the Marantz analog tuners of that era were among the best available, and the one in that 2275 easily outperforms any of the digital tuners that I've used since then. The only thing you gotta watch out for with these vintage receivers is that the switches (the 2275 has many of them too) wear and short out. And since all these switches are on the same circuit path in the preamp section, one switch shorting out affects your whole audio playback.