T+A R 2500 R MULTISOURCE RECEIVER

The hi-fi receiver has been many different things.

- TOM FINE

Early examples, like the Harman Kardon "Stereo Festival" TA-230 from 1958 (said by modern-day Harman/ Samsung to be the first stereo receiver¹), featured separate FM and AM monophonic tuners that could assign a speaker to each if you wanted to listen to what was then a fad: stereo broadcasts over two stations (left channel over FM, right over AM, for instance). Standardized FM stereo broadcasting began in 1961, and by then, receivers had evolved into large, complex, nearly complete stereo systems; an example of that was the Fisher 800.2

By the 1970s, the focus of receiver development and manufacturing had shifted to Japan. The era of features-laden "Silverface" receivers peaked with the massive Technics SA-1000.3 That behemoth was just over 2' wide, nearly 2' deep, about 7.5" tall, and weighed 87lb. It was capable of 330Wpc into either 4 or 8 ohms, and its linear power supply sported four specially made 18,000μF filter capacitors. Among its many innovative features were LED level meters (the newest thing in 1977) and a parametric midrange control. Technics claimed a frequency range of 5Hz to 91kHz and a signal/noise ratio of 115dB, A-weighted. In short, the SA-1000 was the king of the Silverface mountain.

The point of a receiver has always been to combine as many music-listening sources in a single chassis as possible-with preamp functions and amplification. Back in analog days, that meant on-board FM and usually AM; a phono preamp (sometimes two); occasionally a tape-head preamp; full input switching, volume control, and tone controls, akin to what you'd find in a standalone preamplifier; and a power amplifier, often with outputs for two sets of speakers. Back then, buyers brought a "record player" (turntable, tonearm, and cartridge-sometimes a record-wrecking changer) and maybe a tape machine to the party, plus speakers. All other sources and functions were in the receiver.