Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Technics SA-828 from 1981. Insane wattage which I truly believe is understated at 100 WPC, “New Class A” discrete transistor amp. This is one of the last of 80’s monsters and is also very similar to the SA-1010 from 1983. Has high and low filters, MM/MC phono selector, stereo dimension feature, and digital tuner with an analog representation dial. Also has a large footprint - quite big and nonstandard sized.
Just bought this on eBay a week ago as a BIN at an incredible price. I’ve had this on my watch list for quite some time, and I popped for it immediately when it came up in my watch list.
Clean and appears to have low hours. Spent an hour vacuuming and inspecting however it was not moldy, smoky, or dirty. All push buttons and pots had Deoxit applied and functionality is now restored. The push buttons on this line simply stop working until cleaned.
Performed an amplifier re-bias. It was not off by much. Battery compartment had Duracells from 2000, which means this was in more serious use maybe in the late 1990s.
Only one issue remains with the LED power meter - I can’t seem to get it to work right. I suspect it has a similar issue that many other Technics receivers had where the stacking array of LED’s causes current to burn some of them out over time. But this LED circuit is behaving a little weird as I don’t think any have failed. I’ve confirmed there’s nothing loose, but I’m going to have to do some research on this.
I’m having a real hard time believing this is 100 watts per channel. Seems more like 120 to 160 - seriously!
Only disappointment is that the Technics logo should’ve been three-dimensional and embossed. Why would something this nice have that simple painted logo?
Technics SA-828 from 1981. Insane wattage which I truly believe is understated at 100 WPC, “New Class A” discrete transistor amp. This is one of the last of 80’s monsters and is also very similar to the SA-1010 from 1983. Has high and low filters, MM/MC phono selector, stereo dimension feature, and digital tuner with an analog representation dial. Also has a large footprint - quite big and nonstandard sized.
Just bought this on eBay a week ago as a BIN at an incredible price. I’ve had this on my watch list for quite some time, and I popped for it immediately when it came up in my watch list.
Clean and appears to have low hours. Spent an hour vacuuming and inspecting however it was not moldy, smoky, or dirty. All push buttons and pots had Deoxit applied and functionality is now restored. The push buttons on this line simply stop working until cleaned.
Performed an amplifier re-bias. It was not off by much. Battery compartment had Duracells from 2000, which means this was in more serious use maybe in the late 1990s.
Only one issue remains with the LED power meter - I can’t seem to get it to work right. I suspect it has a similar issue that many other Technics receivers had where the stacking array of LED’s causes current to burn some of them out over time. But this LED circuit is behaving a little weird as I don’t think any have failed. I’ve confirmed there’s nothing loose, but I’m going to have to do some research on this.
I’m having a real hard time believing this is 100 watts per channel. Seems more like 120 to 160 - seriously!
Only disappointment is that the Technics logo should’ve been three-dimensional and embossed. Why would something this nice have that simple painted logo?
