"Classic" receiver - Lafayette LR-100 - Is it any good?

[skizzerflake]

I couldn't resist today and am a proud new owner. I was rummaging through a hospital "Nearly New Sale" fund raiser and on the shelf was a Lafayette stereo receiver. I bought it for 5$, thinking that I could put it to some use and couldn't lose at double the price. The thing is in excellent, near pristine condition, the people at the sale swear that it works, but I need to find some speakers and an input before I can try the thing. There's a sticker on the back that says it's from 1969, 25 watts per channel and it has a genuine-fake wood grain metal cabinet and one of those old AM-FM tuners with the red plastic thing that scrolls across the "dial". I know that Lafayette was a low-end maker of mail order products, but the thing has a fine, solid feel to it and a decent amount of dead weight.

Questions are - Does anybody know whether these receivers were any good? Is the all-analog sound worthwhile? Do Lafayette components have any cult value like Heathkits? I know that amps from the era often had inflated power ratings, but would the 25 WPC be real or inflated watts?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I think you did quite well:
LAFAYETTE LR | eBay

and as always with vintage stuff, folks from AK seems to be more knowledgeable about it:
Lafayette LR-100 - AudioKarma.org Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums

 

[markw]

Don't think of all non-big name receivers as low end. What companies like Lafayette, Radio Shack and the like turned out were generally well worth the money they charged.

That being said, throw on a pair of speakers, or plug in a CD player and see how it sounds. you might be plesantly surprised.

 

[skizzerflake]

Well...it really works quite nicely. I buckled down, pulled out wires, etc, plugged my turntable into this baby, hooked it up to my Vandersteens, and, as long as I don't turn it up too loud (the Vandersteens are quite power hungry), this is a quite nice sounding amp, with no detectable flaws. The gen-u-ine AM-FM tuner still works, the switches switch and the volume goes up and down with no evil noises, and no smoke comes out, even after I left it on for a while. This is definitely the best five dollar receiver I have ever bought. I am thinking that I'd like to buy some better smallish speakers for my computer, and I will plug the Lafayette into the AudioEngine outputs. That should sound quite good. This ancient component has just gotten an lease on life. Years in somebody's basement, now entering the digital age.

 

[3db]

Its cool to stumble across a find like that. Congrats

 

[Adam]

Congrats! That looks like a really great find.

 

[M Code]

I couldn't resist today and am a proud new owner. I was rummaging through a hospital "Nearly New Sale" fund raiser and on the shelf was a Lafayette stereo receiver. I bought it for 5$, thinking that I could put it to some use and couldn't lose at double the price. The thing is in excellent, near pristine condition, the people at the sale swear that it works, but I need to find some speakers and an input before I can try the thing. There's a sticker on the back that says it's from 1969, 25 watts per channel and it has a genuine-fake wood grain metal cabinet and one of those old AM-FM tuners with the red plastic thing that scrolls across the "dial". I know that Lafayette was a low-end maker of mail order products, but the thing has a fine, solid feel to it and a decent amount of dead weight.

Questions are - Does anybody know whether these receivers were any good? Is the all-analog sound worthwhile? Do Lafayette components have any cult value like Heathkits? I know that amps from the era often had inflated power ratings, but would the 25 WPC be real or inflated watts?

That receiver was built by Nikko.. Who started out as circuit breaker company and eventually built/sold their own audio components. For $5 great deal, build quality was good in its day....

Just my $0.05...