Customer Reviews

Teac AG-790 AM/FM Stereo Receiver

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This receiver has a mechanical on/off switch and a (short 3 day ??) memory on settings. The remote will also turn the unit to 'standby' if the front switch is left "on". The other controls are tactile, but will hold settings if unit is unplugged / reconnected. It is now unusual for a receiver to be controlled (on/off) by terminating the power to it, without losing the previous settings. This was important to my application. It also has a 'loudness' control which is strangely absent on the new receivers. I will not own a receiver without a loudness function!

It also has a 'phono' input which has gone away on all others. Contrary to what the salesmen said, a 'phono' CANNOT be connected to the CD or other input without an additional pre-amp.

I found it necessary to replace a fancy high line Technics receiver after 12 years of faultless performance. This Teac AG-790A was the ONLY receiver on the market that had all the controls operating as I needed them to operate.

As far as the performance as an amp goes, there are doubtless better ones available at higher prices. There are apparently NONE at any price that have the combination of features the AG-790 has, however. It works very well, none the less, and it is inexpennsive. Judging from the size and design of the heat sink and the attatched solid state output devices, I doubt this receiver REALLY has the advertised RMS output. At least not for long. Saying that, however, it WILL rattle the windows if so desired.

I give it a wholehearted 'thumbs up' as it was the only choice I had considering its (somewhat outdated) features missing on other 'new' units. It's exactly what I wanted, and the overall performance is VERY satisfactory.

I purchased two of these receivers. One still functions fine, but causes a distinct hum in my speakers, regardless of input. The second one causes the same hum and the speaker switches are broken after a year of use (and now out of warranty.)

If you are looking for a standalone receiver, spend the extra $$ and get a real receiver. This one is barely passable.

This is a typical modern Consumer Grade receiver. I have owned one of these for a little over 2 years now.

It still works perfectly and does what I expect of a low grade component. I bought this because of the phono input and remote control.

There are some shortcomings you would expect from cheap consumer grade electronics.

The filtering on the amplifier and power supplies are typical of the Minimum Necessary to get the job done. This results in some Humming and Clipping especially at near maximum output. The tiny capacitors are saturated well before maximum output. Here is the data: 100 Watt, 8 Ohm, THD 0.9 %. Almost 1% distortion at 100 watts! I would rate this more like a 70 watt unit.

Hook it to some decent speakers with 12 inch or larger woofers, and this is all you need. As long as you keep it below about 70% output. Go to a pawn shop and buy a pair of giant Pioneer speakers from the early 80's. Larger speakers will perform much better, and sound louder at the same volume setting, than the little bookshelf units with tiny 6 inch woofers.

If you want a low distortion (>.025% at rated output) you will need to spend considerably more money to get power supplies, capacitors and amplifiers of good quality.

Back when stereo receivers were popular, there were many high quality units available. But very few of them had remote control and they all cost a lot more than $100 when new.

It is so cheap I may buy another one for when this one finally craps out.

I recommend this unit if you want decent sound at a low price. Just don't expect it to perform like an old Marantz or Pioneer.

Bought one a year ago. In a matter of weeks the power transformer died. Amazon replaced. Now, just beyond warranty, the power transformer on this one has died. Need I say more?

Previous commenter stated:

"It also has a 'phono' input which has gone away on all others. Contrary to what the salesmen said, a 'phono' CANNOT be connected to the CD or other input without an additional pre-amp. "

Most (all?) modern phonographs have pre-amps built-in. If this is true in your case, then yes you can hook the phonograph to the CD, tape or other 'line-level' inputs.

If you have an older phonograph that does not have a built-in preamp, then you will either need to hook it up to a 'phono' input that is designed for this purpose, or you will need an additional preamp so that you can connect it to a line-level input.

This is because older phonographs, just like many microphones have a very low signal level. The preamp amplifies this low level signal to 'line-level' that your (speaker) amplifier is used to dealing with.

I've owned this receiver for about a year now.

It's got a detailed, bright and precise sound. The controls are useful - having a remote is handy and the giant volume control on the unit itself is as intuitive as you need an amplifier to be.

My gripes are:

* Poor bass response unless you fiddle with the settings (which should not be necessary!)
* I could not get it to bi-wire properly with my B&W DM-602s even though the amp has two sets of speaker outputs. So I've had to twist my expensive four-core wire into two and cripple my beautiful speakers with inferior sound and bass/treble interference!
* The radio doesn't seem to be able to scan stations automatically properly. This means I have to crawl through manually.

All in all, my ancient Pioneer sounded far superior, as does anything by a "proper" hi-fi brand such as ARCAM or Marantz. I guess at this price it's what you might expect, but I have to say I'm disappointed and I'm already eager to get rid of it.

I bought this receiver because it has a phono input, a rarity on these days. It arrived a big, heavy monster that hummed like crazy no matter what I did to try and correct it.

I should have just sent it back, but the shipping would have cost 30% of the purchase price! I listened to it only infrequently, but it died shortly after the warranty expired anyway.

A total waste of money.

Purchased via Amazon 9+ months ago, and I was satisfied for the first few months. It did the job as my music sounded fine. But problems arose. It has inputs for Tape/Aux/CD/Tuner/Phono ~ and I installed 3 of the inputs (Aux/CD/Tape). Now it won't tell one from another - sometimes it plays CD when you push Aux, or Aux when you push Tape, othertimes it takes a power-off/power-on to find the Aux source. And the volume control is wacko - the volume gauge runs from 1 to 62, and I play cd's at around level 15, the aux. source at around 30 and Tapes at 40 ~ all to the same level of loudness. When switching to CD after an Aux. input I get BLASTED if I don't remember to turn down the volume.

So my sister loaned me a Denon (a higher-end stereo receiver line) and I was surprised at the step up (cost to value.) Suddenly I'm aware the Teac had (at best) a poor surround system, and a poor interface, and no subwoofer, central speaker, functionable surround options. So was the Denon worth $130? Yes, the quality of sound to the main speakers is fine, and worth $130 if it worked properly (I obviously got a defective unit.) But maybe I should have saved up and gotten a Denon (or equivalent higher-end) in the first place ($500) ~ having access to surround, central, subwoofer etc. is wonderful.