Aurex SA-5000 Vintage Stereo Receiver – 50 WPC, Toshiba, Japan

Aurex SA-5000 by Toshiba — Fifty Silver-Face Watts a Side, Servo-Locked Tuning, Made in Japan in 1980

A 1980 silver-face receiver of genuine substance — fifty watts a side, twenty pounds on the bench, made in Japan, and wearing real wood side panels in the style of the era’s best.

Aurex, Toshiba’s Audio Marque

Aurex was Toshiba’s audio marque, and this receiver carries both names: Aurex on the faceplate, Toshiba Corporation on the rear panel. That matters mostly because it explains why a name few people recognise turns up with engineering few people expect. Toshiba was building its own semiconductors at the time, and the SA-5000 shows it — distortion is rated at three hundredths of one percent, which was serious-league territory in 1980 and would still be respectable in a modern amplifier.

Servo-Locked Tuning

The full name across the front is Servo Locked, and it is not decoration. A DC servo circuit continuously watches the amplifier’s output and corrects any drift toward direct current, which is what lets the signal path run direct-coupled, with no output capacitor sitting between the amplifier and your speakers. Take that capacitor out and the bass arrives without the softening and phase smear it introduces. It is a design choice you normally found further up the price list, and it is the reason this receiver sounds tighter at the bottom than its badge would lead you to expect.

The Control Set

The control set is complete rather than fashionable. Bass and treble with a tone defeat that lifts the entire tone stage out of circuit when you would rather it were not there. Loudness for low-level listening, a sixteen-hertz subsonic filter for warped records, a mono and stereo mode switch, and a fader. Tuning is helped along by a five-segment signal-level display and an FM muting and lock control that holds a station once you have found it. Two tape loops with full monitoring and dubbing from one to the other, phono and auxiliary inputs, and speaker switching for A, B, or both pairs together.

The Back Panel and Speaker Terminals

The back panel is equally complete: separate 300-ohm and 75-ohm FM antenna inputs alongside the AM terminals, and two AC convenience outlets rated a hundred watts each, one switched with the receiver and one always live. The speaker terminals are spring clips rather than binding posts, which means bare wire or pins — our own gold-plated flexible pin connectors are built for exactly these and make a cleaner, safer job of it than wire twisted by hand.

Condition and Service

This one arrived fully serviced, the work done by an independent technician we know and trust, and it is unusually clean for its age — the front face on its own would grade Excellent. One thing holds the overall grade at Very Good, and it is worth describing precisely: a previous owner inscribed a number into the top cover at the rear left corner. It has been polished down and does not announce itself in ordinary room light, but under a direct light you can still find it. That is the whole of it.

A few relevant specifications:

A well-made Japanese receiver from a company better remembered for televisions, at a price its better-known contemporaries no longer reach.

Available for pickup in Kanata, or shipped across Canada and internationally — we have sent equipment to fifteen countries in the past year, each piece packed in-house in 275 lb test double-wall boxes. Live shipping rates for your address are calculated at checkout. Backed by Radique Audio’s Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty and our Perpetual Trade-Back Program. Available for audition by appointment in Kanata.

Aurex SA-5000 by Toshiba Specifications

• 50 watts per channel into 8 ohms, both channels driven
• Total harmonic distortion 0.03%
• Speaker impedance 4 to 16 ohms on A or B, 8 to 16 ohms running both
• AM and FM reception; 300-ohm and 75-ohm FM antenna inputs
• Phono and auxiliary inputs; two tape loops with monitoring and dubbing
• Bass and treble with tone defeat; loudness; 16 Hz subsonic filter; fader; mono and stereo modes
• Five-segment signal-level display; FM muting and lock
• Speaker switching for A, B, or A and B together; spring-clip terminals taking bare wire or pin connectors
• Switched and unswitched AC outlets, 100 watts each
• Real wood side panels
• Introduced in 1980
• Dimensions: (Width x Height x Depth) 17.7 x 4.6 x 14.6 inches (450 x 116 x 370 mm)
• Weight: 20.9 lbs (9.5 kg)

⚠️ Important Information for International Buyers

This unit is configured for North American 110/120V power. Buyers outside North America will require a step-down transformer and appropriate plug adapter.

✅ Buy With Confidence — The Radique Promise

Backed by Radique Audio’s Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty and our Perpetual Trade-Back Program. When you’re ready to move on, we’ll take it back. That’s the Radique difference.

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