While my Sony receiver was dead and I was scouring Madison resale in hopes of getting a good used one, I did have a receiver offered to me that I didn’t end up using, but that I wanted to call out here.

My friend Josh heard my sad tale of the doomed Sony and informed me that he thought he had a small receiver at home that he wasn’t using and that he would bring it for me. The next day I found it on my desk.

It was a Realistic SA-150.

Only 9 ½ inches wide! When he said small receiver he meant it.

You have to love the sticker.

Ultimately, I ended up getting a new used Sony receiver, but this diminutive unit gets an honorable mention here. I didn’t know they made them this small. It may have actually worked for me, but I would have had to splice an RCA cord onto my speaker wire because of the jacks on the back.

Though I was intrigued by this (it even had a phono ground screw!) I decided to give resale in Madison one last go the next weekend, and that’s when I ended up with the new used Sony. Otherwise I would have tried using this. It’s damn adorable.

I was informed by Josh that this was his first receiver. He has had it since he was 11 years old. A nice piece of history that I respectfully returned to him once I had the new used Sony. Hang on to that thing man.

It is beyond vintage.