Vintage Stereo Equipment

[Guzzistajohn]

NAD amp I bought in the early 90's  and Klipsch Herasy Speaks I found on craigslist for $250.00 (my old Boston's were TOAST!) 

[fossil]

The quintessence of this thread? Old HiFi equipment was and is great. It oozes quality, glamour, and when it is made by those famous old companies from Britain, USA and Japan and is well-maintained (think electrolythic condernsers!) it still sounds good even compared to modern equipment. From Germany at least old Braun receivers are good.

By the way: the good old Dual CS505 belt-drive turntable is still sold new. Made by exactly the small company that produced that thing for Dual back then.

[LowRyter]

NAD amp I bought in the early 90's  and Klipsch Herasy Speaks I found on craigslist for $250.00 (my old Boston's were TOAST!)

It would difficult to find anything on the market more than equal to that.

[BrotherJim]

I love my Advent Heritage loudspeakers which I have recently re-foamed and am getting to know my Monitor Audio Silver 5i speakers on another system.  My amps are ho hum, generally, but I've had many great years of service from my Sony STR-D990 receiver. 

[dguzzi]

and those of us trying to sell stuff can't get any interest!!   

[Two Checks]

Hmm....I have a couple oldies...
 
JVC JA-S55 integrated amp hooked to a Kenwood KT-5500 tuner that drove DLK towers. They needed refoaming and for some reason my dad gave them to a niece's husband.


Next, a Fisher RS-2015 tuner/amp.


Finally an Optimus STAV-3170.


I need to get these hooked up again. I cleaned all the pots on the JVC and never hooked it back up.


My brother had a Luxman unit years ago. On power up the face retracted to expose the controls. The system to retract the face kept going tango uniform so he binned it.

[pebra]

I had a Marantz Model 22 receiver which I liked very much. Great sound for its class, and I just adored the Marantz design.
Sadly it started needing repairs after (quite) a while, and I didn't find it worthwhile to keep it. Should have kept the front plate at least, as a fond memory!
The Marantz fed a pair of huge Pioneer speakers. Five-way I believe, which I concluded wasn't an advantage. They, too, were worn out after many years.
Not certain about the turntable, but I believe Thorens 150. Pick-ups? Long forgotten. Do I still have some Shures lying around?

But I tend to think of my electrostatic Koss headphones as the best part of my system.
And I believe the vinyl record was the most important element in the chain. Later, there were also super FM transmissions.

Listening to good music, from a good quality vinyl record, on the Koss headphones  -  a great experience.
Anyway, also my ears were worn out. Today I enjoy listening to music from my desktop, delivered by Bluetooth directly to my hearing aids...…

[kirb]

I have a couple of Marantz  22XX receivers that I used as shop units. The basement shop still works, the garage shop needs a re-cap, new lights, and repair of a channel.

I can fix them, but I really don't WANT to. It is a royal PITA to do, and it's worth $200 when you are done. I picked up a simple Yamaha 100W unit with bluetooth... This thing is great- it works and sounds way better than the Marantz that was there. It wasn't worth the effort to keep going or baby it along. I'll fix it one day, but I doubt I'll replace the $130 Yamaha with anything else.

[LowRyter]

So when I read "re-cap", that means new capacitors?  General maintenance?  A cleaning?

I am told that it's "no" to new transistors $$$$. 

[nc43bsa]

So when I read "re-cap", that means new capacitors?  General maintenance?  A cleaning?

I am told that it's "no" to new transistors $$$$.

Correct.

I've re-capped a couple of free computer monitors.  I need to re-cap some of my stereo amps.

[LowRyter]

Correct.

I've re-capped a couple of free computer monitors.  I need to re-cap some of my stereo amps.

correct?  I asked several questions, which one?

[yackee]

I just bought a Sansui AU-777 amp and a Sansui TU-888 tuner (both in lovely walnut cases), with some vintage 70s Jensen speakers, from a used-audio-equipment store here in Madison. The guy running it started in the business in 1973, and had all sorts of wild old stereo equipment lying around. He had so many old CD players that he threw one in for free. Now I need to pick out a turntable (and a stereo cabinet).

[nc43bsa]

correct?  I asked several questions, which one?

Sorry.  I meant to say "correct" on the capacitor replacement.

[LowRyter]

Sorry.  I meant to say "correct" on the capacitor replacement.

thnx

[Rough Edge racing]

  In my living room are the Cerwin Vega speakers bought new around 1975...I replaced the woofers about 20 years ago. Power is a newer Yamaha reciever..In my basement shop is a 70's  made in Japan Sherwood Recierver and unknown speakers...I listen to a few hours of music daily..

[blu guzz]

John:

You can still buy a version of the NAD amp very much like your vintage version for a very reasonable price like NAD has always been (high value) and the Heresy are still available new.  In today's money the price of the speaker really has not gone up much if at all, also high value.

[BrotherJim]

Recently picked up a set of immaculate Klipsch KG5.2 loudspeakers from the early 90's for free.  Anyone have any impressions of these?  So far, mine is "OMG!!!"

[moto-uno]

  AR Cambridge amp , Rega turntable and Magnum Dynalab tuner with a pair of 10" Tannoys . Going on 4 decades and still a treat to hear !  Peter

[Old Jock]

i've got a quad 303,33 combo , excellent sound even compared to modern top of the line hifi...
they were legendary at the time
and as quirky, and as rebuildable as a old guzzi

WoW just Wow I always wanted that system and the Electrostatic Speakers that looked like radiators too but could never afford it

Ended up a lot later with a pretty much budget Musical Fidelity System which I really like driving some B&W speakers, but still hanker after the Quad. Did it not stand for something like Quality Audio Domestic or the like?

[Bulldog9]

I have a Marantz 4300 receiver. Warm sound that Marantz was famous for. They are pricey today. Also there is an Akai 838 black reel to reel, and a Marantz 6300 turntable. The dust cover for the Akai reek to reel looks like a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. Coolest dust cover made. A good one today is $200. Speakers are a pair of Pioneer HPM 1500's, the ones with a 15" woofer and the round plastic super tweeter on top. That setup will drive you through the wall before the speakers break. No sub needed.

I always considered McIntosh to be a cut above the rest. Couldn't afford it so bought Marantz. Beautiful receiver. If you want true vintage Marantz get one that says "Superscope" on the label. Anything built in Sunnyvale or even Japan is good.

Pioneer hired a top speaker designer away from JBL to create the HPM line of speakers. They are outstanding in every way, but very pricey on today's market. I bought the HPM 1500's around 20 years ago for $250. Newly refoamed. Today they sell for over $2000!

On my bucket list is an Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck. Extraordinary cassette player. One of the best analog pieces of stereo gear ever made. Now a good one is around $2000.

If I had a room big enough I'd have a pair of Martin Logan speakers in addition to the HPM's.

Love analog gear.

I've got a M4300 amp as well, hooked to 1980's era Infinity Bookshelf speakers with a Sony Sub in my study. 2 years ago, I dug my wife's college era NAD turntable and our vinyl records and restored it. I also added a bluetooth module to stream directly from a phone or tablet or the PC with all the MP3's on a hard drive. We also have one of those things that lets you convert cassette tapes and LP's to digital. I started 5 years ago with the cassettes and CD's, and just started on the LP's. Though I love the warm analog sounds, it doesn't take long to grow tired of flipping LP's....

Our Pioneer Cassette deck gave up the ghost a couple years ago, and the matching stacked CD changer is not far behind. I use the Pioneer Receiver from that 1980's stack for the family room/TV stereo. The speakers were long blown out, I bought a set of Bose speakers at a yard sale a few years ago, and use a sub as well.

[giusto]

So when I read "re-cap", that means new capacitors?  General maintenance?  A cleaning?

I am told that it's "no" to new transistors $$$$.

To answer the questions

recap...replace the filter capacitors as sometimes the older rolled versions leak capacitance as they age...newer (70 's and on) filter caps not so much. In the world of vintage guitar amplifiers a cap job or the wrong cap job could "ruin" the sound of the amp...that said in the hands of a knowledgeable repair guy with the correct style or quality filter caps, the amp could sound like new...again not always the desire of the owner.

cleaning? how old a system or amp? new tubes? biasing? retention the tube sockets....always a good idea done by the right person. I spent a lot of time with old tube guitar amps and still do :) 

But now things have changed....we can talk about classic amp's and stereos as we would our affinity for old or classic bikes...but the reality is a lot of what is made now is way better than all but the best of the old stuff. Check out the systems you can put together from PS Audio....and you can spend from $600 to 30K. I just bought a Sprout 100 amp which blows away any high end audio from the 60's-70's or 80's..matched with a pair of ELAC speakers and a Pro-Ject Carbon turntable it's an affordable system that will satisfy!

one last tip...if you are interested in the best quality sound the easiest and most important upgrade you can make is....position....p ut your speakers on stands of the same height that do not wobble or vibrate, be sure to keep them a few feet away from the wall behind them...  listen buy positioning yourself....measure the distance between the center of your speakers....that distance should be 80% of the distance between your ears and each speaker...example if your speakers are 9.6 feet apart your ears should be 12.0 feet from each speaker and at the same height as the tweeters...and a few inches makes a difference!  It may sound like BS but it's not ...try it..to most people the difference is noticed immediately and is massive!

I know none of this matters if your working away in your shop while wrenching...but if you want a look into what the recording engineer wanted you to hear when they recorded the music try this...you should be able to hear depth and separation of the sound...sometimes seeming to come from somewhere no where near the speaker.



 

[dguzzi]

I'd trade a Kenwood amp and tuner for a Dual 1229 turntable....
Or a reel to reel sony for the same turntable...   or similar ...ya know.

[HarveyMushman]

I’ve seen a couple of references to the NAD 3020 here so far. I bought one a couple months ago for short money to pair with the Celestion DL12’s I picked up (for free!) several years ago. For source I use a Bluetooth adaptor and feed it Radio Paradise’s FLAC stream or my iTunes library. It sounds good, especially the FLAC stream.

[roadventure]

So would the wires be potentially of value to a potential buyer in the future. if so I can put an ugly cover plate over them but I hate to do that.

Who cares?  YOU live in the house now.  Do what pleases YOU. 

[brider]

Even IF an audiophile bought your house and liked the idea of speaker wires available in every room, if the wires were too small for the length of run to power speakers, it might be a turn-off. That's what was in my basement; speaker wires that were laughably inadequate.

More than likely, though, any audiophile would rely on wireless speakers.

[alanp]

i've got a quad 303,33 combo , excellent sound even compared to modern top of the line hifi...
they were legendary at the time
and as quirky, and as rebuildable as a old guzzi

Now THAT is some audio equipment.  The rest of this stuff, meh...

[ozarquebus]

There are tons of vintage stereo amps out there that can sound nearly audiofile quality besides the big names.
Most of it is over priced and less expensive to buy than to repair.

Great old speaker driver designs, on the other hand, are much fewer because speaker design has improved immensely since the 70s or 80s.

Having said that, there are some really great vintage speaker drivers, ie: my Altec Lansing Voice of the Theatre types with compression drivers, some Klipsch, my Dahlquist DQ-10s, etc, but you have to research the cult classic favorites.

 I finally settled on a Class A 2A3 Single ended Triode homebuilt tube amps using vintage & new transformers. The design is dead simple and anyone could learn to build one if determined enough. This drives the the 110dB efficiency 288B hi freq compression drivers attached to the 1005B horns loudly with only the 3.5 watts per channel.
 The bass is a pair of Altec Lansing 515B 15" drivers in home built bass reflex boxes run by a new Jolida EL84 PushPull tube amp at about 25 watts plenty loud enough for 103dB efficiency.
 Crossover duty is with a pair of active DBX 223 rack mount crossovers so I can run the bi amp set up with no passive crossovers, anywhere.

This system sounds great and is very fast and articulate, but aren't quite voiced right since known singers unique voices like Johnny Cash don't sound quite like they do in really life. For jazz, however, they are tops.

So after all that, I have found that the most accurately reproducing system (my alternate stereo) are a pair of Audio Nirvana 12 " Specials single full range drivers run by a pair of refurbished Sylvania 6BQ5 tube PP amps out of an old console stereo at about 20 watts with no crossovers at all.

Both use the same Sony TAE 5450 monster preamp from the 70s.

There are better sounding systems, for sure, but I am happy with what I got.

No one can tell you what you are going to like and stereo opinions are more varied even than motorcycle or religious preferences. No matter what you have, you will change your mind over time especially if you listen to other peoples set ups.

 You can even make yourself think your own system sounds even better than it does.

Then there is the problem of finding good high fidelity program material which is a whole 'nother argument with even more opinions and variable.

Just dive in and start moving up the ladder of your own learned preferences.

[ozarquebus]

by the way, I have a working McIntosh MX110 Tuner Preamp I will trade for a Guzzi.



Not quite as nice as this stock image pictured

[Chuck in Indiana]

, my Dahlquist DQ-10s,

Mine were awesome. Needed a sub woofer, but awesome, just the same. When I married Dorcia and moved into her 900 square foot log cabin, though.. they sort of were a little too much.  Now, I'm deaf as a post, and my Adcom separates and NHT towers with sub are fine. Actually, the old Klipch surround sound and Paradigm sub in the man cave sound ok to me. Fortunately, now, my hearing aids are fairly hi fi. 
I quit listening to music for several years until hearing aid tech caught up. The distortion was painful. Wear your ear plugs when riding. (Guzzi content)

[fossil]

I'd trade a Kenwood amp and tuner for a Dual 1229 turntable....
Or a reel to reel sony for the same turntable...   or similar ...ya know.

  I would never give away my 1229!