Just a thought about bringing it back

[Enochrome]

You know I was looking at some silver era gear yesterday, coveting a Luxman tube preamp and thought "why do I have to shop used for this look and sound?"

In the beginning of the year the music retail industry reported that all sales were down except for vinyl was.........up %200. What the!?

So I ask you this:

Is it time for a company like Pioneer (Elite), TEAC (Reference), DENON, ROTEL, NAD, and (please) Luxman to make a an affordable mid-fi simple two channed receiver with a kick ass phono stage? Most of my friends listen to vinyl, cds, and mp3's, but have no interest in 5.1. Do you think they are part of growing demographic? I for one, do not use my 5.1 at all anymore.

If so, how would you design it? Keep in mind affordability.

.

Throw into the pot!!!!!!! Come on, it could be fun!! Show some pics of parts and pics of styles old systems you would love to incorporate. Lets frankenstein a great piece of gear.

I'll bring mine shortly. Cheers !!!!!

[bobsticks]

Hhhmmnn...I could be wrong but I think Denon still makes a two-channel model. I know for a fact that Onkyo does but I get your point. I'd love to see some TEAC Reference stuff come back to the forefront.

A couple years ago Outlaw introduced this little retro gem:



Got glowing reviews too...you can check it out here: http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/306outlaw/

[Enochrome]

That looks awesome.

I saw the Denon 2 channel, but I think it retails for something like $600.00 and up.

Don't laugh or shrug, but I am thinking $300.00, with about 50 watts tops.

I think that these companies can make an extremely minimal piece, that excels at the few things it does; one of which would be a killer phono stage. How much R&D and expense could that be?, the science is old and has been refined quite well by now.

[pinto79]

Not the silver look, but I have a Denon DRA-395 that to my ear does LPs really well. It actually does all 2.1 channel audio really well. Very clean and lots of headroom. I originally paid about $450 for it. I'm thinking probably 10 years ago now. Still looks and sounds like new. In fact, I'm still using the same speaker cables I made when I first got it.

[dean_martin]

wood or even faux wood side panels would be nice. (A real wood case would probably add too much to the cost, but what if it was an option?) It doesn't have to be silver to look good with wood. Check out some of the early Pioneer ELITE cd players. I have an older Yamaha tuner in black with a wood case. It's a great look.

Something that would make connections and thus life in general much easier is the horizontal input/output board.

[basite]

well, it's not in the given budget (far from)

but:
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/p...0&CTID=5002300

dean martin will like this, wood side panels as a standard!

dunno over there in the USA, but denon has a great line of integrated's and receivers with phonopreamps in them for really reasonable prices (my previous integrated was a denon, and cost me like €425 new, great thing...

another "retro" thing, that's coming back are tubes, while they never actually left, they are coming at you now with more reasonably priced things, often combining the joys of the modern entertainment, in all it's ease of use, yes, the ipod.

http://www.fat-man.co.uk/docs/produc...alveDock.shtml


Keep them spinning,
Bert.

[dean_martin]

yeah, Bert! Love that touch of class.

[frenchmon]

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Man Yamaha has a nice looking integrated amp and SACDP. $2000. each