New Forum!

[ericl]

On suggestions from users, I've created a forum dedicated to vintage gear.

I am a big fan of vintage. I've never been able to afford the prices of new high end stuff, so I decided to go vintage for things like amps, receivers, etc.

My first foray into vintage was a Fisher 500c that I bought in January 2002. After reading up on it on the net, I found one locally and decided to grab it. It was in good condition, it just needed a couple caps and tubes replaced. I hooked it up to random pairs of speakers I had lying around at it just destroyed all the new mid-fi junk i had experienced up to that point. It sounded so much better that I literally just laughed out loud for the first hour or so. I had been doing all this tweaking and changing components trying to get better sound out of my gear, but the obvious superiority of this 40 year old tube receiver just made all that tweaking and experimenting seem pointless. It was then that I got hooked on vintage.

I realized that I couldn't afford today's top notch stuff, but I could afford yesterday's! The hunt was on! This stuff was cheap, and sounded great. I found a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls locally a few months later, and shortly after all my new mid-priced speakers i had been cycling through were gone in favor of the Klipschs. Then, I found a Thorens 126mkII in great condition, and that ended my Turntable hunt. I've been happy with this system for a couple years now.

I've also a got many other vintage receivers from Harman Kardon, Marantz, Sansui, Yamaha that I give to friends and family, or use in the bedroom. What's your favorite vintage gear?

-ERic

PS: I realize that this "vintage" thing is all relative to your age, so I hope none of you oldtimers are too offended! I just turned 27, my receiver is 14 years older than I am!

[Geoffcin]

Hi Eric,

Great idea for a forum! I love vintage stuff, and am guilty of never throwing anything that's still working out. Right now I've got a pair of Magnepan III's circa 1986, a pair of EPI's vintage 1981, and a pair of KLH model 6 from way back in 1973.

[James.ca]

Have to get your butt down to Good Wiil and the SAL -A _ANN
it's hit and miss but some times pays of with good finds.
.
Also old junk shops as well .
I thnk half the fun is hunting the stuff down .
James.ca
.

[dean_martin]

My office system includes a Sansui AU-5900 integrated amp, Marantz 112 tuner and Akai GXC-730D cassette deck. This is for headphone listening but I hope to add some speakers soon.

In my main music-only system at home I recently replaced a Yamaha CT-44 analog tuner with a Yamaha T-1 tuner. Both are vintage/old, but the T-1 is a tad more life-like and is a little more sensitive to harder-to-get stations. The T-1 is a joy to listen to on uncompressed FM stations because it's smooth and presents a huge soundstage. If I could find a cd player with the same presentation I think I might be satisfied.

[squeegy200]

When I was in college, I worked for Pacific Stereo selling many of the items mentioned.

[michael]

Great stuff, ericl. It is nice to have a forum just for vintage stuff. I think you might see me here a lot in the future

[Oldergeek]

After my sister and brother-in-law divorced, an old Kenwood KA-9100 integrated and Pioneer TX-6800 tuner came back my way. First I powered the stuff up to see if it worked, and what do you know? I soldered a couple new bulbs into the amp's power meters, broke out the tuner clean/lube, windex, brake cleaner, removed the cigarette smoke, and finally some carnuba wax.

Fully functional again and looking pretty good. For a new pair of speakers I found a local dealer by accident and bought a pair of PSB B25s, built some stands, and set the whole thing up in my remodeled home office. Very cool. The old and new stuff sounds great in my smallish office with an 8-ft ceiling.

Any tips on FM antennae would be appreciated. Also any comments on the old Kenwood amp (circa 1980) would interest me. I like its sound and played at least one dorm party (for a fee) whilst at IU. The 90 wpc seems just about right with the PSBs which I find to be a tad power hungry.

[squeegy200]

There is a resurgence in FM tuner popularity. I asked the same question regarding antenna and was told the Radio Shack FM antennas are very good and inexpensive.
Some install the antenna inside the attic to preserve home aesthetics. But best reception is achieved with direct point of view installation on top of your roof.

I also was given a PDF with instructions on how to build a DIY Rhomba antenna which would best be installed inside an attic or crawl space. I can send the white paper if you're interested.

[2325fan]

my marantz 2325 is the same age as me lol 32 yr old it sounds better than me too

[likeitloud]

I've used the vintage forum a few times, but not much goin on, glad there's some
AR's using it. I spin lots of Rock music, so of course vintage speakers and amps
are the way to go for me. High power output, and monitor style speakers are the
way to go. As I have very limited space, my HT rig has vintage stuff incorperated into
it. My receiver has become nothing but a pre-amp, and surround processer, and it
does it's job very well. For the amount of power and sound for under 4g's, vintage
is the way to go. Thanks for the forum Eric.

[kelsci]

Hi Ericl; some of those vintage tube Fisher amps and receivers that ran on tubes sounded terrific such as the 500C. They certainly do have a very natural sound with music. I do not deal with vintage equipment any more but for those who do, it is a good forum to open.

[tin ear]

Thanks to AR and the posts of its members, I developed an interest in TOOBS, after not having owned any audio gear with tubes in it for 40 years or so.

Now, after only having been here on AR for a few short months, I have newly acquired a restored Dyna ST-70, and I love it! Not only does it sound great, but the diddle factor is enormous -- I can roll tubes, do mods, etc. and the circuitry is fairly simple.


-Jon

[squeegy200]

If you are ever in the Southern California area, Brooks Berdan Ltd in Monrovia (Near Pasadena) has a museum of hi-end vintage equipment. It's really fascinating stuff if you like vintage gear. An entire cabinet full of vintage cartridges, tonearms, and vinyl record accessories. But the treasure is in the back room where there are numerous Oracle Delphis and Alexandrias, Quad ESL 57s, Thorens tables, NAD 3020s, SAE rack mounted systems, Tandberg Reel to Reels, Dynaco hardware and many other old time favorites. He's even got a record cutting machine on display.

But out front in the sales area is where I am awestruck. Lots of the stuff I only read about.

His hi-end listening room has a Spotheim SPF turntable connected to VTL amps driving Wilson Max IIs. Us mortals would have to sell our home in order to purchase such equipment.

[spasticteapot]

I'd LOOOVE some Magnepans or Electrostatics.

In the mean time, I've just snagged a Sansui 7900z. It's got an extremely good amplifier, and while the tuner is less than perfect, so are all the radio stations around where I live.

Plus, I can get rid of my iffy Sherwood 6105 reciever.

[squeegy200]

I'd LOOOVE some Magnepans or Electrostatics.

Magneplanar MMGs can be purchased direct from the factory for around $500 a pair.

In the used marketplace, I've purchased a set of factory rebuilt SMGs for $250. These are excellent for my 19' x 13' x 8' listening room