What's vintage in your system?

[BigD]

I have Thorens 126 MKIIIC in the original double box that I purchased direct from ELPA Marketing (the US importer of Thorens products in the 70's). I have 2 arms and all the original paperwork. Adcom crosscoil cartridge and other stuff. I was a salesman at Tech Hifi then. We didn't sell Thorens at the time but they took care of me anyway. I was wondering if anyone could give me an Idea what it would be worth today. It's been in storage for over 15 years.

[RGA]

I have no vintage gear anymore. My oldest piece is a Cambridge Audio CD 6 CD player - listening to it now. Bought it in 1996 and it was a demo CD player. They had the top off and a glass case to show off the internals. It was a very well built (still is ) $800ish CD player.

It owes me zero. It was under heavy all day use in that store for over a year. I have used it pretty much everyday since (couple years it sat in a box while overseas) but sitting a unit can be problematic too apparently).

It still works perfectly! The remote has no troubles, I usually push the buttons on the machine while I am up. It has been moved so many times.

15 years old now - the average life of a CD player is 7 years according to consumer reports. My Sony - 3 years old and giving me problems. I had three Pioneer CD players - all never made it past 4 years. Though the 100 disc changer was pretty good sounding and it's problem was the LCD screen was beginning to go - but it worked.

I have not generally been impressed with the transport mechanisms I have used lately, Audio Note's CD 2.1 which I reviewed is the part that keeps me from buying it(same transport that is in the new Bryston, a Mark Levinson I used which was over $10k was just lousy and buggy, and Sim Audio and Classe don't inspire much confidence.

I am tempted to buy a DAC - even on a ~15 year old CD Player. I can only find a few players that used this Sanyo transport (I was told it was a TEAC - oh well it's strong like bull either way).

CAMBRIDGE AUDIO CD6;
NAKAMICHI DRAGON CD/DAC 4
PINK TRIANGLE CARDINAL, PINK TRIANGLE CORDINAL 2

I guess we can start putting vintage on CD players now that they are being slowly replaced.

[Claudio 1949]

My Pair of DCM Time Windows 3.....love them! Paired to a Canton 12 inch subwoofer!

[Brett A]

The "vinatgest" piece i had until recently was my early 90's Well Tempered Record Player.

But for the past month or-so, I've been building/restoring a Rek-O-Kut Rondine Jr L-37.


I built the plinth, replaced all the grommets around the motor and drive system (I'm sending the idler wheels out for a rebuild today) I bought the arm separately and purchased a Denon DL-103 which makes it period-correct.

I'm still trying to lower the noise floor to an acceptable level. It's a lot of fun.

Until this, the only vintage idler 'tables I've had have been old mid-range Duals and a Garrard AT6 changer. The heft of this Rek O Kut is a world away from those types of 'tables.

[Panagiotis Melas]

....on what to name and report as vintage gear.

Sure, "vintage" means old (in age), but in this hobby it also means something that, when it works and is removed, it cannot be replaced by a similar more modern unit.

Therefore, if someone has, for example, a nice "oldy" pair of speakers, that work equally well (or better, perhaps) with their modern equivalent (in price, design, specs or whatever else you may think), can you name them "vintage"? Or a good power amplifier (and a preamplifier), with the same criteria, as above?

I would certainly consider vintage a good old stereo tape recorder, like the old Akai's, Tandberg's, Revoxes, etc., or a first generation CD Player or an old cassette recorder, but what about a Linn LP12 turntable, especially if it has been upgraded to a Sondec or Valhalla or whatever else was there? Equally, I would consider vintage one of the first surround amplifiers or receivers, with a dolby surround decoding engine in it only, or even a first generation Pro-Logic unit (decoder of amplifier/receiver), but what about a similar unit, 10 or 12 years old, which was perhaps company's flagship those days (in my mind comes the Denon AVR-5800 AV receiver, which was later upgraded by Denon with the KAVA1SE card. Its European equivalent was the AVC-A1SE AV amplifier, which I owned and I gave it to my son)?

With these thoughts in mind, I humbly present my own "vintage" gear:

- Vidikron Crystal One LCD video projector (VGA analysis only, now at my country house)
- Hafler XL-600 power amplifier (modified with Musical Concepts PA-3B Elite kit, still in full use, hardly to be considered a vintage gear)
- Hafler IRIS stereo preamplifier (this has its remote control circuit out of order and I feel free to put it into the "vitage" category)
- Luxman T-117L AM/FM tuner (still in use and one of the most musical FM tuners worlwide)
- ADA SSD-66THX Dolby Prologic Surround Processor/Preamplifier, certainly outpassed by today's modern units
- Sansui SE-77 stereo graphic equalizer - surely vintage
- Sansui RA-500 Reverberation Amplifier- as above
- JVC QL-FX5B direct drive turntable - still working fine
- Audio Alchemy DTI Pro32 jitter reduction unit with PS3 power supply unit, in full operating condition and I don't feel well to consider it vintage, for what it does.
- Various VHS/S-CHS VCRs, except two units from JVC, surely old, but still serving their scope: The D-VHS/D-Theater HM-DH30000U one and its European brother the D-VHS (not D-Theater) HM-DR10000EK one.
- My first reference DVD player, the Sony DVP-S7000, modified to a full region unit, still in use, although surpassed in terms of facilities and performance by other newer units. But the picture from its component output (not progressive), still remains a reference, compaired with equally processed signals (component, non-progressive) from other modern units, even from HD players.

I wish to everyone a Happy, Prosperous, Healthy and Peaceful New Year.
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