Top Vintage system

[gian60]

Today all prices are incredible crazy!!!!

There are fantastic old products and system you can find cheaper than a cartridges
What do you think if with 7/15.000 usd you can have system like

ML JC1 with Acoustat X or Monitor
Pre and Speaker Beweridge 2
ML 6 and N 20 with Tympany IV A
Bedini with 4 stack Quad ESL 57
Cello System
Rowland 7 mono with Soundlab A1
Krell and Apogee Scintilla
Swiss Physics 5 and 6 with Altec 19
MC Intosh with JBL 4343
ARC SP6 or SP 10 with D 79B

This let me think a lot that with a price of a cartridge or less than tonearm we can find some products that did the history of hifi and give today a fantastic sound

What do you think?

 

[Mikem53]

That’s an interesting list .. but I remember some early Krell gear that was horrible, using bipolar transistor..
Cello gear would be interesting, but still pricey and what about repairs ? Might be difficult getting support from Levinson or somebody capable.. Macintosh has the support, but their older gear tends To be sloppy sounding, IMO. Many of these creators have retired or moved on.. It might be just as pricey to keep some of this gear alive, finding parts, etc..
There are other newer options available today that cost less and would sound better.. Maybe not with the heritage of some you mentioned, you have good taste !
I did like the Cello gear, overdone, pricey and complex, but sounded great ! I think many would find joy in the chase and restoring of vintage gear, maybe more so than listening to it..

 

[ddk]

Today all prices are incredible crazy!!!!

There are fantastic old products and system you can find cheaper than a cartridges
What do you think if with 7/15.000 usd you can have system like

ML JC1 with Acoustat X or Monitor
Pre and Speaker Beweridge 2
ML 6 and N 20 with Tympany IV A
Bedini with 4 stack Quad ESL 57
Cello System
Rowland 7 mono with Soundlab A1
Krell and Apogee Scintilla
Swiss Physics 5 and 6 with Altec 19
MC Intosh with JBL 4343
ARC SP6 or SP 10 with D 79B

This let me think a lot that with a price of a cartridge or less than tonearm we can find some products that did the history of hifi and give today a fantastic sound

What do you think?

There are a few speakers I’d consider in that list but none of the electronics.

david

 

[gian60]

I am in lockdown and my job in textile business is near stop so my
Mind can think more to hifi
Hi David this electronic was what we had 30 years ago
What you have in mind could be we hadnt in Italy that time

 

[ddk]

I am in lockdown and my job in textile business is near stop so my
Mind can think more to hifi
Hi David this electronic was what we had 30 years ago
What you have in mind could be we hadnt in Italy that time

Hi Gian,
30 years ago you didn’t have internet outlets either .
These are strange days Gian ...
david

 

[Vienna]

I think that 30 years ago, people were listening to music ....not to cables, racks etc

 

[ddk]

I think that 30 years ago, people were listening to music ....not to cables, racks etc

You must be young, the madness started in the 80’s and 90’s is exactly when the madness peaked! Absolute Sound was on top and Pearson fed audiophiles as much crap as we could swallow, it was by the truckload!

david

 

[shakti]

....30 years ago I was just finishing university.
In 1990 I had already worked for 5 years in Hifi Studios, mainly assembling turntables and doing customer set ups.
I can remember that time the following shop gear as influencing me the most:

- Goldmund / Pierre Lurne turntables

- Audiolabor Klar Pre & Kraft Amps, Konstant turntable (former company of Brinkmann)

- Infinity Beta

- Threshold SA1

- Audio Research SP10, SP11

- Thorens Reference

- Micro Seiki RX 5000

- Grado Reference

- Fidelity Research tonearms

- Martin Logan CLS

- Spendor BC1

- Sonus Faber Extrema

- Duntech Sovereign

and many others.

Some of the named products are today rare collectables, so the shown quality in the 80ies were proven over the decades.

 

[thedudeabides]

You must be young, the madness started in the 80’s and 90’s is exactly when the madness peaked! Absolute Sound was on top and Pearson fed audiophiles as much crap as we could swallow, it was by the truckload!

david

Are you saying that all of HP's reviews and essays were crap because they had no value / insight regarding a component's sound or are you saying they were crap because they were not consistent with your personal view of a component's performance?

From a personal perspective, I learned a lot about "the sound" of a particular component and audio in general. Also and lest you forget, TAS allowed garage based audio manufacturers to become viable hi end businesses, many of which still exist today.

Generalizations are, by nature, totally meaningless and irrelevant as is yours about HP and TAS.

 

[Vienna]

You must be young, the madness started in the 80’s and 90’s is exactly when the madness peaked! Absolute Sound was on top and Pearson fed audiophiles as much crap as we could swallow, it was by the truckload!

david

David 30 years ago, I was 15 y.o. and used to listen to my father’s system, an old Grundig (1965 model) furniture turntable and radio.

 

[Mikem53]

You must be young, the madness started in the 80’s and 90’s is exactly when the madness peaked! Absolute Sound was on top and Pearson fed audiophiles as much crap as we could swallow, it was by the truckload!

david

We had Robert Harley to keep it real..

 

[ddk]

Are you saying that all of HP's reviews and essays were crap because they had no value / insight regarding a component's sound or are you saying they were crap because they were not consistent with your personal view of a component's performance?

From a personal perspective, I learned a lot about "the sound" of a particular component and audio in general. Also and lest you forget, TAS allowed garage based audio manufacturers to become viable hi end businesses many of which still exist today.

Generalizations are, by nature, totally meaningless and irrelevant as is yours about HP and TAS.

You're welcome to your opinion dude, I know what I know.

david

 

[ddk]

David 30 years ago, I was 15 y.o. and used to listen to my father’s system, an old Grundig (1965 model) furniture turntable and radio.

Those Grunding consoles were everywhere ours had a black & white tv too, but to still have one in the 90's is something!

david

 

[Direct Drive]

You must be young, the madness started in the 80’s and 90’s is exactly when the madness peaked! Absolute Sound was on top and Pearson fed audiophiles as much crap as we could swallow, it was by the truckload

Oh yes.....to the extremes with Peter Belt advocating putting slips of paper and foil between every 5th page of your books , or some such nonsense.
Jimmy Hughes bolting his LS3/5A stands to the floor, putting a torsion bar through them to stop the birch ply flexing. Hanging a turntable from the ceiling........
There were plenty of nutty things, some still continue. Fun times. I used to look forward to the mags every month to see what bit of tweaking madness would be imparted that I could try.
Sadly I don't remember much about the effects of room acoustics, other than no telephones, tv other speakers in the room.
Happy days.

 

[ddk]

Oh yes.....to the extremes with Peter Belt advocating putting slips of paper and foil between every 5th page of your books , or some such nonsense.
Jimmy Hughes bolting his LS3/5A stands to the floor, putting a torsion bar through them to stop the birch ply flexing. Hanging a turntable from the ceiling........
There were plenty of nutty things, some still continue. Fun times. I used to look forward to the mags every month to see what bit of tweaking madness would be imparted that I could try.
Sadly I don't remember much about the effects of room acoustics, other than no telephones, tv other speakers in the room.
Happy days.

That was the British scene of 80’s when those valiant reviewer’s were discovering the power of a teapot cozy over the telephone !
david

 

[Bso]

Oh yes.....to the extremes with Peter Belt advocating putting slips of paper and foil between every 5th page of your books , or some such nonsense.
Jimmy Hughes bolting his LS3/5A stands to the floor, putting a torsion bar through them to stop the birch ply flexing. Hanging a turntable from the ceiling........
There were plenty of nutty things, some still continue. Fun times. I used to look forward to the mags every month to see what bit of tweaking madness would be imparted that I could try.
Sadly I don't remember much about the effects of room acoustics, other than no telephones, tv other speakers in the room.
Happy days.

Hanging an LP-12 (or table of your choice) from water pipes or bolting into the rafters/stud, especially in another room separate from the listening room actually works very well. Add balanced (output) phono preamp and run the cables to a preamp (in a rack or cabinet) near your listening position. Then run balanced cables to the mono amps near your speakers of choice using short speaker cables.

(I just don't get this modern fetish of placing your equipment in a rack between your speakers. I just want to listen to music.)

That Peter Belt thing was absolutely silly I remember him crawling around at a CES as I happened be in Chicago so I bought a ticket. BTW he used different sizes and colours of paper!

Benchmark Media still makes high value products at a reasonable price. Sound Lab electrostatics are also and have been a great value. Just my opinion, not a categorical statement.

I'll add a vintage one: Listening to 'Adventures in Sound' hosted by Victor Campos from Boston Symphony Hall with all the limiters turned off through a 6' Yagi antenna on my roof motor-controlled and aimed at WGBH(?) connected to a Don Scot upgraded Accuphase T-100. No more FM?

Another: Fidelity Research, etc., cartridges selected by their frequency response and channel separation graphs at a dealers.

 

[SeagoatLeo]

I owned the Acoustat Xs back in the 80's. My late wife called them coffin boxes. No highs standing up, anywhere above 4' in height. Amp tended to blow and had expensive very high voltage cap. No thanks (they did sound sweet).

 

[Ultrafast69]

I don’t disagree audio can be expensive, but there’s a lot of value for pieces that are a decade in legacy, with many manufacturers still in business with some offering upgrades.

 

[Solypsa]

The truly great vintage is pretty costly these days.

Good vintage, if you know what to hunt for, can be a deal.

One day I would like to assemble a little system based on old broadcast modules ( a Siemens / Telefunken V set ). I wouldn't expect it to topple giants but I have a thing for old industrial / studio gear...

 

[SeagoatLeo]

I don’t disagree audio can be expensive, but there’s a lot of value for pieces that are a decade in legacy, with many manufacturers still in business with some offering upgrades.

I intend to purchase Von Schweikert VR9MkII which are from earlier in the decade and their second best speaker. Most of my equipment is from 2006 (VPI TNT VI modified/EAR 324/Benz Ruby3/Hallographs) and some as early as 1981 & 1989 (VPI 19-4, VPI 16, SME IV modified). My current speakers are 28 years old (Legacy Focus & Signature III). So much of my equipment is relatively old but a bargain as used (especially the speakers but the SME only increased in price from $1100 to $4600 when it was discontinued). I use a Marantz 7 for 78s, a Nakamichi CR-7, Technics 1500/Tandberg 900 R-R as well and they are even older equipment. Some of my equipment may not be what's best even in their time but second or third best.