OT: Vintage Stereo setup (pic page 6)

[fuzzalow]

Lots of decent stereo can be recovered from many of the big names in hifi from the 1980s and earlier. Many of the components from the day were not designed and built as throwaway consumer goods as is largely the case today.

Almost all of the stuff has to be reconditioned. All the capacitors over the 30+ years have dried out or drifted from spec so you will have to re-cap it yourself or have someone do it. It is labor intensive so it won't be cheap.

Dunno about particular brands, Marantz, Sansui, Pioneer, Yamaha, Tandberg (!) all good receivers from the golden era. Buy the one that has the best lights on the front panel! Macintosh was always good gear although I don't think they made a receiver until more modern times. Macs were always made in Binghamton NY USA. Any vintage Mac is worth going after and bringing back into service.

[echelon_john]

On a related note, does anyone (especially in the Northeast) have a good resource for receiver repairs? I have an old Fisher Studio Standard that I bought in college which has developed a hum. It's value is almost entirely sentimental (although it does kick ass), so I don't want to spend TONS to get it fixed, but I'd love to have it looked at.

???

Thanks,
JC

[SlackMan]

Originally Posted by mister

i don't think NAD is really any better than the other mid level vintage stuff
probably its just the NAD that worked best with your speakers/room/source

you just have to try stuff

I'll respectfully disagree here. The NAD 3020 sounded so fantastic because of its very high headroom which meant that it was almost never strained across a huge range of speakers, room, source combinations with which it was paired. That is why it's legendary among audio equipment. It would mop the floor with anything else in its price range.

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by SlackMan

I'll respectfully disagree here. The NAD 3020 sounded so fantastic because of its very high headroom which meant that it was almost never strained across a huge range of speakers, room, source combinations with which it was paired. That is why it's legendary among audio equipment. It would mop the floor with anything else in its price range.

My issue with NAD was poor reliability. I had issues with an integrated amp, tuner and 2 CD players. The amp and tuner were out of warranty when things started going up. The CD player was new and the replacement had the same failure. Moved on to other, more reliable brands such as Adcom, Rotel and Oppo.

Tim

[pcxmbfj]

http://www.audiokarma.org/

The link above is the one of the most extensive site for vintage information I've found.

In my experience if more than a good cleaning and de-oxification (for which there are many instructions on the above) is required be prepared to spend more than the unit is worth unless you can solder.

If you decide to go forward with a refurb same site will get you in contact with techs.

Many units are worth the cost.

[josephr]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

I won't check the specs of the speakers you mentioned but I will say that some have foam surrounds that disintegrate over time. They can be redone for $40=/- per driver but some speakers have butyl surrounds that last nearly forever. ADS and Braun are some like that. Classic Klipsch (and others) have fabric accordian-like surrounds that also last indefinitely but I am not a fan of the "Klipsch sound" which sacrifices accuracy for efficiency. Flame suit on, but that is my opinion/taste. :-) In any event, I'm sure you will enjoy this sonic adventure.

eh? as opposed to a muddy-a$$ Bose which sacrifices everything for loud??? Apparently you're not powering your Klipsch correctly --- you need clean power for those --- NAD, Caver, Adcom, or best yet, McIntosh tube amp.

The CR 440 is nice --- anything Yamaha is good, clean stuff....used to be a separate DA converter was considered an upgrade, but with modern systems, the DA technology has progressed to making it a non-issue. Like everyone else -- good stuff came from Japan in the 70s and 80s -- Yamaha, Sansui, Onkyo...

I've not tried one of those gizmos --- but I don't see the point either as Pandora and others stream at a relatively low bit-rate unless you're going to pay for the service. There's not much help a good DAC can do to something ripped 128kbps.

Lot of modern receivers have built in DACs --- if you have a good sound card, just route a digital line to your receiver, let it do all the unencoding for you.

[Saint Vitus]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

Classic Klipsch (and others) have fabric accordian-like surrounds that also last indefinitely but I am not a fan of the "Klipsch sound" which sacrifices accuracy for efficiency. Flame suit on, but that is my opinion/taste. :-)

Paul W. Klipsch used to go to AES shows with a button that read: BULLSH*T!

Originally Posted by fuzzalow

Almost all of the stuff has to be reconditioned. All the capacitors over the 30+ years have dried out or drifted from spec so you will have to re-cap it yourself or have someone do it. It is labor intensive so it won't be cheap.

This, and for the most part we're only talking about electrolytics, for the simple fact that as they age they really degrade and in typical modern solid state audio electronics they are used throughout the circuit design including the signal path as decoupling which really effects the quality of sound. I've re-capped multitrack tape machines, talk about a chore...

Originally Posted by echelon_john

I have an old Fisher Studio Standard that I bought in college which has developed a hum. It's value is almost entirely sentimental (although it does kick ass), so I don't want to spend TONS to get it fixed, but I'd love to have it looked at.

See above. Probably the power supply, so it would be quick work to sort out and therefore reasonable. Of course what's reasonable these days?

[IJWS]

A vintage amp sounds fun and interesting, vintage speakers sound like a nightmare, a fatiguing nightmare where your ears are strained, but you're also trying to convince everyone around you how great your stereo sounds. I would highly suggest having fun having a vintage amp restored, and then pairing that with some speakers made after the year 2000. Speaker technology--especially for bookshelf/monitor/perfect for the office speakers--has increased immensely. Also, this DAC is worth considering. Don't mind the fact that it's on Crutchfield, that's just the first link google spat out at me.

you know, technically, the person that suggested the topping chip amp is right. My $60 chip amp blows away my vintage NAD...but then again you weren't really asking for that kind of advice were you? Vintage amp, modern speakers, DAC, you should be very happy.

[echelon_john]

You guys who are running the stripped down/chip amps: can you elaborate a little more on the setup? Adequate power? I/O? I'm intrigued, since pretty much all I do is stream music.

Do you still need a power amp, or is THIS the power amp?

(sorry...I'm an English major...)

[mtechnica]

Been into this stuff since I was a kid and I'd have to agree with the just try stuff route. I also think the majority of vintage speakers suck but often the ones with good cabinets work out OK. There are some cheap ones like the advent large that aren't bad and there are some bargain 80s stuff out there too. As far as recievers, the more power the better usually, and don't forget a turntable since cheap vinyl is everywhere if you're motivated to go browsing. Lastly learning to solder and re wire things is very helpful as often times stuff you find needs some kind of repair.

[sc53]

Stick with the Yamaha, to remind you of your Dad. The HRT streamers are excellent for the price. There are a number of these small inexpensive USB DACs available now--Audioquest Dragonfly v.1.2 is another one, I've used it and it is very good for $100. Scroll through the demo offerings at Music Direct (mail order vinyl and equipment place in Chicago) to save on the HRT, Audioquest, iFi, NAD, and other tiny DACs.
http://www.musicdirect.com/c-606-dig...randFilterID=0
Also--I just got an email about this new "retro" looking modern system from Music Direct. This is exactly how my college stereo used to look! Pricey but cool.
http://www.musicdirect.com/p-276032-...ce=igodigital&

[IJWS]

Originally Posted by echelon_john

You guys who are running the stripped down/chip amps: can you elaborate a little more on the setup? Adequate power? I/O? I'm intrigued, since pretty much all I do is stream music.

Do you still need a power amp, or is THIS the power amp?

(sorry...I'm an English major...)

John, Right now I'm running this SMSL 50 which powers a pair of Mission M71's from the early 2000's that I found on ebay for $140. I stream music from spotify, and a I have a vintage Bang and Olufsen Beogram 8002 turntable (with a working MMC20CL cartridge!!!).

I've had this setup for about 4 months. It was replacing a more expensive (but still "budget" (NAD amp, KEF speakers, Pro-Ject turntable) audiophile system that I lost in a fire. I am so pleased with this, ultra-cheap setup. I'm considering a DAC, and another phono preamp in the future, but I am really happy with the amp and speakers. The amplification is super-clean and consistent, and paired with the speakers, my little sub-$300 system is very musical with decent imaging. The size of the speakers handles everything but bass-heavy rock very well. (U2 doesn't sound fantastic but James Blake does--go figure.) 50 watts from a chip amp is more than enough to drive the speakers and more likely larger ones as well. I bought the amp on a whim last year since t-amps review so well and I was interested. I waited on the speakers for a while and those, along with some kef iQ30's were my stable ebay searches. I couldn't recommend this setup enough. Definitely get a t-amp, and spend the rest of your budget on the best speakers you can find.

[josephr]

Originally Posted by echelon_john

You guys who are running the stripped down/chip amps: can you elaborate a little more on the setup? Adequate power? I/O? I'm intrigued, since pretty much all I do is stream music.

Do you still need a power amp, or is THIS the power amp?

(sorry...I'm an English major...)

it all depends!

like bicycles, there's a hundred different ways to skin a cat when it comes to audio equipment -- I used to be into complex systems, planar speakers, tube amps, and stuff...but now I'm stuck in the basement so happy with a good pair of Infinity 2-way speakers, a Yamaha integrated amp, and an iPod. Its relatively clean sound and loud enough to piss off the wife.

The OP is trying to set up a vintage system and stream from his computer using it as the music source. Since a vintage amplifier/receiver won't take a digital input, he's asking two questions 1) best route to get to a 2-channel signal (regular ole stereo) via RCA plugs and 2) is this a good used amp on eBay for what he's trying accomplish.

Its sorta hard to answer the questions really --- everyone has their own tastes and desires and preferences. Really, I think running a patch cable to convert from a miniplug (in the back of his computer) to two RCA plugs (the back of the amp/receiver) is the simplest solution.
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Audio-C...iniplug+to+RCA

[staggerwing]

Originally Posted by echelon_john

You guys who are running the stripped down/chip amps: can you elaborate a little more on the setup? Adequate power? I/O? I'm intrigued, since pretty much all I do is stream music.

Do you still need a power amp, or is THIS the power amp?

(sorry...I'm an English major...)

For the case of the Topping TP-30, all you need is your source computer, a classic (as opposed to the micro sized, used with phones) USB cable, and set of speakers. My home kitchen computer setup is a TP-30 running a set of Pioneer SP-BS21 bookself speakers, and an SW-8 sub. The TP-30 is small enough to hang out on the top of one of the SP-SB21s.

You can go way fancier than this, but the Topping/Pioneer combo beats the living daylights out of 98% of powered "computer" speakers and was less than $225 all in. Those Pioneers can frequently be found on sale.

Of course, if already have a set of speakers, you don't need to add anything more than the TP-30 and USB cable.

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by jtakeda

Klipsch sound paired with a Fisher 500c is absolutely fantastic- give it a listen sometime!

I owned a Fisher 500C and a Fisher 400 and they sounded fine with my AR3A speakers when they were all new. The "classic" Klipsch sspeakers are still made and still have that of years. A couple of years ago I listened to a pair of almost new Heresy III speakers that were offered on Craigslist. I wondered if I would prefer them over my ADS 520 in my bedroom system but I thought they were a little lacking in detail.

I have never done any critical listening to the modern Klipsch line because no good local retailer sells them. Maybe I would like them. The demo room at Best Buy is a poor venue to hear anything other than the salesman's blathering.