Anyone into Vintage Audio HiFi?

[Steve McMahan]

Where’s your real to real unit? If anyone has one, I recently was in Tx to tear down an old barn on the property, and I found cool, old things as I took it down. One was a real to real storage case, full of old, looks like, self-recorded stuff. If anyone is interested in this, let me know.

 

[kevken1959]

I've got a Yamaha setup and a pair of mint Klipsch Cornwall II speakers I bought new back in 1985. They're in my "Man Cave" that currently (partly) serves as a store house for my 71-73 parts collection. Unfortunately it never gets used, but the sound is fantastic!

 

[Boss1Ray]

I have my old trusty Pioneer receiver and related equipment. Haven't turned it on in YEARS! LOL

Ray

 

[detritusmaximus]

Better than going to the movies by far! Now if I could just find any good new movies to watch, LOL!

So, many years ago, or maybe it's 'soooo many years ago'...my dad and my best friend, Tim, went to the the theater to see The Road Warrior on its original release. Big screen and Dolby sound (or whatever it was). For some reason the theater staff had the sound a little too high. I mean, it was actually a bit uncomfortable. It was PERFECT! The audio was a sonic assault to match the movie. We walked out of there feeling like we had been thru it.

 

[MikeGriese]

My ears were formed in the early 80's, so here's how I keep them happy.

The shop has:

South room

Adcom GFA 555II bridged power amps (2 @ 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms, 400 watts bridged)
Adcom 6 speaker switch
Adcom GTP 500 tuner/preamp
BSR 14xr equalizer
Pioneer PD-M40 6 disc changer
Pair Infinity RS-3B towers
Pair wall mounted Bang & Olufsen Redline 60's
Pair wall mounted Bang & Olufsen Redline 140's

In the north room,

Pair floor standing Magnepan planar speakers
Pair wall mounted DCM Timeframe 500's


The house main room is:

Adcom GFA 555II amp
Adcom GFP 555 preamp
Adcom GFT 555II tuner
Onkyo R1 6 disc changer
BSR EQ-3000 equalizer
Adcom 3 speaker switch
Pair Infinity RS-3B towers
Pair Bose 901's
Pair DCM Time Window towers
B&O Beovox Cona passive subwoofer

Koss XTR-9 over ear headphones for late at night when people want to sleep


Home Theater

B&O Beosystem II media processor
B&O Penta III front speakers
B&O 6000 rear speakers
B&O Beolab 2 active subwoofer
B&O Beolab 7-4 active center channel


I really need a sub for the shop.

 

[sicndhed]

About to re-lamp my 4270. Currently running it in to a modern (only 20 years old Denon) rather than using it's amp section. Running it into a pair of 1976 LaScalas. It fills the shop pretty well.

 

[rackerm]

I still have a Hitachi set, turn table, receiver with double cassette tape/record decks and the amp, but just sitting on a shelf in my office. I bought this back in 1978, still have the receipt. My speakers are long gone and most of my records, but I do still have a few good ones. I do have boxes of cassette tapes, mostly recorded from records or the radio. None of this gets any use these days unfortunately.
Maybe I spend too much time on the Forum!!!!

Okay, what are the odds that three forum members who own and love 71-73 Mustang would also still own a Hitachi Turntable from the 70s? What are the odds, I ask?

 

[midlife]

I'm too cheap to upgrade! The only valuable Hifi item I have are old ESS AMT1A speakers, some of the best sound quality above 100 Hz by far of all sorts of hi-end speakers I've run across. They need a subwoofer, as their base unit is only 10".

Some info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_loudspeaker

 

[rackerm]

My ears were formed in the early 80's, so here's how I keep them happy.

The shop has:

South room

Adcom GFA 555II bridged power amps (2 @ 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms, 400 watts bridged)
Adcom 6 speaker switch
Adcom GTP 500 tuner/preamp
BSR 14xr equalizer
Pioneer PD-M40 6 disc changer
Pair Infinity RS-3B towers
Pair wall mounted Bang & Olufsen Redline 60's
Pair wall mounted Bang & Olufsen Redline 140's

In the north room,

Pair floor standing Magnepan planar speakers
Pair wall mounted DCM Timeframe 500's


The house main room is:

Adcom GFA 555II amp
Adcom GFP 555 preamp
Adcom GFT 555II tuner
Onkyo R1 6 disc changer
BSR EQ-3000 equalizer
Adcom 3 speaker switch
Pair Infinity RS-3B towers
Pair Bose 901's
Pair DCM Time Window towers
B&O Beovox Cona passive subwoofer

Koss XTR-9 over ear headphones for late at night when people want to sleep


Home Theater

B&O Beosystem II media processor
B&O Penta III front speakers
B&O 6000 rear speakers
B&O Beolab 2 active subwoofer
B&O Beolab 7-4 active center channel


I really need a sub for the shop.

Mike,

I see you like Adcom Equipment. They made some very good audio equipment. I had a few units. Nice little company originally headquartered in Holmdel or New Brunswick NJ.

 

[MikeGriese]

Mike,

I see you like Adcom Equipment. They made some very good audio equipment. I had a few units. Nice little company originally headquartered in Holmdel or New Brunswick NJ.

For the money I haven't found anything better for music. B&O is tough to beat for Dolby 5.1 surround sound.

 

[rackerm]

Speaking of Vintage Audio... How about Vintage Auto Audio.... Has anybody ever seen or heard of a 4-Track Tape Player? It was the predecessor to the 8-Track. Even Borg Warner made them... Model 3700 4-track car player.

I have an Automatic Radio model SFB-6802 with 4 working tapes. It was given to me over 35 years ago by a neighbor whose son moved out and left it behind, and she did not know what to do with it. I've kept it all these years, thinking I might install it someday but never did.

The major difference from a more common 8-Track, aside from having 4 recording tracks, the tension driven wheel (or whatever it is called) that is inside the front right of an 8-track cartridge and is driven by the players motor and pulls the tape across the read heads, is part of the 4-track player and not inside the tape cartridge. In its place is a large hole in the tape cartridge for the wheel to pop up into when a lever is pressed on the player to lock the tape in place. Here is one of the few still in existence that I know of (the 4 -track tapes are actually in old 8-track boxes)....

 

[Mister 4x4]

I didn't have access to my pics from work when I posted earlier, and I really don't have a good pic of mine all set up, but here's an old one shortly after we moved into our home back in '97. The system's in the built-in, and I made some speaker stands out of 6" PVC and 3/4" MDF (painted with gloss black engine enamel - my 'Go To'). Both Infinity SM-150s and one of the SM-82s are in the pic, and sure make that 32" JVC TV look dinky.



The JVC SEA-70 EQ is the oddball with the silver bezel. The rest are all black except the dark gray JVC Super VHS Hi-Fi VCR under the Pioneer VSX-7500.

 

[RocketFoot]

I've got a Yamaha setup and a pair of mint Klipsch Cornwall II speakers I bought new back in 1985. They're in my "Man Cave" that currently (partly) serves as a store house for my 71-73 parts collection. Unfortunately it never gets used, but the sound is fantastic!

Man, I'd love to pickup a set of Cornwalls or Herseys or KG5.2's or ...LOL

I have my old trusty Pioneer receiver and related equipment. Haven't turned it on in YEARS! LOL

Ray

Crank it up and shake the dust off!

So, many years ago, or maybe it's 'soooo many years ago'...my dad and my best friend, Tim, went to the the theater to see The Road Warrior on its original release. Big screen and Dolby sound (or whatever it was). For some reason the theater staff had the sound a little too high. I mean, it was actually a bit uncomfortable. It was PERFECT! The audio was a sonic assault to match the movie. We walked out of there feeling like we had been thru it.

That's how my game room is! I watched FURY a few weeks ago and it sounded like WWII! The cat still hasn't come out from under the couch!

Okay, what are the odds that three forum members who own and love 71-73 Mustang would also still own a Hitachi Turntable from the 70s? What are the odds, I ask?View attachment 75077

I don't have a Hitachi but I have a vintage Technics SL-D2. I want to upgrade to a tried and true 1200MKII some day but they are big money!

 

[cjstaci]

I have to Paoli 60 watt mono blocks ( tube amps modified Dynaco by the original designer), Crown IC150 preamp, AR turntable, Speakerlab super 7’s, and JBL L36’s

 

[RocketFoot]

If anyone is interested, I have a forum that is all about vintage audio! It's brand new and needs some members to help wear off the new forum smell!

https://blacksheepvintageaudio.com

 

[detritusmaximus]

Where is 1sostatic when you need him?

 

[rackerm]

Man, I'd love to pickup a set of Cornwalls or Herseys or KG5.2's or ...LOL

Crank it up and shake the dust off!

That's how my game room is! I watched FURY a few weeks ago and it sounded like WWII! The cat still hasn't come out from under the couch!

I don't have a Hitachi but I have a vintage Technics SL-D2. I want to upgrade to a tried and true 1200MKII some day but they are big money!

Rocketfoot, Sorry I read the posts wrong, it's just Stanglover and me that have one.

My Hitachi Turntable, my 4-track car tape player, and the factory AM/FM in my 73 Convertible are about all I have left in vintage audio equipment.

Does anybody have Electrostatic speakers? About 10 years ago I switched from a pair of 25-year-old pair of B&Ws, to a pair of Martin Logan Electrostatic speakers. My son used to work for BestBuy and Martin Logan offered employees a deal, learn about their products and pass their exam, and buy whatever Martin Logan products you want dirt cheap. I couldn't pass up that deal. Once set up (calibrated) with the rest of the system, they sound fantastic.

I have a very home modest stereo system consisting of a Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH and a Pioneer VF10007 300 CD carousel changer and a Hitachi turn table, neither of which I use much the since I have converted my CD collection to a FLAC format and stored on a TerraMaster NAS (Network Attached Storage) running a Plex server to stream my audio and video media anywhere in the house. Between Plex and Sonos, I can stream just about any music source, from Sirius/XM, to Plex, to Pandora, etc. I have Sonos speakers throughout the house. It is amazing how Sonos can compensate for the distance (latency) between each speaker and synchronize the music across them all. With the Plex server, I can take my music collection with me on the road on my phone and in my car. I just connect my phone to my home Plex server using the Plex music phone app (it's a secured connection over the internet), and then connect it via Bluetooth to my car's radio for commercial-free music without interruption. Even in my 73 Convertible with its original factory radio using a Bluetooth to FM radio signal adapter. Okay, with that, I brought the conversation back to vintage radio equipment!

 

[Stanglover]

First, pls see my correction to my first post. I got the date wrong.
This Hitachi set was bought in 1984. Here are the manuals and the receipt.
I also have a Concerto 8 track player/recorder and some 8 track tapes. Unfortunately this 8 track no longer works and no-one locally who can fix it.
NOTE the 8 track from a UK group called "The Move". Anyone know who was in that group? The best known member is Jeff Lynne with Bev Bevan (ELO) and Roy Wood (Wizard) and I'm not sure who the other two members were. I personally knew Jeff and Bev back in 1963 when I first met them at a small dance club and until 1973 when I moved to Canada.

 

[tpj71mach]

Rocketfoot, Sorry I read the posts wrong, it's just Stanglover and me that have one.

My Hitachi Turntable, my 4-track car tape player, and the factory AM/FM in my 73 Convertible are about all I have left in vintage audio equipment.

Does anybody have Electrostatic speakers? About 10 years ago I switched from a pair of 25-year-old pair of B&Ws, to a pair of Martin Logan Electrostatic speakers. My son used to work for BestBuy and Martin Logan offered employees a deal, learn about their products and pass their exam, and buy whatever Martin Logan products you want dirt cheap. I couldn't pass up that deal. Once set up (calibrated) with the rest of the system, they sound fantastic.

I have a very home modest stereo system consisting of a Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH and a Pioneer VF10007 300 CD carousel changer and a Hitachi turn table, neither of which I use much the since I have converted my CD collection to a FLAC format and stored on a TerraMaster NAS (Network Attached Storage) running a Plex server to stream my audio and video media anywhere in the house. Between Plex and Sonos, I can stream just about any music source, from Sirius/XM, to Plex, to Pandora, etc. I have Sonos speakers throughout the house. It is amazing how Sonos can compensate for the distance (latency) between each speaker and synchronize the music across them all. With the Plex server, I can take my music collection with me on the road on my phone and in my car. I just connect my phone to my home Plex server using the Plex music phone app (it's a secured connection over the internet), and then connect it via Bluetooth to my car's radio for commercial-free music without interruption. Even in my 73 Convertible with its original factory radio using a Bluetooth to FM radio signal adapter. Okay, with that, I brought the conversation back to vintage radio equipment!

View attachment 75108

I agree about the electrostatic speaker sound quality, I had a set of then vintage electrostatic speakers that I bought used and thought I paid too much for them in the eighties but they sounded incredible. They didn't have low bass capability but I had them on a crossover and ran sub woofers in my system which resolved that issue. Then in 89-90 a guy offered me almost three times what I paid for them, I wish I didn't sell them. They are the only speakers I have ever owned that were so clear you could hear on a master recording of Rush 2112 that the waterfall in oracle was synthesized.

 

[moparbrian]

Here is my setup. I have had it for many years,