Help recreating dads setup from early 90s.

[Zroman9227]

I have vague memories of what he had but it has been long gone. I want to recreate his favorite setup and am in real need of some research. i believe most of the unit was Pioneer and/or Danon I know for speakers he had cs-g403's. it was a multi cd changer with a view window but was only a single slit insert. tall skinny door would open to load and unload. My biggest problem is the receiver. i know it had the a/b selection for speakers, small set of adjustments for equalizer (maybe half a dozen slides), and the power button wasn't square like every receiver I've seen. The power button was upper left and oval shaped. It had the pre-designated buttons for cd, tape 1 and 2, phono etc. last memory i have was the volume nob, red light up line and red loudness small round bulb about a third of a turn up. dad always yelled to turn it off if the volume went past the indication light for loudness. Any help is greatly apppreciated

 

[Zroman9227]

Receiver seems like it would be a Pioneer VSX3700 but i dont see the loudness option. and i could have sworn the stereo power button was an oval.

 

[lovinthehd]

Why particularly? You can do better with modern speakers/receiver. Or you just want it for nostalgia?

 

[Bucknekked]

Why particularly? You can do better with modern speakers/receiver. Or you just want it for nostalgia?

Why? That would be my first question as well.
You can dump a boatload of money when not just any gear will do but you need "that specific" one.
Nostalgia is not a bad reason to jump in the pool

 

[TLS Guy]

You will regret this. You will find your memory has forgotten how awful that rig was.

Those speakers were archetypal of Japanese speakers of the era, which to put it bluntly were pure excrement. There is no other way to describe them

They had poorly built unbraced cabinets that rang like barrels. The mids, known in those days as "squawkers" were cheap TV speakers, and those cone tweeters descended to the unmentionable. The large bass speakers looked impressive, but really only extended deep enough to resonate the cabinet.

You might find a receiver in working order, but probably have to pay too much for it. It will be hard to find a CD changer in decent working order, most will be long gone.

Collecting vintage equipment can be an interesting pleasure, but you need to seek out the best of the era and not the worst.

 

[Zroman9227]

I appreciate the input and the knowledge already. I know there is way better but out of all things he tried to hold onto his system was lost in a flood. It was moved off a counter to get behind it, never put back up, and that's all she wrote. It was his gift from my mother in 92' for a present when I was born. Just thought it would be something nice for him to receive on his 55th later this year.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd still get him something nicer. Do you even know that the old gear would matter that much to him if the newer gear gave him more options and better sound?

 

[Zroman9227]

I'd still get him something nicer. Do you even know that the old gear would matter that much to him if the newer gear gave him more options and better sound?

I tried buying him a sound bar and he threw it away on me. He's a stubborn man to say the least. very stuck in his ways. Although, if I did try to find something else from the era, for his main living space any advice where to start? I'd like to directly replace the one he lost. As far as if i were to get another id have about 1400$ cap.

 

[TLS Guy]

I appreciate the input and the knowledge already. I know there is way better but out of all things he tried to hold onto his system was lost in a flood. It was moved off a counter to get behind it, never put back up, and that's all she wrote. It was his gift from my mother in 92' for a present when I was born. Just thought it would be something nice for him to receive on his 55th later this year.

Now I understand the motivation. However, I doubt that was the receiver. That was an early Dolby Quadraphonic horror you listed.

Unfortunately these older receivers, though not bad, most of them, they tend to fetch more than they are worth. The CD changer would be a high risk purchase, in terms of whether it would work and stay working.

What is you budget? He would probably enjoy something that has audio and video capability these days.

 

[lovinthehd]

I think maybe the Outlaw R2160 receiver and a nice pair of modern speakers to go with could please him in any case. AVR complexity isn't for everyone....

 

[Zroman9227]

he also mentioned something about lascala unit or speaker that was ruined at my grandmothers.

 

[lovinthehd]

Klipsch makes the LaScala speaker....it definitely would be a matter of taste and somewhat speaker location....

 

[Zroman9227]

Room is almost a perfect 15x15 with t.v. in one of the corners on the wall with a brick fireplace. Acoustically I don't know if it makes a difference, but it has that cheap wood panel stuff. comes in the 4x8 sheets and looks like multiple slats of wood.

 

[lovinthehd]

15 x 15 would be far from perfect Square rooms have issues. Corner placement isn't generally a good thing.

 

[Zroman9227]

15 x 15 would be far from perfect Square rooms have issues. Corner placement isn't generally a good thing.

I can tell from when I purchased newer stuff for myself, thinking corners were best... always heard of dead spots, it was the first time I noticed it.

 

[lovinthehd]

I can tell from when I purchased newer stuff for myself, thinking corners were best... always heard of dead spots, it was the first time I noticed it.

Corners cam increase boundary gains, but that isn't always beneficial. Depends on room, and multiple subs help over singles.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I love what you are trying to do here, and I get it.

I might use this opportunity to sit down with your dad and take it as a real time to bond. If you've got some money and are looking to put a nice system together for him that really touches his heart, then I would think that you may want to actually spend time sitting down with him and maybe going through some nice options that are within budget and meet exactly the needs he has today.

This can still be a very retro setup, but perhaps that's completely wrong to the life he is living here, 30 years later.

My dad certainly has some nice older Acoustic Research (AR) speakers from years ago, but the smaller bookshelf speakers and in-walls that he uses inside the home are much more in line with his current lifestyle. He still uses the ARs, but they are in the garage. When his McIntosh tub amplifier finally gave up the ghost, he admitted that he couldn't hear any difference between a Sony receiver and the McIntosh amp. He doesn't have the ears, or the listening space, to know the difference anymore.

People change, and the experience of you spending that time with him to recreate what you can, but in an updated format will be a gift he truly will cherish.
That said, CD changers (or DVD changers), are all over eBay for not a ton of cash. Sony and Pioneer made them. They make sense if he carefully catalogs the way he loads them all. It is no easy task. Nothing at all like using a Bluesound Node audio streaming device and a smart phone.

 

[Pogre]

I appreciate the input and the knowledge already. I know there is way better but out of all things he tried to hold onto his system was lost in a flood. It was moved off a counter to get behind it, never put back up, and that's all she wrote. It was his gift from my mother in 92' for a present when I was born. Just thought it would be something nice for him to receive on his 55th later this year.

Oh man. You know, I can totally understand what you want to do. You can do much better for the money nowadays tho, but there is decent vintage gear out there too.

I'll tell ya what. While I would appreciate and be grateful for the gesture, as a bit of an audiophile myself I think I'd appreciate a surprise higher quality system even more. Just some food for thought.