$?$vintage stereo$?$

[duncan618]

I started off looking on the interweb for a decent 2-ch reciever and found there wasn't a wide variety to choose from. I decided to go to ebay and maybe find a used one. I do remember a time when everyting was 2-ch so I figured there should be plenty to choose from. I eventually found myself admirring those brushed silver fronts, cool back lights. and neat analog needle meters from the 1970's. I read how these things prouduce "true sound" and "real wattage", not the "smoke and mirror" wattages of todays recievers. Then I saw the prices. I found a Yamaha CR-3020 for $1499 and Sansui 9090 for like $900. There was talk of tubes and how nothing sounds like a McIntosh tube reciever. Have any of you heard any of these recievers and if so, how do they sound compared to todays equipment? I would love to build a rack of 1970's Marantz equipment but with the demands I'd have for it I'm sure it wouldn't last long, or would it? It's like buying a pristine 1979 Porsche 911, can I drive it hard with proper maintence because there is no other, or should I stick with the ever readily available late model camaro because it's good enough. Absolutely any info will be greatly appreciated!

 

[duncan618]

Anyone out there? I've read some posts on here with opinions on older receivers so I know you guys are out there. Just wanted to know how you think the older recievers stack up against the new ones.

 

[Davemcc]

Sometimes I think that I'd like to have my old Nikko rack mount separates with my old Bryston amp, Onkyo cassette deck and turntable. When CD's came out, I made the switch right away and it was a huge improvement over any other source. Now that we have digital interconnects and all the other built in improvements, I have no desire to go back to what I had in the 80's, even though I think what I had was very decent equipment (except the Bryston, I'd want that back).

If you want vintage sound, just record everything onto cassette, turn your speakers around to face the wall during playback and enjoy the hiss and muffle. Really, we're living in a golden age right now. Enjoy it.

 

[dave1490]

I started off looking on the interweb for a decent 2-ch reciever and found there wasn't a wide variety to choose from. I decided to go to ebay and maybe find a used one. I do remember a time when everyting was 2-ch so I figured there should be plenty to choose from. I eventually found myself admirring those brushed silver fronts, cool back lights. and neat analog needle meters from the 1970's. I read how these things prouduce "true sound" and "real wattage", not the "smoke and mirror" wattages of todays recievers. Then I saw the prices. I found a Yamaha CR-3020 for $1499 and Sansui 9090 for like $900. There was talk of tubes and how nothing sounds like a McIntosh tube reciever. Have any of you heard any of these recievers and if so, how do they sound compared to todays equipment? I would love to build a rack of 1970's Marantz equipment but with the demands I'd have for it I'm sure it wouldn't last long, or would it? It's like buying a pristine 1979 Porsche 911, can I drive it hard with proper maintence because there is no other, or should I stick with the ever readily available late model camaro because it's good enough. Absolutely any info will be greatly appreciated!

today,s component,s are better,fast switching more dynamic responce, but they will never go up in value as the old warm sound of the brystons,marantz,mac,s,phase liner,s.today,s recievers will boost bass and treble but at 100 and 10000hz the old mac,s will do it at 20 and 20000hz it,s thing,s like that,that put the bass in bass and treble in treble.

 

[baseman]

Well.... let me say that I was wondering the same thing too, but I just replaced the stereo I bought back in 1983 with new stuff of the same manufacture (just by chance) and I can tell you that it was a BIG improvement.

Adjusted for inflation the price was probably about the same, Old Yamaha R-3 receiver $230...New Yammy RX-V659 $370. Old Infinity SM-100 about $220....New Infinity Primus 360's $350.

All the DSP aside, just the audio quality of the new stuff is far superior to the old and I recall that the Yamaha R3 was quite a bit better than the early 70's Marantz 2215B that went before it. Although the Marantz did have a rather nice warm tonality to it and I loved the flywheel tuning. Flip..pft..pft..pft..pft..p..p..p...