Vintage system

Nice system. I'd kill to see some pics of those mc60s. Any thoughts on how they compare to MC30s. The MC60s are tube rectified as well are they not?

 

A wild mix of old and new technology. I love it.

 

Old vintage tube gear by the likes of Fisher, Scott, Marantz and McIntosh have quite a following. There are other less well known brands that made gear that I find to be better sounding than most modern tube gear. To me, at the top of the heap are Western Electric amps. Their 59b is probably the best amp I have ever heard--extremely dynamic and lively without sounding rough or thin. I also like their 124 and 133 amp. The bad news is that this stuff has long ago been "discovered" (big favorite in Japan) and is now crazy expensive. But, there are other brands that are not that highly collected that also made terrific gear. I've heard very good amps by Northern Electric (Canadian affiliate of Western Electric), RCA and Brooks. If you like this old school sound, there is not much out there in current production that sounds this good outside of Audionote, Kondo and Shindo gear.

 

This is how I feel with my recapped 2105. It puts the sound right where I want it to be. I use modern speakers, a modern (decware ZP3) tube phono stage and a VPI table. So its a mix.

 

I agree and that is how I feel about my MC 2505-2 power amplifier in every way. And having my MX 114 as a companion is icing on the cake.

 

I will also agree. I just adore my almost vintage MC2000 paired to Sonus Faber's Guarneri Homage's. A C.J. Art 1 and SME 30/12 make for an impeccable match.

 

I have found that carefully chosen and well sorted vintage represents the best overall value in audio. Excellent sound that compares favorably to what is available new, affordable cost, and holds resale value.

Most of what I am currently using would qualify as vintage. Cary 40Mse monoblocks, Audible Illusions 3 preamp, Linn LP12 Ittokk LVII are all 20+ yeas old. I use a 45 yr old Mac 2100 as a subwoofer amp. I can swap in several 50yr old tube amps: various Dyna St70, Fisher monoblocks, Eico Hf86 or 87, Various Heath monoblocks.

I also use a restored Fisher 400 AR92 combo in our summer house- Everyone comments how great the combo sounds.

Vintage or bust !

 

I have had many configurations over the years. Harman Kardon tube gear, 1970s Marantz gear, etc. They all have their merits. I am currently using a Yamaha AV amp and mid seventies turntable and AR3 speakers. I have the best of all the eras in my opinion.

 

Modern home theater here with triangle speakers, an integra 80.3 pre pro and outlaw amps.

Vintage living room with magneplanar tympani 1-d's and a Yamaha yp-800 turntable.

Going to swap the tymps for a set of QUAD 57s. If they have refurbed panels by Wayne Picquet do they still count as vintage?

It's hard to compare the systems due to the different room acoustics and media.

 

[QUOTE="djohannesen, post: 12624604, member: 50459".

Going to swap the tymps for a set of QUAD 57s. If they have refurbed panels by Wayne Picquet do they still count as vintage?

[/QUOTE]

Definitely. A dash of old with a much needed modern update. Sweet.

 

Sure. I play SACD's through my 30-year old Tandberg power amp and they always sound wonderful ...

 

I love the Left/Right mirrored pair. Are they MC-30 based design? What do you use for a preamp with these?

 

I have a mixed system using an Outlaw 850 preamp with an Outlaw 770 power amp driving PSB B-25, Paradigm center, an ADC passive sub and small JBL surrounds for Home Theater; and a McIntosh MC-240 driving Large Advents for 2 channel or HT. I am using Rega Phono Mini and VPS phono amps with a Thorens TD-115 and Sota Comet TTs. I also have a Fisher 500C incorporated in the system driving AR-4a speakers and using it as a headphone amp for Grado SR-60 headphones. I would love a McIntosh MX-110 preamp but not sure how to mesh it into the system. A modern tube pre may be a better choice.

 

No. The monoblocks are fairly unique in design. I generally start with tried and true formats and then change whatever design elements that I need to fit or want to incorporate. Some projects have components that require different tricks than others as I am reusing a lot of old transformers and project boxes, etc and need to design around, within those. The mono amps have nice output transformers and started out with a quasi-Fisher push-pull output section driven by a Jolida front end. Quite a few tweaks and additions though to make it more current and basically when you start combining different circuit topologies, it just doesn't work without some changes to keep things playing nice together. The stereo amp in the center has its basic circuit fairly closely based on a Fisher 30A but also has some modern additions and changes made for accommodation. The stereo amp on the right with the level controls has a quasi-Motorola tail end and transformer set with a modified input and phase splitter. All amps pictured are EL84 based. The monoblocks are set-up with UL and Triode switchable operation, where the other two are pentode only. I use a Rogue Audio Metis Magnum preamp in my system but also have a passive volume control that I use when pairing the amps with another set of speakers somewhere. The stereo amp on the right had level controls added so that it could just be connected directly to the output of a CD player, etc. I always use grounded chassis designs to suit today's electric code for safety. Voltages are modified throughout as well due to different primary voltages and tube quality / availability these days. I like the EL84 and 6CA4 based design as they all use the same 9 pin sockets. It just saves space and is generally more affordable. I will probably build one with SS rectification soon. Then some octal based designs if I have the iron for it.
-Bill

 

Very nice work!

 

I couldn't agree more. Although my vintage system with it's slightly warmer presentation makes it easy to listen to for long periods, but not a higher levels.
As far as speakers themselves go it's really hard to choose between my vintage Sonus Faber -Guarneri Homages and the newer Revel -Studio 2's. The latter has natural detail, a riveting presentation and almost perfect balance the former has a near perfect blend of texture, rhythm and musicality. Which is preferable ? whichever one your listening to at the time.

 

I couldn't agree more. Although my vintage system with it's slightly warmer presentation makes it easy to listen to for long periods, but not a higher levels.
As far as speakers themselves go it's really hard to choose between my vintage Sonus Faber -Guarneri Homages and the newer Revel -Studio 2's. The latter has natural detail, a riveting presentation and almost perfect balance the former has a near perfect blend of texture, rhythm and musicality. Which is preferable ? whichever one your listening to at the time.

 

The MC 60 isn't quite as warm as the 30, or so I'm told by one tube dealer.. Actually replaced the input tubes 12AX7 with 5751, lowers the output but a bit smoother. Tube rectified, yes. Nothing was altered in the restoration, the chrome is near new. As much hoohah as I read about newer tube amps, I like the sound of what I have and don't have any inclination to change anything . Will try and post photos soon.

 

My speakers are vintage with Large Advents (40 years) and my AR-58's (35 years). Not sure what my Pioneer VSX-21 is but I'm thinking over 20 and have only had to replace the volume encoder and it still sounds good to me driving my Advents. My 3 Sony DVP-NS 755V DVD/SACD players must be nearly 16 years old and all still work, but have some issues with reading some SACDS, but I think that is disc problems. They play over 90% of my SACDs just fine and play my burned 2496 DVD-Rs great.

I have been spending most of my money on recording gear and microphones. I did buy some affordable JBL bookshelf speakers this year for other systems, but nothing new high-end wise. I did put a new Rega 202 arm on my old Dual 502 and that was a major upgrade to that table. Nothing wrong with the motor or spindle bearing & platter. I love the higher torque motor of that table.

 

Haven't heard the MC60s but have heard restored MC30s and 240s and they are amazing. I would take a pair of MC30s over any tube I've heard under 5k any day. They're amazing.

 

Look in the for sale adds, I have my vintage system for sale!!!

 

I see that you use the SF GH's. I use and love the same speaker. Not sure I would call them vintage..... A speaker like the original Quads or a pair of Advents or some Altec Voice of the Theater's...yup.
I use a mix of 'classic' ( prefer this term to vintage) gear...classic like my ARC D70Mk2 and my EAD 7000 Mk3 DAC. More modern like my Linn LP12 Radikal D and my REL sub and my Nordost cabling. As to the SF GH's...lets call them
'classic' as well, LOL.

 

Falcon Acoustics is now making an extremely authentic 15 ohm LS3/5a with T27 and B110 drivers that they manufacture.

'New vintage'.

 

I look at vintage as anything from a given period, whereas classic has to be something special, timeless.

 

I'm close but not quite there yet if you define early 1980's as vintage.

In my living room (2nd system) I have a McIntosh MC2125 amp and C32 pre.

Right now the sources are digital and the speakers are B&Wdm602's that I bought in 1996.
I need to get a turntable for this system and some older speakers.

I have a set of old JBL speaker drivers, 15" Woofers, Horn loaded Mids, and super tweeters, that I'd like to use but I'll need to build an enclosure for them.