'80s Gear Love

Some may be a bit quirky. It's not as desired by the masses as the '60/70s and modern gear. But I always seem to find myself drawn to it. Something about the era (80s-early 90s) for me...be it stereo gear, music, cars, aircraft, history, etc.

I've recently acquired a Sony TA-F444ES II (1986) integrated amp and CDP-520ES (1985) CD player that I've been playing with the past couple weeks. I've really been enjoying the sound...despite being forced to use the internal DAC of the CDP (no digital/optical outputs). I'll probably look into cleaning/lubing the tray slides this weekend as it's not as smooth in operation as it should be. Loving the build of these things though...they are like tanks.


TA-F444ES II / CDP-520ES

Don't mind the big stack...that was a 2 night thing while I was playing musical cables comparing the "new" old ES stuff to my DA555ES/Onkyo C-7030/Schiit Bifrost combo.

The '80s saga continues for me...as I have an Onkyo A-8087 (also from 1986) inbound I stumbled across, and have hopes to see/demo some Klipsch kg4s (1984) this weekend.

What are some of your favorites and/or fond memories.

 

Ahh... the 80's! I wasn't even fat yet!! I loved my: Kyocera CD player, Nak Dragon, Tandberg stack and tuner, various Thorens turntables.

 

My Luxman Laboratory Reference Series stack from 1980.

 

The 80s indeed. I miss my NAD separates, Magnavox CD player, Thorens TT with a Dynavector 10x3 phono cart, AKG 240 sextette headphones, and DCM Time Windows.

 

I still have two 80s pieces in my main stack:

Magnum Dynalab FT-101 tuner
Electron Kinetics Eagle 2 amp

unusual girl names

 

I just noticed that there is a link to unusual girl names just under the picture of my stereo rig. No idea how it got there. Weird.

 

I saw that. I'm at work so I don't think I'll be clicking on that.

 

Ha ha ha! Actually (as far as I can tell) it’s quite safe for work!

 

I still use a restored pair of AR58S speakers.

 

Still have my JVC QLF-300 turntable I bought in '83. Still works like a charm. The only remaining component in use from my original stereo purchased in the 2 years preceding:

- Pioneer SX-6 Receiver
- JVC KD-D40 cassette deck
- Pioneer PL-5 turntable that preceded the JVC but had speed issues so I replaced it.
- Optimus 10 speakers
-JVC SEA-33 graphic EQ (still owned but not in use)

 

My first real stereo...mid 80s:
-Polk Audio SDA CRS+ speakers
-Yamaha R9 receiver
-Yamaha CD1000 cd player
-Yamaha K720 cassette deck
-Yamaha GE60 EQ
-M&K 12" subwoofer (can't remember model#)

My Dad still has the Polks, the M&K is in the garage somewhere and I just gave everything else away over the years.

 

tuner is fantastic!

 

Nice! Personally I loved the late 70s - Early 80s Rack-look trend. I really miss it in most of today's high-end gear.

 

JVC RX500 and JVC R250

 

Although there is certainly some great eye candy from the early to mid-70s, I personally tend to favor the period from 1977 - 1985. That lets me include such pieces as the G.A.S. Son of Ampzilla (1977 - 1982) and the Sansui TU-717 (1977 - 1979). That spans the period when I first got into "hifi", beginning in the fall of 1979. It's still possible to get gear from this era at bargain basement prices, as it's not as hip and collectible as the 1970s stuff.

Here's my main vinyl rig:



Yamaha A-1000 Integrated Amp (1983 - 85).
Harman Kardon T60 Turntable (1985)
JVC Zero 9 Speakers (1980)

Looks great and sounds great to me. Whole lot of bang for the buck. My favorite phone cartridges (Grado G2+ and Signet TK10ML) are also from this same time period.

 

Love the setup MCM_Fan. Inspiring.

 

My older buddy had a bad to the bone NAD separates system.

 

I saw another post in this forum with a suspicious/ridiculous link next to the picture this week. It may be a link surreptitiously added by the picture hosting site. Hopefully stevehoffman.tv has not been compromised. In any case, I'd avoid clicking on things like that.

 

Cyrus 2 still a great value pick for someone starting a setup cheaply.

 

My 80's gear driving my late 80's khorns

 

I liked the look of this one

 

Out of my 3 systems currently running and set up I have 2 80's pieces. One is a Nikko Beta 30 preamp from 198? and the other is my Cerwin Vega 311P from 1981.

 

Yes indeed!