Good Article on Vintage vs New Hi Fi Equipment

http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/tools-toys/oldies-but-goodies

 

I wonder if that is true...

 

While a few of these pieces are pretty good, for the most part, this is the stuff that made people go back to 50s and 60s tube equipment. Even lesser sounding tube stuff like stock Dyna ST70s and certain Scott and Fisher integrated receivers blew these things away.

So, "Mostly, not so much".

He gors on to talk about film cameras from the Soviet Union. While they often had good optics, the mechanicals are rarely reliable because QC was atrocious.

 

The golden age of audio was NOT the 1970's.

As Burt says, the 50's and 60's tube gear blows the 70's watt war toaster ovens away.

The 70's stuff kinda looks cool, and might sound better than the Best Buy black boxes, but they ain't from the golden age.

 

i'd certainly be willing to bet on it...

i'd be far more inclined to perceive that as the personal opinion of a Valve lover,
rather than as any degree of accepted given wisdom...

 

50's and 60's tube gear is great, but you need really efficient speakers to play best with the lower power outputs of tube gear. The 1970's better receivers are really the last great gear made at sane prices. These days, the highest end gear is as nice as ever. But there are no receivers as good as pre 1980 Silver era goodies made today if you want two channel which are widely available today.

 

Amps: I've got a 1987 amp and it sounds fantastic. I mean, it sounds fanstastic!! It could easily stand it's own against any NEW expensive amp! Easily. My old 1979 amp sounded great too but it just wasn't cost effective to repair it any longer. It would of needed a complete restoration.

Speakers: I have, and use, 2 pair of 1970 speakers. They sound outstanding, and have AlNiCo magnets. My wife wanted a new pair of speakers for the family room and she wanted Cherwin Vegas, so we got them. They lasted 3.5 years and the surrounds rotted out. Meanwhile, the old 1970 speakers (43 years old) function perfect without any problems.

Honestly: I'm a hard core vintage guy and I've noticed this:
The old stuff sounds simply wonderful but there is a problem now. The old stuff is 'really getting very old' now. And that's a big problem. Pretty much everything, if not now, soon, will need a total restoration. And replacement parts may be a problem to obtain because many companies used electronics specially designed, electronic componets, to put into them that those componets can't be purchased 'off the shelf' now-a-days.

But much of the old 'vintage' equipment does still sound wonderful. And they are warm to the heart!!

Golden Age:
50's and 60s for tube equipment.
1970 (or 1975) to 1980 for solid state amps. After 1980 quality kinda crashed hard, in general, in stereo equipment.

The early 80s was a nightmare but the later '80s (1987-1989) solidstate sound pretty good and some were of high quality 'again' cause people were sick of the junk. Then in the early 90s the whole thing fell apart again, not all of course, but the very early 90s seems to be when stuff really started to turn into junk. Again...not all. There was still audiophile type companies making outstanding solid state gear.

Something like that.

 

I bought a Fisher 500 TX in 1971? I think and I really like it as did my wife. 50wpc and it had 5 pushbuttons for FM preset on the front. I doubt that it sounded as good as the Tube vintage Fisher gear SH loves, but as my first real hifi purchase it was great. Mated with a pair of Dynaco A-25s, a Dual 1209 and a Pickering XV-750 and a Teac 350 cassette I was in high cotton that day. I think the first 3 were about $700 and the Teac was $300?

 

another related article:

http://www.iavscanada.com/Articles/art_receiver_shootout.htm

 

Ive got an HK 350i with 20 WPC that says otherwise.

 

80s solid-state was fine, provided you bought wisely. My old Threshold S/500 was a powerhouse of an amplifier and I would take it over many modern units. My Threshold FET-10/HL linestage was very good as was the matching FET-10/PC phono stage. I imagine the same is true with Spectral, Rowland, Levinson, Krell, etc since they were attempts at defining the state of the art back then.

 

No one has mentioned speakers...

Is it fair to say that current speakers are better than the ones from the past century in virtually all cases?

 

I enjoy my vintage Fisher 500B a lot, it's fun and the colored sound is cool. But my Pioneer SX-1080 will smoke it any day. Sorry dude.

 

No apology necessary, dude. You like what you like.

 

That's merely your opinion, of course.

I had a Pioneer SX-1010 and a Fisher 500B. To me, the 500B is vastly superior. IMO, naturally. The SX-1010 is gone and the Fisher will remain.

 

Nah.. I like my modern stuff. Bought new in 2010.
I have a 1990's ARC preamp list $6,000 I keep around as 'pretty good'.
Some old stuff is OK. most of it is.was junk.
The 'high end' has advanced a long was from 1970 receivers..

 

I'm listening to my Klipschorns as I type this and you are incorrect

 

Gonna have to agree with ElizabethH. People are getting confused with the word old and vintage. Yes, some gear was very very good back then and still is pretty good now, but I believe cannot hold a candle to what is being made now. There is no way in hell a $200 receiver can compare to a $5000 amp/pre-amp combo made today. What most people think is vintage is just old junk. People just do not have the money to spend and they go the old/vintage route to protest the prices of what is available today. Do not take your anger out on people that do have money to spend on newer gear and can appreciate what technology has to offer. If you think old technology/gear is so great, let's fight the war with P51s again and see what happens.

 

They were ok back then and probably ok today. So, what are you going to compare them with today, Wilson, Rockport, Sonus Faber, Joseph Audio, B&W.......

 

My deepest apologies, was my QUESTION badly stated?

 

Klipschhorns are Hi-Fi. They should perform bette than most speakers under $2K, even if old. If they don't...someone got ripped off or bought lemons.

But I'd rather have any bookshelf made in the past 5 years rather than anything pre-1980. Find me any bookshelf than stands out better than a Nola Boxer, I'll eat crow.

 

Im not sure thats what we are talking about though.....

I think a lot depends on simply if something is good or not good. Ive heard stuff from 20 years ago and even 30 years ago that could have been made today.

Some really old stuff from the 50s and 60s ive heard, has a much more distinct sonic signature, that appeals to some, less to others.

My old HK receiver ($219.99 in 1981) still sounds quite decent, and better in many regards to most entry level and mid priced stuff ive heard in the last 10-15 years.
Is it better? Probably not than really top shelf stuff, but it has a very listenable sound, and a decent enough amp section that it will really never sound anything less than good, not ever sound quite spectacular.

 

Very few solid state pieces made before the mid-1980s are particularly good in unmodified stock form. The old Hafler and Dynaco solid state amps are a good platform to modify, as are some Phase Linear pieces. McIntosh early solid state wasn't too bad either. The earliest solid state Marantz wasn't so bad sounding as it was less than reliable, but that again can be addressed.

Japanese receivers and integrateds using discrete output sections can be tolerable, but most of them had awful modular outputs and I would have nothing to do with them.

By the mid to late 80s the high end solid state companies were feeling the heat from the tube revival and they made some improvements.

 

Ill put my fully rebuilt 60's MKIIIs driving my Lascalas from the basement up against the upstairs Manley driving BW's anyday. They are in the living room for the wifes sake only. Otherwise my Fisher 500b>cornwall combo would still be there which I found much more enjoyable to listen to(now relegated to the fly tying room/office).

 

Listening to my K-horns right now also, Pioneer Elite A-91D integrated amp, Pioneer RT-707 Reel to Reel (Ella Fitzgerald Gershwin Songbook Vol 4)