The One That Got Away...

I think all audiophiles older than maybe 20 - certainly 30 - probably have at least one piece of equipment that, for whatever reason, they don't have anymore and miss. What's the one piece of audio equipment you used to own, don't anymore, and miss the most?

 

My father's Fisher ST-828 speakers from the 80's. Everything sounds better in nostalgia, I suppose, but I frequently wonder what they would sound like now in my home.

 

McCormack TLC-1. They peaked in the used market for a bit but are now much more reasonable, however I just can't justify a separate preamp in my current system. Still, that was a fine unit.

 

It would be a close tie between the Quicksilver V-4's, or the Micro Seiki BL-91 that I stupidly let go.

 

My Naim Aro tone arm .
Sold turntable and dealer wanted it complete ,
I should have told him where to go.

 

Linn Axis. PMC FB1i. ADS 710 II.

PS: I love to see them running. I love the moment of their death when I am one with Zardoz.

 

Mine is definitely my first real receiver, a Sony STR-VX550. I got it midway thru high school and it was stolen while I was in college.



From a fidelity standpoint I'm sure there were better consumer receivers even at the time, although it blew the doors off my old Sears all-in-one system that it replaced. But when it comes to looks and usability this thing was decades ahead of its time. A bunch of the features it had - like the ability to directly key in a radio station frequency, or to recall equalizer settings - were brand new at this price point, as was video switching:



I've owned half a dozen receivers since, and none of them came close to the usability (or looks) of this one. It also had a killer remote control - probably too many buttons, but the layout was great and, again, I love the look of it (so '80s, but in the good way):



Of course, the big bonus here is it controlled the cassette deck and the linear tracking turntable I got with the receiver as well. You typically need a kludgy Harmony contraption to get the same kind of functionality today.

I've thought about buying one just for nostalgia's sake, but living in a studio apartment collecting old gear isn't exactly practical and I have no real use for it.

 

apogee mini me

 

Mark Levinson 20.6 mono amps, 100 watts 100 pounds each and ran hotter than firecrackers. Boy do I miss there warmish presentation and ground pounding bass, all other amps I've heard since sound a bit unmoored in comparison.

 

My Panasonic RQ-E10V walkman was stolen from me something like 18 years ago. Nowhere near an audiophile device but I was really pissed of back then.

 

I had a pair of Threshold FET-10 preamplifiers - the FET-10/HL linestage and the FET-10/PC phono unit. Stacked on top of each other they looked very impressive. Still wish I had them today since they sounded great too.

I still can't remember why I sold them under than an attack of upgrade-itis and the fact they weren't tube.

 

the 20.6s were game changers.with the improvements that have been made since i wonder if they'd still sound superior to all others?
"unmoored"good description timmy.

 

A pr of Tannoy 15" Monitor Golds in Windsor cabs immediately come to mind. They sounded great with only slight updates and mods and my hope was to build a pr of Shindo-style cabs for the drivers but after a few years, my wife put her foot down. The Windsors cabs looked dated and shabby so I got her point but I would've loved to have had just a few months more. The other item I miss is a 45SET amp built by Jeff Korneff. It wasn't the best-sounding 45 amp I've had but it was a great value and I really liked the fire engine red transformers on the silver-gray hammertone chassis....retro-industrial cool.

The one that truly got away was a pr of Electro Voice Patrician 800 speakers a gent had in his storage unit. I was there to buy some vintage amps and pres and immediately recognized these huge pieces of wooden furniture behind a bunch of large pro cabs. I asked the guy if he were interested in selling them and he said he'd take $800 but neither he nor I were capable of moving things around to get at them. He told me to call back over the weekend and he'd have his sons meet with me to get them out. I called back on Friday and was told that his kids wouldn't be available so I called back the next week and one of the sons answered only to let me know they had been sold. They were big and beautiful and though I've since heard a pr and wasn't all that impressed, I'm still kicking myself for missing out on that deal...

 

Sid Smith Marantz 7c

 

Sometimes I miss my Quad 988.
They had great tone and transparency to the source but they broke after a year. I tried to fix them with no luck and finally decided to sell them. I had a lot of panel speakers through the years, magnepan, martin logan, apogee (I still own the divas and the centaur major) but I never missed any of them as much as I miss my Quad.

 

Pair of Paradigm Studio 40s
Gave them to a friend.

 

That's funny, I also have a pair of those that I let a friend borrow. I think its been about 6 months now, we my have crossed from borrowed to gave.

 

Last month I traded in my 110lb, circa-1998 vintage McIntosh MC352 with burnt-out lights for a contemporary MC152 that's easier to move around, fiberoptic lit, and sounds about 90% the same as the brute it replaced.

I'm going to miss that 10% forever, but no regrets.

 

In 1975 I bought my first audiophile system, Dahlquist DQ 10's, Crown DC 300a, and a used Marantz 7c. A few years later I traded the Marantz for a new preamp. Newer is always better, right? To this day I regret that decision.

 

Acoustat 1+1 speakers with the white fabric option. It was the first thing I ever sold on the internet. Moved into a new listening room about 15 years ago and decided there wasn't room for them...then. The room I'm in now does have the room.

What was I thinking?

 

When I sell something, it usually has more to do with being unable to store it (and not having a clear narrative of what I'm storing it for). Maybe I just need to rent a storage unit where I keep my old gear and CDs.

 

I moved out of province about 25 years ago and decisions were made. I won't even bother to detail the LP's I let go but I do regret unloading my Pioneer CT-F950 cassette deck and Akai AP-Q70 turntable. Both really nice examples of better quality Japanese audio.

 

My Boulder L5ae preamplifier/ 102ae power amplifier combo...

 

The closest thing for me is when I sold my Rotel RCD-951, my first good CD player. Bought it new in 2000 for $500 and think I sold it for $100 or less a few years later when I needed money to move. I would be interested if I kept it if it would still work and how it would compare to my Marantz SA-8005. I remember it having a nice warm sound and HDCD capability. I remember at the time marveling at how great HDCD sounded but looking back it was probably a placebo effect!

 

Mirage OM9. For what I sold them for, I would kill to have them back. They weren't perfect but really could turn a room into the recording venue.