Why I like vintage gear, how about you?

I like it because it is beautiful, I'm like a kid in a candy store looking across the room and seeing all the lights , control knobs and switches with those beautiful faces.
Being able to control by the simple turning of a control knob that feels good between my fingers, quick and easy.
Then the sound my old friends reproduce is so warm, I don't care if it is old caps or just the natural sound they were meant to have I like it.
Big vintage speakers in all their splender ,15" drivers with lots of cabinet volume, women hate 'em, men Love 'em!
The sweet sound of a big 511 Altec horn cutting the air with notes radiating from a pair of 802 High frequency drivers, now that's music how I think it was meant to be.
I have just discovered a sweet song on an old ZZ Top cd that sounds incredible out of these horns, it is called "Asleep In The Desert" I am now listening to it for the forth time.
Of course this is just how I feel and think about my old friends, I'm just curious what makes other vintage audio guys love the old stuff.
I'm 60 this month and maybe that has something to do with it, I like having a girl friend my age , we have things in common and I don't have to explain things to her.
I like my old stereo's because we have grown old together, no matter where I see one there is an instant bond and a need to check it out, not so much with new stuff.
I liked vintage movies with greats like Cary Grant, Natalie Wood ,Paula Prentiss, Kathrine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Then I see the latest and greatest hollywood has to offer today and their just seems to be no reason to waste my time on todays movies, I guess that's why I like vintage cause I am old and comfortable with the greats of the past .

 

Had to smile seeing Natalie Wood and Paula Prentiss mentioned I've probably grown attached to my Sansui 2000x, I've had it for over 15 or so.

 

I can agree on this portion of your post. No LED readouts on my receivers, please. This is mine.

 

They were the best, I never tire of hearing their voices.

 

I love my Sansui 2000X but one thing I don't like about it is the lovely, green front panel lights only illuminate in the tuner mode. The other day I read that there is a simple mod that can make them illuminate in all modes. Gotta look into this! The vintage stuff is beautiful!

 

The vintage aesthetic is easy to fall in love with, no matter what your age.

Bonus: the sound is great, too!

 

I've got a Grundig console from 1969 in my Outback ready to install after the Christmas decorations go down. Can't wait to start playing with it.

 

They just don't make them like they used too!

I remember when they started selling black stereo equipment, pretty well around the time CD players came out, same with Surround Sound systems. It was cool looking, but lacking a certain je ne sais quoi.

 

I like a slightly warm sound with a bit of an emphasis on the mids and lots of dynamics. I like big woofers and cabinets like you mentioned above. They just seem to scale up the sound and lend it realism. It took me years to find gear that I like the sound of as much as I do that of my Fisher 500c and Klipsch Cornwalls. Sadly it is pretty expensive gear. The only speakers I've heard that match what my Cornwalls can give me are by Devore and Audio Note, and the Tannoy Prestige line. Of course I love Altec and Vintage Tannoy as well. I've heard sublimely built and restored Altec and Tannoy Speakers that outclass and shame most new speakers.

As for my Fisher. It's just plain hard to beat. It's properly restored with mylar caps similar to the original and all the original resistors and all NOS tubes. I've found only a few new amps that I likes as much or better than it and again, they are quite a bit more money. So much so that for my endgame amp I'm thinking I'll do a DIY build with a slightly cleaned up Mullard circuit and hand picked iron.

I think there was something to be said for how they built gear back then. A lot of actually listening went into the design and they couldn't measure all the things we can now so the didn't have the same "rules" to follow. They just built gear that sounded good. I think the often quoted Nelson Pass line about how it's easy to build an amp that measures well but hard to build an amp that sounds good could be applied to all components in this hobby.

Hell my favorite speaker cable is the Duelund DCA 16ga cable which is a reproduction of an old Western Electric cable.

 

Sounds like you and I are after the same thing. Cornwalls, an old Pilot 232, WE 16ga speaker wire and an Ortofon M20E from the late 70's for good measure. I've wired the Cornwalls with WE16 as well. I've read the Dueland actually improves upon the WE. My Pilot was rebuilt with Russian K40Y-9s and carbon comp resistors in the signal path. It has the most beautifuly fleshed out lower midrange. I imagine this amp has very good output transformers, excellent bandwith. It makes serious magic with the Corns. I'll most likely sell the rest of my amps as I just don't see them getting any playing time.

 

For the same reason I like any audio equipment, it sounds good. Given an limited budget, new would be my choice but that is not the case. The trade off is reliability.

 

It looks like it. Funny thing, the SP10 and D70 are the last pieces of Arc gear that I liked. They started toward a more analytical sound after that. I'm also using the Belden 8402 cable. My project this summer is going to be a recap of my b-3 crossovers with Jupiter Flat Stacks.

That Pilot amp and Joule pre must go sweet together.

 

Funny, I was thinking of doing the same to my B2s but as you know it will be fairly expensive. I will look forward to your feedback if you decide to do it. Yes, the Joule and the Pilot are definitely a synergistic pair.

Regarding the ARC stuff I agree. I've owned both for twenty years. I don't know what's worse, selling them or looking at them sitting in the corner unused.

 

The SP-10 mk ii was the last ARC preamp I owned; the D 70 mk ii was a great amp--I traded mine for a Classic 60, which had more "air" and 3d quality, but at the expense of a slightly bleached sound. I think the current ARC stuff probably got over that "white" period in ARC's sound, but the only piece of ARC that remains in my assortment of old gear is a Dual 75a that I bought new back in the early-mid-'70s. It was re-capped 10 years ago, but should probably be gone over before I fire it up again. I still have all the packing, cards and paperwork.
I'm currently assembling a period system out of such odds and ends that were collecting dust here, focusing first on a pair of old Quad ESL/Quad II amps, which is the subject of another thread I posted here (and to which crestwood23 kindly contributed). It will be interesting to hear this system when it is finished---I haven't used the Quads in decades, and they were always my touchstone for midrange transparency (despite their other limitations). Although the cost of restoring this stuff isn't exactly cheap, it makes sense on a lot of levels. I've even dragged out my old Technics SP-10 turntable to have it gone over- it's not a mk ii, but the original table, so it is not as desirable, but if I can make sure it performs to a high standard, I'll use that instead of going out and buying another table. My main system is now fully crated, and ready to go into storage, so this vintage system may take its place, once done, and then will become the 2nd system once I'm fully set up in a new location....

 

I just recently got a Fisher 500C, and you are exactly right, they are very nice and warm, mated with big Altec's it's a very full sound.
This is why I posted this thread , to really get other vintage lovers opinions and share some ideas, there is always something to be learned talking with others.
I bought a bulk roll of 4 conductor 16 gage audio cable , I parallel two conductors on each side , it seems to sound nice.
I very much agree on how they built stereo's to sound good after all the market is and always will be average people who want their music to sound good, they are not looking at technical numbers and charts.
Because there were audio wars going on in the 70's and Japan wanted in to the world market they really made everyone build top of the line gear to stay ahead of the other guy , we the consumer were the real winners.
I believe American companies had already had their own competition in the 60's to stay one step ahead of other American competitors.
I have never heard the Tannoy's, I hope to get the chance one day.

 

Vintage gear looks good but I much prefer the sound of new.

 

What do you have now Dennis?

 

I have a few different systems but my oldest is a Fisher 400 that I run with Dahlquist DQM-5 speakers. The first chance that I get to buy a used pair of Corwalls I will retire the Dahlquist. They have served me well but I'm moving the Fisher to a bigger space and would like something more efficient and just different. Also, a new external phono stage on that Fisher makes a world of difference.

I don't know where the line is between used and vintage but I have a BAT VK-30 that was built in 1999 in my main system that I think pretty highly of.

 

I fundamentally agree with this statement. Technology doesn't move backwards, there is no reason to believe that the skill of building quality audio equipment has been lost to the ages. Getting some plaster work done on an old house might be a different story but the best of today is better than the best of 30 years ago.

The problem is that something being new or vintage alone doesn't inherently make it any good. If spending $500 to $1000, dollar for dollar vintage is generally better in my experience.

 

When it comes to most speakers, I would agree. With regards to electronics, not so much.

 

Hook them of backup speaker and make you a weekly maintenance schedule to play them so they will feel loved.

I found a company in New York that restores fishers to any level , I will probably send my 500 to them when the day comes I can afford too and get some work on it, right now it sounds fine to me.
I was looking for Cornwalls but ran into the Altec sound , then I found Great Plains Audio made all the drivers and crossovers so I went the route of building my own version of model 19's.
Now I shift back and forth building new cabinets of different sizes and designs and moving Altec and JBL components around.
I find building stuff to be very relaxing and it's a much cheaper way for me to get new speakers.
I see some deals down in Florida every now and then on Corwalls, a lot of retired guys passing away and wives getting rid of the gear it seems.
I hope you find your Cornwalls, I'm sure you will love them with that Fisher 400.

 

I dig the Altec's as well but it seems the ones that I'm most interested in are hard to find and super expensive. $1,000 is about my limit for speakers in that system. I saw a really nice looking 500 yesterday in a record store, they were asking $1,000. I didn't get any details but that felt like it was on the high end of of the market.

 

Do you mind if I ask what it cost to build the 19's?

 

I had the horns and hf drivers, I bought new the 15" 416 drivers and crossovers from GPA.
The total cost was about 1900.00, they don't look like 19's, they are about 5foot 3 tall and the lf driver is about 3 foot from the floor, they sound great and extremely clear and clean with a good bass range, they will shake the house with bass.
Deep bass as an objective but they have it.
I'm sure it has to do with my cabinet design and the porting design.
I had Altec 802 hf drivers and 811 horns I bought off of eBay already, bill at GPA listen to what I was thinking and educated me on a few things and said he thought they would turn out fine and they did.
I call them model 19's because that is what all the components are just in a different cabinet configuration.

 

What do I know about vinyl sound, that's why I posted a thread , so I could learn, thanks for your input.