It’s the time of year for saving money!
If you spend any time visiting audiophile sites on the
Internet, you’ll quickly discover that a certain percentage of audiophiles
swear by vintage audio components. The Marantz 9, McIntosh 275, and the Scott
4310, come up first in my mind as universally lauded and accepted as KILLER
vintage components. But what about all the other vintage and semi-vintage gear
in the universe?
For almost every manufacturer who has ever made audio gear down
through the ages, there’s someone out there in cyber-land who swears it’s the
best; better than any au-current mega-buck temples to technology currently
available. And, they may be right…
I suspect that every audio firm that has remained in business
for more than, say, twenty years, has made some great and some less than great components.
Obviously, a firm such as Audio Research has very few “dog” products, and quite
a few legendary ones. But what about firms like Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood,
Sherwood, JVC, Technics, Panasonic, and other primarily “mid-fi” makers?
If you do some surfing you’ll soon find that for every company
I listed, there’s some small percentage of their output that gets the same, if
not more intense, adoration as a “legendary” audio component. While I agree
with many of the folks who claim that a particular Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, Sherwood,
JVC, Technics, or Panasonic component sounds really good and works well. But,
with most of these firms, the number of “acorns” is far less than a company
such as Conrad Johnson, for instance.
Occasionally I read about a vintage component that I’ve heard, where
I was surprised that the author found that particular component to be so darned
good, because when I heard it, back in the day, I thought it sucked. I can’t
name names because I don’t like getting sued. But, most times I see the post or
article that raves about a particular “off-brand” piece of vintage audiophile
gear I think to myself, “even blind
squirrels find acorns once in a while.” Just don’t try to get all sonically
nostalgic with me about a Sony CDP-101 CD player…
Don’t worry Steve, I won’t get nostalgic about the Sony CDP-101. Ugghhhh…
My advice for anyone looking to see what all the fuss is regarding vintage Japanese gear from the 70’s to mid/late 80’s should visit The Vintage Knob:
http://www.thevintageknob.org/
With the resources that Kenwood, Pioneer, Sony, Luxman, Denon, Yamaha and Technics had at their disposal, no one should doubt that these companies can and DID make outstanding, statement gear that still stands the test of time.
You should “mention names, if only to give this piece some meat. I’m an attorney and I can’t “imagine any cause of action that would enable a product reviewer to be sued fort stating, without malicious intent, that he doesn’t like a particular product for a credible reason.
Re: the premise of this piece, I’m not really sure what you’re trying to say. I still listen to a 1950s-vintage Quad ESL system powered by a pair of Quad IIs and, despite the constraints of such gear, I compare it favorably with much more expensive late-model products.
Thanks for your comments.
I don’t name names because I have been sued in the past, and life is too short…
The Quad 57 was and still is a sublime midrange transducer. i modded the heck out of my pair over the ten-plus years I had them.
Yes.. Sometime there were above average products from most of the more notable manufactures.. I remember as lead tech for a large repair center in Bellrose, NY (except Crown, we were factory authorized repair for EVERYTHING including McIntosh and things that many have never heard of..) servicing many pieces that just surprised me.. One in particular was the Sansui 8 receiver.. It preformed and sounded better than any Sansui I ever listened too.. And I owned (and still do) several tweaked Accuphase P-300’s power amps and a tweaked Marantz 7 preamps driving original AR-9’s bi-amped for my reference system.. The Model 8 was just a great sounding product. Now Bose speakers… well what can be said. No Highs, No Lows.. Must be…. Ugghhh!
I am old enough to have several “vintage” bits of gear from the ‘60s & ‘70s – and some current components with which to compare.
All our stuff is original, unmodded and working fine. I expect there’s some deterioration here and there; tired capacitors etc. but to my ears everything sounds much the same as it did.
I recently sourced a well known specialist in restoration of a specific brand of amplifier and was quite impressed by the extent of refurbishment as standard. Many replacement parts are no longer available so “better” (and bigger) substitutes are installed. The claim is that the resulting performance exceeds that of the original; which may be but then they aren’t really vintage anymore – except perhaps for the circuitry designs and layouts. Plus any improvement must be in the ears of the beholder and the perceived nuances can vary wildly between individuals.
Vintage stuff has limited inputs (no digital), no remote control convenience from the armchair – very important from my point of view. However, there are some worthy features which have been dropped from much current gear e.g. A & B speakers (A/B, A+B, reverse, mono), phono inputs, etc.
Recently I purchased a new Luxman and I defy anyone to claim it doesn’t beat the pants off our vintage gear; in all respects. Good vinyl is spectacular, good CDs are awe inspiring. Then again, that is my blatant assertion based on my personal perceptions.
I remember some vintage stuff costing several weeks pay; not much changed there.
What we’ve got is an increasing selection of quality stuff from the ‘60s & ‘70s which nowadays is called vintage but it’s performance is certainly not necessarily superior to our later and current quality gear which, fortuitously, happens to synergize with the rest of the setup and so sustains my mind/ears.
Well, the Luxman L-100 is pretty tough to beat, even compared to modern gear.
Perhaps it’s not the cake recipe so much as the quality of the ingredients at times.
A high end may/does have handpicked hand tested components in it’s construction.
The mass production of decent mid grade gear is more of a crap shoot. No matter the quality of the design, the tolerances of production grade resistors and caps etc can ruin the final product. Likewise, when the stars align, stellar performers can appear from amongst the masses of mediocre.
Even a Dynakit with loving construction and quality instead of stock components was a respectable performer.
Is it inconceivable that there was a handpicked even hand built “production” unit sent out for a review?
very few speakers I’ve heard that impressed me more than the IMF reference pro monitors tied with magnapan tympani IIIs. both old.