It’s the time of year for saving money!
Okay, first off, the game will not be an ice-water challenge or anything else involving H2O or any forms of subtle or not so subtle coercion. No, this is a pretty simple quiz – it consists one question – What is the oldest piece of gear in your system?
I came up with this idea as I was going through my shelves and storage areas seeing just how much gear I own in anticipation of some serious de-acquisitioning, and trying to figure out how many years I’ve owned some of it.
That got me thinking about what was the oldest piece that I had that was still in service. At first I though the oldest component was my VPI HW-19 turntable with original Souther/Clearaudio lateral tracking arm, but then I remembered that the Denon 103/VanDenHul cartridge mounted on the turntable was older than the table itself. Old, but not old enough…
The second oldest piece of gear in my home in the running as oldest component is a one-meter RCA-terminated cable that I still use regularly as part of my recording rig. Vince Nave, who at the time worked for AudioVisons in Arlington, Ma made it for me. The cable was fabricated in 1979. I remember having it made specifically for my heavily modified Thorens 165 turntable.
But the winner-winner chicken-dinner in my closet was the Accuphase C-200 preamp and P-300 power amp duo. They were introduced in 1973. That’s over forty years ago. I guess as far as my collection of audio components go, that’s old, especially for a solid-state component. And yes, they were restored with new caps recently to insure they don’t go tizz-BOOM at an inappropriate moment.
So, now it’s your turn.
The only rule is that the component must be still actively used in a system. Shelf queens need not apply…
