Anyone miss old school hi-fi?

[Stinger69]

Just wondered if anyone misses hi-fi from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
I used to own a pair of B&W Dm6s that I miss to this day, but do appreciate that they were huge and impractical. They were connected to a pair of bridged Nad 2150 power amps fed by a 1020a preamp. The main source was a Garrard 401 with an SME 3009mk2 plus Shure M97HE cart that I still have in the loft along with the NAD power amps. I think it was the wonderful character of turntables of old, that I loved so much. Who remembers some of the transcriptor reference tables, or even, horror of horrors, the Amstrad TP12? They were just so interesting to me. My Brother in law had a pair of B&W DM70s that were just awesome. He also had a couple of Revox A77 open reel decks that were so lovely. I've been through some turntables in my 43 years, including a Trio KD1033, an AR deck, the name escapes me. It was paired with an SME series 3s I think, a Technics SL1200, now so beloved of DJs, a Thorens TD160, that I still have (in the loft!) and lastly the magnificent 401 mentioned earlier. Anyone else get dewey eyed over such old crap?

Andy

[zircon3035]

Bring back brushed aluminium panels and teak veneered side panels!

[alexs2]

Here's an absolute gem of a site for all old Japanese hifi...

http://www.thevintageknob.org/

This also has some good pics and reviews of 60s-90s tuners.

www.fmtunerinfo.com

Decks such as the TD160 and some of the others are now rated very highlya,d don't cost much to buy and restore.

Prices of many of the old Accuphase amps are rising sharply compared to last year as well.

[Mark.Yudkin]

I too remember the days chasing Garrard, SME, Shure, (and Ortofon, Technics, Thorens, Linn), in the hopes of trying to improve LP sound. I still have 1500 LPs in my lounge - but nowadays, listening is almost entirely CD. Technology just solved the problem of scratching a lump of diamond over a piece of vinyl and thereby creating unwanted background noise, by getting rid of both, and I don't miss it.

As for other 80's hifi: well I still have my ESL 63's (launched in 1981) and they can still be repaired by Quad - with brand new panels. They still beat everything I've auditioned under £4000 since then, so it's no surprise I haven't "upgraded". But I don't miss my 70's Sansui amp and tuner, even though I had them for 25 years.

[karkus30]

Well I suppose most of mine is from that era ! Naim 72/135s are pretty much the same in the 80s as the ones I own. Marantz CD80 is from the same era plus a few tweaks and the TT is a Xerxes (although the arm and cart are bang up to date). Speaker cable is NAC A4 which has been around since Adam was a lad. Only thing that is totally modern are the Neat Ultimatum 7 speakers.

[rwtomkins]

Mine's largely from that era, too. Speakers are Celestion 66 floorstanders, the bigger brother of the Celestion Ditton 44 ,and the amps are a pair of bridged Cyrus Twos, each with its own Cyrus PSX power supply. The CD player is a Mission PCM II which also draws power from one of the PSXs, and even the turntable, although new, is a throwback: the Rega P3.

All in mainstream daily use and sounding great. Can't beat the old stuff! Well, not at the price, anyway.

[craigizmo2k2]

I don't technically miss hifi because I still have it

Old school stuff definitely seemed to carry a much better atmosphere though, although that is probably me just being nostalgic when i'm sitting down to listen to Vaughan's system made up of 1940's Klipsch Klipschorns and 1960s valve amplification made by Audio Research and a Garrard something or other deck!

Old stuff seems to be better built if you can only budget for today's mainstream brands - Sony and the like make very cheap seperates now - their older ones, particularly the ES ones are very nice sounding solid bits of gear.

Nothing compares to proper vintage British hifi though.

[alexs2]

I started with the sort of thing that almost every schoolboy of the time had...a Garrard SP25, Trio KA2000 and Wharfedale Lintons,before the bug began to bite harder and a pair of homebuilt transmission lines and an ERA turntable arrived.

Then I needed a better amp and a Sony TAN 7-B arrived(thats on the VintageKnob site) etc etc.

I still have some vintage gear including a pair of ESL57s and Quad IIs plus the TAN 7-B.

[PJTX100]

Still use 30+ year old speakers (Celestion Ditton 33s) and a 30 yr old tuner (Yamaha), though I very rarely use the tuner.

I miss amps with flicky needle displays.

Don't miss turntables, though I still have a Systemdek with Linn arm / Ortofon cartridge.

Used to have an Aiwa cassette deck with more flashing lights thank you could shake a stick at. Wish it sounded as good as it looked.

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by PJTX100

Still use 30+ year old speakers (Celestion Ditton 33s) and a 30 yr old tuner (Yamaha), though I very rarely use the tuner.

I have a defective Kenwood KT-7500 which I must either get fixed or maybe buy one of the tuners I keep looking at on the sales sites....either a good Sansui or a Yamaha CT-7000...one day.

[KillerOfThreads]

Still use my Yamaha NS1000 speakers and a Revox B790 TT, from 77 and 79. Still have an old Trio KD1033 mk 2 TT in the loft from 78.

Threw out all my other old kit but was given a Pioneer 3 head cassette deck about a month ago that looks new and was hardly used as it was going to be thrown and i asked for it and got it, and yes i still have boxes of cassettes but i doubt it'll be used except for 'nostalgia' even with Dolby S I bet the hiss will seem loud in this hiss free era.

Oh and i forgot, got my first CD player back a fortnight ago, a Sansui PCV-1000 from Jan 84 and it still works.

[KillerOfThreads]

Originally Posted by alexs2

I have a defective Kenwood KT-7500 which I must either get fixed or maybe buy one of the tuners I keep looking at on the sales sites....either a good Sansui or a Yamaha CT-7000...one day.

I remember the reviews at the time for the CT-7000 being hailed as the best tuner ever made. I saw one but it wasn't going, very expensive if i remember.

[KillerOfThreads]

Originally Posted by PJTX100

Still use 30+ year old speakers (Celestion Ditton 33s) and a 30 yr old tuner (Yamaha), though I very rarely use the tuner.

I miss amps with flicky needle displays.

Don't miss turntables, though I still have a Systemdek with Linn arm / Ortofon cartridge.

Used to have an Aiwa cassette deck with more flashing lights thank you could shake a stick at. Wish it sounded as good as it looked.

When i was at uni someone had the smaller Ditton 15 which had a lovely sweet sound that i've never heard from any loudspeaker since.

[dablk]

Being abit too young for LP's and having skipped straight to the cd generation.

Before i could buy my own toys. I used to get real amusment of using my dads old kit..yamaha rx-402 and a real to reel. His old cassette deck was knackered so my bedroom system comprised of

His the amp/reciever hooked up to the reel to reel and my first purchase a toshiba nicam stereo vcr with a 5" colour monitor. With a 3.5mm jack into the family portable cd player. All hooked up to some goodmans speakers with inverted cones..which Dad would regularly reminded me of the personal touch i gave them when i learnt to walk.

My kicks would be to record everything to reel to reel be it the best bits of predator or radio or some slightly rubbish cd recs. Timing was everything.

I dug the rotel out again the otherday as I remembered it had rca preouts, skiping the need to soilder up some 5 pin dins. It might aswell get hooked up to my new system just for a laugh.

Carrying an ipod on a plane is a god send but burning cd to a laptop with a drag and drop playlist still feels just a bit soulless compared to those experimental days of the reel to reel.

Would love to have that warm glow from some ppm's once more!

[PJTX100]

Originally Posted by KillerOfThreads

When i was at uni someone had the smaller Ditton 15 which had a lovely sweet sound that i've never heard from any loudspeaker since.

Yes the 15s were nice, we used them as rear speakers for many years but my brother has them now, still used daily.

My other brother also has a set of 33s front, and 22s rear!

We seem to be Ditton addicts on reflection.

Awesome sound!