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The Home Stereos That Refuse to Die


mjzee

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Ed Sherman grew up listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Police on a record player in his parents' Hazard, Ky., living room. Now 29 and a registered nurse, Mr. Sherman still likes to listen to classic rock the old-fashioned way—and just bought 1970's-era Marantz stereo on eBay. He's also in the market for a Rega record player.

"I'd like to complete that vintage sound," says Mr. Sherman.

For many, $1 songs and $100 players have replaced $20 CDs and $1,000-dollar stereo systems. But not for Mr. Sherman and other audiophiles, many of whom cling to cabinets full of music components and milk crates of albums. Hardly Luddites—many also have MP3 players and listen to Internet radio—these are the folks who refuse to give up the superior sound of older technology.

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WSJ

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I had a seventies Marantz receiver for a while. The stereo I have now is several times better!

I did used to enjoy an older vintage sound (have a '59 EICO integrated stereo amp) but it's too limited for me nowadays. They make some incredible stereo equipment now, especially in the tube world, which has sound so far beyond the classic idea of "tube sound."

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I was at a party recently and the host was showing off his ipod stereo system. He plays Sgt Pepper....umm where's Paul? The beatles without bass. Compressed music for moi? NEVER EVER!!!!!

I'd suspect the lack of bass had less to do with the "compressed" files he was playing (presumably) than on weak amplification and subpar speakers. MP3s can sound mighty fine.

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Speaking of Stereo's that refused to die, my old Denon DRA54 finally went out. I have had it since 1992. Sniff..

The good news is my wife's boss gave me his Denon AVR 4306 which he couldn't figure out how to set up so it sat in the box the last two years. Anyways it sounds great, I just need a nice little Subwoofer for it to give me a little more bass and room ambience. Any suggestions for a small sub for music would be appreciated. I don't need to shatter the windows or piss off the neighbors.

Edited by WorldB3
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Guest Bill Barton

Speaking of Stereo's that refused to die, my old Denon DRA54 finally went out. I have had it since 1992. Sniff..

The good news is my wife's boss gave me his Denon AVR 4306 which he couldn't figure out how to set up so it sat in the box the last two years. Anyways it sounds great, I just need a nice little Subwoofer for it to give me a little more bass and room ambience. Any suggestions for a small sub for music would be appreciated. I don't need to shatter the windows or piss off the neighbors.

I feel your pain...

Until recently I was using a NAD receiver (don't recall the model number) that finally died :(

So, I bought a Denon AVC-700 at a yard sale for practically nothing. Sounds great.

The part of my system that lives on and on is the DBX satellite-subwoofer speaker system. I bought this new during the brief time that DBX made consumer equipment. It's very compact but sounds wonderful. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to find the subwoofer amp for this set-up on eBay. I'd been running it without the separate amp for nearly a decade as I'd managed to fry the original amp through my own negligence.

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I recently upgraded my Denon AVR-3200 to a Denon AVR-5700, which was their flagship AV receiver about ten years ago. This thing is built like a tank - the latter-day units can't compare when it comes to build quality. It originally sold for $2800, but I only paid $300 for it, and it's in mint condition. The lack of HDMI switching makes it a non-starter for some, but as I don't yet have an HDMI-enabled TV and I'm using it far more for music than video, I'm quite happy with it.

Also just got a Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai DVD player to use primarily as a CD/SACD/DVD-A deck, which should be a nice step up from the B-stock Sony 5-disc SACD changer I've been using. When new, it was about $1200 - I paid a little over $100. I'm quite content to upgrade my system with "obsolete" equipment that sounds great but doesn't cost a fortune.

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I'm sitting on a cornucopia of old stereo gear. The Marantz 2270 I bought in the late '60's is still going strong. I've had it into the shop just once in all that time. It's companion, a Thorens TD-160 turntable also remains fully functional. I also have a Dual 1220 I got a couple of years back and I will be adding a Thorens TD-125 to the TT collection tomorrow night. That one is going to take some work to bring up to code, but once it's running, it'll be sweet. I also have a complete Macintosh system I got from my Mom. It includes an amplifier, a free standing tube pre-amp and a tuner. Speaker-wise, a set of monstrous 15-inch JBL's. All this equipment was purchased around 1961. I still have the original paperwork and owner's manuals. Now if my house was just big enough to deploy all this stuff, I'd really be in business.

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I'm sitting on a cornucopia of old stereo gear. The Marantz 2270 I bought in the late '60's is still going strong. I've had it into the shop just once in all that time. It's companion, a Thorens TD-160 turntable also remains fully functional. I also have a Dual 1220 I got a couple of years back and I will be adding a Thorens TD-125 to the TT collection tomorrow night. That one is going to take some work to bring up to code, but once it's running, it'll be sweet. I also have a complete Macintosh system I got from my Mom. It includes an amplifier, a free standing tube pre-amp and a tuner. Speaker-wise, a set of monstrous 15-inch JBL's. All this equipment was purchased around 1961. I still have the original paperwork and owner's manuals. Now if my house was just big enough to deploy all this stuff, I'd really be in business.

Would love to see pictures of that original 61 Macintosh system. Nice.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have an Acoustic Research amplifier that I bought new in 1972 that I still use in my music room to drive my second system. It's been in the shop twice and only one of those was serious and that was back in the late 70s! My roommate at the time had two sets of fairly large speakers hooked up to it which at normal levels was ok but he cranked it up real loud once when I wasn't home and the music stopped and smoke poured out of the back.

I didn't get too pissed about it and he paid for the repairs and he never did that again.

I would have it repaired again if anything went wrong. It's built like a tank.

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Back in the 70s had a nice Onkyo. Can't remember the turntable that I had but those were fun days. It's true everything is easier nowadays but it seems we're all busier too, with never enough time so convenience has its advantages as well. When you travel, you can take your music with you, something you couldn't have 30 or 40 years ago.

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I'm sitting on a cornucopia of old stereo gear. The Marantz 2270 I bought in the late '60's is still going strong. I've had it into the shop just once in all that time. It's companion, a Thorens TD-160 turntable also remains fully functional. I also have a Dual 1220 I got a couple of years back and I will be adding a Thorens TD-125 to the TT collection tomorrow night. That one is going to take some work to bring up to code, but once it's running, it'll be sweet. I also have a complete Macintosh system I got from my Mom. It includes an amplifier, a free standing tube pre-amp and a tuner. Speaker-wise, a set of monstrous 15-inch JBL's. All this equipment was purchased around 1961. I still have the original paperwork and owner's manuals. Now if my house was just big enough to deploy all this stuff, I'd really be in business.

Would love to see pictures of that original 61 Macintosh system. Nice.

While I was going through some papers tonight, I came across my parent's receipt for the sound system described above. Turns out they purchased it in 1967, not 1961. Here's the cost of the individual components:

McIntosh MC250 amplifier: $379

McIntosh C24 Pre-amplifier: $249

McIntosh MR67 Tuner: $299

JBL C36 15" extended range loudspeakers (030 package): $297 each

Dual 1019 Turntable/Changer: $130

Total system cost: $1,651

Edited by Dave James
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  • 4 weeks later...

Nice system, Dave. Amazing that the combined Mac components you've listed cost about the same as my buddy is going to shell out (parts/labor/shipping) -- all because his wife got yanked off at their kid during her piano lesson last week.....then proceeded to kick a music stand, which fell over & crashed into his MA6900 amp, smashing the facial glass & damaging an output meter. :wacko::blink:

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Dave, that was a great deal of money in 1967. You were spoiled!

I know. In today's dollars, we're in the neighborhood of $12,000. Frankly, I'm not sure how we could afford this. I mean, we were solidly in the middle class, but by no means well-to-do. I know how much my Dad was making at the time, and this would have represented a substantial commitment. I guess it's an indication of how much he was into music. I'll bet my folks had some interesting conversations about this before they pulled the trigger. I'm sure it was not real high on my Mom's dance card.

I'll tell you one thing, getting this equipment up to speed hasn't been cheap. I had the three electronic components and the Thorens cleaned and pressed by a local guy. That ran around $300. Then it was new interconnects for another $250. But, that's not all. I still need to have the speakers checked out and the crossovers upgraded. After that, it's loudspeaker cabling. I figure by the time this is all said and done, I'l be into this for around a grand. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'd forgotten what good sound sounds like.

If I knew how, I'd upload some pictures from my BlackBerry. Unfortunately, that's well outside my technical wheelhouse.

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Dave, that was a great deal of money in 1967. You were spoiled!

I know. In today's dollars, we're in the neighborhood of $12,000. Frankly, I'm not sure how we could afford this. I mean, we were solidly in the middle class, but by no means well-to-do. I know how much my Dad was making at the time, and this would have represented a substantial commitment. I guess it's an indication of how much he was into music.

Ah, the good old days when people cared about music.

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