gofar99 Messages: 1950 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi Everyone, I tend to agree that much of the stuff from earlier times is not worth the effort to restore or even use. There are however many exceptions. The audio from my main PC (I'm using it now) feeds a 1970 Marantz integrated amp. It is easily equal to most of the top gear now. I have two Marantz receivers (a 2250 and a 2265B) and both are quite excellent. My main turntables are an Empire 598 (ca 1973) a modified Dual 701 (ca 1975) and a Transcriptor Saturn (ca 1975). The newer Sota (ca2012)and Pro-ject (ca 2008) I have are IMO a big step down from the others in terms of reliability and performance. I use an Akai reel to reel (about 1978) and a Nakamichi cassette (possibly 1980). I have several speaker systems from the 70's and 80's including Altec Lansing and Klipsch. All good stuff. There are many more examples out there. I do restore vintage radios, I have several but not for the sound quality, just because they are intereting. I too would not bother with Radio Shack stuff although some they sourced from high end companies is pretty good. All this is not to say that all new stuff is junk either. I really like my Martin Logan ESLs, several of the new phono cartridges, the Sony HD FM receiver I use, the SMSL DAC on my laptop (feeds the main system), the OPPO Blueray player and the FIIO media player I tote around at times. Note: for an analog guy to admit to using digital stuff will probably come back to haunt me.