Yes, the good ol’ days of HI-FI are gone. And they’re not coming back. Skylabs Audio’s excellent YouTube channel helps to keep it alive, though.
Rather than a “stereo system” being commonplace in the home nowadays, it’s pretty much a rarity left to old-school audiophiles like myself and hobbyists. Though there is a resurgence of interest in records and vintage gear happening with millennials and younger generations.
I have a sh*t ton of records in storage along with some vintage gear. I need to get all that out of my storage and put it back into good use.
My main system, which I’ll hopefully have going in the coming months.
-Those BA’s rock the house. I remember always requiring and moving speakers those size everywhere I went.
-add to your setup a twin Ampex cassette tape component (beceause I mean who didn’t make mix tapes from albums?).
-drowning in RCA plugs
-sure that was a lot of heavy shit to own and lug around compared to today….but most New Gens will not understand how different and clean and bottom heavy music the sound from a 33 1/3 album really was…and how those big box speakers threw that sweet sound around a room…it’s a thing of beauty…..
..there is no sonic equivalent to vinyl and speakers…digital and CD has never come close sadly. It’s good and bad.
once they had heard that sweet sound it’s hard not to start collecting.
Indeed. More subtle than one might expect though. They can handle hard rock, metal, jazz, and electronic equally well.
I have several old cassette decks from Pioneer, Akai, Yamaha, and Denon. I also have about 400 cassettes. So I may pick the best deck and add it to the system.
For me, yes , I have Harman Kardon receiver+JBL speakers for movies and I switched to headphones many years ago.
I still have my old Dual 1219 turntable in a cardboard somewhere.
I sold the last “vintage” components the winter before last. It was an Exposure 2010i amplifier and Triangle Titus 202 acoustics. I switched to digital and iem, and I haven’t looked back since.
If you want to get nostalgic, I have a friend who keeps a lot of old equipment in his garage. Over a bottle of beer, you can not only look at it and touch it, but also listen to it. But to have it all at home… No, let it stay in the past
Speaking of digital… Although this is not relevant to the topic.
But it gave me the opportunity to enjoy music more than anything I had from the analog era (and there were a lot of things, really). This applies to my physiological characteristics and to how powerful the tools digital technology provides to compensate for the characteristics of each of us.
I have never opposed analog and digital technologies. I have never participated in “battles” on this topic.
I love the tactile feeling of taking vinyl out of an envelope… Put it on the turntable disk… Lower the microlift lever… All those rustles and crackles…
But this, let’s just admit it, has nothing to do with sound quality.
When old technology continues to live in caring hands, it’s wonderful But don’t idealize it
This receiver was the centerpiece of my audio system for many years. I still have in my muscle memory the feel of the tuning knob (twist once to send the dial flying, then pinch the knob to brake, then a gentle twist to tune precisely while looking at the tuning meter); the soft but easily found center detents of the bass and treble controls; and the nice firm clicks of the vertical toggle switches. I was especially impressed by the receiver’s AM section, which is often neglected even in higher-end tuners.
Eventually, coinciding with a big move to another country, I gave away that early audio system to my parents, for whom the receiver performed many more years of faithful service.
Well, as I’ve spend a lot of time to improve my audio setup at the beginning of this year … let me just state the fact that electronics and therefore audio technology as well made huge leaps.
I won’t say that vintage gear is deprecated, there are definitely some hidden gems - and I also still own an record player out of the early 80s as well as a pair of speakers out of the same era.
But in terms of an amplifier that is processing my audio signals - I rely on a Fosi Audio V3 stereo amplifier which is an Class D amplifier that is quite capable for an device of its size. In comparison to vintage amplifier that modern “chip” amplifier is simply much more efficient. As a rough estimate, Class A amplifiers could be as inefficient as 25-50%, Class D amplifiers are usually >80% efficient in terms of output power. In short, the losses in terms of heat dissipation are up to modern standards. Without any degradation to the sound.
Additionally, one aspect that hasn’t been feasible in the past … and which improved my audio setup drastically - has been the investment into an measuring microphone to record frequency responses of my speakers within my room. And in combination with roomeqwizard, which involved a steep learning curve, I was able to generate room equalization filters that I apply via easy effects currently. That has been the biggest improvement overall I have to admit. And the best part, REW is available for free, available in the AUR as well.
In the end, it’s still an stereo system that I’ve got here. I don’t see a point to invest into a fully digital system with surround sound and all the latest gimmicks.
The golden days of High Fidelity. . . . . are long past. . . my hearing is shot and now I’m happy to hear just about anything except all the noise that’s man made in the environment. . . i.e. vehicles, aircraft, sirens on police cars, fire and ambulances vehicles.
Tinnitus is always with me in my head, no escaping that.
The 70’s were interesting years for consumers of Japanese made electronics. They knew how to build components and sell a quality product.
Ain’t that the truth. Japanese technology was great in the 80’s too. Durable and could take beating like a lot of USA stuff back then. Built to last was a much superior manufacturing mindset than the chickensh*t philosophy of broken-out-of-the-box we are too used to today.
/Rant over.
@UncleSpellbinder don’t dust the tape deck off yet. I was around barely for 8-tracks and never owned any. Of standard cassette, LP album, cd’s, or an mp3 played on a pc thru low-quality logitech speakers…I would have to say I liked cassette the least.
Made enough mix tapes but never had the desire to return to that format–I liked it the least sound-wise and hardware-wise.
Meet my “little” AKAI AM-75, a 20 kg beast that’s given me countless great listening sessions. With a clear, spacious, and analytical sound, it pairs wonderfully with the equally clean -and slightly warmer- Rotel RCD-930AX. Both are solid 90s classics. Running them through some decent Bowers & Wilkins speakers, the sound is just fantastic. And with headphones? Absolutely brilliant for those long, relaxed nights lost in the music.
, I have Harman Kardon receiver+JBL speakers for movies and I switched to headphones many years ago.
But don’t idealize it 
