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| Vintage audio equipment - what do you listen with? (Page 3/5) |
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williegoat
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DEC 12, 11:39 PM
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I have posted this here before. I used to use it regularly in the seventies. If you recognize it, you are probably a vintage audiophile.
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olejoedad
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DEC 13, 09:24 AM
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| quote | Originally posted by rinselberg:
PS AUDIO ELITE integrated amplifier from "umpteen" years ago
It has fin-like heat radiators protruding from the back panel. The cube-like separate enclosure is the power supply. I liked the minimalist styling of the front panel and the monolith-like black-painted enclosure. I purchased it in an audio "salon" and the sales pitch included the narrative that the electronics was designed as if it were MIL-SPEC and that the separate power supply further reduced the noise component of the stereo output signals. The "genius" of the PS AUDIO founders Paul McGowan and Stan Warren.
That was when I was "into" esoteric looking and provocatively marketed audio gear. I also have the Carver TX-11 FM Radio Tuner. From Bob Carver, the inventor of the "Digital Time Lens" if memory serves me.
I look back on that time as just a period that I went through. Today I am perfectly happy to listen to music online, with YouTube and the separate speaker system for this Mac desktop system that I use. It has a subwoofer on the floor and two small desktop speakers that flank the video monitor. |
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PS Audio and Carver are quality units.
Do you remember the Carver Holosonic Imager?
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rinselberg
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DEC 13, 11:54 AM
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I remember. The Carver "Sonic Holography" or "Holographic Imaging" circuitry. I never got into that, or the Carver Digital Time Lens. My esoteric audio equipment syndrome went into remission and I never presented with any of those more serious conditions.
That FM radio tuner is the only Carver-branded equipment that I have. It's held up over the years, never had a problem with it. The PS Audio Elite, not so much. I had to take it in one time for the technicians to isolate a short-circuit and repair it. The enclosure for the separate power supply suffered warpage. Still functional, but not so stylish-looking anymore. The finish on the rotary switches on the front panel faded over time.
"tsk tsk."[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-13-2020).]
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bonaduce
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DEC 13, 12:46 PM
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Is a ZUNE considered vintage yet?
dan
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sourmash
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DEC 13, 01:06 PM
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The Carver receiver here has Sonic Holography. There's a Hologram button.
willie, your carriage is for the music cylinders of a by-gone era. No audiophile award for me.
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Raydar
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DEC 13, 01:24 PM
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I posted this in the other thread, but haven't done anything different since then.
I've never really given up on the old stuff. I just never really got interested in any of the newer stuff. 
The newest "big" piece of equipment I own is an 85 watt per channel Kenwood AV receiver.
It's pretty cool, and has lots of "toys", but it has since been shelved. At least temporarily. Read on...
Back in the late 70s I worked at Olson Electronics. They were a rival to Radio Shack and (to a lesser extent) Lafayette Electronics.
They sold some real junk. (The only company I know that would ever be bold - or stupid - enough to "blister pack" an entire Electrophonic stereo chassis. It was hilarious.)
They also sold some decent stuff. They had a silver face 40 watt per channel receiver that I purchased, back in the day. I could actually afford it, with my employee discount.
What I could not afford were the much cooler "separates". A 40 watt stereo amp and a separate tuner. (The internal electronics were essentially identical. Just housed in separate cabinets.)
A little over a year ago, I found a set of them for sale on eBay. Jumped right on them.
When I first powered them up some of the pots were scratchy, and some of the switches were a little bit intermittent, but after working them a bit, they are much better. At some point, I plan to clean them with Deoxit, and I need to replace all of the lamps in the tuner, but even as-is they have become my "main" system.
My speakers also started out as Olson pieces, but I fried them in fairly short order. (They were way overrated.)
I rebuilt them in the image of Optimus T200s, even using T200 woofers. A friend recommended Peerless mids and Dynaco tweeters.
I have worn out several sets of woofers and mids (foam rot and dog teeth  ) but the tweeters are still original, 35 years later.
This is what they look like now. (The speakers on top are Bose / Interaudio 4000XLs. I'm amazed at how good those things sound, too.)
I also have several pieces of old "black face" Kenwood stuff.
One of them is a 110 WPC integrated amp that had something spilled into it. Doesn't look too cooked - just a couple of resistors - but we shall see.
I also bought a separate preamp and power amp. Supposedly "non-working", but I suspect they were just purchased from an estate sale, not tested, and flipped for a quick sale.
They are covered with cigarette smoke residue, but otherwise look to be in good shape.
I just need time to get my shop set up again (we just moved) and and will dive in.
And then there's this.
Hasn't been powered on since 1993. Needs to be gone through and re-capped, and the controls cleaned.
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olejoedad
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DEC 14, 01:53 PM
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Speaking of Sansui.....
The units I just had restored.
I love this turntable!
Where I live, this antennae is essential.
And it all comes out through four of these.
That have these guts.
Very happy with the restoration work.
I have another Sansui integrated amp (AU-7700) that I will have them do after the first of the year.
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Honest Don
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DEC 15, 01:49 AM
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Honest Don
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DEC 15, 02:20 AM
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The basement set is a 1940 Philco. Only 7 tubes, but twin VT-48s on the output make up for things with just lovely bass. Similar internal updates as the Fairbanks-Morse.
 [This message has been edited by Honest Don (edited 12-15-2020).]
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82-T/A [At Work]
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DEC 15, 08:50 AM
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Back in the late 90s when I lived in an apartment, I had one of those huge entertainment centers that consisted of three large cabinets with glass doors. It was super fancy (hand me down from my aunt / uncle).
I had everything you could imagine in there, laserdisc player, SONY AC3 demodulator, huge Sony amplifyer, dual Sony Cassette player, 5-disc Sony CD changer, Sony Minidisc changer, Sony 6-head VHS player, Sony CD+G player, Sony 8-Track player (yes... and it looked modern too), Sony Record player... and a separate Sony graphic equalizer system. Plus... I had my NEC Turbo GraFX-16 set up, my Atari Jaguar, my Super NES, and Sega Saturn. I had it all hooked up to a 29" television which just barely fit in the console... it was bad-ass.
Now, I don't really have anything. I have an Alexa with subwoofer to play music. I've got a large flat screen TV, and a DVD/Receiver combo on it with a bunch of the small speakers and the little subwoofer you hide off to the side. I don't even have the speakers placed around the family room... they're all just sitting behind the TV so I don't have to see them.
The only "vintage" equipment i have now is this... it's so I can randomly pick up Morse code and weird channels from Europe and China that I cannot understand anyway.
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