Anybody else into vintage audio gear? June 08, 2009, 10:11:11 PM Just wondering. I admire high-end gear, but I am too poor to own any (or just not lucky enough to find any cheap!) though. I just wanted to share my excitement. I found a set of realistic Mach One speakers at a yard sale for $10! They are regarded as the best speaker radio shack ever made. 15" woofers, horn mids and tweets, great for blasting rock music. Not high-end as far as the audio world is concerned, but certainly better than anything available in the big-box stores today. Supposedly they can blow away cerwin-vegas and hang with klipsch, etc. I always wanted to hear a pair, but nobody around here has 'em, and they go for like $300 for a nice pair on ebay (plus obnoxious shipping).Anyway, this pair I found need refoamed (the foam edge on the woofer rotted away, common problem on older speakers). I ordered a new set of foam rings and I am in the middle of installing them now. They should be ready for some abuse tomorrow. I can't wait! The cabinets are perfect. The guy from the yard sale was the original owner, and his house was immaculate.Just another product of the late 70s to early 80s (like some of our cars) that makes me nostalgic and comfortable.CoogarXR Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #1 – June 09, 2009, 02:53:18 AM One of my friends used to have that exact model. They sound pretty amazing for what they are. Definitely consider a tweeter upgrade though - the treble leaves much to be desired. Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #2 – June 09, 2009, 03:40:55 AM I had some years ago, the foam rotted away also. they do have a lot of base. Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #3 – June 09, 2009, 08:18:00 AM i got a 1940 zenith radio at Goodwill last month. Dont know anything about how to fix it but it looks cool with all the tube amps glowing.....I think the speaker is broken but it was only $20. My wife made me get rid of all my "single" stereo stuff..i had 3 Adcom amps and a pair of Klipsch corner horns AND a pair of Lascala's in the same dorm room. Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #4 – June 09, 2009, 08:24:43 AM My home system:Dual/United Audio turntableHeathkit AD-1305 5-band equalizerSansui AU-D9 Stereo AmplifierESS Heil AMT-3 Rock MonitorsShiny Side Up!Bill Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #5 – June 09, 2009, 09:39:00 AM So 70s/80s Rat Shack stuff is now vintage??? :disappoin:shakehead:yuck: What's the world commin' to??? Pay no mind to me, has to be at least 50 years old 'fore I'll consider it vintage(in other words my amps & radios have toobs)...Here's a little project I completed over the Winter... We had a sort of informal radio building contest, using only "TV" type tubes for a radio build... http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=106846 Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #6 – June 09, 2009, 09:45:44 AM trans-oceanic is one my grandfather has that I would like to get. Another is his 1909 Victrola. But for true audiophilia, my buddy's dad is the man. He had a Pioneer? receiver from the 70's that was better than anything I've ever seen or heard. Spin the big tuner and no static between stations. Had a couple meters on it as well.For those with lots of money: http://www.goodwinshighend.com/ Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #7 – June 09, 2009, 10:07:55 AM Yeah, those 70's era Pioneer amps were quite impressive and HUGE! A friend has a stereo one in a receiver design and it's a TANK! The transformer and capacitors are just amazing in size. I've seen and listened to Krell, Mark Levinson, and Mcintosh monoblock amps at local high end audio places and they're very impressive. Wish I could afford some of that stuff. I just have a rather large collection of mostly mid 80s to early 90s Pioneer components...couple Elite ones that I could afford mixed in. Programmable dual auto-reverse cassete deckPro Logic Receiver (definitely dating myself...not even 5.1)14-band EQElite CD transportOptical recording CD-RElite 5-disc carosel DVD changer JVC 4-head VHS Hi-Fi VCR (remember those & the days of VCR+?) Stanton Pro DJ turntable Cerwin-Vega AT-10 main speakers (circa 1988...first major audio purchase I made with my own $$ at age 17) Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #8 – June 09, 2009, 10:21:06 AM Quote from: bike70ride;276658JVC 4-head VHS Hi-Fi VCR (remember those & the days of VCR+?)Those old JVCs are nice, I have a '88 S-VHS unit, that predates the VCR+... Also have a '84 Sony Beta VCR that still works fine and a Sanyo HQ-Beta VCR that needs a roller, that's not available... Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #9 – June 09, 2009, 10:54:17 AM LOL, I have a Curtis Mathis top loading vcr player.I have a Pioneer 6 cassette player w/remote that needs repair, and is free to anyone who's interested. Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #10 – June 09, 2009, 10:57:56 AM Quote from: bike70ride;276658Yeah, those 70's era Pioneer amps were quite impressive and HUGE! A friend has a stereo one in a receiver design and it's a TANK! The transformer and capacitors are just amazing in size.The nice thing about old Sansui stuff is that they either have two separate transformers, or a single double wound transformer, thus one transformer per channel!Shiny Side Up!Bill Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #11 – June 09, 2009, 11:57:18 AM Awesome, I figured there'd be a few of y'all into retro-audio.Well, the Mach One project is being broke in as we speak. A definate improvement over my current mains (Fisher ST-828 15" 3-way). I always thought the fishers sounded like a good speaker hiding under a heavy blanket... Very flat sounding. These mach's blow them away in all departments. I had some Cerwin DX7's for a while, but they were too beat-up looking to get living room approval from my wife :hick:Now I need to find a better receiver. My Sony STR-D990 is getting flakey in it's old age. Heck, it was flakey in it's youth, but I put up with it :)CoogarXR Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #12 – June 09, 2009, 03:10:05 PM QuoteAnybody else into vintage audio gear?Yes, but only if it has strings or you can plug something with strings into it. Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #13 – June 09, 2009, 11:09:57 PM A few years ago a found some Infinity 2000 II's at goodwill for $35 for the pair, I snagged em up even though they needed work.They have Walsh tweeters and one seems to not be producing sound, And the usual rotted surrounds for 35 year old speakers.Haven't got around to fixing em' yet and they are HEAVY.Heres a pdf of the original brochure for them: http://www.davidsaudio.com/Infinity_2000II.pdfCurrently i'm using a set of KLH AV-55's i picked up at the same goodwill for only $25! when i got them they had loosened/partially blown out the back wood panel and one of the passive radiators was blown (I think someone hooked them up to a car amp and purposely blew them or something...).But i fully repaired and restored them and replaced the radiators from a set of AV-5001's (see below).In my room i have a set of KLH AV-5001's that i got at (you guessed it!) goodwill for i think $35-45 a long time ago. they were in perfect working order just some scuffing on the cabinets and a few holes that needed to be patched on the surrounds of the mains.As stated above the passive radiators were taken and used for the AV-55'S so im now trying to repair the blown/torn radiators to put back on the 5001's.In the garage i've got 2 pairs of buried tower speakers i have not looked at in a few years.I picked them up on the curb on a "Dump day", They both work and look great (or did) as i recall~One was a vintage set of sony 10" with mids and tweets, The other was a set of Kenwood? 12" ported w/ mids and tweets.And also a set of (knock off?) clear cone 10" driver w/ mid tweets and controls "studio monitors".Under the stairs i've got a vintage set of Mirage bookshelf speakers i picked up for $10, That need new surrounds along with some really interesting cabinets that look to be 60's/70's that are a pyramid inside a cube design, but they don appear to have the original drivers as they had some old pioneer 8"s in them from the 80's or so. As well as a ton of other random speakers.Also have a bare set of Cerwin Vega 15" Subwoofers from the 80's i got from goodwill (ROFL).One day i went in and there was this Ginormous ugly almost small love seat sized wooden box with tiny legs~Extremely curious i lifted one side up to peek under and saw the 2 subs and got excited.Looked at the price(Only 7.99, lol) Then went in search of an employee.Found one, Asked if i could just pay the full price but only take the subs~They said ok, Grabbed a screwdriver and snagged up.They need new dome caps and surrounds but otherwise seems great.And that's about all i can think of right now... rofl.Yes, I have well, "Had" a second hand speaker buying problem... I'm better now! I swear! Although... I have been looking for a nice Vintage Record player.I found one at the salvation army, No price~I get to the register and the cashier is like "Wow Nice, hmm no price huh" she calls over another lady "Oh thats pretty nice im surprised it isnt marked" (now she calls over a manager guy) manager guy: "WOW, when did we get that in, has its needle and everything! well record players like that used to cost 69.99 new and they havent lost value much since then (WTF?) so i would say 69.99.Happens to be 50% off day so 34.99, I feel extremely weird and played, But its a pretty nice player so i decided to give it a shot since they allow returns.I get it home, Put on a record and i can hear it playing loudly from the needle, But no matter what i hook it up to (vintage or not) i get no sound out of the speakers.I look it up online and find it's the model RIGHT AFTER they stopped making "the really Good" players. *facedesk*, And its not really worth what i payed.I can most likely fix it, But i just decide to take it back, Get a younger cashier, She asks if anything wrong with it, I say yes and she says well then well have to THROW IT AWAY.I get my refund, She takes it to the back but before she does i ask her for the needle at least if shes gonna toss it, She agrees, heh.It was late 70's Pioneer Player.Why do i feel like a thrift store hustled me? heh.Sorry had to vent, My fault for buying it. Quote Selected
Anybody else into vintage audio gear? Reply #14 – June 11, 2009, 10:45:10 AM Quote from: HAVI;276666LOL, I have a Curtis Mathis top loading vcr player. I have a Pioneer 6 cassette player w/remote that needs repair, and is free to anyone who's interested. Curtis Mathes! That reminds me of my 25" console t.v in the basp00get. Friend's Mom was gonna junk it 'cuz it was arcing and smoking in the back. Turned out to be the main picture tube power supply (forget the actual name now) and I was able to find one out of a catalog. De-soldered it from the board, and installed the new one. Voila' Works great now! :D audio related part: It has a pretty impressive sound for a t.v. Separate stereo-wide control and bass/treble. Big cabinet lends to quite imprssive bass for a t.v.! Quote Selected
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