Modern High end vs. old receiver


So I recently sent in my Aesthetix Janus in for a capacitor upgrade, which leaves me without a pre-amp. In desperation for a little music, I brought in my the Kenwood Kr-3090 that I inherited from my grandmother and have been enjoying in the garage. 25W, made 1978-1981 or so. Damn thing sounds almost as good my Aesthetix Janus and Audio Research VT-100 MkII. Now don't get me wrong, there's a difference, but I can happily sit and listen and fully lose myself in the music.

I am using Acoustic Zen Adagio speakers, which work well with low-powered electronics, as evidenced by Robert Lee's matching them with Triode corporation tubes at the shows. I'm also using my standard front end - Oppo BDP-83 with Brystond BDA-1 and Acoustic Zen Absolute cables. Still.... jeez, it's unreal how much better it sounds than some of the other high-end gear I've had in here.

My learning from this is that the source matters, and you should not look askance at equipment just because it is old or inexpensive.
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Let's say your Kenwood amp can be purchased and tech serviced (replace caps, check connections, eliminate potentiometer noise, etc.) for $200. Are you saying that your modern $10,000 worth of amplification isn't 50x better than the Kenwood? Is that really what you're saying?
As with everything else in this hobby, as well as other hobbies, the law of diminishing returns hits hard and early.
Yep, it really makes you wonder what has happened in the last 30 years besides hype and we are right back to the discussion about audio magazines and their reviews. But then Kenwood was designed by some brilliant guys. At least one of them went on to start up Accuphase.
When the best minds pretty well think alike, it's hard for them to compete with each other. The trick is finding them without it being too expensive.