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Vintage Receivers vs. Modern MidFi

As I was looking at classic tuners from Marantz I started to notice their receivers and I've become very interested. I'm curious what people here think about the comparision between these 'classic' receivers and modern midfi equipment. I've been considering an NAD c340 or Jolida 102b matched with a classic Marantz tuner or my current FT-11, but when I considered replacing my FT-11 I thought 'why not consider replacing my whole deal with one of these vintage receivers'. The more I look at these receivers the more I am struck by their beauty. I am too young to have ever owned one of these new, but I must admit that I am very drawn to them. In the end though it is about the sound, and I want the best I can afford. I've got about $600 to spend on tuner and amplification. So, should I get a classic Marantz(or McIntosh?) receiver or stick with my NAD/Jolida + Magnum/Classic Marantz combo, and how do these two paths match up sound wise? Your advice, concerns, confessions, and/or recommendations are warmly welcomed. Oh ya, if it matters I'm using AE Aegis speakers. Thanks. Carter.
mailman199
jetsons
17 posts
 
Hi: I have had a Pioneer SX 1250 which is in mint condition, for approx. three months. I have done comparisons with my Harman/Kardon AVR 80II ($1,699.00 MSRP in 1997) using Dynaudio speakers. To put it mildly, there is smply no comparison between the two, IMHO. The SX 1250 is far more musical and offers the slam that the HK can only dream of. Build quality of the SX is also excellent and find the styling to be quite appealing as do my friends. The downside of the equation is that these units are getting old and reliability may be an issue at times. However, I would not hesitate to spend the cash to have the unit properly serviced should the need ever rise. BTW, the inputs also work well with TV and VCR should you have an interest in a bit of HT.
whatjd
615 posts
 
All of the above are good input to the question. The Magnum Dynalab MD-208 is state-of-the-art for the receiver catagory. The Advent is interesting as are the Stasis series Nakamichi, the SR and TA series....If you're looking for vintage romance..then the old receivers..are cool. If you looking for the best sound, keep your Magnum tuner and get a great recent model intergrated from...Classe, Bryston, SimAudio, Audio Research, C-J, and the list goes on..
nakaman
1 posts
 
I second what WHATJD had to say about Nak Sr and Ta series receivers.Pretty refined little goodies for the used price. Consider Revox,Tandberg and ADS receivers from the mid eighties up through early 90s.And the Yamaha Cr series was nice. I also owned and liked the Luxman R-113,R-115 and R-117 Receivers.I also agree that the Magnum tuners are very desireable, and that matching it with an interesting older or newer integrated would be a way to go.Doug
beemer
444 posts
 
I've currently got in house a Luxman R1120A receiver driving a pair of a/d/s L1530's in the bedroom. Big sound from this old reciever! In my home office by the computer is a Yamaho CR-2040 with an a/d/s CD4 cd player (first generation!), Nakamichi 1000 tri-tracer cassette deck and an Akai GX747dbx reel deck. All this feeding a/d/s L9e 3 way speakers. One of my favorites to collect and sound great are the a/d/s atelier series components. All of them carry the same size, look and feel. Hard to find, but worth the trouble. I can't help myself, I'm a vintage junkie!
joe_b
421 posts
 
If you're going to go for a used Advent, I recommend trying before buying. I have a 15 year old one that I use in a 3rd system. As time has passed, the tuner section has had more of a tendency to drift and it takes about an hour of warm up for the tuner to be able to receive in stereo. Also, while the phono stage is ok, the linestage does not seem to match up well with cd players. Suggest you consider that many older receivers were designed before CD players became popular and the line stage sections may not match up well. There was a time when I used the Advent with a Hafler 120 amp as my second system. I replaced this combo with a NAD 710 receiver around 7 years ago which sounded a little better, had better FM reception and took up less space. The NAD also had a decent headphone amp, a rarity amoungst receivers. I did like the sound of the old Pioneer and Yamaha receivers that I owned in the 70's, but I would not trade the sound of my NAD for either of them.
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