For Old Timers who experienced the "Golden Age" of Audio of the 60s and 70s.


Having traversed the long span of time and have known the love of Scott, Fisher Dynaco and McIntosh I have now settled into my "sweet spot" between a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls and Vintage Marantz 7 Preamp, DynacoST70 Amp,  Marantz 125 Tuner ,DUAL 1229 Changer and finally achieved "Musical Nirvana". How Sweet it Is!! Robinhood1940.

Please share your experiences!
robinhood1940
I am in the process of establishing a vintage system  Currently have an AR XA turntable and a refurbished, however original stock, Dynaco ST-70 amp. Looking to buy a pair of sensitive 8+ ohm speakers. May use a passive pre.  
been there ...started in the early 70s with a Sony receiver, Garrard turntable,  and AR bookshelves in my freshman year...

Then moved up to a MARANTZ 2245 receiver, ELAC MIRACORD turntable and a progression of speakers including DYNACO A25s, EPI 100s and finally the JBL L-100s.

Lets remember what the EPIs and DYNACOs etc represented: a cheap and cheaply made mass-market "new revolution" bookshelf product for the burgeoning wave of baby boomers flooding the college dorms as receivers and bookshelves replaced traditional home units.

The L-100s were a perfect match back then for the 60s and 70s pop and rock music facilitator, especially for a misspent youth immersed in Maui-Wowee infused college dorm arena. They had a particular "California" sound.... that's why they were the studio monitors of their time ....a heavily spiked bass, A heavily spiked midrange, and AN equally heavily spiked AND PROMINENT treble response... perfect for the pop and loud rock of that era. 
The L-100s performance completely killed the EPIs and DYNACOs .... not even close.


FAST FORWARD TO TODAY.....

With a high-end system today (~ $50K for 2 channel system) the "vintage" kit brings back a nostalgia wave reminiscent of a gentler time...BUT the current gear performance completely smokes the vintage kit ...again not even a close...full stop.

Its been an interesting progression .....

I couldn't agree more with the above poster that modern gear completely smokes vintage gear.  And it doesn't need to be a 50k system either.

As one of those old timers who bought my first "good" system in 1977, Technics SA-5460 receiver, Avid 103 speakers, Technics SL-1400 TT and Shure V15 III cartridge, it cost about $1000 and sounded pretty good back in the day.  A grand adjusted for inflation today would be around $4100 and that can get you a vinyl based system that would kick the above vintage stuff to the curb.

Funny but many reminisce about the good old days and believe that some how the gear back then was better by sheer virtue of being vintage. This is turn is driving up prices of some restored vintage pieces to levels that exceeded what they originally cost.  If they used that same money on quality modern gear, they would be amazed at what's available today.

Newer gear is probably better overall in general but the thing that has increased my enjoyment of listening to music at home the most in recent years is the power and flexibility (along with good sound quality) of building my own digital music library and digital streaming of music in general.


After many years of stagnation in terms of being able to find and enjoy new music, I’ve heard and enjoyed so much more new music in recent years than in any year past as a result, probably at least since the time as a kid I discovered good quality FM radio.


As a result, I’ve also been motivated in recent years to get my sound exactly right for me so that I can enjoy all that new music to the max.


My only problem now is not enough hours in a week to listen to it all along with other things, but I do have a back log of music to listen to already that will keep me going still for many years to come hopefully.