Picking a particular model would be hard for me (closet full of gear). Everyone always wants to hear about the monster receivers from the 70s; but very few could afford them then and now. Sure they were big massive and beautiful. I think you should do a shoot out between middle of the road receivers from the same era with maybe a little more punch (35-45watt into 8 ohms). A receiver that I grew up with for example the Pioneer SX-3700 was amazing for its value and made 45 watts into 8 ohms; THD and frequency response was also excellent for a value added receiver. My brother took my Dad's when we all were moving out of the house years ago; he still has it and uses it in his listening room. So maybe do comparison between similar models from Sansui, Kenwood, and Marantz if you can find something that is not an arm and a leg. Go after the models people don't covet; Philips ownership of Marantz era do they really suck that bad? Just some ideas. I enjoy what you do on your channel.

I have tons of vintage gear, and it is hard to pick. But I'll have to go with my Marantz 2275. Why? It combines what I feel is about the best looking vintage receiver out there, with simply amazing sound quality. I'm talking separates good. It's incredible. But they're not cheap. And there's really no need to spend that much (I paid a G for it restored) to get the same experience. It's just something I've always wanted since I was a kid, because my older brother had a Marantz. And I've always loved the gyro tuning wheel. I highly recommend talking to the fine folks at Audiokarma if anyone wants to learn about some of the hidden gems out there. And there are many. It's best to avoid the big 3 (Marantz/Pioneer/Sansui) if you're looking for deals. Sherwood and Scott both have some great solid state pieces (some even built in the 🇺🇸 😉) that don't cost much, for instance. ✌️

review sonus faber sonneto II

Magnaplanar smga floor speaker mid century modern speakers a pair, I say these speakers to see if they sound as good as they look.

There average audio engineering of the 1970s-1990s had a lot more passion behind it than today where such a product will be engineered by a bunch of junior engineers in China who checks the sound by listening to some Chinese vocal focused music and with a boss that keeps pushing them to save yet another Dollar on the BOM to sell it cheap on Amazon while still having some profit. Any old power amp or receiver will at some point likely experience issues due to electrolytic capacitors losing capacitance. This is especially likely to reduce the peak power handling of the amplifier where the capacitors help provide the power. For a few Dollars you can replace those capacitors by yourself, if you dare.

I love it.

Preferably with vintage vinyl... I've turned into an antique shop animal with my "list" digging for vinyl treasures.

Fuckin a right

Love it!

Simplicity, a singular beauty!

Bet you could kick yourself for even selling it in the first place.

I bought an SX-980 only because as a teenager I didn't have the extra change to buy the 1250. But wow they sound so good don't they?

That's right master chief

Many systems came with the schematics. In my opinion, vintage is better. The Japanese components were and still are superior, and all the boards were manually were assembled. A average electronic technician can repair one. And the biggest advantage was, yes expensive at the time, offered much more bang for the buck. Today's components are way over priced.

Yes… i have a 1973 Sx-626… i just completely recaped it and it’s a beatiful sounding beast…

Or more..

Or more..

its filled with fifty-year-old dried out caps, ceramic disc capacitors, lots of negative feedback, and simply does not sound as good as what you can get today, brand new for $100 more. Why bother? by the way, the older units were not measured in the same way we do for the last several decades. By law, we have to specify the bandwidth and distortion. In those days they would use things like peak power and music power which may not be emblematic of the performance of the unit. The current measuring scheme is much more accurate and meaningful. There was no legal definition for power back then. There has been now for many years.

@Sam Mencia Sam, the problem is the circuit architecture and the ceramic disc capacitors. we were in a horsepower race, and I have no issue with that. but we were in a race to zero unmeasured distortion. by using copious quantities of negative feedback, we destroyed the units' capability to follow transients accurately. this bad engineering, a remnant of the transition from simpler tube circuits to complex solid-state circuits, was prevalent through the 70s.

@Sam Mencia Sam, you bring back a lot of memories. I'm surprised to see Sanyo in this list but maybe they did some OEM work; that was very common with companies like Lucky Goldstar (LG), Sharp, Samsung and others. I worked at Allied radio Corporation in the 60s while in school. it was a remarkable experience. we had four full-time adult men in the tape recorder department alone. that was supplemented by three part-timers. The audio rooms were filled with many brands including Marantz, HK, McIntosh, JBL, Electro Voice and the names you mentioned. Unfortunately, by 1970 things began to unravel for the American manufacturers as the Japanese launched a full on attack in the audio business. Fisher and Scott, still American companies, had difficulty being competitive and a higher failure rate than the Japanese units. When Kenwood, Pioneer and Sansui finally changed their output configuration, the products became bulletproof. We could sell them with confidence that the consumer will not be back. With the audio industry exploding, due to the never ending parade of great albums, the distribution of audio gear became a nightmare with constant discounting. Most of the dealers would fail as a result. Yamaha saw the gap and jumped in. They were picking up dealers. That's when I started Onkyo in the United States in 1976 because of the opportunity. Now, for the last few years, the receiver business has been shrinking about 5% per year; that's an enormous number. Now with the pandemic, we see Denon and sister Marantz changing ownership once again, same for Pioneer, same for Onkyo and Integra but that fell through and the future remains uncertain even for companies like B&W! For myself, the answer is the high-end. Bob Carver and I have been manufacturing tube type equipment only and were holding our own. Wouldn't want to be in the receiver business these days. Of the large manufacturers, only Yamaha remains profitable. By the way, you mentioned Roland. I thought that was only guitar stuff but then again my memory is not what it used to be. Thank you for your contribution.

@@fmalitz , the oldies are goodies.

@Kris Mcfrory Hi Kris; it's important to me that you realize I'm not trying to attack you nor am I trying to validate my position. You accused me of being close minded. Perhaps I am. but my opinions are based on 55 years of experience as the founder of Onkyo in the United States, Integra in the United States, 17 years with Yamaha as an independent contractor, and the representative or founder of the following brands in the United States: Stax, Monster cable, Denon, Kenwood, Sherwood, Newcastle, Acoustic Research (AR), Dahlquist, audio alchemy, Apogee, Advent, ADS, Jensen, Audiovox, Totem, Sonos Faber, ELAC, Cambridge audio, Arcam, and far, far too many more to name. The volume level, is not determined by the "quality" or output of your amplifier section; it's related to the sensitivity of the loudspeakers. Your receiver wasn't taken seriously by the industry because it was marketed by JCPenney! But, in fact, most of these units were made by either NEC or Matsushita while the AM tuning was done by Sanyo and the FM by Hitachi and NEC. I'm sure you knew all that. They weren't bad units compared to the other products made at that time. Despite being loaded with negative feedback in an effort to produce a more impressive specification sheet, many of these units, especially yours, were down 3 to 6 dB at 15 kHz-- pretty grim. They actually were honest and published that the unit was down at least three decibels at fifteen kilohertz. All that negative feedback created a fair amount of TIM (transient, inter-modulation distortion). Don't fret; the MCS product was not the only brand employing that faulty engineering. Don't get the idea they were unreliable; I'm only referring to sound quality. The product quality was equal to the major brands. I'm concert trained on the big horns and played in a Symphony Orchestra but I know that my experience pales in comparison to yours. I've also been a working professional guitar player for 55 years and I was honored, just last year, at Chess Studios where I recorded in the 60s. it's now a museum. Finally, the very idea that vintage products complete with dried out capacitors, ceramic disc capacitors, shitloads of negative feedback, and mediocre phono sections are superior to today's products is laughable. But, as I said, based on your attack, you know a lot more about this than I do despite the fact that I own the Bob Carver Corporation. if you don't know the name Bob Carver, you don't know audio. How about this Kris: our Amplifires have the longest warranties in the history of the world-- 10 years including tubes and five years including tubes on our entry level product-- more reliable than any solid-state product and it's all handmade in the United States, and all tubes-- no transistors, no integrated circuits. By the way, what you call a drummer without a girlfriend? Homeless... What you call a drummer in a three-piece suit? Defendant. How do you get a drummer away from your front door? Pay for the pizza! I hope you learned something today and I hope you enjoyed my humor. I certainly did not mean to offend. You on the other hand, had the temerity and balls to state: "Sorry to destroy your theory with reality". Your relationship with reality is tenuous at best. Unless you can match your experience in the electronic industry with mine, I suggest you apologize. Now, please tell the rest of us of your accomplishments in the world of electronics. I can hardly wait.

Fifty bucks? What was wrong with it that only cost $50, out of curiosity!

@@gustercc He told me there were some bad things with it, like the output transformer was blown (I don't know if that's what it's called in english) and the left channel didn't work. But actually, servicing receivers and amplifiers is very cheap in México. That's why I've brought lots of them from the US to fix and resell them.

@@IsraelQuezada999 That's a pretty good business plan. Hows the vintage market doing in Mexico?

SX-1280 that is truly a monster. Close to Nuclear :)

@@gustercc I was doing very well last year, I used to go to the border 3 or 4 times a year and I would get about 3 or 4 broken vintage amplifiers and I would sell them at 4 or 5 times the price I paid combined with the cost of repairing them. But now with this pandemic I haven't been able to go back to the US, I hope this will end soon.

Yes we all hear differently however only vinyl and true analog will give the orchestra pit effect in your home. Now with quality vinyl not that 70s shit US pressing. Many records were pressed and sold to market well past the stampers 5k limit.

Metal tapes sound as good as cd, it depends on your equipment.

60's? In the 1960s we were just acquiring stereo sound. The term "Digital-ready"promises of optical-discs carrying "perfect" audio were told to us and equipment didn't reach the consumer masses until the 1980s. I got my first CD player in 1984 for $400 when nobody else I knew had one, and there were maybe 20-30 CDs or so available in the Tower Records store catalog. I came home with a new player and 2 CDs (Dark Side of the Moon and Paradise Theater), ready to be blown away. I hooked it up to my AX-4 and a pair of Cerwin Vega 12" 3-way loudspeakers, fired it up........ and was SO disappointed by how harsh and tinny the sound was. By then I had heard both albums dozens of times in LP version and knew what to expect. That was a letdown, and IMO the beginning of the degrading of quality audio in stereo systems. With Rap, Britney Spears and the like to listen to today, who cares about quality reproduction anymore? Beside me that is. ;-) Let the music play!

Rush. Moving pictures album.

@@rl7487 It was actually the self titled first album RUSH. The one with Working Man on it. But of course Moving Pictures was greatness as well. Many high school memories of that one.

Yeah especially if you have a 50 series Pioneer with those large VU-meters

and those bouncing analog meters, then the horizontal fluorescent light bars with peak indicators.

It’d be nice if they could manufacture cassette mechanisms that are better than the bottom-of-the-barrel pieces that you find in all modern devices. I don’t see it happening though.

@@RobCamp-rmc_0 You have to get older cassette decks from the early 1980's or before. Check around: you can still find belts for many of them. In fact, check around for the right belts, then buy the used cassette deck!

@@RobCamp-rmc_0 I know there will never be cassette deck factories built again, but with today's CNC and 3D printing technologies it has to be possible to put a quality transport back into production.

@@thomaskendall452 earlier this year I got an AKAI deck from the late ‘70s/early ‘80s; it needs some hopefully minor refurbishing to get it into top shape, but it works pretty decently now as is. There’s no way I’d have bothered getting a modern piece of equipment these days.

@@RobCamp-rmc_0 Hee hee, Rob! Excepting really expensive professional studio gear, you can't buy a new reel-to-reel deck. But much of the vintage gear was well designed and built and, like vintage turntables, capable of being repaired. (Moving parts = eventual failure.) Plus you can still get parts, both new-old stock and newly made.

That's a really nice system. I bet it sounds great! ✌️

Iddi

I was always more than happy with my Dual.

@@amb3cog That Thorens is a real GEM. The tonearm, when properly setup, floats like a butterfly. Heavy and balanced platter. They live forever. Klipsch Heresy speakers were very efficient and even 10 watts R.M.S. would drive them nicely. In 1976 that was a top system. Today it still holds it's ground firmly.

@@charlesmcgehee3227: "Holds IT IS ground"? Huhh, what?

Could not have said it any better then that you are 100% right. My hat is off to you..

Hear! Here!!! Right on the money. Back then they under estimated the power handling so you would be more impressed. It was really around 45 watts per channel. It need a an EQ to get the full measure of sound out of them.

15 watts is fine to be honest, I can't turn the knob on my 2x120W amp further than half cause thats already waay too loud.

@NickoLps Do tubes make a difference in decibels? I thought RMS was RMS

@NickoLps I get what you mean but I don't see how that's even possible

@@gideonkloosterman in my opinion tube watts is louder than transistor watts. I had an Admiral record player that had a small push pull amplifier it used 2 6aq5 tubes and one 12ax7 tube. It also had a 5y3 rectifier and a real power transformer, not these cheap wired in series setup. If you turned up the amp you were blasted out of the room with sound from the 8 inch woofer that was in the record player cabinet.

All this kind of vintage audio equipment up to let's say1995 can be repaired indefinitely by simply replacing dryed out electrolytic capacitors, broken resistors or even faulty transistors if necessary. And yes 15-40 real Watts per channel is fine if you don't live in a church.

I still have my Sansui Quad receiver with my Bose 901's along with501's rocking my house.......all purchased through the Navy PX while we were coming back from Nam in 73' USS Saratoga

@@robbusheay4258 yes now i remember i had also the Sansui Quad receiver but never got the Bose 901 but I do know they were great I had a friend that had them and loved em ... I miss all the stereos I had from those times in Vietnam and Thailand now I live in the Philippines for almost 30 years and love it and still visit Thailand sometimes at least before this virus started. Its nice to hear about Sansui and the Bose 901s, damn I wish i had them here now i just listen to KZfaq hahahahaha

You were a rich 8th grader!!

@@bozep7712 i had a job lol. lots of paperboy money added to graduation money.

Mat Richardson what you said!

I run old pioneer stuff, I run an old Pl51 record deck I don't think I have seen a pl71, it's obviously classy as that's what pioneer do.

Totally agree, my old HK Citation 19 with the 17 preamp is hard to beat. I use the setup to drive my JBL 4315 speakers. 😏 My son sold his high end amps and I had to get him same as my own. So much better sound voices, bass, treble sounds more natural. -60,-70 to mid -80, 25 years of pure sound evolution. After that fancy names and high prices for ....... design.

@@gx1400sc Im 65', the older equipment from back then is absolutely wonderful to look at remember and to even listen to.

That depends on your budget I imagine...

I agree Billy, an excellent time for audio late 70s, early 80s! The era of excellence...

Times change, audiences change, lifestyles change. Staying home on a friday night dusting your equipment is not for everybody. As a kid in the 70s, i was enamored by the rise of FM radio and emergence of "classic" rock: Eagles, Petty, Fleetwood mac. And vintage audio played a major role. However, the convenience of bluetooth and the fun factor of Spotify/Utube can not be denied. Its more of a visual world we live in today, and 70s home AV experience pales in comparison.

No such thing as Magna Planar electrostatic speakers. They are planar and ribbon design.

Totally right on al points . Too bad that is how things are these days, I still like my music to sound warm and full, loud enough to put me to sleep and have separation so I can hear the musician's individual story. That is of course when I'm listening to music but most of the time I am tuned into some educational DIY podcast or something. Thanks to Alexa I can switch back and forth fairly easily.

I have a Tascam 112 tape deck that recieved damage during shipping process causing bent front frame, yet it works like a clock.

Have fun!

My NAD Model 140 is humming very loud... :( It was great while it lasted though.

@World Viral Daily I have left mine running for months on end to no ill effect! BTW, since upgrading to the LED kit, the unit is probably 50% cooler. Seriously, the incandescents generated most of the heat.

And when the old stuff breaks, it can be repaired, and frequently by the owner if he/she masters some knowledge and skills and makes a modest investment in inexpensive tools and test equipment.

The reason I left it running was that all the dial, power and stereo lamps were burnt out, couldn't tell from a distance if it was on or off. Thats all fixed now :)

Remember you all! If you throw everything away. You teach our children that everything we make is trash? And everything is not worth having or keeping! I still have the stereo I bought in 1978. It took me 2 years of working 2 jobs to buy it. I will own it when they plant me in the ground! Not because it took me so long to pay it off. But because I still love it! I have heard some great sounding new stuff! PS audio in Denver has amazing stuff!!! But I could have my house torn down and rebuilt for the cost of replacing my system!! My Grandson is awestruck by my system. So Job done!

That's the crap they tried to sell us with digital

Yes--It's nauseating to see what some knuckleheads will throw away.

Oh so true. My 30 watt pioneer probably pushes out more power than that because it has always sounded louder than my 60 watt NAD from the mid 90's. 41 years I got out of that pioneer until 2mos ago the left channel died....will get a diagnosis soon, but yeah, that's been a quality receiver thru more years than I could have ever imagined for my $189.

@@FelixtheMetalcat maybe a 15 cent part blew up, i still use my 74 es-2000 system from pioneer(i send it to a friend to restore it and works as new but i have to say i never stoped using the turntable a pl-es(looks like the pl-15 but as some better features like no anti-tracking but works as it did) wich sounded very good with a ES SONY AMPLIFIER AND A PAIR OF OLD TANOY SPEAKERS(SORRY I PRESSED WITHOUT NOTICING the caps lock key, only worked the second time i pressed it) ,he charge me 20€ ,the cost of the parts he said, regards

@@RUfromthe40s you may well be correct. I have a guy who will look at it and giveme a proper diagnosis without robbing me.

I don't think that serviceability in older gear was intentional. Manufacturers built products with what was available at the time.

I want a Dynaco amp and preamp! Years ago, my first boss in the audio repair biz had a Dynaco 120 and a PAT-4 preamp i think. And this guy called Mc Intosh McIntrash! LOL!

You can probably buy one on eBay for the price of a newspaper nowadays.

Mine has an MC cartridge and no amps required for it. It was made in 1978. Look up pioneer pl 50 L ll. Sweetest looking table I ever saw.

Thank you so much for the kinds words and support. Larry! We hope to see you on the next video!

Someday.......Someday......

cbocker We tested this theory before ultimately buying from one of the local record stores. At least for our area, this route proved fruitless.

@@KristiWright You need to scout out resale shops in affluent areas - many times you will come home with nothing, but every so often you'll find some real high quality gear.

This used to be soooo true, but in the last few years all of the thrifts figured out that they can turn anything with a silver face over for a lot more money on the auction site and the well is pretty dry right now. Even if you do find one it is usually pretty beat.

Yes vintage hifi looks great , I'm not an hifi audiophile so can't really comment on the technical side of things but modern hifi units faceless

Hi Neil, I did the same, What speakers are you driving with it?

@@markwarne893 hey Mark. At the moment I'm using my old Bowers and Wilkins DM602 series 1's (the ones with the kevlar cones). I've also got an Arcam Alpha 7 CD player together with a AudioTechnica turntable connected to the amp.

@@markwarne893 which speakers are you driving?

@@NeilCooper72 A pair of KEF Concertos

I still have my KL999SX Speakers and my SX1250 had the receiver recapped a year ago with better new High end stuff and it Just hammers away better then new! Going to have my speakers recapped this summer!

My wifi connected player keeps disconnecting and it makes me want to commit murder..

I bought a brennan b2 (to sell on as good price) wi Fi, hard drive and Bluetooth. Whilst testing out I found it far too much hassle and button pressing. Vintage turntable and receiver for me

Even if you want some modern conveniences just plug in a chromecast or a wiim or whatever streamer. Control the volume with your phone.

I agree! Nothing beats old school! 😊

Yes, those Advents were great--There was also the 350 which was bigger and had more power. Regarding parts, ANY ordinary components anyone might need can be had from Newark .

@@timchinneck1566 It is only recently that I became aware of just how many Advent 300's were made - I bought one of the first (silver faced) in 1977 (serial number 17000 or something) and there was one on eBay the other day with a serial number 38943 and actually had a "date" sticker; September 1981. I believe that was about the end. But the unit remained unchanged all those years and any "subtle" changes to the circuitry was reflected in the schematic that was attached to the bottom of the unit. There were two "players" in "repair" field but believe one has bowed out so that leaves David R. Eaton - very good but not cheap. What's surprising is that they are still repairable - parts are still available for everything except the FM Section and those are getting hard to find. I have read that the 350 is very difficult to work on so just settle for the modest 300.

One chip audio systems. Compressed audio. I'd rather saw copper tubing with a jagged hacksaw.

The gear in the seventies was very expensive,nowadays it is more affordable and there are gems to be had for a small price,200 dollars in the seventies is 800 dollars in todays money..

They had garbage back then too. And you can find absolute gems now. Ibought an Onkyo A9010 brand new for 250€ a couple of years ago, and it's absolutely fantastic

Me too I have one Pioneer sx-750, very sturdy and excellent sound.

They used RMS watts and then peak watts. RMS is what you need to look for because without getting complicated it will be louder and more powerful than say another stereo rated at 15 peak watts. 15 watts RMS is loud enough for most listening situations and will be plenty of power when matched to speakers of the proper RMS rating for the amp. I had the Pioneer SX-750 rated at 50 watts RMS per channel and honestly it was very loud at around 11 o’clock position on the volume knob. Sounded great!

Same all my stuff is brushed metal ;D

@@hifi.david. I love it too, a friend of mine actually hates how there's too many buttons and it makes it feel over crowded.