Keep up the great videos nice to see the average "Joe" can relate to the content. I have experienced something similiar with collecting vintage equipment. Upstairs over time I put together for me a higher quality setup with high end cables amd separates. Downstairs in front of the elliptical machine is an old marantz receiver I recapped and a set of JVC Zero 3 speakers. Streaming into the receiver with a low end Arylic streaming/preamp. Cheapest wires and cables you can get. The sound quite simply is incredible. Great sound stage detailed but warm and you can listen to it for hours. It shouldn't sound so good but it does. Currently looking for a Harmon Kardon 730 or 930 twin powered but I am anxious to listen to a HK450 now.

I found your channel the other week and, suitably inspire, I fixed my very old Sony STR 7025 (new plug, flex and fuse plus a quick clean of the pots). It sounds bloody great. Thank you. Subscribed!😊❤

It looks like the Harman Kardon HK670 that i own and probably is from the same era. That is a great sounding reciever,

It's not about having the best of everything, it's making the best of everything you have. An old quote, but accurate, especially for you right now. Great looking amp too.

Those old vintage receivers are self-healing.😂 Hi mate. Good to see and hear you again.

🤗 THANKS KELVIN,FOR SHARING YOUR AUDIOPHILE JOURNEY 💚💚💚

Synergy is everything

The HK 730 and 930 are probably my 2 favorite receivers of all time, even over the big power models of pioneer and kenwood etc, an hk 730 paired with snell type e speakers has an amazing synergy, for me anyway.

In your pursuit of perfect sound I am surprised that you haven't drove yourself bloody mad by now!

Kelvin my old dad had a pair of bc1s for yonks mainly powered by a sugden a 48 and loved that combination. You speak so much sense a lot of hifi reviews and reviewers get lost up their own arse but you tell it just as it is. Thankyou for that.

Let us know how you get on when your friend John pops round Kelvin !

I love the vintage HK stuff, owned a PM665 and HK6850r, great amps with loads of power. Lost them in a house fire... now i am owning vintage luxman receivers like R1500 and R1050, great sounding. Enjoy them much more than the modern marantz system I had. Sure new stuff have better specs but does not always makes you enjoy the music more. Thanks for your great videos❤

Sunday night is Kelvin night love it .

When I lived in the UK from the late 70s through the mid 80s, all of the Haymarket hifi press had selective blindness to anything not made in the UK...with the exception of cartridges and tape decks. The Japanese gear that we now know was superb (Sony, Pioneer ,Luxman) was treated with derision and thought to be of low breeding. One time I stopped into my local hifi store and spent an hour or two comparing 4 amps...Meridian 101/103, Naim 42/110, Quad 44/405 and a huge Sansui integrated ( I'm pretty sure it was the AU-X1). We all expected the Sansui to come a distant 4th place, but it was only bettered by the Naim combo. We of course only compared the phono stages since this was before CDs.

Gave me a buzz when you chose the BC1 as your best speaker. I love them, and I've owned and restored many pairs. They work great with a sub too.

I have the same receiver. Sounds really good with advent speakers and Pickering 380.

Great video Kelvin.

I'm listening to Pixies Doolittle thru my Marantz 2245,NAD 558 (Grado Red) ADS L620's. Sounds lush.

I have an hk505 which is an integrated from that product line. It might be my favorite vintage amp. Glad your hk450 confirms my experience. It was advertised as a low feedback design and I believe the "twin power" transformer functions like two separate transformers Totally agree that mixing and matching in the room is the route to the best sound. My most expensive amp is hooked up to Klipsch bookshelfs I got for $200

I firmly believe this. If vintage amplification didn’t sound real good people would not be buying it.

Must say I like your review style. It's completely opposite to the British Audiophile channel, another great channel to watch.

Interesting post mate. You are to hi-fi what Keith Floyd was to cooking. Keep up the good work!

The 1970s blue line pioneer series was the ones to look to. Had the SA-6800. What a great sounding amp and personally I’d have the 7800,8800 or 9800.

NAD 7020 receiver / Bryston step up / Rega p6 / Hana EL MC / Rogers LS7’s / Kimber cable ! Didn’t expect such a great synergy; just proves you don’t have to spend a lot to get amazing sound!

Well, Kevin, you,like a few people in this hobby who have loads of gear at home can set up tehit system like we want,

I tried a linn LP12 and Cornwall horn speakers with a valve amp then £9000 worth of naim stuff , then I tried a rega Apollo R and it was the best crazy

Last year I bought a Yamaha as1200 amp. It sounds superb. However I run a 1979 nad 3020 and Phillips 630 cd player . The nad just has that fat warm sound. As long as you don't play at silly volumes the Nad really special

Ĺoved the video you did on the Thorens TD150 MK2. Had one years ago and no turntable I've had since has come close.

Douglas, that is my sentiment as. Well...kudos to our friend Kelvin, he 's our Bro, . Its always been about our perception , of the vibration of sound..if it moves your soul, as it should, to a moment of joy. Who the hell can deride that..let the music play ..Boys and Girls..❤

I also use spendor bc1 s and valve amps and spent loads on modern gear that was returned or sold it was only when I went to a new friends house who had vintage speakers that I realised what a pile of crap most modern speakers are unless you spend a lot great video

Try as much stuff as possible is great advice. It's getting more expensive and it's a bit of a grind, but, at a certain point, either you're into it or not. I've been in and out over the years. A few years ago i decided to see what was new and realized the industry was going wild. I started watching reviews and got overwhelmed. Then i decided to enjoy the reviews and build systems in my head for a bit. That was free. Now i have new speakers and I'm zeroing in on a new DAC. P.S. The new speakers sound great with my vintage amps.

I really like these comparisons of the new and the old, but what about the ‘Class-D’ amplifiers from China that most of the other hi-fi reviewers are saying give you audiophile quality for around £150 quid. Love to know what you think of those. The Fosi Audio V3 would be a good starting point, but that has already been upgraded and there are mono blocks as well that get excellent reviews. Fosi Audio v Naim - that would be fun.

Harman Citation Receiver is one of the best receiver build

Very pleasant review !

Nice looking amplifier

I have a citation 7.1 and 2 HK pa2400 signature series. Both are fantastic The ancient pa 2400 sounds as good as my parasound 2250 v2.

Whats the sonic difference between a good equal powered 1970s amplifier and one of today? Nothing that any human being with their eyes shut can detect. Amplifier sound quality is virtually 100% placebo. Besides, some of those luxurious vintage amps would cost £1000s if they were built now.

Seriously like the reviews but the problem with small LS35 Spendors is you need call Shirley Bassey and ask for some Big Spendors.

I purchased an HK 730 at a pawn shop in the early 2000’s for $80. I gutted everything except the amp section which just sits open on the frame. I upgraded the filter caps and some in the signal path, and also did some rewiring. Visually destroyed, but audibly awesome.

Synergy again Kelvin. So important.

Kelvin, just to prove your point I'm listening through a Cambridge Audio A1 V1 at low to medium volume level through a pair of Celestion Ditton 250s, which seem to sound better at low volume than my SL6s. By comparison a Cambridge Audio 640A sounded really flat and thin, whether I paired it with DL4s, Celestion 3s or SL6s.

The best thing about it is that it doesn't contain a class D amp module that will be obsolete in 2 year's time and unrepairable in 5 years so the whole thing has to be junked when it breaks.

The Spendor BC1, "isn’t giving mid range”. Well, this speaker was renown for being all about mid range, something’s wrong somewhere.

Thanks Kelvin. What's your personal favourite amp with the Ls3/5a? Oddly, most seem to prefer tube amps on forums, I like SS myself.

Hi, I want to ask about the onkyo tx 2500, I have tested it with many speakers and find it to be an excellent playing machine, I am currently listening to it with a tannoy sgm 10b what is your opinion on it. Thanks for the great videos! Borislav from Bulgaria!

Hi Kelvin after about 10 years down the Hifi rabbit hole I've now got a system that pleases me every time I put a LP on, it consists of Rega P2 turntable Linn Intek amp & Klipsch R51m speakers all bought second hand. Only thing I'm going to upgrade now is a better cartridge.

vintage gear is so underrated... 99.99% of audiofools wont notice the diference between new and old on a blind test!

I own to H.K Turntables . I'm curenty using the Belt driven one, in terms of build quality an sound there very difficult to beat cause they spec so dam well!..unfortunetly there mid eighties amps are known for reliability issues the channelll Crissc-rossing between each channel I've owned A lot of h k amps an know what I'm saying,! The receivers they made wiith the Green knob suposely ,Doesn't do this.

So you didn't try the Linn LK85?

The most interesting in this review is for me you selecting the BC1 as the favourite speaker in your collection. Is there a speaker you know, that you like better? You once reviewed the big Kef 105’s, are the BC1’s superior?

I'm suprised you didn't test one of your old faithful Sansui's in this test. 😉

Not an audiophile at all, but I love old tech and adore a wide variety of music. I was wondering, surely the different types of music would bring different result for any system combo you can out together? Surely what is great for say, Classical Mozart, will fall on its arse for Heavy Metal and punk?! Am I wrong? Is it possible to put a system together that CAN deal with ALL music??

This vintage of HK sounds rather good. Very liquid and effortless sound akin to the NAD 3020. I had an HK 670 which sounded just wonderful. However parts quality like rotary controls, switches and trim pots is poor and will require cleaning or replacing if not already done. As a wide bandwidth design beware of corroding DC offset trim pots on the main circuit board as that will shoot high levels of DC straight into your valuable loudspeakers while unit is on. If you see your woofers shoot forward and stay like that whne the unit is switched on you know the DC offset trim pots are bad. Also the output devices on the 450 are proprietary and there appears to be no direct replacements other than improper "substitutes" which will render the unit sounding hard as nails. I know as this happened to an HK 450 I had repaired. If the output devices should blow the only place for the 450 is the trash heap unless you don't mind the god awful abrasive sound of replacements.

If you can’t afford the high end the budget stuff is a lot of fun and easy to move on if you don’t like it. I agree 🎉about the middle ground.

What're your thoughts about Akai 2800 pre-amp? any speaker suggestions?

I bet that system you setup sounded good once you got it dialled in kelvin

What size room do you recommend for the Spendor Speakers? Thanks

What's with this HarmOn used by almost everybody ? I'm pretty sure is written HarmAn , over there .

Yes to Synergy, the old 70’s Harmon Kardon gear is very good, and old Luxman. The citation 11 and 12 pre-and power amp is a real sweet spot if recapped , fantastic Phone stage. The DENON 103 is also a sweet spot, but is a low output MC so you need a step up transformer . You are also correct about mid fi vs. Real high end, companies like Conrad Johnson, VTL and Pass labs take it to another level. I know there are many other companies too That make great gear. Finding the right synergy it’s not easy.

Totally agree with you!

2:18. I'M Your Guy. HERE. The Stereo Nut IN Idaho. Here's What I DO I Provide A Cone For Every Sound Possible And Each Side Channel I Have I cone 20hz to 60 hz 1 cone 60hz to 500 1 cone 200 to 6k 1 cone 4k to 10k 1 cone 9k to 15k 1 cone 12k to 20k And it's absolutely magical. I wished I could fly out to you and show you how you cam do that. You hook up your biggest bassiest floor standers and the Roger's sitting on top of each floor stander And run your two best machine amp one will have a tape out and you run that to the second amp. AND I ABSOLUTELY ASSURE You It WILL SOUND MAGICAL BECAUSE your taking the best if two sets and combining them. YOU MUST TRY IT HOOK Up Your Favorite Preamp And It WILL have Two Outputs TO Hook Up Two amps. Thiers MAIN OUT And Tape Out OR Two Tape Outs OR What Ever That's Why They Make MAIN IN And Ore Out SO You Can Join Two AMPS AT THE Same Time

It is a terrible and expensive mistake to get all googly eyed over expensive and over built equipment. The difference between a $100.00 class D amplifier and the $10,000.00 class A amplifier is almost trivial and a lot of the reported differences can be traced back to preconceived notions, biases and psychoacoustics. They rarely show up on the test bench, where there's a chance to examine them. I know, it's about sound, not signals ... but ultimately those signals drive the sound you hear. The test equipment we use to examine signals is deliberately made to be far more sensitive and accurate than even the best human ear will ever be. I can, for example, measure distortion at levels nobody is ever going to hear. Yes, the room, speakers and sitting position all play a part in this. Even tiny adjustments can bring about huge changes in sound. BUT if you are not careful to eliminate or at least understand those variables when testing setups, the odds are that today's wonderful sound is not going to last into tomorrow. Those with good listening skills will tell you that moving your head even an inch or two can totally change the sound... so relying upon listening tests is pretty much a fools game. Best Bet ... get your setup to the point where it's not unpleasant, then just sit back and enjoy the music. There's no "audio nirvana" and spending wheelbarrows of money to get it is simply dumb. You might just as well flush that money down the toilet. The truth is that no system is ever any better than the recordings we feed it. It makes a lot more sense to criticize your CDs and Albums than to keep changing your stereo trying to get a bad recording to sound good. The entire goal of "High Fidelity" is accuracy. Hearing flaws and imbalances in your recordings is actually proof your system is working as intended.

Sugden Sugden Sugden. The IA4 just has to be one of the quirkiest amps and also one of the best and it’s been around for years. Not till I bought one did I realise that Class A is winter nirvana. Superb sound and keeps you toasty warm.

Kelvin do you think Spendor is way better than B&W DM4 or are just nuances?

Those turntables are so kitschy... And those, claiming they gained something with such design are pure Hi Fi liars. Looks ridiculous too. John has a problem.

I never met an h/k amplifier I didn’t love, much like H.H. Scott. So many less known receivers made in the states are overlooked - the aforementioned, Fisher and Sherwood as well, along with Marantz. There is some magic in these components, as if they knew something that others didn’t. Sure, the Japanese stuff was built to a slightly higher standard cosmetically, but it just didn’t sound as good.

STOP WRITING HARMON ! THIS IS HARMAN !!

If you like vinilish cd player try and find out an électrocompaniet EMC1 MK1. Nothing like that. I use celestion ditton 66 speakers ❤❤

If you buy cheaper mass-produced stuff, you have to take account of the manufacturer's sound signature, so yes you can level things up.