Vintage Hi-Fi gear. Who's into it?

[CaptainQualude]

What do you guys think of this?

http://greenbay.craigslist.org/ele/2383673468.html

No idea about that one, but if you haven't already, you might want to join & ask here.

http://audiokarma.org/

Straight to the forums.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php

[synthsis]

ok, Vintage Hi-Fi peeps, I have a moral dilemma.

I bought this old Packard Bell (yes, THAT PB) and Garrard console record player/radio for not a ton of money. I'd say cosmetically it's a B/B+, the FM radio does not work. I want to rework the unit a little bit and hide an LCD tv inside of the lid and add an ipod dock, kinda bring it to the 21st century. Am I blaspheming a good piece of vintage gear or am I onto something here? I know a lot of people don't listen to the radio anymore, so I'm not overly concerned about that, but the record player is a nice feature to have.

here's a pic I snagged from the webz:


Also, there's a store who has the same one I bought and they are asking $465 for it. Doesn't mean they'll get it, but am I potentially ruining a good unit? Or could I get a lot more if I have a snazzy TV and Ipod dock tucked inside if I sell it?

discuss.

[patrikman]

Do it. I will buy you several beers of your choice for industrious awesomeness.

[vanaman]

do it.

those old consoles have a cool look but the majority of them have mediocre guts.

[freedomgli]

I was just having a similar conversation the other day with a guy on another forum. I say do it.

i'm not an audiofile, but i have had a project in mind for years. my parents had a stereo cabinet when i was really young. it had a turntable, reel-to-reel, receiver and 8 track player in it. i loved the machined dials and knobs in it. more importantly, the cabinet was mid-century styled.

i am a designer by trade with most of my career spent in the furniture industry. i would LOVE to find and convert a mid-century cabinet for modern media. i have selectively chosen particular furniture items over the years in this style. they are design classics.

anyways, these cabinets were all integrated into a console or buffet furniture piece. sooooo ****ing classy!


speaker shutters (above), awesome for a sub enclosure.






you get the idea. ideally, i'd love to mount the flat panel above it on the wall. It's wierd to me to see thousands of dollars spent on gear sitting on a $100 RTA stand or cabinet.

on the tubes subject, hindsight is 20/20, but i wish i had saved my father's tube collection and devices when he passed. he was an electrical engineer and made his own amps and such. he had boxes of packaged tubes we sold in a garage sale after he died.

[CaptainQualude]

Also, there's a store who has the same one I bought and they are asking $465 for it. Doesn't mean they'll get it, but am I potentially ruining a good unit? Or could I get a lot more if I have a snazzy TV and Ipod dock tucked inside if I sell it?

It has value to a collector in it's original state. What that value is I have no idea, but if it's proves to be worthless you can't harm its value by modifying it.

[synthsis]

that's very similar to what I want to do, only self contained with the TV inside. I'm MASSIVELY into Mid-Century/Danish Modern furniture and I didn't want to see this console just go to waste, so I snagged it up knowing I'd do something good with it.

[ATL_Av8r]

ok, Vintage Hi-Fi peeps, I have a moral dilemma.

I bought this old Packard Bell (yes, THAT PB) and Garrard console record player/radio for not a ton of money. I'd say cosmetically it's a B/B+, the FM radio does not work. I want to rework the unit a little bit and hide an LCD tv inside of the lid and add an ipod dock, kinda bring it to the 21st century. Am I blaspheming a good piece of vintage gear or am I onto something here? I know a lot of people don't listen to the radio anymore, so I'm not overly concerned about that, but the record player is a nice feature to have.

here's a pic I snagged from the webz:


Also, there's a store who has the same one I bought and they are asking $465 for it. Doesn't mean they'll get it, but am I potentially ruining a good unit? Or could I get a lot more if I have a snazzy TV and Ipod dock tucked inside if I sell it?

discuss.

I wish I had the foresight to stash away my grandmother's for when I had the time/funds to rehab it. I think my dad sold it for a song.

[freedomgli]

I just shipped out my NAD 2200 amp for repair/upgrade. I'm hoping that when I get it back in a few weeks it'll provide me with another 25 years of dutiful service.

[vanaman]

bought a thorens td145 for my dad yesterday. looks like it should be a nice table.
it even came with an ortofon cartridge.

steve

[drhavoc]

[CaptainQualude]

Interesting look. Do you have any better pictures? The shadows are killing the details.

[CaptainQualude]

I'm rethinking building a set of vintage replica speakers with 15-18" woofers. They would be huge, so I may just try to find a powered subwoofer that I can hook up via line input to the Marantz, & then run the large book shelf speakers off the internal crossover. It's going out in the garage, so it doesn't have to be in perfect condition.

[patrikman]

damn me and my empty pockets.


http://madison.craigslist.org/ele/2430451596.html


http://madison.craigslist.org/ele/2418150881.html


http://madison.craigslist.org/ele/2418133162.html

I think I would be quite happy to have this vintage setup.

[CaptainQualude]

I found & purchased the PSB subwoofer that matches the PSB Century speakers I'm using in the garage. I was surprised to find the exact match. It should be an interesting mix of a large 2-way bookshelf with an 8" mid-bass & the 12" subwoofer.

[ATL_Av8r]

I know it's not the best or most powerful out there, but I couldn't get past the nostalgia of the one my dad owned when I was a kid. I found a nice Pioneer QX-949 in great shape except for the Mode switch is broken and the AM antenna bracket is broken (common). I know my way around a soldering iron, so I can replace that myself. I'm going to investigate replacing caps and other bits eventually, but really just need some sound in the garage. I'm on the road for work this week, but I'll get some pics of it when I get home.

[CaptainQualude]

I know it's not the best or most powerful out there, but I couldn't get past the nostalgia of the one my dad owned when I was a kid. I found a nice Pioneer QX-949 in great shape except for the Mode switch is broken and the AM antenna bracket is broken (common). I know my way around a soldering iron, so I can replace that myself. I'm going to investigate replacing caps and other bits eventually, but really just need some sound in the garage. I'm on the road for work this week, but I'll get some pics of it when I get home.

That's okay. Everyone in this thread has a reason for picking up the equipment they own. The Marantz gear I own isn't the most powerful either. The other option is to drop a big sum on a "monster receiver" from that era, hope it works, then spend more coin to have it recapped when it sh*ts the bed. I'd rather have something that I can just turn on & enjoy without having to worry about it when it eventually breaks.

[ATL_Av8r]

I know it's not the best or most powerful out there, but I couldn't get past the nostalgia of the one my dad owned when I was a kid. I found a nice Pioneer QX-949 in great shape except for the Mode switch is broken and the AM antenna bracket is broken (common). I know my way around a soldering iron, so I can replace that myself. I'm going to investigate replacing caps and other bits eventually, but really just need some sound in the garage. I'm on the road for work this week, but I'll get some pics of it when I get home.

So I finally got around to hooking it up to some crappy speakers I had lying around. Works great in 2-channel, which was all I was going to use it for anyway, since I can't seem to find many CD-4 encoded LPs lying around As you can see, the function knob was broken and replaced with an imposter, which also broke off, so I'm stuck listening to FM for now until I can locate the correct parts. Other than that, the AM loop antenna bracket is broken and there's 2 stains on top of the wood cabinet, which I want to re-finish anyway. Can't wait to get some decent speakers to throw at it.

[CaptainQualude]

As you can see, the function knob was broken and replaced with an imposter, which also broke off, so I'm stuck listening to FM for now until I can locate the correct parts.

Check here. This place sells everything at a premium, so the parts may still be available.

http://www.oaktreeent.com/Pioneer_St...vage_Units.htm

[ATL_Av8r]

Check here. This place sells everything at a premium, so the parts may still be available.

http://www.oaktreeent.com/Pioneer_St...vage_Units.htm

Thanks!

I had found that site a couple months back but lost the link. I'm sure Google would have eventually found it, but you made quicker work of that

[CaptainQualude]

Thanks!

I had found that site a couple months back but lost the link. I'm sure Google would have eventually found it, but you made quicker work of that

You're welcome. You can keep checking eBay, but sometimes with old stuff you just got to pay.

[VR6ix]

teaser

I found a Planar sr 2080 a couple weeks ago.

Your Googles will turn-up the same stuff I found.

Need to find a free weekend day, a can of air spray, a can of contact cleaner, and give both receivers a good look-see, will keep y'all posted in a while. (don't mention the bulb out lol)

notice anything familiar with that Stereophonic Receiver script

[CaptainQualude]

teaser
Need to find a free weekend day, a can of air spray, a can of contact cleaner, and give both receivers a good look-see, will keep y'all posted in a while. (don't mention the bulb out lol)

Bulbs are available if you're handy with soldering. You can buy vellum paper at any office supply store,if you want to replace the yellowed background with white. The light coming out of the face will look color correct at that point. I did it to my 2235B, but still need to replace the stereo indicator bulb.

[CaptainQualude]

I just bought a couple of EQ's to play around with. One ADC & one BSR, both with RTA displays & pink noise generators. The BSR comes with the elusive measurement microphone for the pink noise generator.

[Numbersix]

I scored a pair of B&O speakers off the side of the road a couple of months ago. Finally got around to getting DIN-->regular speaker connectors and hey, they both work perfectly. Now to find stands...

[RENOG]

A good family friend of mine has since moved on from his vintage McIntosh love affair and went completely digital now. As a result his analog equipment has been in storage. I asked him about it and he's giving me.....

This:

MCD7000





and this:

Mac 1900



All in perfect, recently serviced order....
I have just been inducted into the vintage Mac world.
However I would like to do some really nice modern (90's) monitor/Bookshelf size speakers on stands, any recommendations? ADS/NHT/B&W/Paradigm etc....

[CaptainQualude]

All in perfect, recently serviced order....
I have just been inducted into the vintage Mac world.
However I would like to do some really nice modern (90's) monitor/Bookshelf size speakers on stands, any recommendations? ADS/NHT/B&W/Paradigm etc....

PSB Stratus Mini Monitors or Paradigm Reference Studio 20 v2.0 Monitors. The PSB's are more laid back sounding, the Studio 20's are more forward sounding.

The PSB Platinum M2's are supposed to be very good, but I haven't heard them yet. All of these speakers are from the mid '90's to maybe 2000-2001.

[RENOG]

PSB Stratus Mini Monitors or Paradigm Reference Studio 20 v2.0 Monitors. The PSB's are more laid back sounding, the Studio 20's are more forward sounding.

The PSB Platinum M2's are supposed to be very good, but I haven't heard them yet. All of these speakers are from the mid '90's to maybe 2000-2001.

Thanks
I will most surely look those up. For some strange reason I love mid 90's-2000 bookself speakers.

[CaptainQualude]

Thanks
I will most surely look those up. For some strange reason I love mid 90's-2000 bookself speakers.

You're welcome. There are plenty of reviews about them online, at least the first two. What kind of budget do you have?

[RENOG]

You're welcome. There are plenty of reviews about them online, at least the first two. What kind of budget do you have?

I have about $500-575 earmarked for a set of new or used. I like to hit up the consignment sections of hifi stores. I have plenty in my area as I'm in the SF bay area.

[vanaman]

ive been impressed by several sets of B&W ive heard.

[CaptainQualude]

I have about $500-575 earmarked for a set of new or used. I like to hit up the consignment sections of hifi stores. I have plenty in my area as I'm in the SF bay area.

You can find a mint set of either for $400 shipped, but if you can find them locally that would be even better.

ive been impressed by several sets of B&W ive heard.

I briefly looked in to them, but used prices on them are high. It was a choice of either a TOTL PSB or Paradigm monitor, or a 3rd or 4th from the TOTL B&W monitor, spending the same amount of money. It wasn't really a choice at that point. Canadian speakers are really under-rated. Mirage speakers from the '80's & '90"s are also a good choice (M-xxx series), before their philosophy changed to tiny speakers for HT use. Pinnacle is another good choice from that era (PN series), & an American company. You can buy the Mirage or Pinnacle for 1/3-1/2 of what the PSB or Paradigm will cost. The Mirage is a more smooth sounding speaker, like the PSB. The Pinnacle is more forward sounding.

[Marshmallow Man]

Nice Thread!

Anyone ever have any experience with something like these:



Their Zenith Circle of sound speakers, just curious if they're any good and how the sound is?

[CaptainQualude]

Is that a full range driver? It's probably just a novelty speaker at this point.

[Marshmallow Man]

Is that a full range driver? It's probably just a novelty speaker at this point.

Good point, didn't think about that.