Vintage Audio Equipment

[popeyespappy]

Any vintage audio equipment fans around here? I just acquired a Pioneer RT-909 10" reel to reel and a Nakamichi DR-1 cassette deck from work after a project we used them for was completed. Now I'm in the market for an amplifier with a pair of tape inputs/outputs. I'd like to find a decent recapped Marantz, but a Pioneer would work.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Not really an audiophile, but I’ve got - or rather, the wife has - a 1940s vintage Crosley radio around here somewhere. Pretty sure it works.

Boru

[popeyespappy]

Not really an audiophile, but I’ve got - or rather, the wife has - a 1940s vintage Crosley radio around here somewhere. Pretty sure it works.

Boru

Crosley is still making radios, record players, juke boxes, and rotary phones.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Not really an audiophile, but I’ve got - or rather, the wife has - a 1940s vintage Crosley radio around here somewhere. Pretty sure it works.

Boru

Crosley is still making radios, record players, juke boxes, and rotary phones.

So I gather, but the wife got this one from her gran, who got it just after WWII.

Boru

[HappySkeptic]

I'm not into vintage gear, but it would be fun to try out the Nak DR1. I used to love a friend's Nakamichi Dragon.

Marantz had some great stuff.

I'm trying to set up my "final system" right now, but it will take a while. It seems it is easy to spend upwards of $100,000 . Compared to that, some vintage stuff has an appeal.

[popeyespappy]

I'm not into vintage gear, but it would be fun to try out the Nak DR1.  I used to love a friend's Nakamichi Dragon.

Marantz had some great stuff.

I'm trying to set up my "final system" right now, but it will take a while.  It seems it is easy to spend upwards of $100,000 .  Compared to that, some vintage stuff has an appeal.

I'm not nearly as excited about the DR1 as I am the RT-909. A) It sounds a lot better. No tape hiss. B) 5.5 hours of playback per side from a 2500 inch tape.

And yea. I'm hoping to find a recapped Marantz for a reasonable price. If not I'll probably be looking for a preamp and getting one of these. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=27222

Edit: Sorry. My math is fucked. Only about an hour per side with a 2500" tape.

[HappySkeptic]

I was just looking up the price of reel-to-reel tapes. Fairly expensive.

I actually like digital. At the high-end, it sounds good. I find that good mastering is more important than format. The best CDs sound very good, but high-res can be better.

There is a "digital sound" that can be very bad. Fortunately, the best gear seems to remove the problem.

[popeyespappy]

I was just looking up the price of reel-to-reel tapes.  Fairly expensive.

I actually like digital.  At the high-end, it sounds good.  I find that good mastering is more important than format.  The best CDs sound very good, but high-res can be better.

There is a "digital sound" that can be very bad.  Fortunately, the best gear seems to remove the problem.

Once upon a time I ripped 700 plus CD's as 320 Kbps MP3's. Not all of them were great recordings to begin with, but I still wish I had ripped them as FLAC files as the CD's were all stolen, but I still have the MP3's.

A good 2500" blank tape runs about $85. Fortunately, the deck came with a couple and I think I only want 4 or 5. Blues rock, Classic rock, hard rock, and soft rock. Maybe one for a mix.

Got any speaker recommendations? I am looking at Wharfedale Linton Heritage, Klipsch Heresy IV, and JBL L-100 Classics.

[onlinebiker]

You don' t NEED really old amplifiers - as long as they have tube finals.....

Tubes are superior in most respects EXCEPT electrical efficiency...

[popeyespappy]

You don' t NEED really old amplifiers - as long as they have tube finals.....

Tubes are superior in most respects EXCEPT electrical efficiency...

Solid state vs valve amplifiers is going to run to personnel preference every time. Most of us aren't going to be able to tell the difference between an $11,000 Macintosh MC 1502 tub amp and a $5,000 Macintosh MC 152 solid state amp. You might like one better than the other though.