Vintage vs new audio equipment

How far have we as an industry come when it involves audio performance?

[@mechanicalslrlounge5138]

Vintage is all I can afford, but it brings me a lot of joy! I absolutely love the late 70s kenwood gear, I use a KA-5700 integrated amp, KR-2090 and 3090 receivers, and a KD-2070 turntable.

[@AllboroLCD]

One of the main reasons I find audio gear so captivating! If you buy right, your purchases WILL last lifetimes. Lets face it, as Paul has mentioned before we hit the peak way back in the 80's as far as "absolute sound" is concerned. Everything thats come out since have been mere refinements.

I can't stop looking at the Moog modular synth behind you ❤️

[@Spiceman50s]

Your answer Paul was safe. And as a vintage equipment owner, I appreciated it.

[@tomthompson7400]

good as it ever was , and thats good enough for me . Some real vintage bargains to be had if you shop with care.

[@ThinkingBetter]

Buying vintage audio can in some cases make a lot of sense. Development of consumer audio products was done by passionate highly skilled engineers in Europe, North America, Japan and a few other places until in the last couple of decades where the mobile era made a push to smaller is better and lots of audio engineering became unprofitable to do in those countries and instead especially China took over with mostly junior engineers doing this art. So today we have a lot of the old brands being milked with low cost engineering to make high volume products and a few brands still staying strong serving audiophile qualities, such as PS audio.

[@MatijaVabec]

70s cars are still running well, if taken care of. Audio is the same.

[@PSA78]

I still enjoy my old NAD and thinking about refurbishing it for spontaneous use, some of the best money I've ever spent. The first car amp I bought was even sent back to the designer in the Uk for a complete refurbish and upgrade and is being used again in my daily driver. Old stuff is cool!

[@knifeswitch5973]

I would say there have been great improvements in stability technically. I agree completely with if it sounded great then and it’s healthy, it’ll sound great now. I am a bit biased towards vintage gear. It’s also what I can afford to play with.

[@midnightsocean2689]

Depends on how you look at it. The longevity/durability/stability of vintage gear stands out. That there were affordable pieces of gear from 50 years ago that still work today is much more than can be said for most affordable gear today. Newer stuff is constantly breaking down and/or needing updating or replacing, where as my old pushpull amp just turned 60 years old and it's sound finally started showing it's age. After a recap and new tubes though, it was right back to sounding amazing. 60 years and one major tuneup, that's it. While over the past 20 years my DAW has crashed more times than I can remember. Had to be replaced once and reinstalled at least 4 times. I've had to replace my digital interface 5 times. Had to replace my digital "t-amp" 6 times. Had to replace my DAC twice. Had to replace my digital mini synths several times, till I finally gave up and bought just one expensive analog synth. Had to replace my digital mixers 4 times. That doesn't even mention how many computers and phones I've gone through. @.@;

[@alex_stanley]

The improvements to speaker sound are out there, but they're a bit obscure. IMO, the biggest improvement in speaker technology is the evolution in air motion transformers from Jack Smiley, an audio engineer who worked with Dr. Heil at ESS. AMTs typically cover high frequencies only, but Jack's go down to 400 Hz (crossover at 500), and bringing the AMT's athletic dynamism down to the midrange makes for astonishing speakers. Unfortunately, he's only made a few hundred of these drivers. On the pro audio side, Coda Audio's ring diaphragm drivers have half the distortion of industry standard dome compression drivers, which gives their systems an unusually natural sound.

[@twentycal514]

The satisfaction you get from refurbishing vintage stuff is where the true entertainment value is for me. Love bringing old Citations, LA Scala's, 19's, Valencia's back to peak working order. I am sure there are a lot of new products that sound awesome but the mix of vintage tubes and horns is hard to beat and the pride in ownership of this old stuff is impossible to achieve with all the new stuff that looks the same and comes with a brochure of techno-jargon-jumble... Chris in Kalamazoo...

[@jamesrobinson9176]

Replacing old worn parts in a good circuit with newer better ones will work wonderfully.

[@Stan_the_Belgian]

If you are as good as an engineer, sure

[@craigellsworth3952]

Resistors as well. In the SA Thresholds swapping out the bias resistors with modern equivalents makes them sound better than ever. Obviously the electrolytic caps as well as mentioned.

[@jamesrobinson9176]

@@Stan_the_Belgian I bet you could do it. Soldering isn't THAT hard. Desoldering isn't either. Electronics are all labeled (usually) and easy to identify (again usually).

[@joz411no8]

If you can separate the actual sound from advancements in technology, sure, older equipment can certainly sound incredible. I would love to still have the setup my mom did years ago - Marantz receiver and tape deck, Garrard turntable (Pickering stylus) and Marantz speakers. While nostalgia is purely emotional, even by today's standards, I'm convinced that system would sound exceptional today.

[@BennieWilll]

Thank you for not bashing vintage audio as lots do. I completely agree with your assessment. Those engineers in the 60s knew what they were doing. In an era where most are listening to music on $10 earbuds on an iPhone in a crowded subway, "obsolete" is subjective. My Dynaco Stereo70 amp blows my iPhone out of the water.

[@AntonioSilva-im3sj]

The old gadgets, they have another magic, another behavior. The more I hear the new products, the more I like listening to my old gadgets. My L300 my Bel Canto set80, my Beard CA506 and even the Nakamichi Stasis PA 7 II. Beautiful things, Wonderful sound

[@joe6096]

All this talk about audio equipment and here I am just drooling over that factory original, complete Moog.

[@craigsummerville8823]

My beloved Classe Audio Seventy amp from 1992 is now 30 years old and in need of a recapping. That being the case I am taking the opportunity to dip my toe into Pass Labs equipment. I’ve purchased a circa 2006 X5 that will be picked up this week. Once the Seventy is refurbished it will be relegated to second system use in another room. For me, vintage is a way to experience the gear I yearned for years ago but didn’t have the budget at the time.

[@Channel-cm7yc]

The SS-M9’s sitting were one of my favorites from the 90’s. Man what a bang for the buck those Sony ES’s were!! Dan Anagnos did something that just came out of no where for me. I was ready to dismiss them before I heard them play one note just because of the usual Ho-Hum of the mainstream Sony vernacular many of us see everyday. My jaw dropped at the soundstage I was placed in and their dynamics where surprising and their total effortlessness shocked me at the 3 or 4 grand price point. Plus they did not fatigue me with a harsh grainy & edgy top end and all that at a very fair price point. Are they the holy grail no, but they are quite good! The mighty Sonys did give me a moment of pure pleasure. If I had a pair, I’d most likely still have them. The FR-30’s also intrigue me very much and I hope that one day I will be able to just sit down and listen though them. Which is all my backdrop to your point Paul, when something is good it will always be good if it is working properly!

[@vassilisargyropoulos1669]

the sony speakers in the video, are the M9ED version with the super tweeter, which costed in 2000 four times the price of the M9 at about 16000$

[@cp070476]

I bought at Panasonic ghetto blaster in 1992.. It sounded unreal! Vocal clarity was superb.

[@tweakerman]

My Quad 405 power amp from 1981, that has had the all capacitors updated, sound fabulous, another great video👍

[@PSM-IPADZ_OX]

Kenwood HIFI and other audio products were good quality reasonable price for the normal consumers. As long as they are still functional today, they are still great

[@myplaguesify]

a good sounding audio gear is timeless.

[@guitrst1]

The most huge leap in audio equipment, IMHO was the transition from mono to stereo around 1958. I remember hearing it for the first time and it was truly amazing and game-changing. Secondly, the sound produced by small speakers like the ELAC UB5 with its 5 1/4" woofer is impressive, although it has been a gradual improvement in speakers over the years.

[@henni1964]

I do own a pair of 3a Midi Master monitors from France (1985 to 1990 era) which have direct coupled two way drivers (no crossovers). The amount of energy and details in the music signal you lose as a matter of fact with crossovers - regardless the quality and power rating of the amp to make up for it - is astounding! So these speakers have imho very well aged. 🙂

[@johnholmes912]

yep, most modern speakers are pretty poorly designed

[@musicstevecom]

The Sound of Digital processor w Vintage will blow you a way (you have to have a Sound processer.....) The Denon AVR- w RCA Analog outputs to Vintage Pre-amps (Pioneer spec or XXXX ) to Amps (Phase Linear 400 II 700 II, XXXX ) or a Pioneer or Kenwood Intergraded Amps will take you to the next level. Make sure you add a minimum of front and center channels (I have 2-speakers for center Chanel Lt of TV and RT of TV )

[@janinapalmer8368]

I've got a Quad 303 recapped and upgraded amplifier from 1972 ... it sounds fantastic... solid and quite detailed despite being a single rail power supply ( regulated too ) it's only good for 8 ohm loads but that's ok ...

[@ThresholdZhor]

That Quad is one of the most beautiful sound vintage amps, I have repaired them

[@albanana683]

I have a pair of 303s in a bi-amped system, fully upgraded with all new resistors, caps and power transistors. Not the most powerful amps in the world, but a lush sound that you can't buy today.

[@ThresholdZhor]

@@albanana683 Yeah you use a Y rca connector for inputs and use channel L for woofers and channel R for tweeters for example as they can't run in bridge you will have the same 30 watts but with better damping factor using that bi-wired arrangement

[@ThresholdZhor]

@@albanana683 That amp is so clean that I would use a passive preamp because it's sound is on a par with 2,000+ price preamps so I would buy a McCormak the line Drive or an Adcom GFP-750 in passive mode

[@edwardparks1464]

I have a McIntosh MA 5100 from the 60's and Electovoice 12 TRXB speakers from the 50's -60's and together they sound great. I would never get rid of my Mac except for a Tube Mac, but out of my price range

[@ianthomasdooley859]

Thank you, Paul for your input! I am new to the Hi-Fi space and was always fascinated by my father’s Pioneer SX-950 and speaker set that he bought when he was stationed in West Germany. Later on, still as a child, I was just dumbfounded when I encountered a Bang & Olufsen Beosound 2300 with its magic glassdoors. As a young professional, I have been able to purchase a set of BeoLab 8000s, 6000s, a Beosound 2300, and a Beogram 4000. All have been re-capped with high quality film caps and serviced. They sound amazing! My setup is a combination of vintage and modern with the modern being from Schiit Audio - I hope to one day outfit my setup with PS Audio gear!

[@musicstevecom]

The Pioneer SX-XX50 Were very good but they used PB and Pots which need cleaning. hook 2 of them to a Denon AVR w RCA outputs , font and center.... would work great as a preamp and amp

[@margix1172]

I own B&W DM4 driven by a NAD 3155 it is much better than LOTS of so called "modern" equipment and the DM4 like many vintage equipment are also way better aesthetically than the 90% of today's garbage.

[@Larstig81]

I have a Van Medevoort SA230 disc player. I have no idea how old this thing is, but I saw a review from 2005 and I bought it second hand many years ago, because I wanted a sacd player. Still working great.

[@damianzaninovich4900]

I bought a Marantz 2230 a few years ago and found a wood cabinet for it…just because it looks so cool. It’s got those crappy push in speaker terminals with which I just got banana plug to pin adapters for. I think I have the right speakers for it now. A pair of Heco Revolution 3 bookshelves I bought (used?) for half price. They need warmth in my lossy room. We’ll see if there is synergy. I wanted a speaker with a paper woofer and soft dome to see if I hear a different tone than my all aluminum/manganese Canton Vento 7’s. The Canton’s are easier to listen to and sound great with everything, not what I expected so you can’t assume anything.

[@pupwizard3888]

I have two vintage receivers that have been recapped. A Sansui G8000 and a Pioneer SX980. Both of them sound worlds better than my Pioneer Elite Home Theater receiver and my brand new Denon X4700 receiver. Every person that I have demonstrated the difference too are amazed at how much better the vintage sounds than the new. One day I would like to get a McIntosh/PS Audio piece etc to see how they compare but the price difference is a deterrent. I just can't justify spending 4 times more for what I can get from recapped vintage gear.

[@louissilvani1389]

Thanks for your honest appraisal of Vintage 😊👍

[@johnlebeau5471]

In 1980, I was given a demo of the Mark Levinson ML-2 amps, JC-1 preamp, Magnapan Tympany IV speakers, and probably a Linn turntable, I can't quite remember. I was so blown away by this combination that I never forgot it. I now own a pair of ML-2 amps made in 1978. They are the best amps I have ever had on my SoundLab (made in 1981) electrostatic speakers. By the way, I have been to P.S. Audio and heard the Infinity IRS system (thank you Paul). Even though that system was worth at least 10X mine, I still would not trade the two.

[@huy801]

I have a pair of ml-2, which power some B&W 804s, and still prefer my old gear to any of the general consumer crap that is being sold today.

[@reids_relics]

Didn’t hear a word Paul said.. was too pre occupied with drooling over that Moog modular synth

[@GK-rw2op]

Paul, if you say kenwood didn't sound so good then why did you keep buying ?

[@jamesaddo9903]

I am a fun of separates. My set up is made up of Yamaha MX 50 power amp, Samsung BD J7500 blu ray player, Uher UPA 1000 pre amp, Technics SH GE 70 graphic equalizer, Technisat 143 digitradio streamer, and Mibox 3. For speakers I settled on Sony LBT SH 2000 speakers. Honestly the set up sounds amazing. So you see mine is basically a combination of vintage and modern

[@allanellis5827]

Thanks for that Paul. I have a collection of vintage receivers and an integrated amp. McIntosh, Sansui, Concept, Marantz and Fisher. All from the mid 60's to the late 70's. They all sound fantastic and look great. Vintage gear was built like tanks and made to last. Not to mention they actually increase in value as time goes by. Buy today and sell for more down the road. How much better can it get than that! I highly recommend buying well cared for, high quality, name brand vintage gear. Treat it right and you will have many years of wonderful sound.

[@rupe53]

for the most part, that vintage gear will be in demand as long as the the people who remember them from their youth still want them. IOW, the boomer generation that had one when they were in high school or college (circa 1970) is now pushing 70 years old, retired, and looking for a hobby with a twist of nostalgia. In 20 years they will be dying off and the demand will drop. The same has already happened in classic cars. You almost never see any pre WWII vehicles at shows these days. Right now the cars in demand are post 1960. In a few years the audio gear in demand will be post 1980, then post 1990... and it will continue.

[@allanellis5827]

@@rupe53 Thanks for your thoughts rupe53. That could possibly happen. Time will tell. I believe there will always be a demand for high quality gear regardless of manufacturing decade. I have current equipment I absolutely love as well. Take care.

[@rupe53]

@@allanellis5827 ... not saying people won't still look for it. Just saying the demand will decrease, and likely the price as well. I know people who still look for old short wave radios with vac tubes. I also know people who still look for Model A cars. Some of these still hold value and others are a dime a dozen. Condition plays a big part because few are willing to do reconditioning at a price that can be more that the current value. My Spec Series pioneer gear is still working and all original at over 40 years old. Sending it out to have $500 worth of work (now) probably wont change the value much, and I am almost 70 years old.

[@margix1172]

@@rupe53 absolutely wrong everything from the belle epoque of the 60's 70's and 80's is here to stay because they have invented YOUNG people , just look at lots of the bands of nowadays...greta van fleet...bruno mars...khruangbin...parcels...cannons...tame impala and many others all look at those 3 decades for taking inspirations and then cars hi fi equipment musical instruments etc...from that period are all ICONS and not only for the so called "boomers" but for ANY music lovers.

[@rupe53]

@@margix1172 ... and people still listen to Brahms, Bach, and Beethoven (or The Beatles) for musical ideas.... but not as much as they did in the past.

[@CapitolForest]

My budget allows for new high end gear. But I’m all in on vintage.

[@sandraslutz9489]

Actually vintage sounds much better than new audio equipment. I learned this in 1977, the first time I went to Audio Warehouse in Akron Ohio, when I was going to the University of Akron. I wanted to buy my first stereo receiver, and they had them all set up, with speakers so that you could switch from one receiver to another and compare the sound. I narrowed it down to a Harman Kardon receiver and a Pioneer receiver. The Harman Kardon sounded like I was listening to an orchestra out in the middle of a forest. The Pioneer sounded like it was in a box. Why? HK used only discreet components, resistors, transistors, capacitors, etc., and had a frequency response from 20 to 100kHz plus or minus 3 db. The Pioneer had started using ICs, which are limited in their frequency response to 20 to 20kHz. Currently the only receivers that still follow this philosophy are Onkyos. I bought an HK930 and an HK730 about 5 years ago and replaced all of the electrolytic capacitors. I can't tell you how musical, sweet, and nuanced they are. You couldn't give me a new receiver or monoblock amp. unless they only used discreet components, and I don't know of any that do.

[@davidschleiss2535]

My system is built with all Sony ES equipment for 1992 to 2001 some of the best audio equipment ever made

[@ridirefain6606]

Love vintage gear, if it sounded good then, I find it it will sound good today. (Provided, it has been maintained.) On speakers, I think there are vast improvements, albeit the changes are more subtle. The implementation of the technology and materials used, I feel is much more advanced today than it was 50 years ago. Mainly in the area of their price to performance ratio. The modestly priced speakers of today are awesome, and are so much more capable of Hi-End sound, than the entry level speakers of yesteryear.

[@claudechasle4154]

Hi Paul I very much like your opinions. Being 73 and having givrn a lot of my time to listening to music and to hi-fi equipment, I decided to offer my toughts further to your comments on Kenwood stuff I own the L-07 series of Kenwood : M’s, C, T, and D, including cables associated... Still use the D turntable considered by some (Ken Kessler) as being one of the best ever built... I have rrcently acquired an Air Tight ATC2 tube amp that transformed the sound of my system. Not sure I can optimise those equipment wth modern gear unless I sell my house.., Regards Claude Montréal

[@thisisnev]

How does a vintage item stand up against a modern equivalent? Well, for starters the modern $1800 amp probably won't still be going strong in 53 years' time. I have to take issue with Paul dissing Kenwood/Trio. Of all my vintage amps and receivers, the only one that can hold its own against the sublime Luxman L-114A is the KA-60 amp, and my 1971 KH-71 headphones are freakishly good at creating the illusion of music filling a 3D space.

[@CHSS]

Most of the gear in recording studios are old, compressors, pre-amps, and tape recorders that some still use. All for the modern amps that purists use to sound any good.

[@alpep1307]

My system is all vintage except the turntable CD player and d/a converter .. it is problematic at times but I get it sorted out and move forward Paragon 10 McIntosh mr79 United audio ec4 Hk citation II Dynaco st35 Bryston 2.0

[@lindhee-toft6302]

Some of the vintage stuff that still has a high resale value are the PA5 or PA7 power amplifiers from Nakamichi. You are lucky if you find one of these power amplifiers in near mint or mint condition on Ebay, but then the price can also be high in relation to age The .PA series is almost a collector's item for those who like good sound from the late eighties until the mid-nineties.

[@leekumiega9268]

I got a high end Kenwood in1980 and got Ohm Walsh 2 speakers in 86 , they did not sound nearly as good as they did at Tech-Hifi so I blamed bad room acoustics. In 1990 I got a used Carver and my speakers came to life and I heard a lot of fine detail that I never knew was on the record or CD. And my wife who is not an audiophile also noticed a big improvement..

[@oliverbeard7912]

A few followers of this channel will have spotted that quite a few of these videos are being recycled.Good for those who may have missed them first time around.This one is also a re-run,or as we say in the UK a repeat.Still,with respect to the topic there are some products that were so well executed when they were released that they will always be considered as high quality. A Naim CDS is just one example of a highly tuned component that will stand up well today even though some may consider it as vintage ,or a classic piece.

[@terryjefferylee6314]

What a fun question. Paul is 73, if that's not vintage what is? Way better informed than many of the new kids on the block. Even with the occasional memory fade he's still way out in front. As for the audio gear the old gear is usually showing signs of wear and tear but the designs were often better than the mass-market price driven junk that's on the market today. The high end gear today is still design with passion and some advances have been made. I still have a pair of thirty year old Cerwin Vega speakers and I keep planning to replace them but they still sound better than most of today's speakers in there comparative price range. Will have to spend several times the money to get a noticeable improvement.

[@hugobloemers4425]

I like that answer. If it sounded good when new back then and is in good condition, it will still sound good today. Far too many Audiophiles (like Steve G) think old is automatically bad.

[@cardo1111]

Well said. Appreciate your vids and honesty 👍🏽

[@edmaster3147]

Only replace something with something better, not just 'new-er'. Sometimes even upgrading/servicing older gear improves quality gear to a level that it's hard to replace it for something better. I find it more difficult knowing what is better, as it's a great unknown what is out there. Expert advice, independant, is very usefull. It's sad that 'brick and morter' stores are getting harder to come by. But the al-knowing audiophile seems to decide more and more by the internet, direct sales are making it even harder finding good advice. Paul's channel is great, yet does not let one hear anything and that whats its all about.

[@zukispur5493]

Source. Garrard 401(SME arm) amp. Sansui AU 717. speakers. 2 pairs of leak sandwich 600s. Job done

[@deekay2]

Now I see how so many dome tweeters get pushed in......

[@kabes-us]

That black one is a Sony?!!! I always thought it was a Wilson. I guess Sony had that design first.

[@FullFledged2010]

I have a onkyo m8000 (old integra) from 1979 and it has a terrible 0.5% thd but I really like the sound of it. New gear is way better spec wise but the distortion on those old amps has something magical that newer stuff just cant reproduce. 😑

[@saugghos]

Not all modern music is live performance in the first place. It is more of a manufactured product using computers and mixing software. To make it sound like you are in the middle of a live performance may not be the ultimate goal.

[@gchristopherklug]

I have a PS Audio 200C I loved. Is it worth sprucing up? I haven’t turned it on in 20 years.

[@3DaysTillGrace]

I have a PS Audio 100C and I LOVE it

[@garfycat2227]

The giant leaps are in the access to music, not so much the equipment used to listen to it. In my experience the old gear is better than new. New is too clean, soulless.

[@rogerwalter2500]

Damping factor of old vintage amplifiers were usually around 30-50 region vs modern amplifiers specs hovering around 150-200 region , which makes them handle difficult loads with ease

[@milesdufourny4813]

That's nonsense, the damping factor affects the tightness or looseness of the bass. It's the strength of the power supply than determines the ability of an amplifier to handle low impedance loads.

[@rogerwalter2500]

As for tightness of bass and power supply -Yes. bur also the current handling capacity of output stage, and for that low output impedance (damping factor) of amplifiers is required. Perhaps Paul would be in better position to answer that

[@artyfhartie2269]

It is all subjective. Some people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on hifi which is obscene. I have a few vintage hifi gear bought over the years from thrift stores and charity shops like Tannoy, Luxman, TEAC (top shelf) , Akai, Sansui etc Cheap and great sound. Enjoy

[@quiksr20]

Yeah I dont think we have made "Huge Leaps" Currently im listening to a recapped Sansui AU-717 and ADS L810 speakers ( you can google them both ) they are both very old and sound and honestly to me look VERY good. So when were talking 2ch audio, I dont think we have made a huge leap. The difference now I think is you can buy cheap gear that sounds alot better than the cheap gear of yesteryear but when were talking quality older gear I dont think much has changed. The line where you said "if it sounded good then, I find it it will sound good today. (Provided, it has been maintained.) " is 1000% SPOT ON!

[@allanellis5827]

I have the AU-717 as well. It sounds fantastic and looks absolutely gorgeous. IMO it's a true work of art in both sound quality and appearance.

[@quiksr20]

@@allanellis5827 completely agree, work of art inside and out, just looking at it with the cover off , the twin power supplies and caps looks awesome… I also have a SL1200 which also is a piece of art if you ask me.

[@allanellis5827]

@@quiksr20Nice! SL1200 is legendary.

[@rickfrancis4182]

If I lived in the states.... I would love to start a business in Walla Walla Washington And...... Cal it ACME

[@kostasjezuz4846]

Well, cassette decks from the early 80s are certainly better than anything released prior or later than that. And some vintage gear certainly does sound GREAT, but if we measure "best" by how clear, resolving, and noise-less something is, and if we take measurements into account, then modern gear certainly is better. There's also companies that had taken steps in the wrong direction, like B&W, which went from releasing great sounding and measuring speakers, to releasing revised versions of them for the sake of marketing (and reduced costs maybe?), that doesn't sound or measure as good as their predecessors...

[@mohankrishnasamy1456]

Like your honesty

[@joshhescock4202]

Digital sound is OK to a point. However it doesn't have the full frequency range that you would hear say if it was of analog. You can get more range from a Vinyl Record than a compact disc. To me I have noticed that is to much focus with modern equipment on the digital side. Witch is OK for people who like it. I use digital audio and compact disc, but it doesn't sound the same as vinyl record. You hear more range on a record than a CD.

[@finscreenname]

The term "vintage" is so miss leading. When it comes to stereo equipment vintage can be 5 years ago. Good sound is good sound. Never heard equipment lose it shine just because it has some years on it. I have Pioneer Super Tuner III in my truck bought 30 years ago and has been in 3 trucks now. I like it much better then insanely more modern equipment. No it dont have blue tooth or stream and you have to use CD's but I like it. That's all that matters.

[@editorjuno]

To get (annoyingly?) specific, the KA-6000 was one of the finest integrated amps of its time -- IIRC, only the McIntosh MA-5100 was audibly superior -- and I was proud to have sold a fuktonne of them back in the day. That said, its successor, the KA-7002 (and its power amp counterpart, the KM-8002) was much better because it was one of the first to feature a DC-coupled output stage, which I consider a major breakthrough in solid-state amplifier performance. Nowadays, a sub-$100 Chinese Class D "chip amp" with a suitably beefy SMPS can outperform any of the aforementioned 1970s products as pure amplification, but of course not when it comes to features, e.g. phono preamp, tone controls, speaker switching, etc.

[@antwake]

are talking about Wordlwide Cyclery? 😍

[@heshamsalah251]

Hi can i add Double external Power amplifier to Pre out AVR using y Cable? Sample : Front Pre out ---> Y Cable ----> Double amplifier ----> 4 Front Speaker i have Yamaha A6A and 2 emotiva BasX A7 , 4 R-625FA klipsch Speaker. I want to connect the 4 R-625FA klipsch Speaker as front. thanks

[@chipsarver6994]

He is always a salesman- laughing at Kenwood and then saying he won’t disparage

[@zerotoxico]

Im buying a pair of vandersteen 1b speakers that is from the 80s and i have high hopes :)

[@glenncurry3041]

For basic original analog design, technology has not moved much since perhaps the late 70's early '80's hey day of HiFi. Perhaps even worse is the closing of most plants that manufactured the devices. Discrete solid state devices and tubes were readily available back then because everything used them. Caps at those operating voltages,... Today you can have problems just finding OEM grade parts for repair. Much less to design a new product around. New technologies such as Class D, that is a different discussion. But when it comes to brute force, high current, wide band, ... perhaps less than basic level technology, the willingness to design on a cost no object level that the market could not cost justify back then? I had the perhaps unique opportunity to be in the middle of that back in the day time. Particularly unique in being the Marantz Rep in 6 SE states in the early '70's. Selling the models so highly sought after in today's market, directly to the dealers as Superscope introduced them. And also particularly unique in that I changed jobs to become the Kenwood Rep in that same market mid-70's. Part of that was driven by my dealers. Usually the audiophile oriented ones in each market, the "Advent" type, dealers. They were switching to this new Japanese line starting with the Kenwood KA-3500. They felt it a much better sounding value than the Marantz 1030. And the same was true pretty much model to model up the line. So they/ I switched from Marantz to Kenwood. Sound to match Marantz at a better price. Then Kenwood introduce their High Speed line including their Audio Purist line. It blew everything close to it away! So much so that your associate Harry Pearson listed it in Absolute Sound as his reference and purchased them and used them for years. I provided the demos to him. I actually still have an original KA-3500 sales sample I use on my bench.

[@esci8978]

Nice to hear from someone who actually lived it…and thank you for your comments.. What are some of the model numbers you are referring to as Kenwood/Trio’s “Audio Purist Line”..?

[@glenncurry3041]

@@esci8978 It was an interesting time that as Paul has mention at least as best I can remember! The most famous and intro of the Audio Purist was the L-O7M monoblock amp. 150W DC - light. That was Harry Pearson's reference amp. It was part of a line with the L-O7C preamp, L-O7T tuner, ... My two oldest sons both have a pair for their systems. With L-O7C pre. One also has the L-O5M, the smaller model. And I am working on one of a pair of L-O9M, the 300W model. Protection relay not closing.

[@esci8978]

@@glenncurry3041 Wow… those look pretty impressive.. ! Especially those L-09’s … Good luck with tracking down that protection issue.. I have a Trio KA-9300 (Japan market), on the shelf that hopefully one day I will restore and enjoy.. Will definitely look for opportunities to acquire an “Audio Purist” issue in the future as well.. ;) Thank you for your reply..

[@glenncurry3041]

@@esci8978 There is some guy that buys all of these up. He has dozens of each model in stacks and won't sell them off. Hopeful when he dies (not wishing for that! But...) they will flood the market and there will be some real deals on them.

[@digggerrjones7345]

A *lot* of vintage gear is superior to what is being produced today and in recent years!!

[@midnightsocean2689]

It really depends on the type of gear. There’s a lot of good vintage gear. There’s a lot of mediocre vintage gear. There’s also a lot of gear that WAS good but is too old to perform like it used to. A lot of music technology reached a pinnacle during the last quarter of the 20th century. People can technophile all they want over new being better but most thing having to do with music, aren’t better now than the best of the best the 20 century had to offer. I would argue that digital audio has made leaps in the aspect of editing/producing for sure but sound quality wise, it really hasn’t changed much since the early 1990s. 16 bit 44khz was the standard in the 80s and it’s still the standard today. It’s gotten smaller. Streaming now supposedly offers better than standard rez. Converters have supposedly gotten better, though there still are certain CD players and digital synths from the 90s that stand their own against modern stuff. Really the only noticeable increase in quality digital audio has made is 192khz sampling being more widely available. That and of course DSD. 192Khz sounds better than 44.1Khz but not night and day better. It’s certainly arguable that it’s not worth the CPU/storage management nightmare it creates on the front end. DSD could be great but it’s still in development. Till the day it’s widely available in consumer DAWS and playback gear, it’s not really an applied technology. IMO it makes it hard to compare the standards we have now to DSD.

[@dmunz7015]

Looks like T.O.N.T.O in the background.

[@mlschaap]

Hi Paul. Another great video of yours. I am from The Netherlands. Nice to hear you bought Dutch E-bikes. Can you tell me wich brand? Keep up the good stuff. Greetings from Holland

[@octaverecordsanddsdstudios1285]

Thanks! Van Moof.

[@beyer422]

I have a reconditioned and updated Quad 405, a Chinese Quad 34 reproduction with Polk speakers. Sounds ok, but if only I could afford a real reconditioned Quad 34! Any ideas on affordable preamp?

[@SWATTECHNOLOGIES]

Amen Paul

[@russellthechemist8291]

Thr age of some of the materials in vintage gear can be an issue. Important not to overlook this.

[@vinalboy]

Amen!

[@geoff37s38]

Quad Electrostatic Loudspeakers released in 1957 have a mid range that still cannot be beaten by modern box speakers. When these Quads where released the limiting factor was vinyl being the only available source for distributed audio. Many Quads are still in use today. Modern moderately priced audio equipment is as good as high end and expensive equipment from decades ago. Todays high end audio has been corrupted by dishonest marketing of very expensive equipment and magic boxes, cables etc. that offers no improvement in audio quality.

[@ThresholdZhor]

The Quad was indeed marvelous in the midrange but so so above 10 khz once I help those speakers with a couple od Dynaudio Esotar 330 tweeters which is the best tweeter ever made coupled by a 1.5 micro farad Infinicap capacitor and it was nirvana of course with a subwoofer like the very musical Audio Pro B2-50

[@cubinn149]

We made euge strides since

[@mhenrique4860]

When you said if it was a huge leap you are already implying that new technology is better... I dont think so... crts tvs technology for example are much much better than any oled or qled tv in these days..

[@BastianUllr]

Kenwood back then is Accuphase today. They are amazing and I find US and Canada heavily biased against Japanese electronics. Fact is that yeah, some companies only produce “high end” as in like, Porsche doesn’t carry a budget working class car. But USA does, and we can buy a small plastic thing to roll around, like a Spark. Likewise, if one wants to make money then you can produce a cheaper car, that doesn’t take away anything from your top tier. However, electronics reputation seems to be out of that consideration. If they ever made a budget friendly device, it’s like it were impossible for them to do a high end piece of equipment too. Toyota boring small cars have won the Le Mans 4 times in a row lately. What makes us think that the crap Sony or Pioneers we are familiar with stops them to make really great gear? And they have done it in the past, oh boy they have.

[@thisisnev]

Here in the UK in the 70s we were encouraged to "Buy British". Trouble was, so much of it was crap. The Japanese came along with solidly-made, well-performing and reliable products and they wiped the floor with our outdated electronics and car industries. Only our best audio brands - Sugden, for example - survived the cull. We don't resent the Japanese manufacturers for it. Businesses that sold the consumer short deserved to fail.

[@johannesk1855]

My 25000$ gear (Krell, VTL, Copland, ML etc) is about 20-25 yesrs old. If I want better sound i have to spend 250000..

[@johannesk1855]

@Taco yes, it's an old KSA100.

[@cubinn149]

I got a receiver cost 1800$ its very nice

[@tomfoolery2082]

Basicly not sure ones better or worse i may love it u may hate it .

[@johnholmes912]

my old audiolab and mission amps sounds better than most modern amps; modern speakers are pretty poor compared to vintage ones, modern stand mounts need subs, my old 80s stand-mounts are full-range there have been no real advances in audio technology since the early 80s

[@pjf7943]

It's how 'DO' vintage pieces............. Not how "DOES"..........

[@Theupgradeguy]

Taking most any vintage piece and just recapping it & its PS with today's sonically/electrically superior caps will definitely make that piece sound BETTER than it did new. The Caps are the weakest links in vintage gear as they deteriorate as they age which affects their ability to perform their job of either filter, store, tune, or couple. Then recalibration the Bias & DC Offsets of amplifier circuits back into proper spec. helps quite a bit as well. Vintage speakers usually suffer from surround rot which can easily be replaced and recapping the crossovers makes a big difference too. I have a pair of 1975 Dalhquist DQ-10's that I recapped & refoamed the woofers that are amazing even by today's standards. Same goes for my fully upgraded 1987 Hafler DH-500(now a QC-600 with Fantasia Audio's new PC-1 Driver bds.). It was a great amp when it was stock.But it is light years better than it ever was with the upgrades. There are LOTS of great vintage gear out there. New isn't always better.

[@johnholmes912]

my 40 year old speakers are going just fine and sound better than most modern ones I made someone's eyes pop-out of their head the other day when they listened to my system, and they have some very expensive modern gear of their own most modern gear is expensive crud; take a very expensive modern speaker apart sometime and you'll find it stuffed with cheap components

[@jackwood2328]

He may have a point, but will he get there in my lifetime? No.

[@jaycekastner4340]

Reminds me of bob ross

[@blomegoog]

what needed to be asked, as in many of these letters, is 'what kind of music do you listen to?' 'what is the media format? MP3? CD? Vinyl? Streaming? Without knowing this, any recommendations are not useful.

[@The_Story_Channel]

I used to prefer vintage gear until I purchased a number of reconditioned, rebuilt, refurbished (all of the re-stuff) from sellers on audio market sites (for myself being Canadian it is Canuck Audio Mart) but regardless of claims from reputable sellers of how well they were recapped, rebuilt or whatever, they always ended up giving me trouble some time after I purchased them, now, I buy nothing but new because buying vintage is not worth the headaches. I am an older guy and much prefer the aesthetics of vintage gear, especially if they have large meters, I also much prefer the control knobs, they are usually large with larger print which makes it easier on aging eyes to read, now a days most stuff has tiny little push buttons with small hard to read letters, not that it is all that important functionally because you get use to the layout but I still don't think it looks good. I compare vintage gear with vintage autos, they just have better lines and an over all great look about them, they even sound great if they are properly serviced and paired with a decent DAC, however, because of past experiences that cost me more money than they are worth, I won't be buying vintage gear again.

[@allanellis5827]

Sorry to hear that. That's too bad. My experience on CAM has been nothing but good. Perhaps I've just been fortunate up to this point.

[@cubinn149]

Kazoo haha good1

[@BronsonOsborne]

ill stick to good ole analog

[@milesdufourny4813]

The vintage gear worth owning is still as expensive as brand new gear, plus you have to add in the cost of refurbishing it to bring it back up to spec.

[@thisisnev]

Sure, Miles, keep telling yourself that.

[@hoobsgroove]

you getting a bad reputation Paul less of the bs....