Topic: Vintage Hi-Fi enthusiasts?

[grcamna2]

cool stuff scott!i still have the first decent hi fi i bought about early 80s speakers and all!i still use it,put a new belt on the platter few years ago,replaced a woofer in one of the speaker boxes while ago,that cd player i bought from a pawn shop ages ago works well,i have a hitachi tuner in the cupboard,i love the crisp sound with the odd pop n crackle,thats why i like playing my old records,i got old beatles etc,stones and what not,im no audiophile and my old unit would be a piece of crap to them,but i love it,cost me a lotta money in the day,but ive had a lotta use out of it!

Those speakers of yours look good Dave;what brand are they ?

[dave500]

no brand on them?if i take a speaker out ill see if its branded.

[grcamna2]

no brand on them?if i take a speaker out ill see if its branded.

What do the speaker cabinets look like with the front grills removed ?

[Don R]

 I have a set of speakers in the shop that were home made cabinets with really nice speakers, I combined the speakers with a set of commercial cabinets that had rattling speakers. Unfortunately they are hooked to an old cheap quadrophonic am/fm tape unit out of a 6' cabinet.
 I think the stereo re-seller guys are scooping up the deals around here.

[dave500]

heres the screens off,that woofer is a replacement with DA on it,i pulled it from a speaker box i found in a skip bin works fine same impedence,id like to rebuild these one day,still sound great but so old now the boxes are getting shabby,and heres my dog Bear doing his best "His Masters Voice"impersonation!

[grcamna2]

Looks to be a decent speaker Dave.

[dave500]

yeah they are heavy,in the day we paid 500 aussie dollars for the two speakers the platter and amp,a lotta money well spent in the day early 80s! i still got the lot and still plays fine!i paid 750 for a decent 15 year old holden station wagon bout the same time!

[Kelly E]

I'm still using the Yamaha CR-640 tuner out in the shop that I bought in1980. 

[richmagee7]

After being treated to some of Dan Schmalle's (bottlehead racing) hand crafted vacuum tube playback systems.  Everything else pales in comparison.

That said, a few lounge dj's were not opposed to getting the decks and parts from the guitar center catalogue

Bomberman,
I pitted next to Dan this year at Bonneville.  Had to ask him where the heck he got the bottlehead name from (vacuum tubes).  Then I looked at some of his audio work online, believe me his motorcycle had the same beautiful attention to detail.  Real nice folks too.

[Scott S]

 I ended up with a Pioneer SX-580 receiver (1979), Micro-Sekei MB-15 turntable (ca. 1976) and a pair of Sansui SP-1500 speakers (1969) on vintage Sansui stands. This is my vinyl set-up.

[Scott S]

  My $87 mini-system, to replace the Crosley and the Sirius boom box that used to be stacked up on that storage cabinet.  This is for CD's and satellite radio.

 Radio Shack Minimus7 speakers ($15 at the flea market).
 Radio Shack Optimus STA-20 receiver ($24.80 shipped, eBay).
 RCA powered subwoofer ($20, thrift store).
 Sony DVD/CD player, for CD's ($12, thrift store).
 SiriusXM home dock, for my existing tuner ($15, eBay).

 I hate to admit that this little systems thumps just as hard as my vintage home setup that I use for vinyl. And I paid more for just the speaker stands for the Sansui's.
 There are probably 500-600 CD's in the drawers.

[Stev-o]

Nice setup Scott.  So, what are you listening too?!

[Scott S]

Nice setup Scott.  So, what are you listening too?!

 A little bit of everything.

[ekpent]

 Your new old system looks good with your retro Danish credenza !  That turntable has some nice style and us "woodies" like those style of speakers.

[ken65]

A mate was throwing this Technix system out. Works great.
$20 optimus lab1100 record player rounded out the system. Use it every day.  Pardon the poor picture quality.

[Scott S]

  Even among audiophiles, the vintage Realistic,  Optimus and Technics (Sears) stuff is respected.
 They were made for the general public but with very nice components, often shared with high end manufacturers.

 Add in that, for some of us, Radio Shack is the only place you could go and twist knobs and flick switches and you have the nostalgia factor.

 My little Optimus system absolutely rocks, even at 5W per channel.

[ken65]

  Even among audiophiles, the vintage Realistic,  Optimus and Technics (Sears) stuff is respected.
 They were made for the general public but with very nice components, often shared with high end manufacturers.

 Add in that, for some of us, Radio Shack is the only place you could go and twist knobs and flick switches and you have the nostalgia factor.

 My little Optimus system absolutely rocks, even at 5W per channel.

Interesting to know, thanks. The receiver is very heavy.

[grcamna2]

Nice setup Scott.  So, what are you listening too?!

 A little bit of everything.

I want to collect more LP's and CD's myself.

[Jonesy]

I go back to the dawn of time with a 1960 Magnavox Concert Grand console stereo. Bi-Amped with 100 watt 6V6 Push-Pull outputs. I love the sound out of that thing!

[Scott S]

 I used some record store display boxes as a template and made this larger version and a table from scrap plywood and legs from Lowe's. Double my vinyl storage capacity and now I can flip through the titles easily.

[ken65]

I used some record store display boxes as a template and made this larger version and a table from scrap plywood and legs from Lowe's. Double my vinyl storage capacity and now I can flip through the titles easily.

That looks really good. Thanks for sharing.

[grcamna2]

I used some record store display boxes as a template and made this larger version and a table from scrap plywood and legs from Lowe's. Double my vinyl storage capacity and now I can flip through the titles easily.

That looks really good. Thanks for sharing.

Yes,that looks great Scott. 

[dave500]

not hifi but i found this great old home base uniden washington 40ch ssb radio today,still in its box with manual and sales receipt from 1990!its like new,it lights up but no antenna so havent pressed the mike button,great old classic!also has a SWR meter 10/4 over.

[ken65]

wow, what a score. Half ya luck.

[ekpent]

 Breaker breaker - How bout ya Dave - you got a copy ?