Reader Robert Baum writes that he bought a new KA-7002 Kenwood amp in 1973, and though he's upgraded several times since then, "it's been living under our bed (yes, it's still alive!) for at least a dozen years.
COMMENTS
Kenwood KR 4070 receiver. It cost me $200 back in 1975, which is all I made selling Christmas trees during Christmas break. It is in my closet. It still works, but is retired after many years of hard work during my college years. I just like to see it sitting on the shelf. I would not sell it for less than $1000 and it is only worth $30, so I guess it is going to stay in the closet until my son is ready for it.
My Citation Model 18 Tuner. I only wish I still had my Marantz model 19 receiver. The Citation is a great tuner, built like a tank, very musical, so precisely built. Unless it dies a hopeless and irrecoverable death, I'll keep it "forever."
I had an old Technics Stereo Receiver that was my fathers that I finally gave away aobut 2 years ago, and I just heard that it died this past January. But I still have my fathers old Garrard turntable. It still surprising works, not great or anything but it still works. I also still have the old speakers that my dad had with this old receiver and turntable. I also know somewhere their is an old reel to reel machine, from the late 70's. I just think about how far everything has come since 1977 when my dad bought all of this stuff.
Oh my, I bet you've opened a can of worms here! There are lots of us old (45) vintage gear lovers out here. I use a 22 year-old 3-head Pioneer cassette deck that looks like a million bucks and is built like a tank! Keep it up to spec, and these aluminum faced beasts will keep on working and looking good for a long, long time. I also use a '74 quad receiver for a home-made "home theater" set-up; I just take the Dolby Digital decoded 4-ch. output from my Sont DVD and run it into the "discrete" 4-channel inputs of this old relic, and I have a modern surround system, with the look of those Captain and Tennille days!
Revox A-77 reel-to-reel deck. I haven't used it in years, and the left channel is dead. But otherwise it's in good shape, and I have two other decrepit machines to cannibalize for parts, so I keep telling myself that one day, I'm going to get it running again.
Yamaha T-1 analog tuner, I picked it up for $58.00 at a pawn shop a few years back.I could replace it,but why bother,I mean broadcast quality is in the toilet these days and a quality replacement woul set me back at least a gerr(grand).
Yes a real nice old Marantz 35 watt per channel receiver. Still sounds better to these ears then mass market Best Buy stuff. I still fire it up every now and again. This might sound sad, but sometimes I get nostalgic for the lights, and analog gages!
My first "true" stereo piece of equipment purchased in 1972. A Pioneer 727 stereo receiver with 40Wpc. I can't seem to shake the Technics turntable bought a short while later although both pieces were retired decades ago. I still have the boxes.
There's a dragon in my garage. A Nakamichi Dragon, that is. I'm the original owner of that beast, and it has given me years of sheer cassette eargasms. It is truly a work horse that records and plays back flawlessly. I am continually prompted by my wife to sell the beast, but I simply can't part with an old friend. Who knows, one day I just might insert the Dragon back where it belongsin my listening room system. Some of us just have too many toys.
I am very interested in the high end and other tech. events of the past. However, I am only 35 so I am not of the era of the original tube amplifiers or the big silverly metal components from Japan, the most impressive time in the high end. While I was not around this hobby at that time, I do have great respect to all of you with the big Pioneer, Hitachi and Sansui rigs of the past, and all of you with the classic SAE systems etc.... More recently I recall the days of the Ampzilla, Polk SDA, Infinity Kappas, Nakamichi and Tandberg decks, Kyocera and Acoustats. Especially with regard to those who use the '70's items, I have seen posts, pics, threads and forums and you all are a great group that is to be commended for your knowledge, willingness to help others and civility. I know there are an earlier group of components from Fisher, Dynaco, Acoustic Research, JBL, etc... but that was before I was born... I think... so don't be offended. I myself, first recall an introduction into the "high end" meaning "exposure to brand names and separate boxes you never heard of," around the 80's. It was very intimidating to read the "recommended components" and not know anything about a single component from any category, where all the the prices were so high you thought it was a bunch of misprints. After overcoming the shock I educated mystelf. So I have focused my efforts here, on the 80's. My system won't be a classic for about 10 years, but it sure sounds good. I have got to say that I thought EBay was a stupid idea until, on a whim, I did a search for "Revox" and found a ton of hits. I then searched for and found every other component/brand name I ever heard of, and some I didn't know existed. Using on-line sources I was able to create the unobtainably expensive system I wanted when I was a teenager for a fraction of the original cost, and you know what-- its not bad at all. I also made a lot of friends in the process and have had very good results in terms of performance. I have found that People with this kind of gear keep it in good shape and are decent and honest. Its really a testament to society. My system, all obtained used from complete strangers: Revox B-226 CD player, with remote B&O TX-2 tangential tracking turntable Nakamichi RX-505 tape deck Sonic Frontiers SF-1 Mk. 2 D/A with HDCD (ok, cheating here) Hafler 945 preamp/tuner with remote Counterpoint SA-220 amplifier Counterpoint SA-100 amplifier (you can never have enough amplifiers) Acoustat Spectra 11 speakers I love all of these components, even if some are a little newer than called for. I never really wanted a Hafler, but this was the best high quality remote-controlled preamp/tuner from the relevant timeframe that I could identify. So in a perfect world this would be upgraded and I would also like a Nakamichi or Kyocera record player, but they are very rare and expensive so its probably not to be. There is a lot to be learned and enjoyed from the past, maybe this is why I am now goofing around with Apple //e emulator programs and obtaining old manuals, compilers and programs. But thats another story.
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