Yes, the CJ ART, various Audio Research were all great...but I do remember lower priced items that gave much pleasure for their price.
In no order, The Large Advent, DQ-10, Nakamichi SR receivers, inexpensive Nordost cables, many tuners giving good vibes vis "FREE" music. Also, in a different way, the Nakamichi TM radios and SoundSpace systems.
There was a solid state ARC pre that was very good....ls-12?
And I do remember "free" listening at some friends homes/systems that were great values. I was exceedingly lucky to have a best friend that bought most of my gear when I was "moving on". It gave me the chance to listen to what I had had compared to what I currently had....at least once what I had sold to him was better than what my replacement gear was...........the old "live and learn".
I think the one piece I will never part with is my 1974 Pioneed SA 8100. It is such a great piece, no it does not sound as good as my tube gear, it just never disappoints and never quits, at the moment it is running outdoor speakers for my pool. Everything else I own I am already planning their replacements.
My 1983 aiwa ad f770 cassette deck. Paid $550 for it brand new 38 years ago, still kicking like day one! Only thing I’ve had to do was change belts....not fun, but worth it. I play it all the time. A beautiful machine, and back then, before it’s time. It will never be sold. Bought a back up f660, just as good a machine, works wonderfully. Sold my f990 as it was worth more, plus did not do anything that the other two decks are not capable of. Secondly, my discwasher system, also from the early 80’s. I’m still using the same record brush and stylus brush included In the kit. I still have some of the original fluid left. Loaded up on original discwasher stuff when available on ebay. I got enough to last me until I’m dead.
Bought a set of Linn Keilidh for $120 in excellent condition 4yrs ago. Purchased from a big Linn Fanboy - guy had Kabers and Keltiks too all running Aktiv. Have been very nice little towers running with a variety of integrateds. So just got my Cary, 808R back from NC getting totally run through and brought back to spec. Paired it with a Sonic Frontiers SFL-1 and a Rega DACr for streaming and plugged in the Linns. Man, the tube stuff really brings out the absolute best of these little wonders. If u can find a set for $400-$450 I’d say grab them especially if your into tube gear. The Cary in Triode @ 30x2 pure “A” is a very good amp but, the integrateds I’ve used by Tandberg and Perreaux have been a good fit as well. Point: Linn Keilidh for $120 easily the best Bang for Buck story I have to share
I apologize for listing this one, it’s the show stopper, and some of you have heard about this one before:
A MFA made Octal tube based original Venusian Prototype three chassis (Line/switching, Phono,and power supply boxes) full function preamp. Swings a clean + 170 volts. Just an insane thing, it is. Best tube based preamp vittles ever tasted.
$108 bucks. Found on eBay, no less.
I beg forgiveness for using it so little. If I cleaned it up, re capped it, and did a few of the more modern additions and alterations to it, etc...I’d think it would be a top contender for being right at the peak of preamp development and quality. (you will find pictures of it on the net, if you search it out)
Easily my JVC RX8020VBK home theater receiver. I bought it in 2002. The budget was tight then and I found it at Costco for $285. 120 real watts per channel, it's had 18 years of hard use and never missed a beat. Everything still works perfectly without the slightest problem.
It replaced a JVC tuner/amp combo that I've had for more than 30 years that still works.
It's getting a little long in the tooth on the technology front; S-video switching instead of HDMI and I am starting to think about replacing it in order to get Dolby Atmos. I'll have to think of a new mission for the JVC, perhaps a dedicated vinyl receiver (it has a phono preamp built in!). There's no way I'll ever sell it.
I'd buy another JVC in a heartbeat, but alas they've gone out of the receiver business. That's why it was so cheap in the first place. But as far as bang for the buck on a piece of new equipment, it stands out as the most satisfactory consumer electronics purchase ever, out of a LOT of contenders. I should be so lucky with my next one.
ESS AMT Tower 1's for $120. Advent OLA's for $60 Snell Type A-ll for $400 Thiel CS.5 for $175
Listening to any pair in the above list brings a smile to my face.
But the b.b.b. of them all is my pair of DQ-10's for $350. The seller couldn't find the passive XO for the sub and offered me a preamp in its place. Told him I already have three preamps. He said it's a lot more expensive than the speakers I was buying and if I wasn't happy with it, I can sell it on eBay and make some good money. He even promised to personally deliver the XO to my house if he finds it. The music room was not well lit and can't make out the preamp but it looked old school. A preamp for a cheap passive XO? I told him he's a very nice person but a terrible businessman. We both laughed and shook hands. When I got home, I found out what I had my hands on- it was an ARC- SP6. Until that night, I didn't know a thing about it. I spent most of the night reading all I could find on the net about it and ARC. I keep everything I buy so no, I'm not making any money from the gentleman's graciousness.
It’s fascinating to see what’s old is new again in these forums.
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was discussed for several months c.2007 or so, I can’t recall the exact year. The upshot was that it was generally enthusiastically endorsed among the analog cognoscenti as a method for cleaning a stylus.
Use it dry. "Dip" the stylus into the material a few times. Don’t rub.
Thanks ... I have my Onzow gooey bubble, but I was curious...
A Schiit Loki. Best $150 ever spent. I bought a NAD 118 digital preamp. It is a cross between a Schiit Loki and Black Ice F360. I bought it, brand new, at half the full retail price of $1600. Five years later, I bought an immaculate used NAD 118 for around $400.
Middlemass I loved it ....the joint and the babe,.... lights low AND lots but not too much wine OHHHHhhhhhhhh It doesnt get any better....damn I want it back.....But I know its not happening ON a different note....my first pair of M & K speakers with the sub..... driven by a pair of refurb Van Alystyne (alstine) who knows 70 watt something....sitting in the front room listening to LA 4 OMG with a wonderful beautiful dancer from the UTAH ballet Thank you god!
really? magic eraser to clean stylus? i would be worried that it would pull... u use it wet or dry? magic sponges are meant to used wet for their cleaning effect (on everyday things)
For we "silver-hair's"... the Hegeman Hapi 2 Preamp at full price was a steal. Chapman T-4 2-way monitor loudspeakers, same. Now, computer sourced lossless rips of great redbook and HDCD playback ~~ ditto lossless streaming. Budget room tuning = great sound. Cheers, Pin
Magic Eraser "sponge" for cleaning my Benz Ruby III cartridge. It polishes the stylus and costs under $1. I've been using it for 8 years now. That's a bargain. Other more expensive bargains is purchase of my two sets of speakers, the Legacy Focus for $2500 and Signature IIIs for $1600. Compares to 4X to 5X more expensive speakers (but with superior bass, lower on the Focuses, tighter and punchier on the Sig IIIs). The Synergistic Research HFTs. I use 32 which eliminated the need for front and rear quadradic diffusion panels which can be very expensive (Acoustic Fields or Vicoustic brands not cheap GIKs).
Harmon Kardon Signature 1.5 Power Amp $450 and a set of Magnepan MGllla's which i got for -$1100 . I made money from the sale of MG2.6's. Long story short. I shipped the 2.6's and they were damaged. I had a $2500 insurance policy placed on them. Replaced the damaged tweeters and made out well...
Dynaco was the name of the Tube Amp with the AR Turntable experience.Bang for the buck, system. That influenced my search, for sound. Dynaco Tube Amp. AR Turntables
In the mid to late 90's or early 2000’s , a radio station decommissioned some Technics SL-1200 Turntables with Stanton cartridges, a friend who worked there got one, he was going to sell it to me cheap, but after he heard it he decided to keep it. This was my first experience with these turntables, but this combo was another epiphany for me. Never new how good these direct drive turntables were. I had been using a Linn Sondek and Systemdek belt drives. This Technics blo them both, out of the water. Had high end Ortophon , Shure, Goldman, AT, Nagoaka and other cartridges over the years, but this combo. So Technics SL-1200 and Stanton cartridge, the ones that got away!
Dynaco Stereo 70 ($99) and PS 2 Preamp. ($59) purchased along with a Thorens 121 turntable with ADC-1 arm and cartridge and a pair of KLH 7s. I don’t remember the cost for the latter components, but the 7s were on sale at the time for less than the 6s. It was 1963, and I nearly flunked my college math course because I so much more enjoyed building the kits. The reward was great tube and vinyl sound that has been superseded only marginally by my newer Mac equipment. I sold the Dynaco and Thorens when I returned home from Australia in 1976. My eldest son still owns the KLHs.
Regarding AR turntables, way back when, a friend had one. didn't know what I was looking at, tonearm looking precariously balanced on the plinth, he had an old Tube Integrated Amp wish I had paid more attention to amp and speakers. When he played a record was blown away. Been searching for that sound since. That was 1976. AR Turntables are the bomb.
Luxman L580 Integrated Amp. From 1981. took it around, same reaction, how could it be? Even from the amps are amps there is no difference, crowd.Let it go during some hard times, wish I had it back.
Harman Kardon PM665 integrated amp late 80s $850 at Wall to Wall Sound. 150Wx2 80amp instantaneous current capability. MC capable. $/value could not be better, unless your drinking, with all due respect bro, MillerCarbon koolAide. 😎😎😎
My best affordable gear ever: Moscode 600 power amp. Al'on 2 loudspeakers Anything made by Monarchy Audio. And a very old Hafler [I think] pre amp from the 80s' that hade an actual volume knob on the remote.. Way before anyone was making remote control pre amps... All the above could be purchased for under 1k when pre owned...
AVA super PAS from a kit. I paid $20.00 for the stock PAS at a pawn shop (Brass Faceplate) in 1987. The kit was under $200...traded it to Frank for something “higher end” In the mid 1990z.
Teac A-H01 integrated amp for $330 new. I needed a small, versatile amp for a new living room setup. I tried to replace its built-in DAC with a $299 Musical Fidelity V-90 but the Teac held its own. Before I remembered that incident I was going to nominate the V-90, which likewise held its own in another setup until I replaced it with a PS Audio Directstream.
Here goes: A pair of Celestion 66 Studio Monitors: $5 at a Goodwill Outlet center with one missing stock tweeter that had been replaced with a $2.00 tweeter, but still sound very, very good. I replaced the $2 tweeter with a rare find stock unit (s) ($180 for a pair) and 10 hours of work on the cabinets and grills. They are really an amazing speaker (Abbey Road Studios had used Celestion 66 Studio Monitor for years. and perhaps better bang for buck for me was: A pair of Linn Isobarik DMS's I got at a town wide garage sale for $150 with custom Kimber cables, that I listened to for 5 years and am still reluctant to, sell them. between the Isobarik's and the Celestions was a pair of Acoustat III 's 2 more: Paragon Acoustics "The Regent" My current speakers rare find for currently under $1000 but was an accidental purchase keystroke from eBay Infinity Prelude MTS but the WAF in our house didn't work. $10k when new with center channel and a Stereophile Class "A" rating for under $2K and a Floyd Toole design
What a great question. I've been very lucky finding outstanding used equipment. in no particular order -- and this spans the past 30 years:
Magnepan MG-1 speakers Apt-Holman pre=amp Technics SL-1200 turntable (the original; just purchased a new one for $1,000) Sonographe SA-400 amp Marantz UD-7007 BluRay player (used for SACD's)
What a great question. I've been very lucky finding outstanding used equipment. in no particular order -- and this spans the past 30 years:
Magnepan MG-1 speakers Apt-Holman pre=amp Technics SL-1200 turntable (the original; just purchased a new one for $1,000) Sonographe SA-400 amp Marantz UD-7007 BluRay player (used for SACD's)
Superphon revelation preamp I traded an ice fishing tent for that I had in 1990 and now a Job 225 amp- bought a HH Scott LK72 that was recapped etc in 2019 for $500. Beautiful piece.
There are 2 that stand out. Both are amps. The 1st was in 1978, I bought a Harmon Kardon 730 receiver with Original large advents. I never realized how good that thing was until I went to replace it. The Luxman I bought to do so was so anemic, I ended up selling it and repairing the HK which was still going up to about 2000. I powered ut up a while back and was shocked at how BIG the sound was. It will still better a lot of separates today.
The 2nd is a Bob Latino "Dynaco" ST-70. I bought it because it was cheap and I wanted to try a tube amp to see what all the fuss was about. It replaced a $4300 CJ SS amp. That was 10 yrs ago. It STILL in my system today. Looking at my system it is totally outclassed. I just knew that the CJ CT5 preamp was going to show all the flaws of this little amp. Nope. It sounds even better.
Combination of NAD 326BEE amp and Monitor Audio GR10 speakers - Amazingly good sound for the price. Still kind of wish I hadn't sold them, but, unfortunately, don't have the space for more than one system.
For my grad school system, my stacked wood Advents powered by my Phase Liner 400 worked so well that the local Infinity dealer had me bring it to his outdoor, overnight party. He furnished an Ariston RD 80, with a Mark Levinson head amp and Signet two wand turntable, that I bought from him for $150. I still have those pieces, with the Supex 900Mark IV, plus my old Kenwood marble TT used with an SME, at the time.
I bought a house from an engineer who briefly worked at AR in the sixties. He left a bunch of stuff in the attic including some eico el84 "integrated monoblocks" an eico tuner with a cats eye rectifier and a bag of vintage tubes. Also some open back Tannoy Reds with deteriorated surroundd but he came back for those. The amps sounded great with some old Cornwalls
My whole system is "poor man’s highend". All excellent bang for the buck, and had most of it for 30 years. Dynaco/VTA ST-70, Lazarus preamp, AT-LP120XUSB w/AT-VM95 shibata, DIY cables, Sterling Acoustics speakers ....a taste of good champagne for the cost of good beer.
Boston Acoustics A40 speakers - amazingly decent for the very modest price 1980s
Spica speakers, whether TC50 (needed the right stands) or Angelus, gave excellent performance at a bargain price with then state of the art imaging 1980s
Arcam Delta 70 CD player + Black Box DA converter c. 1990 the first reasonably priced CD combo that offered reasonable digital sound.
Clearwave Audio Duet 6 Monitors. I paid $1000 for these speakers but once I received them one clearly had a bent grill which the driver would vibrate against at loud volume. The seller refunded me $200 and got me a replacement grill so I paid $800 for these.
They use Accuton ceramic drivers, top notch xover parts (mundorf, clarity caps, supra wiring, cardas solder, etc.), and a 2" baffle and rock solid cabinet. They retailed for $3k direct from Clearwave, but if sold through retail channels they would likely be $4-5k. I bought them on a whim driven by Covid-19 boredom/anxiety and once paired with dual REL T5i subs that I also got used they wound up replacing my Salk Song3’s which are now in another room. Total with the subs I paid less than $2k. No way I can do better at that price and based on the value alone I don’t think I’d ever sell them.
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