If your were to assemble a vintage system ?

Forgotten the headphones 

Vintage Dynatron SP3 refurbished 

Modern 
Stax l300 
Sennheiser hd 650
Hifiman he-560 
Schiit lyr 2 
Oh and a tascam md-350 

I have put together a vintage system along with my modern one and swap them over occasionally although I only have modern speakers Monitor Audio  Bronze 6s.

Vintage system.

Dual 510 with ortofon vms 30mkll
Sony tc-399 
Akai gxc 760d 
Akai aa1020 or rotel rx-1203 

Modern system

Rega p1 bias2 cart acrylic platter 
Marantz pm6006 
Marantz cd6006 
Marantz na6005 
Sony dtc-750 

Both sound great ....

 The 70`s  gear I`d return to would be; The Dynaco preamp Pat5,  Dynaco 400 power amp  or David Hafler DH 200 DIY, Onkyo T100 tuner,  the original Technica SL 1200 T/T, Ortofon M15 Super E cart. Teac 4010 GSL reel to reel tape recorder, speakers Magnepan Tympani 1D`s I purchased all used $1585.

Was just playing around with a perfect little vintage $1,500 rig... a much written about Musical Fidelity, A100 integrated, Canton, Karat 40 (3) way monitors; beautiful German build and a Music Hall, MMF 2.1 TT w/Adcom high output MC cart. Or, how about a Luxman R-1050 reciever w/rosewood cabinet, pair of Linn, Keilidh short towers and a HK, T-60 w/Signet cart. Guess the possibilities are endless. Will take some looking and shopping but these pieces are out there 

we have a room plus for that...

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7106

enjoy

while i do have a vintage Grace cartridge, the Hana ML gets most of the work.....

enjoy the music and the journey 

Jim

we have a room plus for that...

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7106

enjoy

while i do have a vintage Grace cartridge, the Hana ML gets most of the work.....

enjoy the music and the journey 

Jim

I’ve purchased a pair of QUAD ESL-63s, a QUAD 44 preamp and a 405-2 power amp. All I need is to buy a mid 80s vintage turntable and I’ll have my vintage system. I’d love to get a J A Michell...

A sansui integrated, a pioneer pl series turntable with a Shute v15 cart, large advents. 1500 will be close. It would sound decent for sure. 

   If you go vintage especially amp/receiver have it thoroughly inspected and replace any old/tired electronic components. In the 70's, I bought a Pioneer SX850. It suited my needs back then. When the tuner stopped working (no big deal since vinyl was my preference) it played on. Eventually, it died. Rather than repair I moved on. In those "Japanese dominated market days" Sansui had an edge over most. The best I heard back then was a Dynaco a friend had built from one of their kits. Smoked all the others.

Go for a used rega table with a dynavector 10x5 into a vintage integrated amp like a harman kardon or a tandberg with a vintage american speaker made prior to 1979 by a big maker jbl, altec, electrovoice, or dahlquist.

I’d happily return to a 2270 Marantz, an AR with a Stanton 681EE cart, and keep the SAE 2 band parametric eq I still own. Also keep the Behringer UltraCurve to tweak for the room.

I’d cheat and keep my audio ’puters.. ;) That, and my omni’s.

Sometimes vintage has to give sway to the new. *G*

If forced to ’go vint’ on speakers, 4 JBL L100’s and a diy sub for ’boom’s sake...with a D amp. *L*

For ’cans’, a pair of Koss Pro4AA’s....the ones’ I owned literally fell apart on my head, rewired twice....

What great memories of my first system.  There were so many beautiful receivers back in the late 70's.  I would be happy to keep my Pioneer SX-636.  And the Electrovoice Interface B's were ahead of their time.  Would keep those too.  Might upgrade my Pioneer PL-112d table and Shure M91ed.  But it was a first system that owed no apologies.

Ariston RD11 or Thorens TD160S, Cyrus2 early production, Rogers LS7.

G

Absolutely nothing I am so glad I now listen to digital.

Currently own Dynaco ST-70 and AR XA turntable. Would probably go with Dynaco Pas3 preamp.  Not sure about speakers. Maybe ARs. 

Something British. But $1500 is not money.

I'd have to go with my first decent system I put together in the 70's
Dynaco SCA80 
Large Advents
Dynaco FM5
AR turntable

40-50 years ago fellas.. Unless you were someone with a lot of money you bought a receiver.. I owned a MX110, first then C22, BUT a Sansui or Accuphase there was no better.. 50 years ago. Mcintosh maybe.. Marantz if you could afford it. Same with Mac..

NONE of the stuff would have come close to 1500, though..NEW right?

I paid 4400.00 and got a steal for 2 MC240 and a C22. I paid another 450.00 For a Thoren TD124 II/SME 3012 1979-80. Seq ser numbers on the Mac 240s too.

Now close to 15-20K if they were taken care of..Mint 20-25K
NEVER Unboxed 30K.
I love Mac...and Thoren. Garrard is the one that blows me away, today, mercy are they expensive, Glad I kept a couple.. Thoren is a lot better unit though..Hands down! Even their belt decks are better.

RUSSCO = Garrard Killers... 1/10 the price.. 3 times the weight..What does that work out to per pound?

Regards

spendor bc1 ~800
nad 3020 or 3040 ~300
technics table, at95e or at12sa ~400

musicality in spades

1.Any Vintage Luxman rosewood finished receiver!
2.Any East Coast Sound speaker, AR, Advent, ADS, etc.!
3. Any Micro-Seiki turntable with any Grado cartridge!

Wouldn't.
My 1970 system plays cassettes. 4. sides continuous for $20.

And ref: “lamp chords” - no audible differences as long as basic current handling requirements are met:

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.soundguys.com/cable-myths-reviving-the-coathanger-test-23553/amp/

What needs to be stated plainly here is that the only thing this experiment demonstrated was that the use of cables of the correct specifications should not be audibly any different than each other. If you use an appropriate gauge wire, and the proper connectors: you should be golden regardless of how much—or little—you spend on cables. Consequently, you should probably just stick with Monoprice, Mogami, or AmazonBasics for your audio cable needs if you don’t care about how they look.

I’m going to keep posting this stuff until MC stops being 1) rude and 2) annoying. So it could be for a while:

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/12752-blind-listening-tests-amplifiers.html

For a recent non-believer, I used an Onkyo SR500 Dolby Digital receiver--purchased reconditioned for $200 (they're $250 - $300 new) against some well regarded separates. It's rated at 65 watts x 2 stereo per the FTC guidelines into 8 ohms. Distortion is 0.08% from 20-20k from 1 watt to 65 watts into 8 ohms. It has a "direct" bypass feature that supposedly bypasses all the digital/DSP for analog stereo signals.

The Onkyo was put up against the well regarded Bryston 4B 300 wpc power amp and a Bryston 2 channel pre-amp. They were driving a pair of expensive floor standing KEF speakers and the source was a high-end Marantz CD player. The person who owns this system is very proud of it and has spent a lot of time getting what he considers to be the best sound possible.

I had the Bryston owner pick the level he wanted to do the comparison at while listening to his system. I then used pink noise to level match the Onkyo to his system while he was out of the room. The Onkyo was running in its "Stereo Direct" analog mode.

I called him back in to listen, he sat down in the sweet spot and I replayed the same CD track he'd used to pick the levels. He immediately started complaining about how bad the Onkyo sounded. He said it sounded thin, compressed, harsh and a few other things. I smiled and turned the Onkyo off and the music kept playing. He'd said all those negative things about his own Bryston gear!

With him red faced, we proceeded to do at least an hour of listening with me swapping cables, or only pretending to, when he requested a switch. He listened to his favorite audiophile CDs. I did lots of swaps and fake swaps and during each would ask him which he thought he was listening to. In the end, his answers were roughly 50% correct which is the same as if he'd been randomly guessing. He even finally admitted, he couldn't tell which was which and WAS only guessing! I took his place and also couldn't hear any difference between the lowly receiver and his prized Bryston gear.

Not much of a budget but you are good with the AR table and Vandersteens. But you have to toss the old receiver idea, those were bloody awful. Maybe an older Yamaha or Sansui integrated amp but buy the time you freshen it up you are into real money. I'd buy a used but current integrated amp with an old time look. Spend a little money and don't cheap out on power or low line amps, get something good it will last a long time. 

Well, it wouldn't involve any receivers, that's for sure! Remember you said "musical" not "crapical"!  

For musical I would go with something like the Dynaco SCA-35 tube integrated amp. https://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/dynaco-sca35_e.html For speakers if we really are talking musical and vintage then it would be the Advents. Although they are horribly inefficient and won't play loud with this amp they will sound awfully musical and their vintage appeal cannot be denied. If you want your musical loud then JBL L25 which is what I got, or the slightly more expensive (and a lot better looking) L36.

Being vintage we cannot have real cables and must go with lamp cord so we take advantage of this and use our funds to buy a nice Dual turntable and of course the beautiful Pioneer TX-9100 tuner. https://stereonomono.blogspot.com/2015/04/pioneer-tx-9100.html
These could all be mint/refurbished and still be under $1500.

No idea on cost, I'll be close. Sansui, Infinity, and a Denon TT for DD or a Thoren for a belt, AR or Dual, will all work perfect too..

600.00 for a receiver
1000.00 speakers RS4b something like that..or VMPS Towers
3-600 for a TT and a good MM cart

Double that cost, is where I was at with Mcintosh. I still use Macs, Thoren, VMPS and a few more..

Cables 50 years ago.. 20 bucks.., mine were USAF surplus Silver # 12 still have them (100 foot was 40 dollars) I made ALL my own cable even back then, Copper, RCA cable and RCA ends.. No gold! Radio Shack.

Nickel, copper, some plated stuff back then. Sterling maybe..
I don't remember anything being gold plated..

Regards