The Allure of Vintage Audio Gear

Modern High End gear BLOWS AWAY vintage gear.

I have a collection of fine vintage gear... all REBUILT to OEM standards... Marantz 2325, Sansui G7500, Kenwood KA3500.KT5300, fully kitted Maranzt 4415/SQA1/CD4 demodulator/wired remote, Akai AS980/wired remote, NAD Monitor, Teac Reference, etc... all of them have been rebuilt to OEM specs.

But the only "vintage" gear that stands the march of time is my ARC D70-II and Conrad Johnson PV9 with the Teflon cap upgrades.  And the Acoustic Energy AE1 speakers... with the factory provided rubber surrounds!

Even so, modern gear like my Aleph 2 and 5 clones, FW F4 and F5, SIT 3, CJ MF2100 and various modern preamps and amps simply sound FAR bettter than vintage. The soundstage, detail, dynamics are FAR better than any of that vintage stuff.

Mind you, my vintage stuff was the top of the line then and it has been rebuilt to OEM -no LEDs- in the last three years... yet, yet... they sound very good for a mid 70s, mid 80s product.

I like them in my 4th and 5th systems, not for my main systems. They just don’t have the quality of modern audio design.

So, no, vintage is OK but be aware they will need serious rebuilds and will never sound as accurate as modern designs.  Forget about getting a deep soundstage, you will get good lateral positioning of the instruments but the detail and depth will be missing.   This is for the best of the best then... forget about the Marantz 2215 offer on eBay for $800 (absolute rip off ).

OK, my Linn LP12 is 35 years old... BUT, it’s like Grand Pa’s axe.. It currently is a Linn LP12, Trampolin 2, Lingo, Karousel, Keel, Ekos 2, etc.... the only thing that is vintage is the plinth.... everything else has been changed.

@esporma

Well, I know no one is going to change your mind, but I had someone over the other day who was dumbfounded and scratching his head. He was struggling with the fact that he spent $150,000 on completely modern equipment, yet I was getting sound quality that was - a little colored? Yes, but - as good and better than his for 1/3 the cost with vintage equipment regarding soundstage placement, detail, timber accuracy and particularly depth, height as well as breadth. The depth to the point that it is holographic / surround. He called it seductive and arresting.

Go figure.

My take…Depends on the gear, an appropriate setting and personal expectations. Above all it’s your ears and not the buffoon that listens out of his wallet. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard negative Vintage assumptions because your equipment is 30+ years old. I know there’s better out there both new and old, that said my system is well tuned, in the right setting with most believing close to perfect examples visually and sonically. A well set up Infinity IRS Beta layout powered by two Yamaha Pc 5002m’s (aka 101m) is hard to beat. Beyond the specs, old reviews, and dollars… 0 complaints so far. 
Cheers
 

@esporma  I must be old when I do not consider 80s transistor mid-fi receivers and amps to be classic vintage High-Fidelity equipment. 

The only reasons i bought vintage is i am old, i owned the Tannot dual concentric till few years ago , i bought them 55 years ago...

The other reason i bought a vintage Sansui alpha from 35 years ago is for the price, to beat it will cost a lot... it was the TOP of Sansui design.... ( most alpha models were never exported)

the last reason i bought a vintage heaphone is also price but his design is unique and it certainly qualify to be in the TOP headphones even today...

 Vintage ask for refurbishing if we are lucky and more if not...

 Nowadays there is  gear  very good at all price scale  even almost at cost  of peanuts...it is all related to our needs and our budget...

Anyway my vintage AKG K340 cannot be replaced by any headphone  i ever heard which all sound as trash compared...

And the Sansui i failed to upgrade it. when i  bought 1 year ago one of the best tube headphone amplifier  on the market to serve my King K340... failure and no comparison at all ... No synergy and unable to drive them at their  holographic peak level... I returned it losing few hundred bucks for assurance and postal fees and other fees...

I will stay vintage with my Sansui & my vintage headphone... By obligation...To have the same quality of my 400 bucks headphone vintage/amp it will cost me 10,000 bucks to rival it... And i am not sure because the K340 acoustic hybrid design is unique...