We Can Make Classic Cars Outperform Today's "SuperCars": Why Not Vintage Audio?
If you spent $2M on a modern "Supercar", you’d arrive at the end of a quarter mile 2 football fields behind the quickest highly-modified "street legal" cars from the muscle car era. You could show up at an Autocross event in your late model "track ready" sports sedan, and be embarrassed by a lady pushing a 1986 Monte Carlo between the cones.
There’s a lot of resources and talent in the automotive aftermarket. Many of the brightest minds earned weekly paychecks in their "past lives" at major auto manufacturers. There are various disciplines involved including complete engine and drive train replacements, serious add-on/mods to existing components, bigger/better brakes, track-ready suspensions, etc. They can even slide a complete new high-performance rolling chassis underneath popular models.
So, why not vintage audio? Well, we do dip our toes into this a bit. There are popular speaker crossover replacements for the DYI crowd. But, these fall sonically short of their contemporary "high end" counterparts. The automotive equivalent of replacing a 2 BBL carb on a cast iron manifold with a 4 BBL carb on a cast iron manifold -- while keeping the original single exhaust system intact. We can do simple mods to improve the sonics -- like upgrading an original power cord that you wouldn’t want to use on a 2-splice toaster, much less a high-current amplifier. The really smart guys need to come to the rescue for true audiophile grade solutions.
Understandably there has to be a "high give a s--- factor" related to this. The speed parts industry is fueled by a wildly enthusiastic crowd while vintage audio owners are, like: "whatever". So, the chances of a superb $5k amp/preamp module that drops into a Marantz 1060 chassis and slays any modern gear near it’s price point may not be coming to a town near you anytime soon.
I think this can be incremental if we put our minds and wallets to it. You "car guys" know there are 3 basic types of collector cars. "Showroom stock" represents as close as possible the vehicle as it rolled off the assembly line. "Personalized" generally follows a stock appearance with performance and cosmetic improvements. Generally speaking, the car can be reverted to showroom stock at some point the future. All the original parts are carefully cataloged and placed in safe storage. "Modified" has the appearance of a race car, and performs like one. Often modifications to metal are performed, and in some cases there’s no going back. We can follow similar guidelines as well. We understand the motivation to keep things "stock". We can also understand the audiophiles that love their vintage gear would be open to the concept of a significantly better listening experience while maintaining a stock appearance and functionality. Chopping up an Auburn is a really bad idea. But, upgrading the input terminals on an integrated amplifier may be highly palatable for those cherished collectables.
I also get it that the ROI would be questionable. An amp that has a current market value of $2k with $5k worth of mods might still be worth $2k -- or less.
What say you?
WTF is the point of comparing a drag car to a supercar, to am amplifier? I would take a motorhome to drive across the country, or a BWM Izzetta or Mecherschmit KR-1 to get groceries, over a say a Dodge Fury sporting a 440 with a 6-pack. Why is it always a comparison (of whatever) with cars? |
@waytoomuchstuff - Don’t get me wrong, I would take a Lola chassis mascarading as a 60’s Ford GT40. But it is not like they have figured out how to make cars a whole lot lighter, and while some improvements in braking materials have happened… the physics of the cars is largely unchanged. And in HiFi electronics it is somewhat more easy, as there is no skill that needs to harness the equipment. One pretty much cables it up, and it is ready to go. It is not like amp only needs to do a 1/4 or 1/8th mile. They need enough power to drive the speakers, and more than that is not going to make the stereo better. Once it is too loud to listen to, then it is loud enough. The aftermarket stuff is relegated to power conditioning, cables, and on the terms of things that work there are also room treatments and DSP approaches. I am putting the cables and power conditioners into the fuzzy dice category, where they look cool, but do not make the things perform better most of the time. |
@waytoomuchstuff - lets think of the vehicle as the speaker. Then the racing line is like the audio signal. And the amplifier is the driver. One can have a go kart, with a 250cc engine in a light and easy to push vehicle (speaker), Or one can have a massive car with a massive engine and massive brakes. We do not need a massing engine in a kart, but we certainly need one to push around a hard to drive vehicle. If the driver cannot hold the line, then it will not accurate. And if the driver does not trail brake, but snaps their foot off of the throttle and then turns the wheel, the thing is not going to hold line. Any modulation of the braking and steering, and deviations from the line would be akin to distortions in the audio signal. That is about the best I can come up with. |
i use leafs 😎 |
Yeah. @jonwolfpell … |
