What's the oldest piece of gear in your system?

A Conrad Johnson PV-5 preamp. It's a 1984 which i bought unopened from a dealer in 1986. Since then it's had new higher grade caps, new power supply, and obviously many different tubes. I love it and probably wont sell it but I am looking into a new preamp, possibly Shindo Monbrison, Audio Horizons TP 2.1, or DeHavilland Ultra Verve.--Mrmitch

The one that changes disks.

Audio Research SP-3a1, which I've owned since 1974. I recently had it upgraded to SP-3c. 2nd oldest piece is a Linn Sondek LP12, owned since 1977.

Man, my whole system! Citaton 17 preamp, Ciation 16A amp, Dual 1229 turntable with Grace 747 tone arm, Advent 201A cassette Sony TC-755 reel to reel... I am still happy, so why change?

2)TungSol JAN/CTL 6SN7GT round plates and 2)Sylvania JAN/CHS 6SN7W tall bottles from the 1940's. No- I haven't owned them quite that long.

I have a piece of marble that my sub amp sits on. It's probably 700 million yrs old or more.

26 tubes, which until I plugged them in, probably haven't seen electricity since the 40's. Hogan 300b amp, which probably has OPT's from the 50's or 40's, and Akai el84 mono blocks taken from old tape recorder, from the 60's or 70's.

ARC SP3 since 1974. Upgraded to SP3c in 2002.
Linn LP12 since 1977.

Like Cello above the answer is "me". Made in 1942 and born in May 1943 and still enjoying Audio. Other that that it is a quad of RCA Cunningham 45s and RCA Biplate 2A3s both made in 1943 also (a coincidence?)

A vintage tuner, of course. Sansui TU-919 from 1980.

Seriously...no Edison's or Victors?

Check out this really old stuff...

http://www.talkingmachines.com/

A 1961 Bell tube integrated amp.It has the original 4 RCA 6V6 power tubes and 4 Telefunken 12AX7.
It has those terrible 8 and 16 0hm small screw speaker connectors.It has a mm phono stage, never been modded and works flawlessy.It spends it's time powering Mission 770(late70's) speakers and a Pioneer TX 8500 11 tuner.
About 16-20 watts of fun.

If you're looking for validation on the Sota Star, I'll toast to it. I have the Series I, upgraded with a Cosmos armboard. The arm is SME 309. SMEs in general mate well with the relaxed sound of the Sotas. There are just many ways to climb the mountain. A cartridge upgrade is my next step, rather than a table upgrade.

the oldest component is a vtl deluxe 120 amplifer. i have had it over 10 years. i'm not sure of its vintage.

I too still have a Threshold 4000's from 1979, just packed up my oldest piece yesterday, a Technics SP-10 from around 1974.

1979 Threshold 4000 amp.

1959 Pilot 402 receiver. Waiting for return from partial restoration.

1959 Pilot 402 receiver. Recently refurbished with NOS Siemens E84L output tubes and NOS brown-base Mullard 5AR4 rectifier. I believe this is the best-sounding receiver ever built.Through my 1986 Rauna Tyr II monitors and a Joseph Chow refurbished H/K Citation 14 tuner, this is the most musical sounding bedroom system I have ever had. I practically live in my bedroom now.

Wow! Some of the listed items are pretty old. The oldest item I have in my main system is a totally refurbished McIntosh MR-73 tuner that I listen to almost every morning.
I am also about to list a pair of H.H. Scott two way speakers, Model S-10B, in walnut veneer here on Audiogon. I am the original owner; and they were part of a H.H. Scott compact stereo system I bought back in the late 1960s. The system served me very well, and was my first true stereo system.

My whole system, except for cartridges.

McIntosh MC40 monoblocks (62-69)
Sansui 1000A (68 or 69)
Altec 604-8g studio monitors (mid 70's)
Thorens 160 (mid 70's)

It has all been gone thru and freshened up, and it all works flawlessly and sounds great to me.

Ooops, I just noticed even this thread is vintage. LOL

Citation 16 power amp in beautiful condition. I don't use it any longer, but can't bear to part with it. Bought it new in 1977. It drove some JBL subs for a long time. One of the best woofer amps ever made.

The oldest piece of gear in my possession is a pair of Scott "bookshelf" speakers that were purchased by my father in 1967. The "bookshelf" designation was always questionable in my eyes because they are very heavy and have such prodigious low frequency output that I would expect them to propel themselves off of most of the bookshelves that I have seen. I also have a Nakamichi 600 cassette deck from the mid 70s, a Syrinx PU-2 tonearm from the early 80s, and one of the original VPI HW16 record cleaners, all of which work quite well.

1965 ElectroVoice 12-TRX's in 1959 Aristocrat cabs. They still sing sweet as ever, as the day I purchased them in '65. Although I do have a late 1920's - 1930's Lafayette 2 channel (Globe 45's) amp with matching field coil speakers that I listen to from time to time for music of that period.

Although the components are not currently being used, I still have the first system I purchased back in 1973. The set up includes a Sansui 8 receiver, a Teac A-640 cassette tape deck, a Technics SL-1301 turntable and Epicure Twenty Plus speakers. I suspect they have resided in 17 different apartments, condos and houses since being purchased in 1973.

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me
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A pioneer tx6500 tuner. Beats the hell out of most surround receiver tuner sections made today. I bought it around 1972 or 1973.

wow..an apt/holman preamp purchased in 1978.chuckle,i think i'll put it up for sale

I think I may have some form of audiophile OCD, nothing is older then 8 months now.

My father is the original owner and it has been used on and off, mostly on, for 40 years. Over the years, both he and I have tried other amps but have invariably pulled them out for repair or to try in another system, putting the Marantz in "temporarily", where it then sits for years.

Yeah, good point Nrchy! I almost forgot the most important (and most in need of upgrade) part of my system! 130+ years old ;)

Hey dirty, how about that room?

Hmmmm, it's all pretty new stuff in my rig. The oldest would be the Conrad amp--late 90's vintage!

I had an '84 AR Turntable/Linn Basik but sold it (I miss it!) and I have an early 70's Pioneer quadrophonic 1/4" reel but it could use a litte TLC...it's not in my rig, that's for sure.

Thorens TD150 MkII turntable, NAD 3020 integr.amp, Infinity Modulus bkshelf spkrs (orig's from 1990).

The former two still charm for their no-nonsense design. The overall quality of the latter is still surprising. These are like old faithful dogs that one just keeps about the house: not fancy; in their time well-bred; and now just very familiar.

magnepan mg1.solid oak rails!

Fisher 800-B receiver (1961), currently in use as my system's tuner while I contemplate using it as the center of a modest bedroom system. I received this pristine unit from my dad who no longer had use for it. IMHO, a beautifully made piece of tube gear with some wonderful history about it, see http://antiqueradio.org/fish02.htm.

Err... prety much all of it!
Tannoy Little Reds ('81) mint
Studer A727 cdp (ca'85)
QUAD 520f ('80something)
Technics TT ('80)
Surrey Electronics balanced phono pre ('80)
This all replaced a fairly recent Arcam system which, in direct comparison, didn't stand a chance.
Whatever happened to progress?

From my late Grandad's collection....Series 80 "The Fisher" tuner-pre amp in superb looking condition from about the mid to late 50's I believe. Still works, although I have it placed in the last open shelf of the rack just as a sentimental conversation piece. I smile as I look at it next to my more modern Wadia and ARC gears! A nice mix of old and new.

This is an easy one. In my two channel system I have a pair of Dynaco MKIII's that have all the Curcio mods installed. They are driving a pair of Magnepan SMGa's.

I think its the UTC A-20 600/600 ohm bridging transformer (1940's?) I use to convert my cheap jogging cd player to mono before feeding it to the 50's Grommes Little Gem int. amp driving a 1954 Klipschorn. 5Hz to 50KHz BW and seperate 150 ohm windings makes it a very useful stereo to mono converter!

tha' tuna.

I buy a lot of vintage stuff, so I always have old stuff. I guess the oldest item I have that I have kept, is a Marantz 8b. It has been in my family since 1963, and is the item that got me interested in audio in the frist place. I keep it for sentimental reasons: My father purchased it new. Yet, every now and then I like to hook it up and listen to it. It never stops amazing me how this little box with glowing orange lights can create such wonderfull sound. It always brings me back to my childhood when I listen to it. It is a fine instrament, like the great violins of Europe, the Guarneri and Stratavarius. That is how it think of it, as a great work of art.

Sean THANK YOU. That Harmon-Kardon was taken from my car many years ago and now you have found it! Just send it to my home address and I will take care of the polishing up on that old copper chassis.

By the way, do you remember those LP's that were really great sounding that you found at a good deal? Those are mine too, just send them along in the box with the HK.

I think my oldest piece went out the door a few months back. It was made in about 1961, was in mint shape and said "Marantz" with a serial number of "#81" on it. I traded it for a Hewlett-Packard Spectrum Analyzer Mainframe with several freshly calibrated plug-in modules that were fully guaranteed. When brand new, this equipment listed for about $30,000. Needless to say, it was a deal that i couldn't pass up.

The guy that i traded with owns a Cal Lab and is an avid Marantz collector. He told me that this was the nicest 8 that he had ever seen, hence his willingness to part with the equipment that i got in return. It will probably blend right in with his Marantz 2 and 9 mono-block's. I later traded him a Marantz 7 that i had "laying around" too : )

Other than that, my next oldest is probably a Harman-Kardon A-300. This is a beautiful old tube tuner that has an all copper chassis and cage on it. Believe it or not, the copper still gleams and i've never cleaned it with any type of metal polish, etc... I can't find any info on it, so if anybody knows anything about it or where i can find info about it, i'd love to hear from you : ) Sean
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Me, but nothing to do with old or new. :-)

I'm not sure which piece is older but they're all from the same golden tube era.
Speakers: Jensen CX120, EV 12TRXB coaxials from late 50s
amp: Lafayette KT550, Heathkit SA-2, scott LT-48, pilot 240 from the late 50s early 60s,
preamp: HK Citation I, Eico HF-85, marantz 7c, dynaco pas-3 from the 60s
tuner: MAC MR-71, Eico HF-90 from 70s and 60s
Turntable: EMT 930ST from the early 70s

The newest equipment I have is Marantz CD 17 MKII from the late 90s

I guess that makes me a "vintage" guy

Happy listening

Aside from NOS tubes it's the McIntosh MR-73 Tuner, circa 1969.

My Dad.

Scully record lathe with Westerex 3D cutterhead. The lathe dates from 1947.

also

Ampex 351 tape machine from 1957 (1/2" tape). Rebuilt of course. Unstoppable.

Both sound fabulous.

I have a McIntosh MI 3 that was made in the early 1960s. It is called a Maximum Performance Indicator. It has a small oscilloscope built into the front panel. You would connect this unit to a MacIntosh tuner (although I believe that you could use it with other tuners as well). The oscilloscope would show the amount of multipath present in the signal so you could rotate your antenna (many people who owned this unit had a motorized antenna that could go up and down and around) and optimize the antenna's position for minimum multipath distortion. It's pretty cool to see the 'scope present the signal.

Barry Kohan