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Your feelings on vintage audio.

Harkening back to the days of my youth.....my neighbor owned a console with a Scott fm tuner, Fisher amp and a TT. I loved playing with and listening to music through it.

And with the resurgence of interest in older equipment in the market, its' impression of quality sound reproduction and build, perhaps nostalgic feelings and wanting to dabble in tubes on my part, I've gone ahead and purchased a Scott 350B tuner.

I'm also looking at another 350 and Scott intergrated.
I know they'll need some work. But for the price it seems like a fun way to step into tubes, satisfy this urge and you gotta admit some of that gear is absolutely stunning looking!

So...What do you guys and gals think? Worth the admission price plus repairs? Waste of time and cash? Could do better DIY or newer used equipment?

Sound Quality? From reading sounds like I might be getting mids but poor highs and poor bass!
Build Quality?

How does CD sound through the gear? Are there difficulties using CD with this older gear?

Maybe some speaker recommendations. Sat/Sub (problems with subs?), monitor, full range or single driver? The integrateds I'm looking at run anywhere from 15 to 30 watts RMS.

Thought this might be a fun pastime; I look forward to your input.

Best
corazon

Showing 4 responses by kennythekey

kennythekey
593 posts
 
If you're intereted in acquiring vintage gear that has been restored and/or transformed then check out these links:

http://www.samsaudiolabs.com/index.html
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=64318.0

I am one of Sam's customers, so no affiliation.
kennythekey
593 posts
 
To me, Vintage gear means the late fifties and sixties, so the age of Stereo and Tubes. The Seventies saw the decline of tube for solid state, that went hand-in-hand with the explosion of the music scene and mass production. This mass production really hurt the industry, but at the same time it created many music lovers.

There may have been exceptions...Remember, GAS (Great American Sound)?...Ampzilla and the Son of Ampzilla, etc.!!!

I personally owned some mid-fi Sansui 717 series equipment, and still have my TU-717 Tuner. I recently inserted this tuner into my system, and it really sounds mid-fi, so completely non-involving, fat, and low-res. On the other hand, my 1964 McIntosh MR71 Tuner sounds wonderful.

I agree with Onemalt that the Eighties did make BPC, but this was already starting in the Seventies with BMC.

Going back to the Sixties and the Scott Sound question originally posted, I feel this equipment possessed the finest tone of any period which we still seek out today.
kennythekey
593 posts
 
Isochronism - The Heathkits may be the best of the low-watt vintage amps for high efficiency systems. Very nice.

Corazon - Congratulations, good luck, and enjoy.

My favorite component is my McIntosh MR71 Tuner because I found it in a used equipment store back in the Eighties, in a pile of junk, on a shelf, on the back wall. It looked like hell and barely worked when I got it.
kennythekey
593 posts
 
Regarding looks, sometimes Audio Classics mentioned above has wood cabinets. However, I have found the most beautiful vintage replication cabinets at this site:

http://mcintoshcabinets.com/

I plan on getting one these for my McIntosh MR71 Tuner.
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