Top vintage receivers vs. modern high-end equipment

I have a Heathkit 151a integrated redone by Sam Kim and can't believe how sweet sounding it is.  He uses only the chassis and transformers and completely builds the amp from the ground up.  MC and MM phono sections.  Incredible linestage. If 8 watts work you can't do any better.  Google Sams Audio.

I have a Pioneer SX1010 connected to Pair of Pioneer HPM-100 speakers. I listen to this for background music playing Pandora through an old iPhone. I can have this setup playing all day at a moderate level without any listening fatigue. There is something to be said for synergy between components. It's very true that my system for critica listening; McIntosh and Sopra2's , is so much more detailed but for background music my Pioneer setup sounds fine.

I say go for it.  Vintage equipment can sound fantastic.  It also tends to appreciate in value and almost always looks cool.  I have a Marantz 2285b reciever that i had recapped and it sounds fantastic.  It's firmly on the warm side of neutral but you can listen to it all day.  My PrimaLuna HP integrated is much more detailed and has much better imaging but i like them both equally.

In my effort to get some high efficiency speakers for my newplace I bought some JBL Hartfields. They are powered up by McIntosh MX110 pre and a McIntosh225 amp. Sounds delicious and are a pure delight to listen to. MX110 has tape input, tuner and two inputs for vinyl.

I've serviced a bit of vintage gear and one thing I've noticed is that quite often if you really want the solid state stuff to work properly its going to cost a lot to make it happen- often more than tube gear. This is because there are a lot more electrolytic caps in both the power supplies and the signal path and in addition to that, the semiconductors often don't meet spec anymore due to corrosion.


I'd not realized until recently how insidious that last bit is- semiconductors gradually lose their Hfe (gain transconductance) and can become noisy or spitty. These days finding subs that actually work in the design can be challenging as there are so many counterfeits on ebay and the like.  A few days ago I had an amp that only made about 1/2 power before clipping- but it was caused by voltage and driver transistors simply having degraded to the point that the amp didn't have enough gain for the feedback to work properly at full power. This was after I had literally replaced all the electrolytics in sight. That amp was allegedly working when purchased! Yet it turned out the repairs were far more than the amp was worth fully rebuilt.


So (counter-intuitively)  its actually easier to properly refurbish tube equipment as a result.