For Old Timers who experienced the "Golden Age" of Audio of the 60s and 70s.

I couldn't agree more with the above poster that modern gear completely smokes vintage gear.  And it doesn't need to be a 50k system either.

As one of those old timers who bought my first "good" system in 1977, Technics SA-5460 receiver, Avid 103 speakers, Technics SL-1400 TT and Shure V15 III cartridge, it cost about $1000 and sounded pretty good back in the day.  A grand adjusted for inflation today would be around $4100 and that can get you a vinyl based system that would kick the above vintage stuff to the curb.

Funny but many reminisce about the good old days and believe that some how the gear back then was better by sheer virtue of being vintage. This is turn is driving up prices of some restored vintage pieces to levels that exceeded what they originally cost.  If they used that same money on quality modern gear, they would be amazed at what's available today.

Don’t forget, the original Quad ESL was available back then, and so were good tube electronics, the Thorens TD-124 turntable, and the Decca cartridge. So a highly transparent, uncolored system was available, though only the audiophiles and early high end shops of the day knew it. Gordon Holt alone was writing about the good stuff in Stereophile (Harry Pearson and his Absolute sound not showing up until many years after Gordon had started publishing Stereophile), which was a subscription only quarterly (in a good year ;-), with a subscriber base of a few thousand. I discovered him and it in ’71, and that’s when my never-ending quest truly began. Prior to that, it was AR, Rectilinear (who remembers them?!), Shure, Dynaco, and McIntosh. I HATED those damn JBL Century L-100’s---unbearably bright, forward, and colored. But on the other side were the soft, dark, recessed, relatively neutral AR’s. Neither were very good! Hearing my first ESL’s (the RTR tweeters, then the Infinity Servo-Static I, then the Quads) was a revelation! Then Audio Research reached the West Coast, and the SP-3, D-75/D-51, bi-amped Magneplanar Tympani I's was IT!

My primary system is of modern vintage and primarily digitally based though I have a Sonograph turntable connected. I plan on using the ST-70 in a 2nd or 3rd system. I can't help but believe that a refurbished ST-70 with a PAS-3 pre wouldn't make for a nice system when mated to modern front end components and speakers.  

Dynaco electronics were sold as  DIY kits that could also be purchased pre-assembled.  I know that the sound of the Dynaco PAT-4 solid-state pre-amp couldn't touch the sound of a Mac C-26 or C-28.  The stereo 400 SS amp did much better against the Mac power amps.  I'm not saying they didn't exist, but I never heard any speakers in the 70's that compare with speakers of the last 25 years.  The Mac ML speakers, while great for reproducing loud rock music, lacked a lot when it came to presenting a convincing acoustic/classical sound.