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

I am in the process of establishing a vintage system  Currently have an AR XA turntable and a refurbished, however original stock, Dynaco ST-70 amp. Looking to buy a pair of sensitive 8+ ohm speakers. May use a passive pre.  

been there ...started in the early 70s with a Sony receiver, Garrard turntable,  and AR bookshelves in my freshman year...

Then moved up to a MARANTZ 2245 receiver, ELAC MIRACORD turntable and a progression of speakers including DYNACO A25s, EPI 100s and finally the JBL L-100s.

Lets remember what the EPIs and DYNACOs etc represented: a cheap and cheaply made mass-market "new revolution" bookshelf product for the burgeoning wave of baby boomers flooding the college dorms as receivers and bookshelves replaced traditional home units.

The L-100s were a perfect match back then for the 60s and 70s pop and rock music facilitator, especially for a misspent youth immersed in Maui-Wowee infused college dorm arena. They had a particular "California" sound.... that's why they were the studio monitors of their time ....a heavily spiked bass, A heavily spiked midrange, and AN equally heavily spiked AND PROMINENT treble response... perfect for the pop and loud rock of that era. 
The L-100s performance completely killed the EPIs and DYNACOs .... not even close.


FAST FORWARD TO TODAY.....

With a high-end system today (~ $50K for 2 channel system) the "vintage" kit brings back a nostalgia wave reminiscent of a gentler time...BUT the current gear performance completely smokes the vintage kit ...again not even a close...full stop.

Its been an interesting progression .....

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!