2. vintage
  3. 160710-129549

Thinking about the good old days...

I'm definitely  an old geezer, and have a lot of experiences and memories to reflect on.  Lately, I've been remembering the enjoyment of "audio" back when I was just starting down this path: the music was just so amazingly enjoyable and fun.  I think my greatest satisfaction with my own audio stuff was when what-passed-for-my-system was a Fisher 90T tuner/preamp, Fisher 80AZ amp, a University speaker enclosure that I built ftom a lot fitted with 12" University woofer and some University tweeter (I forget what).  The only source was a Lenco turntable with a GE VR2 cartridge.  Dang, that stuff was just so wonderful to my young self!
pinkyboy
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,087 posts
 

Oops, It's Neil Young who own Hank's Martin. Martin's are well known to sound better as they age. As for old pickups, guitarists are willing to pay big money for pickups taken out of old guitars (ask Ry Cooder ;-) . Seymour Duncan does a great job of replicating old Fender pickups.

Fender switched from lacquer to polyurethane as the finish on their guitars and basses in '66 and the lacquer-finished '66 and earlier examples are worth considerable more than the poly-finished ones. Why? They sound better. Bassist Leland Sklar (James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Carole King, Phil Collins, Toto) bought the P-bass body of his "Frankenstein" with no finish at all---unfinished wood is more resonant.

jssmith
325 posts
 
@bdp24  Modern violin players are still trying to recreate instruments that sound like the Stradivari


A blind test already debunked the Stradivarius myth. People, including elite violinists, actually preferred the sound of the modern violin*. Again, it's all about nostalgia and status.

There's an actual term for this longing for the past called Rosy retrospection. Even pro musicians are not immune to it.

The most technically-proficient guitar players (Vai, Govan, Malmsteen, Batio, Buckethead, etc.) all play guitars of their own design, not vintage ones.

Your Prius analogy is flawed. In keeping with your original cars, I'd take a new Lincoln Continental over a (new) old one. The new model will ride better, handle better, stop quicker, last far longer, be safer, have a better sound system, have more comfortable heated seats, have tires that last at least twice as long, an exhaust that will never rust, a body that will take far longer to rust, and be quieter.

As far as CDs, almost all mine have been sold. Why waste the space and suffer the inconvenience when I can stream and play almost any album in existence, by voice-control no less, for $150/yr? As for LPs, I gave those away in 1990. 

Time marches on.

* https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/million-dollar-strads-fall-modern-violins-blind-sound-check

* https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/04/elite-violinists-fail-distinguish-legendary-violins-modern-f...
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,087 posts
 

Blind testing? I'm going to guess you're not a "tube guy". ;-)

Roger Modjeski (of Music Reference and RAM Tube Works fame), though a completely "modern" amplifier designer, considered the OTL design of Julius Futterman---created in the 1950's---a work of genius. He DID find ways of making it more practical and dependable (a priority of yours it would appear @jssmith. It was for Roger as well), but not a way to improve the sound of it. Some feel the same way about the Quad ESL, another design from the 1950's (a great decade!).

pinkyboy's avatar
pinkyboy OP
11 posts
 
@jssmith ... you wrote, " Your Prius analogy is flawed. In keeping with your original cars, I'd take a new Lincoln Continental over a (new) old one. The new model will ride better, handle better, stop quicker, last far longer, be safer, have a better sound system, have more comfortable heated seats, have tires that last at least twice as long, an exhaust that will never rust, a body that will take far longer to rust, and be quieter."

All of that may well be true, but I'm sticking with this 34 year old: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rfpd300/28380971501/in/album-72157648991024725/  
jacksky
102 posts
 
Since listening at night when all had to be quiet in the house, headphones was my first foray to “better” audio.
i knew nothing about placement (Martin Speakers made in NJ). So the separation of instruments on headphones allowed me to listen toELP well Into the late hours of the night. Yup, Koss headphones with a little slide lever to attenuate bass. I was KING of my 6’x9’ boy cave.
after a listening session I had to massage the pain out of my ears, Koss were heavyweights!   Someone turned me on to Sennheisers, barely weighed a couple of ounces, no sealed design yet they put out bass....had to have them.
More to discover