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We Can Make Classic Cars Outperform Today's "SuperCars": Why Not Vintage Audio?

If you spent $2M on a modern "Supercar", you’d arrive at the end of a quarter mile 2 football fields behind the quickest highly-modified "street legal" cars from the muscle car era. You could show up at an Autocross event in your late model "track ready" sports sedan, and be embarrassed by a lady pushing a 1986 Monte Carlo between the cones.

There’s a lot of resources and talent in the automotive aftermarket. Many of the brightest minds earned weekly paychecks in their "past lives" at major auto manufacturers. There are various disciplines involved including complete engine and drive train replacements, serious add-on/mods to existing components, bigger/better brakes, track-ready suspensions, etc. They can even slide a complete new high-performance rolling chassis underneath popular models.

So, why not vintage audio? Well, we do dip our toes into this a bit. There are popular speaker crossover replacements for the DYI crowd. But, these fall sonically short of their contemporary "high end" counterparts. The automotive equivalent of replacing a 2 BBL carb on a cast iron manifold with a 4 BBL carb on a cast iron manifold -- while keeping the original single exhaust system intact. We can do simple mods to improve the sonics -- like upgrading an original power cord that you wouldn’t want to use on a 2-splice toaster, much less a high-current amplifier. The really smart guys need to come to the rescue for true audiophile grade solutions.

Understandably there has to be a "high give a s--- factor" related to this. The speed parts industry is fueled by a wildly enthusiastic crowd while vintage audio owners are, like: "whatever". So, the chances of a superb $5k amp/preamp module that drops into a Marantz 1060 chassis and slays any modern gear near it’s price point may not be coming to a town near you anytime soon.

I think this can be incremental if we put our minds and wallets to it. You "car guys" know there are 3 basic types of collector cars. "Showroom stock" represents as close as possible the vehicle as it rolled off the assembly line. "Personalized" generally follows a stock appearance with performance and cosmetic improvements. Generally speaking, the car can be reverted to showroom stock at some point the future. All the original parts are carefully cataloged and placed in safe storage. "Modified" has the appearance of a race car, and performs like one. Often modifications to metal are performed, and in some cases there’s no going back. We can follow similar guidelines as well. We understand the motivation to keep things "stock". We can also understand the audiophiles that love their vintage gear would be open to the concept of a significantly better listening experience while maintaining a stock appearance and functionality. Chopping up an Auburn is a really bad idea. But, upgrading the input terminals on an integrated amplifier may be highly palatable for those cherished collectables.

I also get it that the ROI would be questionable. An amp that has a current market value of $2k with $5k worth of mods might still be worth $2k -- or less.

What say you?

128x128waytoomuchstuff
aubbrin570
14 posts
 

As a car guy myself I get where you are coming from however I believe the difference is that in the car world, you are dealing with "man vs nature" in that we are trying to go faster or stop faster etc which is simply fighting gravity in the end.  There is always a way to go faster (or fight gravity), we just haven't figured it out (yet), and thats with any car/vehicle.  In audio, and this is general, the reference is a live performance let's say.  If a speaker can reproduce that exactly, that is the "end game". No where to go from there. We spend alot on trying to get as close as possible to that live performance(or the exact recording) we may be 99% there and spend multi thousands $ to get to maybe 99.3%. With cars, say in 1960, an 8.84 second quarter mile was the NHRA record. Today, NHRA guys do it under 4 seconds.  What will it be in another 30 years? 

Summing up, if you look at the last century vehicles have gone from model a's to space shuttles and still growing.  Speakers in their general form have not changed much..... 

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff OP
1,139 posts
 

@fraterperdurabo Your post deserves a "yes" on all points.

It's interesting what a 5 cent investment can make replacing the D-clip with an O-ring to keep the idler wheel in place on an old turntable. 

My topic focuses on the lack of maturity in the "performnce aftermarket" for audio gear.  Here we go, once again, on a car analogy (sorry).  I would say that 100% of the guys who drive "cool cars" are aware they can make them perform better with aftermarket parts and/or application of newer technology.  Yes, straight line grunt, but also, handling, comfort and safety. I would say that 90%+ of them have done "something" to enhance the performance of their vehicles (if they actually drive them).  Moving on to audio, I would say that less than 10% of vintage audio owners know that there a sonic gains to be made, and less than 1% have actually done something.  I've seen remarkable transformations in vintage gear while retaining its "showroom stock" appearance and functionality.  

Thanks for the post.

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff OP
1,139 posts
 

@moto_man It’s not very useful sometimes to take a "logical" approach to "illogical" purchases. Emotions are intangible, and if we’re trying to make the math work, we’re going to be left scratching our heads.

Big receivers were the "big block Chevelles" of the day. Muscular, and "the brand" to own was, well, THE brand to own. Porche 911s were a different critter altogether. More refined, better all around performer, but didn’t have the "correct number of cylinders (8)" and didn’t come from the correct factory (Detriot). Not even on the radar for American muscle car enthusiasts.

Now more nostalgia. Tube amplifiers, although sonically superior, were priced out of range at the time, and were more complex. You needed a preamp, AND a tuner, AND more cables, AND more space. AND more money. The power ratiings were also lower, which to raw horsepower guys were not very appealing. And, yes,, a big receiver would play louder. So, the incidence of "big receivers" vs vacuum tube separates in the homes of the "average" consumer (whateve that is) was very high. So, the walk down memory lane to tube gear is a narrow path compared to mass appeal to "mainstream" big power receivers.

Your buddy bought the big Marantz because something drew him to it. I can’t tell. you what all those factors might have been (he owned one, a buddy owned one, he always wanted to own one, or ???) but I can say for certain that sound quality "bang for the buck" was not one of them.

Who’s to say what factors contribute to someone’s enjoyment of their music and the hardware that reproduces it? He could have spent $2k on a new bike, or tire/wheel upgrade for his car. He spent it on hifi gear. And, should make us smile.

ebm
9,311 posts
 

Dream on!!

waytoomuchstuff's avatar
waytoomuchstuff OP
1,139 posts
 

@aubbrin570 

I got involved in drag racing at a time when AA Fuel Dragsters were just breaking 200MPH in the quarter mile.  Now, guys drive their cars to the tracks and go faster than that.  1,000HP "at the wheels" is not a rarity in "daily drivers" today.  My Rivian R1T (835HP) is the quickest vehicle in my barn of pretty serious hot rods.

I agree with you on the speaker basics.  I do have to inject that "the stuff inside" has gotten a lot better.  And, those old speakers can really sing when you get things out of the way make them sound worse.

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