Did the Old Receivers Sound Good?
Before the high end started, we had all these receivers and integrated amps from Pioneer, Kenwood, Sansui, Sherwood, etc., all with incredible specs. Then somehow we decided that specs didn't matter and we started moving to the more esoteric stuff from Ampzilla, Krell and whoever, but the specs were not as good. My question is - Did the old Japanese stuff with the great specs sound better? I don't remember. I'm asking because many seem to be moving back to the "specs are everything" mindset and I was thinking about all that old stuff with so many zeros to the right of the decimal point.
depends... I gave up on the "vintages" from the 1970s after I did some serious A/B testing vs. the newer little Marantz nr1200 amp and that little Marantz blew 'em all away (including the vintage Marantz) that said, I have used an Onkyo Integra receiver from 1986 with excellent results for years... tx88 also, my totl Pioneer Elite receiver from 1999 sounds rich, deep, gorgeous |
Do any members out there have a vintage stereo shop. that way we could compare old equipment versus new equipment, head to head in the same room on the same speakers. I would like to hear the results of this if somebody out there can do this for us please. I also have a question the modern equipment does have room correction which is going to give it an advantage, but is there a way to add correction to older equipment like that? I would also like to see a comparison of old tube equipment versus new to equipment and old transistor equipment versus new and just find out which is the best. Hey, this is a great subject, way to go. Very interesting. |
I wish there was a shop @jason-mc9. Why I work on my own equipment. New vs vintage really isn't a fair comparison unless capacitors have been charged to match new performance. I have always heard huge improvement over a recap. 40-50-70 year old capacitors just don't work the same as new. @curtdr nr1200 marantz? I would have to take a listen. But I directly compared a marantz 7t with marantz 16b recapped serviced. Upgraded signal caps, filter caps, change out of spec resisters. I compared it to a Marantz PM8006 integrated $1500. There was no comparison with 7t and 16b were so much better. Friend has a marantz 30 class D integrated, he was shocked I really wanted to like the PM8006 but felt sterile, flat cold. Nr1200 being more of an intro amp. I don't see it beating PM8006 or a dual mono block separates from the 70s. 22xx serial 1970s I could see it beating it but I am open minded take listen when i get a chance.
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Of course to be fair the old equipment would have to have new caps and have all the parts and switches cleaned but what I really want to know is old spec tube equipment, new spec tube equipment, old spec transistors and new spec transistors all factory fresh all tested at the same time in the same listening room I’m sure each is going to sound good with certain speakers and not with others but inquiring minds want to know |
In Junior High School (70’s) I bought a Pioneer SX 535 with lawn money, and after awhile I came to the conclusion it was terrible. My next purchase as an audio salesman was a Kenwood KA-5500 integrated. It was a sweet sounding amplifier, that I wish I still had. I wish I’d have used my salesman’s discount to buy a Marantz, but I wasn’t a fan of FM so I’m sure the Kenwood was the better choice. Marantz had the great knobs, especially the tuning knob but the Kenwood had meters! My guess is that the Kenwood would still stand up well to modern amps… my buddy who had a Dynaco ST 70 amp liked the sound of my Kenwood. |
