The Allure of Vintage Audio Gear

The only vintage I would think about purchasing today would be a pair of Rectilinear 3A or Rectilinear 7 speakers.  I owned both in the early through late 70’s but stupidly sold them for something I thought would be better, it was not. 

I got into high end audio to the extent I could in the early 70’s as well. With the exception of a few tube amps (generally from the 60’s) which brought unusual warmth with some real lack of details and a very high noise floor, but a unique warm sound… that old gear was just not good sounding in comparison to the gear available today. I keep an old early seventies integrated amp that I bought in 1972 around to look at. But honestly, it’s only good to look at. 

If I collected anything to listen to it would be some really old tube gear.

I have rebuilt 1960s monobloc amplification with modern tubes. They sound excellent with fine detail, good bass and superb midband. 

@stereo5 : I have both the tall and the short Rectilinear III speakers in my collection. Along with a pair of the mini-III's. Excellent but now forgotten speakers. I believe Richard Shahinian designed the III's.

Vintage gear can provide an affordable platform for mods and updates that can give stellar performance for a fraction of the cost of comparable new gear. My system is largely modded vintage tube gear, but the remote on my DAC brings me into this century!

God forbid I should ever have a fire or a theft, because I’d be hard pressed to duplicate the sound I get with whatever an insurance company would offer in compensation.