The Allure of Vintage Audio Gear

Aloha

I have an engineering background in military electronics. Specifically, airborne geo-location and surveillance systems.I trained as a radioman in the USAF and was recruited by ESL in Sunnyvale a month before discharge.I recently un-retired and opened a vintage radio shop.

I love working on tube equipment and have a mix of new and older test gear. These days, I don’t have a lot of radios coming to the shop for repair; except for a recent KLH Model Eight that just needed retuning due to aged components. The bulk of my day to day work is guitar amps and I really enjoy working with musicians on the restorations and voicing modifications they seek.

Apparently, I’ve developed a tube guru reputation in less than a year. Unfortunately, I have difficulty engaging with the high-end tube audio community in Honolulu. Out of a dozen phone calls, where I was ‘interviewed” and found wanting, the only thing that came in for repair was a beat up McIntosh MR78. That customer was put off by my inability to give him a firm estimate and ended up selling it to me for $100.  So, I’m here to learn the lingo used to describe subjective performance. I’m very open minded and can’t stand to listen to bad audio. I’m hoping I’m in the right place.

Mahalo
James

Almost world best microphones (>$20k) are from 1940~60’s. I can hear they sound clear and better with little noise than modern $20k mics. Mic and speaker are same topology. They made a better mics and they made better speakers then.

Since last 40 years audio makers don’t mention about the natural sound and music any more. They only say about the technology. And modern hi-fi sound became more distorted and noisy. No wonder all recordings sound noisy (bad) by bad sound mics. So as audio equipment.

You can hear/compare most expensive vintage mics’ ($30k) sounds and compare to a current best mic here. Alex/WTA

https://wavetouchaudiopro.com/

I used to sell many of the popular vintage lines (as a young sales pup at lafayette Radio, TEch Hifi, Radio Shack) and have heard pretty much everything since. I remember how the various products sounded back then when new quite well!

Anything "vintage" is old (like me). Old things typically no longer function like new or anything close unless maintained or other wise properly repaired.

My experience with modern repairs of vintage gear has not been good. It often has a short life then you are back where you started or worse.

So..... if you are getting a good deal on a piece that is in good working condition (which is hard to determine), just don’t overpay and it may work out. But at that point, you may end up paying a premium just for vintage bling. Most modern quality gear will outperform most vintage equivalents.

But if you think you must have that "vintage" sound and/or bling, FBOFW, then by all means have at it. It’s what you like that matters and nothing else. You might even luck out and get a good deal!

I put together a decent system in the mid -90s, and haven't changed it since. It has been re-cabled, re-capped and cleaned; one broken volume custom pot in the pre-amp has led to replacement of both pots with two quality stepped-resistor attenuators. For 30 years I haven't really compared to new(er) stuff as things other than HiFi took priority. Last year something else went awry (DAC), and I started looking again. So far, my conclusion is that good vintage components, properly maintained, can sound as good as modern gear. Emphasis on good components.

Do I "prefer" vintage? No, not as such. But I would need to hear something that convincingly sounds better, not just different. Until now, this hasn't happened - provided I stay within reasonable pricing comparisons (i.e. not a £20k modern pair of speakers vs. my £5k inflation-adjusted 1995 ones).

Similarly, I would say that there is no 'vintage sound'; a Yamaha CA-2010 through a pair of Yamaha NS-1000 does not sound like an Audiolab 8000A through a pair of Rogers LS3/5a, never mind the source.