Oldest piece of gear you own

Acoustic Research integrated amp,purchased new in 1973,paired it with AR 3a's which sounded great,now have in a den with 1980ish Ohm Walsh 2.This little system with a very old Onkyo CD player sounds incredible,friends are amazed by it,the AR amp was designed for 4 ohms which both the 3a and Walsh are.

Dhcod,

I remember those old Advent 300s. Great little piece, at least when working. Many seemed to have issues, but some still survive. How does yours stack up to your other more modern gear? In terms of Pre-amp? Tuner? Phono? I've on occasion thought of picking one up just because I was always fond of those little gizmos. Thanks.

Al, I have an old Air King AM table radio that's been in my family since I was a kid sitting around. 1940 something vintage I'm guessing. One of these days, I might try to get it working again on my own. I also have plans to pick up an original but nicely refurbed Victrola some day to play 78s on. There is a guy who owns a small General Store not far away in Railroad, PA., near Shrewsbury, just off the old railway trail, that has refurbs and displays them in his store amongst all the other vintage and modern stuff he sells there. I almost bit last time there! Listening to those was quite a treat!

The Air King's can be very nice performers, Mapman, if well restored and/or in good condition, although most of them are not worth a great deal. There are a few very rare plastic (not wood) Air King models, though, that are considered to be important and influential works of industrial design and industrial art. Those particular models, depending on their color and condition, can be worth many thousands or even tens of thousands. Most notably two models from the early 1930's, the 52 and 66, and to a much lesser extent the model 770 from a few years later, and the A-600 from the 1940s.

You can find many pics of those models via a Google images search. I've never seen any of them in person, though, in about 20 years of collecting :-)

Best,
-- Al

My Air king is all wood cabinet. Darn. I guess I won't retire off that anytime soon. :-) It also needs to be refinished.

I used to listen to it a lot as a kid. It has AM and shortwave bands. I recall it being the most sensitive radio I had heard when in good operating conditon, picking up AM stations from many miles away, and shortwave from around the world, with no external antenna even. No transistor radio I have ever heard could match it. Definitely a case of tubes beats SS, at least in terms of reception/sensitivity. Sound quality is OK, nothing special.

Why is it that it seems many older tube radios outperform most transistor models since in regards to ability to pick up remote stations clearly? More sensitivity I suppose. I guess back in the heyday of radio, prior to TV a radio that picked up many distant stations had more general appeal or something. Nothing to do with the tubes, right? Maybe the power supplies?

Why is it that it seems many older tube radios outperform most transistor models since in regards to ability to pick up remote stations clearly?

No question about it. The golden age of radio was arguably the 1930s, when a good performing and good looking radio had a place of honor in the living room, providing the family with music and other forms of entertainment, as well as news. And stations in those days were fewer and farther between than today, and used transmitters that were in most cases much lower powered than those used today.

So there was much more of an incentive in those days for manufacturers to produce well made, good looking, good performing, and good sounding AM radios than there is today. I have more than a few 1930s sets in my collection that put to shame any solid state AM radio I've ever encountered.

As in audio, what counts most is usually how well the selected design approach is implemented, and not which design approach is chosen.

Best,
-- Al