Oldest piece of gear you own

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

Al, i also have a newer sangean am fm table radio that is the only modern ss radio whose reception prowess remjnds me of those older models. Maybe not quite a match, but a decent modern example of a good performing table radio in a fairly small package.

I also miss the tuner in my older tandberg 2080 receiver that i parted with a couple years back. The amp section as well.

My oldest is a pair of Jeff Roland Model 6 monoblock amplifiers.

A McIntosh 2105. Caps and transistors have been replaced as well as terminals and input jacks, but it is sounding better than ever.