Can anything beat Vintage Amps for the $$$?

I guess I will chime in on this one, although I usually just read.

About 4 months ago I bought a pair of (60's) McIntosh MC40 tube amps locally. I can't compare them to new equiptment, since I have never owned any. But I will say that if my system is missing anything, I really don't notice. I love it. I have it matched with a pair of (mid 70's) Altec 604-8G speakers and it makes great music to my ears. The midrange is especially wonderful. The Mc amps and the Altecs cost me $750, and I don't think I could find anything this musical in new gear for near that price. The longer I have it, the more I enjoy it. I sometimes wonder what I would hear with some of the newer gear talked about here, it might surprise me. But I think alot of guys would be surprised at what some good vintage can produce.

Also, for a preamp, I am using a 1969 vintage Sansui 1000A tube receiver. I only use it for it's phono and tuner, but I think it does a hell of a job.

I am thankful even us poorboy audio folks have a way to enjoy this hobby.

Steve

Steve:

I think you did vintage right as your main pieces ... amp; preamp; and speakers ... are all vintage. In fact, the preamps in some of these vintage receivers were outstanding. I have had good, but not great results pairing vintage receivers with modern speakers and CD players. One could claim that amplifier design has advanced only so far in the last 30 years (let's leave out digital amps for the moment), but speaker design and certainly the use of CD players add something different to the mix.

I thought that I would have liked vintage more than I have. I keep the Marantz receivers because they are decent performers and modern receivers are just terrible in comparison. I also use AR 302's as my main speakers, these are 11 year old remakes of the Acoustic Research AR5's from the 60's.

To my mind though, vintage works best when it has been restored and then the total price begins to approach modern components' price levels.

Regards, Rich

Thanks for your comments Rich. I was fortunate to find these vintage items already restored. I bought them from a local tech who had owned them for many years. He had been a design engineer for 20 years with Motorola and these were the amps he used in the lab for testing. When our local Motorola closed down a few years ago, he bought the amps from them and opened up his own repair shop. He went thru them all to assure they were up to spec and he said they should be good for at least another 20-30 years before they needed a tuneup.

I have no doubt that alot of modern equiptment is wonderful and surpasses vintage, but I do feel vintage has alot of offer those who don't want, or can't afford new.

Happy Holidays!
Steve

Larry, that is an extremely interesting article. It certainly brings up another common debate: tubes vs. S.S. One must admit, those studies certainly don't make S.S. look good.
Joe

I have had modern equipment such as Musical Design amps and pre, Adcom, Lazarus H1-A hybrid amp, platinum audio, Mission, Odyssey Loreleis Quad ESL-63's, Pinnacle Classic Gold Aerogels, Tannoy DMT12's and others..
Currently my main rig is a pair of early 1980's David Berning's EA-230's and his TF-10 preamp.

Vintage wise I have a McIntosh MC250, Scott 299, Fisher 400, Allen organ amp (6L6), Allied tube amp and tuner, and a Scott LT-10 tuner as well.

I find myself lately listening to the vintage stuff hooked up to Tannoy Monitor Gold 12's or EV12trxb's...Especially with the Scott, I dont find the difference to be that tremendous...Only my Berning amps seem to be a bit in a different league. I have found the same relationship either with vintage or modern speakers.

I think that if the vintage equipment is up to spec, the differences will not be that great, especially in tube gear. SS may be different. I do have a Pioneer SX-850 and I just dont find its sound that engaging.

To me there is something special about having vintage gear with beautiful walnut cases..a treat to the eyes and the ears.