RickyC6
Infuriate the frog-men
I'm sure he said "budget" system.
Build a budget system from each of the last four decades...
- Thread starter Michael L
- Start date
I'm sure he said "budget" system.
Mastergunnar
pfm Member
Michael J
pfm Member
It took you forty years to build a system...
rontoolsie
pfm Member
The system my father owned in the early 70s made me realize that there was *so* much more music and emotion on recordings than was ever available on AM radio (no FM in that 3rd world country back then)... B&O turntable, Fisher solid state receiver and Akai speaker.
In the latter part of the 70s I moved to the UK and got to hear reproduction that I had no idea was even possible. One guy in my student dorm had a Pioneer PL12D/Ortofon VMS20E/Goodmans receiver/Leak 2060s....it was bright sounding but ever so detailed and the visceral bass the 2060s pumped out had to be felt to be believed.
The single biggest upgrade I made in the 80s was the Ittok...it left the LV-X standing dead in the water, and even allowed the Linn Basik cartridge to transmutate from a spitty shrieky and bass light sound to almost full range and refined. Almost as large a move upward was replacing NAP135s with an Audio Research D70mk2. And for me the LP12/Ittok/Karma/42/Hicap/D70 into Tangent RS4s was by faaaaaar the best sound I had ever got at anytime in the 80s.
The 90s saw CDs largely replacing vinyl as my software...but it never sounded as good as the LP12 above...until I got a CDS1 when reinvigorated all of my recordings. And saw the advent of active speakers chez moi
The 2000s brought tube gear back into the soundscape with a reversal of triamped active speakers into passive speakers done right. And for the first time I had a semblance of a linear in-room FR.
But if I were to award decade specific accolades in my own personal audio growth it would be
1970s- Tangent RS4 speakers...they outlived every single upgrade. I tried to replace then with the original Kans, which sounded so bad in comparison, I got the shop to refund my money, and reclaim the RS4s from a friend I had sold them to, who was enjoying them immensely.
1980s- a tie between the LP12/Ittok and the D70
1990s- The CDS1. Implementing massive improvements in the electrical supply including a new pole-top transformer from the local electricity company.
2000s- custom built tube amps and speakers. Balanced AC power.
2010s- see 2000s above. No need to change anything.
In the latter part of the 70s I moved to the UK and got to hear reproduction that I had no idea was even possible. One guy in my student dorm had a Pioneer PL12D/Ortofon VMS20E/Goodmans receiver/Leak 2060s....it was bright sounding but ever so detailed and the visceral bass the 2060s pumped out had to be felt to be believed.
The single biggest upgrade I made in the 80s was the Ittok...it left the LV-X standing dead in the water, and even allowed the Linn Basik cartridge to transmutate from a spitty shrieky and bass light sound to almost full range and refined. Almost as large a move upward was replacing NAP135s with an Audio Research D70mk2. And for me the LP12/Ittok/Karma/42/Hicap/D70 into Tangent RS4s was by faaaaaar the best sound I had ever got at anytime in the 80s.
The 90s saw CDs largely replacing vinyl as my software...but it never sounded as good as the LP12 above...until I got a CDS1 when reinvigorated all of my recordings. And saw the advent of active speakers chez moi
The 2000s brought tube gear back into the soundscape with a reversal of triamped active speakers into passive speakers done right. And for the first time I had a semblance of a linear in-room FR.
But if I were to award decade specific accolades in my own personal audio growth it would be
1970s- Tangent RS4 speakers...they outlived every single upgrade. I tried to replace then with the original Kans, which sounded so bad in comparison, I got the shop to refund my money, and reclaim the RS4s from a friend I had sold them to, who was enjoying them immensely.
1980s- a tie between the LP12/Ittok and the D70
1990s- The CDS1. Implementing massive improvements in the electrical supply including a new pole-top transformer from the local electricity company.
2000s- custom built tube amps and speakers. Balanced AC power.
2010s- see 2000s above. No need to change anything.
80s (early)
Rega Planar 3, A&R P77, A&R A60, Heybrook HB2s.
I could live with that today. Still have most of it in the 'stock' room
Robert,
That was exactly my system from the early 80's - it was pretty sublime (or was that the beer...)
Cheers
Martin
Engels
pfm Member
Ha-ha - you must have been round my house... (coda III to be precise)
Garrard sp25 £15 Ferrograph about £25-30 Troughline £20, Sandwich spkrs about £20, Grundig tape £25? About 100 quid? Actually thinking about it that was a lot of money back then.
Michael J
pfm Member
Uh huh, technology wasn't cheap stuff. A couple or few thousand quids worth there, in today's terms, a good month's salary.
Nice "budget" you had. I'd like to be on equivalent income now.
Ed:
a new Rolls Royce was £6,557 book price in the mid 60s
a new one now is about £300,000 discounted
If that is a reasonable comparison, your £100 budget is about £4,600 now.
....Early 70's ...Garrard SP:25 Goldring G800, metrosound 20 amp, Wharfedale Lintons 3XP speakers.
Mid 70's ....Hitachi Music Centre
Mid to late 70's......Pioneer P12D Shure M75ED, Pioneer SX 535 Receiver, Tangent TM1 Speakers, Pioneer CT 2525 (?) cassette deck
80's ...Rega Planar 2, Dynavector 10x5 cartridge, Quad 33 / 303 (erm' a "foul" I guess!) + still had the Tangents, Sansui Cassette Deck
Mid 80's ...Linn Axis replaced the Rega, Cyrus 1 in for the Quad, Mission 737's replaced the Tangents, Rotel RT850L tuner. Aiwa AD 550 cassette deck
..90's ....(ok not budget stuff but mainly purchased used at NEAT before they started speaker building) ) Oracle Delphi One/ Zeta / Koetsu black k, Marantz CD85 SE, Forte'/MF amps, Etude MP1 speakers, Nakamichi ZX 700 Cassette Deck, + a Sony Dat player that broke after a year (!)
Mid 70's ....Hitachi Music Centre
Mid to late 70's......Pioneer P12D Shure M75ED, Pioneer SX 535 Receiver, Tangent TM1 Speakers, Pioneer CT 2525 (?) cassette deck
80's ...Rega Planar 2, Dynavector 10x5 cartridge, Quad 33 / 303 (erm' a "foul" I guess!) + still had the Tangents, Sansui Cassette Deck
Mid 80's ...Linn Axis replaced the Rega, Cyrus 1 in for the Quad, Mission 737's replaced the Tangents, Rotel RT850L tuner. Aiwa AD 550 cassette deck
..90's ....(ok not budget stuff but mainly purchased used at NEAT before they started speaker building) ) Oracle Delphi One/ Zeta / Koetsu black k, Marantz CD85 SE, Forte'/MF amps, Etude MP1 speakers, Nakamichi ZX 700 Cassette Deck, + a Sony Dat player that broke after a year (!)
Bonneville
pfm Member
60s: Rigonda Symphony radiogram.
Hi I bought one of these cost £78 ish. wall mounted the floor standing speakers on brackets each side of my fireplace .Changed it for a Crap Jap Trio 1500,Garrard sp25,Wharfedale Lintons, what a mistake,but I was young and foolish then,and was persuaded that SS were the thing and valves were old hat.
Vinnie
joel
Painter of Dragons, Maker of Mirrors
Yeah, although only about 2.5 to put it all together...
337alant
Negatively Biased
1970's:
LP12 (it costed something like £ 130 then, less than most people spended on a silly cassette player), SME, Stanton 681. Harman Kardon 330 or any nice sounding jap receiver. LS3/5a (an investment, even if one didn't knew it then) or JBL L19, depending on taste. Household flex as loudspeaker cables (nobody used anything else).
JohanR
LP12 (it costed something like £ 130 then, less than most people spended on a silly cassette player), SME, Stanton 681. Harman Kardon 330 or any nice sounding jap receiver. LS3/5a (an investment, even if one didn't knew it then) or JBL L19, depending on taste. Household flex as loudspeaker cables (nobody used anything else).
JohanR