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Best affordable vintage gear... your opinions please.

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donutuk

Registered User
Hi guys...

Just a bit of fun, but i have a mate of mine, who is currently putting together a system of 'Best of' Vintage gear from late 70's early 80's...

What would you guys suggest, please keep all individual components under £400 second hand price... so a budget of around £1500

TT's/ amps/speakers and maybe some of the mid 80's cd players...

Cheers, gonna be interesting to hear what you have in mind....
 
Hi Donut. T/T; Lenco 75 or 78. Great sound for peanuts, plus when funds permit can be turned into a 'superdeck'.
Amp; any wooden body Rotel integrated would be fine. Again plentiful on Ebay.
Speakers. celestions or rogers spring to mind.
CD, again Rotel made some great budget players, or cambridge audio stuff should be good, or marantz.
Dom
 
Cheers Dom,
I don't think i worded my post very well...
i meant 400 for individual components.

But i think you are right for a 400 system, that sound very good and almost what my freind's dad used in the early 80's.
 
For a total of £1500 you could get a NAC72 with phono boards (£300?) a NAP140 (£390?) even a HiCap (£380) a £50 Marantz/Arcam/Cambridge/Rotel CD player from the mid-90s and a good pair of speakers. All stuff you can later re-sell without loss.
 
Quad 405,44,FM4 and ESL57's. Very distinctive styling. If the ESL's are not your cup of tea then something like a largish standmount, similar dimensions to the NS1000 for instance.
 
The Quad and Naim routes may well be the way to go....
looks like he's going for some lesser known bits like nytech or magnum...
we shall see.
 
For amps, if after an upbeat sound then it's hard to beat a NAC42/NAP110 and you should be able to land a good pair for £400. If smooth and sweet is the preference then what about a Marantz PM4? £350-500 should be the budget for one of these. One of the classic H/K receivers (430 or 730 - former is the sweetie but both are two of the best from the '70s)?

CD player: best of the early ones were usually Philips/Marantz based. A CD74/84 is a fine thing, as is the Mission DAD7000. I'd probably go slightly later ('87/'88) and go for a Meridian 206 or 200/203 combination.

Speakers... whatever best matches the amp he chooses, the room, his taste etc... Nice pair of Gale 401s with chrome end caps? Fugly Linn Saras? Big pair of BBC stiff upper lips? Or perhaps some nice big lush JBLs like the Centurys or 4311s.

What fun...
 
You could get some great gear for that money and nothing too common either.

A Beard poweramp perhaps, Pink Triangle TT is fantastic value from the era - Ebay will get you a good PT1 with arm good and resonable cart for ~£400 if you've time to wait.

Meridian 105 monoblocks (~£250) - or even pick up a pair of Meridian M1 actives for £800 or M10s if you're lucky and spend the rest on a simple pre and source.

Or maybe copy a film like American Psycho - Kef 104/2s (~£350) and a front loading Sony or whatever he had in the film - all quite cheap now.

Or even better some Kef 105s.

So much stuff out there - you just have to try not to miss it on Ebay by spending all your time on there..

How about a Lecson pre/power for ~£400 then add an Oracle deck for top style and some speakers..

Too much - that's loads of cash to get whatever you want pretty much, within reason.

Kenwood L-07 amps went for £350 a few months ago - partner them with some JBLs, early ProAcs, Celestion SL600s?
 
Gale 401a speakers.One of the best sounding speakers once they are reconditioned.Up there with the Tannoy Monitor Gold 15s.Way better than Yamaha NS1000s.

Nakamichi 420 power amp.I am yet to find a better sounding SS amp.

Sony 715 CD player.
 
What I'm running...
Sony 2250 TT, Denon DA-305 arm Denon DL-110 cart
Hitachi HA-610 amp as pre, running into Perreaux 3150 power
Speakers are too old (60s) but Onkyo 12" coax monsters
 
Just bought a pair of Denon POA-4400 monoblocks for £350. Bypassed the cheap input pot & changed the speaker connections & they sound so good I've bought a second pair to bi-amp with.
 
I'd say get yourself a top notch Jap tuner (Sansui) from the day and enjoy top class sound...

There were some superdecks made by Pioneer etc but they still fetch 700 GBP I think. Wouldn't a Technics SL1200 still be that sort of vintage??
 
I nominate the Meitner Audio amps and preamps. They can be had for reasonable prices used and can still be repaired/re-capped and upgrades are available.

The mahogany casework is nice as well.

Scott
 
I would investigate the Crown DC300a power amps, they were used at Klipsch as reference amps, rare in the UL but plentifull in the US. there was a HUGE thread on A diy site a couple of years ago. Also some of the older Meridian stuff, the 105 pre, and of course some of thier early cdps. Try looking for some IAS 1/4 wave horn loudspeakers or some early JBL OR kLIPSCH.
 
pure sound said:
+1. Very nice sounding machine & usually cheap. I think I paid £26 for mine.
Click to expand...

One of the few CD players I can listen to.
It is uncommonly open and airy sounding and in this regard sounds more like a good MC cartridge.
I have owned and use all sorts of DACs and CD players including Trichord reclocked Sony ES players and none them sounded as good as the humble 715.
Better than my very expensive Stereophile Class A rated Esoteric DV 50 universal player too.
 
This is fun as it takes me back to selling gear in the late 70's. Customer comes in and asks for "the best" speakers, TT, Pre-amp, Amp and of course cartridge we have. As I start to lead him off to the demo rooms, he adds, "can we keep it under $700?" Keeping the price under $1500 I would start with an NAD pre-amp, Hafler amp, or the baby Crown as mentioned. I would spend heavy on the speakers, used BC-1's, KEF, or similar??. There were some late 70's JBL's I loved. For a TT I would look for an old Denon even if it had a Denon arm. When audio was my life, Koetsu carts were huge, but there have been so many since then and they needed a pre-pre amp. Good luck with what will be a fun project.
 
Replaced my Melody Integrated valve amp with an Accuphase E-202 a while ago and what a difference. There is so much more music and detail. I now wonder what would have happended if us gulible audiofools had not been sucked in by the flat earth philosophy that abounded 30 years ago.

Mike
 
rabidlistener said:
Replaced my Melody Integrated valve amp with an Accuphase E-202 a while ago and what a difference. There is so much more music and detail. I now wonder what would have happended if us gulible audiofools had not been sucked in by the flat earth philosophy that abounded 30 years ago.

Mike
Click to expand...

I recently bought a completely reconditioned Accuphase E 202.All new capacitors and it sounds shockingly good.
I owned an original one and whilst it was very good the recapped one is very much better.
Apparently some of the original grey mylar caps were not so good sounding and replacing them is what makes a big difference.
 
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