Deonild
New Member
Hey All,
Glad I found this forum, lots of good info and people!
I'm a younger, budding vintage audio enthusiast. Grew up with my Dad's 4 foot tall Marantz speakers and receiver. I took that system while I was in college, yet he sold it 5 years ago.
Since then have had a cheap Sony bookshelf stereo, tried a soundbar, upgraded to an AV receiver and surround sound. Bought a decent turntable and phono preamp, trying to get some better music listening experience. Took my Dad's records, he wasn't using, and bought some more. Got a PonoPlayer, some nice headphones and earbuds. Still, the stereo music listening experience was not what I remembered from my Dad's Marantz system.
Found some massive speakers at a garage sale, as big as my Dad's old ones, after buying them and being disappointed with the sound quality did some research and determined they must be the cheapest speakers ever made of that size, in the 90's. Found some JBL L60T, good reviews for speakers with this tweeter, and better bass with 8" woofer compared to the 5 1/4" woofers in my surround sound system. These made a difference. After some more research online determined to try separates. Found a used Adcom 5400 amp, had distortion issues so got it repaired (still cheaper than something new from emotiva/parasound/etc). Got a matching Adcom preamp used, the repair guy who serviced the power amp did not have nice things to say about the Adcom preamp, so I did a trade-in for a Harman Kardon Citation Eleven preamp. The minute I tried the HK preamp (from 1973) I was immediately reminded of my Dad's Marantz system's sound (hard to put a finger on it, maybe a placebo, not sure, but I like it).
Mostly playing FLAC albums on PonoPlayer > HK preamp > Adcom amp > JBL speakers. Was hoping to not need EQ, but had to bring back the higher frequencies a couple db using the HK preamp's 5 band EQ. Very happy with this setup, and very happy I took the leap to try a piece of equipment 14 years older than I am! If I upgrade in the future I will probably first look to more vintage pieces.
Looking forward to reading more on this forum and seeing what's out there. Plenty of garage sales in Chicago, may find something good once I learn what to look for!
Glad I found this forum, lots of good info and people!
I'm a younger, budding vintage audio enthusiast. Grew up with my Dad's 4 foot tall Marantz speakers and receiver. I took that system while I was in college, yet he sold it 5 years ago.
Since then have had a cheap Sony bookshelf stereo, tried a soundbar, upgraded to an AV receiver and surround sound. Bought a decent turntable and phono preamp, trying to get some better music listening experience. Took my Dad's records, he wasn't using, and bought some more. Got a PonoPlayer, some nice headphones and earbuds. Still, the stereo music listening experience was not what I remembered from my Dad's Marantz system.
Found some massive speakers at a garage sale, as big as my Dad's old ones, after buying them and being disappointed with the sound quality did some research and determined they must be the cheapest speakers ever made of that size, in the 90's. Found some JBL L60T, good reviews for speakers with this tweeter, and better bass with 8" woofer compared to the 5 1/4" woofers in my surround sound system. These made a difference. After some more research online determined to try separates. Found a used Adcom 5400 amp, had distortion issues so got it repaired (still cheaper than something new from emotiva/parasound/etc). Got a matching Adcom preamp used, the repair guy who serviced the power amp did not have nice things to say about the Adcom preamp, so I did a trade-in for a Harman Kardon Citation Eleven preamp. The minute I tried the HK preamp (from 1973) I was immediately reminded of my Dad's Marantz system's sound (hard to put a finger on it, maybe a placebo, not sure, but I like it).
Mostly playing FLAC albums on PonoPlayer > HK preamp > Adcom amp > JBL speakers. Was hoping to not need EQ, but had to bring back the higher frequencies a couple db using the HK preamp's 5 band EQ. Very happy with this setup, and very happy I took the leap to try a piece of equipment 14 years older than I am! If I upgrade in the future I will probably first look to more vintage pieces.
Looking forward to reading more on this forum and seeing what's out there. Plenty of garage sales in Chicago, may find something good once I learn what to look for!