Thoughts on 80's equipment

What are your opinions on hifi equipment from the 80s and 90s?

It seems that everybody has an opinion or a memory on pieces from the 70s. From the beautiful silver faced Pioneers and Kenwoods to the amazing wood cased Luxman and Marantz plus all the sweet Yamahas and Sansuis between. Not to mention that classic green and blue glow from McIntosh solid state gear.

Then there are the folks who die for the bleeding edge. Pass, Krell, Rotel and Parasound, and all the Class-D, G and H digital insanity. (Insane in a good way) Speaking of insanity, what about all this new (great) tube equipment from China?

I often find my self enamored with the sexy 80s and 90s slim-line brushed gunmetal aluminum from the likes of Carver, Adcom, A/D/S/(Braun), Bryston, Naim and Tandberg (with whom I'm currently in lust). And that era's speakers from KEF, A/D/S/, Polk and Infinity are fascinating. Am I alone? Am I just a product of the 80s?

What do you think?

Not alone at all! Big 90s gear fan myself. For a wile I had my A-71, Paried with a set of B&W DM-640s (both 91-92). Love the adcom gear as well. The early slimline Marantz gear was great as wall!!

Don't get me wrong, I do like the 70s silver era, and have had my share of of them, my 1250 was nice, but I tent to look for 80s/90s gear lately. I think my quads are the most current piece I own (2004)...

my CDP, 1998...

:) great thread
 
With this very excellent turntable also, consider that over 98% of them sold weren't in obsidian bases, and not with this tonearm installed. And over 98% of said turntables were not sold to consumer users, but to AM and FM radio stations, recording studios, and to TV stations. And really this is a truly professional grade turntable and tonearm and plinth in every way. The mack daddy of DD turntables in the USA market. And so fine this engineer can and does love it, as he does it's junior siblings.

A friend of mine has the table and PS posted to our local CL. No tone arm, or base... i was just looking at it the other day online thinking man it would be cool to find the arm and plinth. Would love to have that set!
 
With totl 70's era receivers fetching top dollar unrestored or worse yet restored by newbie hackers, there are lots of more boutique brands out there that are way better sounding and better built.
Tom

Maybe so, but if you bought a TOTL '70's Pioneer, Marantz, Sansui, or Yamaha back then you pretty much knew what you were getting. Top quality and classic looks. Prices for this gear will only stand to increase as they become rarer and rarer.
 
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My Carver amp and Kenwood preamp along with my Denon DP62L are 80's gear I believe. My Smaller Advents and Denon DL-103 are from the 70's I love the combination.
 
With this very excellent turntable also, consider that over 98% of them sold weren't in obsidian bases, and not with this tonearm installed. And over 98% of said turntables were not sold to consumer users, but to AM and FM radio stations, recording studios, and to TV stations. And really this is a truly professional grade turntable and tonearm and plinth in every way. The mack daddy of DD turntables in the USA market. And so fine this engineer can and does love it, as he does it's junior siblings.
I think that Technics had the most powerful motor.I forget the term,something like inertial start up mass but it was said that a man could stand on the platter and it would hit the correct rpm in a couple of seconds.
 
I think that Technics had the most powerful motor.I forget the term,something like inertial start up mass but it was said that a man could stand on the platter and it would hit the correct rpm in a couple of seconds.

Yes, and also this DD motor was used on some disc recording lathes also.
 
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