SierraGold
New Member
Ok, so I took the plunge and subscribed. Bartertown looks a bit light in the listings at the moment, but there are some good deals (and from people that take care of their gear.)
Help me build a hi-fi setup
- Thread starter SierraGold
- Start date
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
-McIntosh expensive and it holds its value there are a lot of better sounding high end brands but with Mac you can get your money back on the used purchase and used sale.
-Marantz most highly taxed of the brands. Folks love the blue lights but the really good stuff is the very early tube stuff the rest is just another brand of Japanese gear but don't tell their owners. How long will prices continue to rise, I don't know.
-Pioneer They made one of everything and the most ubiquitous brand. Available for 1/3 off at warehouses or 50% off to the military. So many had it that the name is well known and that is all some folks want. Early blue lights sound tube like, later silver was cleaner and then crisp and harsher. Folks like the sound they like so the x3x and x50 series receivers are well liked depending.
-Sansui The looks a good brand but higher than some of the others.
-Kenwood One of the best sleepers. Kenwood (Trio in the rest of the world) was a major player in amateur radio and with that knowledge put some of the best tuners into the receivers they made and in separate tuners, their L-07TII is one of the best ever.
-Harman Kardon great sound for short money but they didn't make high powered receivers, leaving that to their Citation line of gear. All Citation gear tube and transistor is very good but the last versions 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 (pre, power, tuner, power, pre) are nicked for build quality. My 22-23-25 is most acceptable and 2nd best sounding power amp I own.
-Yamaha known for their natural sound, clean and clear some say sterile. Listen to one and compare to a blue light pioneer.
-NAD very good sound quality but the build quality leaves something to be desired and I'm not a fan of the dark gray and plastic
-Denon a good japanese brand but their tts are special because of the looks.
-Onkyo great sound in their receivers and amps. Made good gear through the 80s, black receivers and amps. Had a few.
-Fisher older is better
-JVC interesting gear with equalizers built into the receivers.
-Sony spoke about these above
-Luxman one of the best brands for sound quality, somewhat consistent. I'm biased, we sold it, I love their stuff from the 70s-85 and from 2005 on. Own a number of pieces.
-Adcom cheap attempt at high end. Some of their gear is good some not so much. Had a GFA-555 supposedly a great amp but I just fixed it up and sold it. Didn't even make it to the main rig because I did not like the build design and I have some excellent amps.
-Mitsubishi a smaller brand with decent gear. Interesting docking amp and meter section bought separately.
-Hitachi some nice sounding gear. They went in with the MOSFET (Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor) outputs and they do sound good. Hafler used them, too.
-Toshiba I will not own this brand, one reason is they sold the high tech submarine quiet propeller milling machine to the soviets during the cold war. end of political, we had their brand for a month or two, we were unimpressed.
-Sherwood makes some good sounding early-mid 70s gear
-Concept a private brand for Pacific Stereo stores, good sound NO Repair information available some think the 16.5 is the best receiver out there
-Nikko pretty good stuff. Black separates silver receivers and such
-Scott tube gear is great.
-Dynaco and later Hafler are both David Hafler companies, offering the best bang for the buck as both kit and finished gear. Some is great some not so much but some parts chosen for cost didn't stand the test of time. The Dynaco tube gear is highly desired and the Hafler gear is also well liked. Best 100 wpc amps for cheap are the DH-200.
-Teac Just tape equipment, good reliable tape equipment.
-Technics Made lots of gear, but the turntables stand out. Don't need a 1200 to get good, my automatic is a 1600 II. I have separate arms and tables for my manual tables, blow the 1200 outta the water because of the arm. You don't need to go there.
-Conrad Johnson High end mostly tube gear, not unless you gotta have it.
-Crown they make stuff that works. Bought a DC-300a not a Phase Linear because the Crown would not be damaged or hurt the PL would die in my early years with big amps. I'll buy any known Crown gear that is cheap enough because I know it will probably work just fine and I can find a place for it.
-Akai Don't know much, tape gear was good but much of it needs major work now this many years on.
-Carver is new Phase Linear, both Bob Carver companies, don't think I would buy this unless really cheap. Special effects big, cheap power were not keys to longevity of the device.
-Soundcraftsmen some folks like it a lot. Never owned any.
A very opinionated list there. But with my years of enjoying different gear, I can find stuff I would be happy with fairly easily if I need to.
-Marantz most highly taxed of the brands. Folks love the blue lights but the really good stuff is the very early tube stuff the rest is just another brand of Japanese gear but don't tell their owners. How long will prices continue to rise, I don't know.
-Pioneer They made one of everything and the most ubiquitous brand. Available for 1/3 off at warehouses or 50% off to the military. So many had it that the name is well known and that is all some folks want. Early blue lights sound tube like, later silver was cleaner and then crisp and harsher. Folks like the sound they like so the x3x and x50 series receivers are well liked depending.
-Sansui The looks a good brand but higher than some of the others.
-Kenwood One of the best sleepers. Kenwood (Trio in the rest of the world) was a major player in amateur radio and with that knowledge put some of the best tuners into the receivers they made and in separate tuners, their L-07TII is one of the best ever.
-Harman Kardon great sound for short money but they didn't make high powered receivers, leaving that to their Citation line of gear. All Citation gear tube and transistor is very good but the last versions 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 (pre, power, tuner, power, pre) are nicked for build quality. My 22-23-25 is most acceptable and 2nd best sounding power amp I own.
-Yamaha known for their natural sound, clean and clear some say sterile. Listen to one and compare to a blue light pioneer.
-NAD very good sound quality but the build quality leaves something to be desired and I'm not a fan of the dark gray and plastic
-Denon a good japanese brand but their tts are special because of the looks.
-Onkyo great sound in their receivers and amps. Made good gear through the 80s, black receivers and amps. Had a few.
-Fisher older is better
-JVC interesting gear with equalizers built into the receivers.
-Sony spoke about these above
-Luxman one of the best brands for sound quality, somewhat consistent. I'm biased, we sold it, I love their stuff from the 70s-85 and from 2005 on. Own a number of pieces.
-Adcom cheap attempt at high end. Some of their gear is good some not so much. Had a GFA-555 supposedly a great amp but I just fixed it up and sold it. Didn't even make it to the main rig because I did not like the build design and I have some excellent amps.
-Mitsubishi a smaller brand with decent gear. Interesting docking amp and meter section bought separately.
-Hitachi some nice sounding gear. They went in with the MOSFET (Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor) outputs and they do sound good. Hafler used them, too.
-Toshiba I will not own this brand, one reason is they sold the high tech submarine quiet propeller milling machine to the soviets during the cold war. end of political, we had their brand for a month or two, we were unimpressed.
-Sherwood makes some good sounding early-mid 70s gear
-Concept a private brand for Pacific Stereo stores, good sound NO Repair information available some think the 16.5 is the best receiver out there
-Nikko pretty good stuff. Black separates silver receivers and such
-Scott tube gear is great.
-Dynaco and later Hafler are both David Hafler companies, offering the best bang for the buck as both kit and finished gear. Some is great some not so much but some parts chosen for cost didn't stand the test of time. The Dynaco tube gear is highly desired and the Hafler gear is also well liked. Best 100 wpc amps for cheap are the DH-200.
-Teac Just tape equipment, good reliable tape equipment.
-Technics Made lots of gear, but the turntables stand out. Don't need a 1200 to get good, my automatic is a 1600 II. I have separate arms and tables for my manual tables, blow the 1200 outta the water because of the arm. You don't need to go there.
-Conrad Johnson High end mostly tube gear, not unless you gotta have it.
-Crown they make stuff that works. Bought a DC-300a not a Phase Linear because the Crown would not be damaged or hurt the PL would die in my early years with big amps. I'll buy any known Crown gear that is cheap enough because I know it will probably work just fine and I can find a place for it.
-Akai Don't know much, tape gear was good but much of it needs major work now this many years on.
-Carver is new Phase Linear, both Bob Carver companies, don't think I would buy this unless really cheap. Special effects big, cheap power were not keys to longevity of the device.
-Soundcraftsmen some folks like it a lot. Never owned any.
A very opinionated list there. But with my years of enjoying different gear, I can find stuff I would be happy with fairly easily if I need to.
SierraGold
New Member
Thanks Blue Shadow....that helps a lot. Perhaps I should have asked for your list from most to least desireable! You would know better than I.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
That would be a minefield.
Desirable, why, collectibility?, sound quality?, price appreciation?, build quality?, repairability?. Lots of different ways to manipulate the list of desirable.
Putting together a good system, using just about any good quality receiver with speakers you like will provide an excellent system. Differences in sound of electronics are much smaller than the difference in speakers or even in the position of speakers in some instances. Cheapest changes you can make to your system is to move your speakers.
SierraGold
New Member
Fair enough. If I had my choice of lists it would be rated according to sound quality.
Thanks
Thanks
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
And then you have those that prefer the sound of Yamaha and would rate it higher than the sound of one of the tube like sounding units what Harman Kardon or something. So the ears of the buyer are critical.
No Money
Super Member
This. And again, this.
johnda
Addicted Member
I have a batch of Yamaha gear and there is nothing that has given me any trouble. I gave my A-S500 amp to my son-in-law for his recording studio and am now using Yamaha receivers. A nice integrated amp, with phono input, is the A-S301 going for $350, rated at 60 watts per channel. I would add the Audiomachine B1 Bluetooth receiver. That would open your sources to infinity. That combo would run $500.
For a turntable, the UTurn manual would be a decent choice with Ortofon or Grado cartridge, figure $250.
Speakers are a very personal choice. I am happy with KEF Q300’s in my living room $600 a pair. In my study I have gone with Pioneer SP BS22LR speakers $100 a pair.
Enjoy!
For a turntable, the UTurn manual would be a decent choice with Ortofon or Grado cartridge, figure $250.
Speakers are a very personal choice. I am happy with KEF Q300’s in my living room $600 a pair. In my study I have gone with Pioneer SP BS22LR speakers $100 a pair.
Enjoy!
ChairSpud
Super Member
Just saw your post and coincidently just purchased a Yamaha A-S301 and would also recommend the original poster consider the A-SX01 line of amps. They really do punch way above their price and although they have decent built-in DAC and Phono inputs the addition of good externals really improves the sound.
Dave/ChairSpud
Frbock
Active Member
Actually, I'd suggest the front end, and the tail end are the most important.
You need a good preamp, and source. If cd/dvd, you're pretty good. Next item is the speakers. They deliver the sound to your ears.
Last item on the main path is the amp. These days most amps are pretty good, so listen, excluding cheap Class D.
If you're doing vinyl, you need a phono, or a separate amp. That's an area the tech has slipped on.
@Blue Shadow Good posts, similar thoughts here.
131east23
...near Frank's Pizza!
McIntosh SS gear from the 70's is affordable and sounds really nice.
I looked quickly at Sacramento Craigslist and doubt you'll have trouble finding a pair of vintage speakers, or newer...
I went through seven pairs of speakers before I found my Klipsch Cornwalls, then I sold all of my other speakers including some really nice JBL's and never looked back. I agree that you should probably settle on some speakers first. I think Fly HiFi in your city has lots of vintage speakers you could go listen to and get an idea of what you might want. Echo Audio in Portland might have some used amps, preamps, tuners, etc. that they could ship to you. It's not that far away.
Had some Technics stuff and loved it. Definitely not in the same league as McIntosh stuff. Of course it always depends on budget. And it's also a good idea to look out for those very coveted pieces that pop up once in a while. And maybe a seller doesn't know the true value of a piece that they have.
Then it comes down to the aesthetics of a piece and whether you think that it would look good in your setup...
Lots of good Denon and some not some good Denon. I hate to make generalizations about any brand. Would love to have an older Fisher integrated before they went downhill... Same with Scott...
Not to mention that if you know a good tech that helps and you can have them go through a piece.
Then it comes down to the aesthetics of a piece and whether you think that it would look good in your setup...
Lots of good Denon and some not some good Denon. I hate to make generalizations about any brand. Would love to have an older Fisher integrated before they went downhill... Same with Scott...
Not to mention that if you know a good tech that helps and you can have them go through a piece.
SierraGold
New Member
Firstly, sorry to all who have posted. During the week is tough for me due to time constraints with work.
Another vote for Yamaha. They do make nice gear it seems. I googled the "Audiomachine B1" and didn't get any relevant hits. Maybe you could point me to what you're referring to. I'm starting to suspect that all of my CD's may not be as useless as I originally thought.
Thanks!
SierraGold
New Member
OP here. Thanks. I was looking at that line of gear (I think I was looking at the A-S801.) I'm sure I would be happy with it, though it has way more power than I need.
If I don't go the integrated route, what preamps would you recommend? I'm really ignorant with regard to choosing a preamp. Are there any used items that are worth looking for?
Thanks
SierraGold
New Member
Thanks for checking those out for me. Yes, it does appear I will have good luck sourcing vintage speakers locally. I really need to get down to Fly HiFi and give some speakers a listen. Thanks for the tip on Echo Audio...never heard of them but I will check out their website.
This is the info I just don't have yet....those "coveted pieces" are items I am ignorant of unfortunately. You mention older Fishers before they went downhill. I don't know when they went downhill. What model names/numbers are the ones to look out for? Theres a listing locally for a Fisher 401 along with some KLH speakers for $100. They are both made in USA. That's the sort of thing I would maybe take a chance on.
Thanks for posting.
I think that a Fisher 401 is probably an older unit... Will have to Google it. Looks like around 1972. I believe that I once found a very nice looking Fisher integrated amplifier on the Bay from the late 70s but I could not tell you the model number right now.
Fisher did make something they called Class A II integrated amplifiers when everyone was trying to someone tie the idea of a better push/pull amp to the term "Class A", even though they were not really Class A amps. Technics had their New Class A, JVC had Super A and Fisher had Class A II it seems. There is a Fisher CA-350 on the Bay right now but the rules prevent me from linking to that so go ahead and do a search and you will see what I mean. Only about 50 WPC but probably good sounding and looks nice with the silver face... Has preouts on the back in case you want to hook it up to a more powerful amplifier at a later date and then it can be used as a preamp as well...
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If you like meters that sweep then check out a Scott 460A. Nice unit at 70 WPC. Made in 1978... Doesn't look to have any preouts but distortion clocks in around 0.04% so it should sound nice and clean...
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Fisher CA-2110 came from 1977. Don't know if that was the one I was looking at before but it looks nice with silver face and gold knobs. A bit more distortion, comes in at 0.2%...
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-fisher-fm-ca-2210-silver-face-24417540
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-fisher-fm-ca-2210-silver-face-24417540