I LOVE 80s audio gear... there I've said it.

Geezers? This thread is nearly 10 years old and the OP is probably a “geezer” in his own right. I wonder if he’s dancin like Kevin Bacon in Footloose while Rick Astley and Spandau Ballet pump from his black plastic wonderboxes. I wonder if I’m old enough to be an official geezer. I’m sure I am in some people’s minds. Not mine…yet.
 
I like a lot of 80s stuff too. Problem with a lot of 80s stuff, to me, is threefold:
1) manufacturers were very cost conscious and purposefully making a lot of BOTL stuff with lots of cheap bling. Good stuff was good. Cheap stuff was total crap (and is now most likely need trashed or recycled). It’s hard to tell the difference;
2) ICs were pretty new and engineers didn’t know exactly how to balance between cost/performance/function/longevity;
3) ICs are hard to repair, and the BPC is full of ICs that are now impossible to find.

All said, it takes much more effort to find value in 80s stuff than 70s stuff because there is so much more to know about, but the good stuff is still very good.
 
Wigwam Jones said:
I think that it's not wise to make blanket statements about any particular decade of consumer audio production. There were always good and bad examples to be found.

My Luxman L580 integrated amp was purchased new by me in 1983. Someone tell me that's crap because it was made in the 1980s.

However, there was a general trend towards lower quality, so I think it would be fair to say that there was a higher percentage of crap in the tail end of the 1980s and all through the 1990s than prevously; that doesn't make it all bad. There are always excellent examples of consumer production in every decade.
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My sta2080 built in 1981 looks more like a. 70s receiver aluminum face plate and knobs crystal bezel , wood side panels and all analog, a really good receiver ! My sta2290 looks More the part still has aluminum faceplate but a large digital led read out ! Imitation wood side panels and instead of analog meters led meters ! A good receiver but not quite as good as the sta2080 ! cost cutting measures were starting to kick in ! But that being said they go for a lot less than the sta2080 and a a bargain for the power and the feel and sound !
 
atarione said:
listen up geezers :D some of us were just in short pants in the 70s i have a few pretty nice 70s receivers but they are like what I remember my grandparents owning my mom and dad I don't remember ever having much audio gear

as a teen I had a (just terrible) Fisher boombox...and a few walkman portable tape players that was it ....didn't even get my first cd player (Portable Panasonic like this



till i was like 20 years old


I would see nice stereo gear from time to time (black as coal and full of push buttons and digital displays...) and I would want this stuff...

I now have a fair bit of 80s audio goodness (and a bit of early 90s also)

VSX-D1S



Kenwood KR-V106R


Onkyo M5030/P3030 (T4087 and Sony C67ES)


i have a bunch more

Nikko NR-750

a couple Sony C75ES changers pioneer CT-M6R (cassette changer)

Yamaha C-60

sony STR-AV910


i love this stuff aint none of it that is BPC most of these items have been around $20~ a piece (got that whole onkyo Stack for $20 for the lot of it amp pre tuner and EQ).... maybe because this is the stuff of my youth i find myself pulled to it much more strongly lately.
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Nothing wrong here. Better than chasing the tail of the never ending "latest" model. I've always had a fascination for my older
brother's system. It was 1960's audiophile. I could re-assemble it today from Ebay but my ears of today would critically tear it apart.
I'll just enjoy the memory. The love for vintage equipment is a wonderful thing.
 
In general, I tend to gravitate toward 70s gear a bit more for its looks, build quality and the overall sound it has, but I definitely enjoy gear from the 80s and 90s, and beyond as well. And as someone else previously mentioned, I also enjoy mixing gear from different decades which, unless you require a singular aesthetic, I think has merit.

However, there was also a time when I had a lot of preconceived notions about audio gear that I picked up over the years from audio writers and people within the community as a whole that I believe held me back in my audio journey, and kept me from having an open mind (and open ears) toward other equipment. Equipment that many people say "should" be crap, but wasn't once I allowed myself to try new things...including "BPC" from the 80s and 90s.

It's only when I stopped listening to all the noise about what "should" and "shouldn't" be any good that I began to discover some real hidden gems out there. A world of discovery is out there, but only if someone is able to discard any preconceived notions they have about this era of gear in particular. I know I have been humbled many times since I stopped armchair poo-pooing certain eras of gear, and actually started listening to it. Regardless of era...and even regardless of price. My eyes are now wide open.

Since then I have found some true gems, and a couple are even BPC tin cans that 98% of the audio community wouldn't give a turd's trade for. One of which has a synergy with a pair of speakers I own that, together, has the most utterly insane soundstage size and placement of any audio gear I have ever heard. With this "BPC" receiver, and with a recording I have that was recorded in a large church in particular, it readily throws an utterly MASSIVE soundstage that defies the barriers of my medium-sized listening space with sound that goes 30-40 feet beyond the plane of the speakers, 40-50 feet to each side, literally up 80-100 feet over your head, and many dozens of feet behind you as well. It also places things the struck tone bars of a xylophone or marimba in lifelike, realistic space and delineates the keys being struck from left to right (or visa versa) with individual and precise places within that space, in sequence. Regardless of the genre or the physical size of the space it was recorded in, it just simply recreates the size and instrument placement of that venue. It's an incredible pairing. "BPC" though? I think not!

Again, this is just an insane synergy thing between those two components, but it goes to show I never would have found that pairing if I had never broke down the preconceived notions I used to have, and I'm all the better for it. Sure, a lot of 80s and 90s stuff isn't built as nicely as stuff from the 70s, but sound is sound, and the sound that pairing produces is utter magic. I have had friends and family over to listen to this BPC setup in the past - including some who know nothing about audio gear, or who listen to very little music - and I always find it funny when they hear those presentations with the soundstage, because just about every time they cock their heads or say "whoa!" when it happens. It's so predictable sometimes it's amusing.

Anyway, I'll part ways with one last example of the validity of not dumping on BPC gear altogether. Below is a post I made about a cheap 15-pound tin can "BPC" receiver that I bought on a pure whim. Mostly because it was only $5 and it pretty much fell in my lap. I initially kept it for demoing any gear I may ever have for sale, but since then I promoted it to a system in a smaller room for listening while at my computer. It was worthy enough of its promotion. As I mention in my post, is it enough to replace my other gear? No. But this is just a small indication of some of the 80s "BPC" gear out there. Again, regardless of price...

JVC does not get much respect

Anybody else had good experiences with JVC? Charlie When we met, my late wife had a JVC component system. Receiver, Cass deck. CDP , EQ but no turntable. Had 4 Bose speakers hooked to it. I got the speakers and the audio rack when she passed. The son took the components. The components had...
audiokarma.org
 
I bought alot of stuff in the mid 80's but only my Onkyo stuff has survived: Onkyo M-508, P-304, M-506RS, P-306RS, two T- 9090II tuners, and two T-4087 tuners. My Yamaha K-1020 cassette deck died in the late 90's, as did my Yamaha powered subwoofer, other stuff was sold off or taken to Goodwill.
 

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just dave said:
I like how you've got those Onkyo's just thrown around your house,you probably got a pile of Yamaha Centennial gear in the bathtub.:rolleyes:
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I have a stereo set up in almost every room! I do have a closet full of old silver faced manual tuners in my office closet: Onkyo T-9, Pioneer TX-7800 and 9800 tuners, Marantz 2120 tuner and some old school "timers" that I haven't used in 20 years.
 
krautmaster said:
I have a stereo set up in almost every room! I do have a closet full of old silver faced manual tuners in my office closet: Onkyo T-9, Pioneer TX-7800 and 9800 tuners, Marantz 2120 tuner and some old school "timers" that I haven't used in 20 years.
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Cool,got some pics?
 
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