finally exposed the "Emperor's New Clothes" of Bose!
Finally exposed the "Emperor's New Clothes" of Bose! Other overrated stuff was the early budget audiophile darling, NAD, I owned 2 used in bridged configuration, any Yamaha would sound better way better build quality and not near as noisy . In fact I picked up a late 80's early 90's Sony Legato Link receiver and an Onkyo receiver, yeah the supposed bad years of audio, both sounded much better and were made better than the NAD. Also the AR turntable and amp -what a couple of hummers literally. IMHO much of the early 70's Pioneers (I owned SX-727, recently a SX 828), Kenwoods, looked pretty cool but sounded harsh, can't believe the prices people are willing to pay for a dashboard with out a sound. Also the early Phase Linear such as the 700 beautiful looking harsh sounding amp that the Dynaco 400 put to shame not to mention that the boring looking PAT-5 sounds better than the very Cool Phase Linear 4000 but the Hologram and the auto correllator of the 4000 is very cool. Most Japanese speakers from the 1970's exceptions being the Yamaha NS 1000 and beyond series, and the unheard of Pioneer TAD setup (don't know if it was around then) it's not cheap either. Most of the JBL's of that era are over rated (L-200 15" 2 way big box no bass, and loud honkin' midrange). . When I work in the Stereo department (1974) I would put a Dynaco A10 behind the foam grills of the Big 2 way L-200's and watch the cowboys and JBL snobs rock out or vivify vivaldi through the first great mini speaker, the Dynaco A10 hiding in the L200. Of course the ego damage was irreversible when the the grills were removed exposing the the little man out doing the great OZ. The L100's got a bring spot in the memory banks.
UNDERATED stuff: Teac cassette decks, built to last and the better models sound great with tons of features special for live recording. My family has a 1975 Teac 450 ($425 retail) top loading cassette deck that has been used for 35 years ( 15 years in a dusty wood shop with no heat or AC) though it doesn't sound like a Nak 1000, you can not find any Nak that can handle that with out repairs. The Dynaco line, but parcicularly the obscure A-35 and A10 Speaker. Special thanks to Dynaco for bringing afordible real HI-FI to working people.
Onkyo amps and receivers ( Oh WRAT oh crap! I let the secret out!) Some of the Kenwood TT , Philips Turntables.
And the most under rated underpriced and no long available in America audio product:
the obscure, made in Latvia, Baltic Speakers Models 30, 50 and 90 All with Xovers that would embarrass almost every speaker under $10,000, featuring Oil filled caps hi quality pots, great drivers and the cabinets as I recall are either 7 or 9 ply Baltic birch. I was a long time Kef owner and when the close-out priced at $100 a pair including shipping Baltic 50 (once broken in for 100 hours) sounded as good as my Kef Reference series 104ab's. I had to have a shot at the better 90's (about $600-700 retail pair but were sold much, much cheaper) it had better top and bottom than the Kef 104ab almost as good as that glorious Kef midrange, plus great imaging, easier to drive, from a tower wrapped in Mahogany veneer. Thank you Stan Warren (Super mod and the "S" of PS Audio fame) for the hot tip on the Baltic 30 i don't know if he ever got to hear or have the 90's. A $100 pair of Speakers send my $1400 great Kef's (last retail price of the 104ab's) out the door.
