I ve been Pairing the old with the new for over 50 years. MC-60's with C-22 and C-28 from Mcintosh. I am still using my MPI-4 from the late 60's, My Mc 2505 from that period , too. My Mr-80 from the early 80's. My Urei Electronic crossovers from the middle 70's, same time for my Crown EQ-2s. My Thorens TD 125 was one of the first to arrive in Texas. Five or so years later I installed my Rabco linear arm. My Concert Grand Bozaks appeared in 1969. I bought the remaining 5 Bozaks speakers in the early 2000's. I have a C-34 from the mid 90's , a Mp100 I purchased when they first came out. XRT 28's from the early 2000's and MC 830 I bought just a few years ago. I got my VPI/Mark levinson 515B Dragon during Covid. Dynavector cartridges were first purchased in early 2000's and my last one last year. With 3 in between. My FM antennae in the attic is from the early 60's that feeds my two FM tuners. I guess disc players have been changed the most often. Starting with a 14 bit Revox CD player then a A Mac MCD 7005, then 5 inbetween. My MVP 891 is from 2017 and my MCD 550 I bought pre-owned 5 years agotrading in my MVP 861. . The 891 is from 2017, the 550 is 6 years old and has been rebuilt with new transport and lasers. I still have my MR-78 which I traded in my MR77 years ago. If you want a history of phono cartridges from my first Empire model 88 to my Dynavector XX-2 MK II. I can give you a list but not time frames. My favorite MM cartridge was a Stanton 881 S but with a CS 1000 stylus. Then came the different Dynavectors. I have had Stantons, Shures, Signets, Ortofon Moving coils, and now the Dynavectors. Probably 50 different ones over the since 1961. Some times I would purchase 3 or 4 a year. I had the 881 the longest. Always wanted to try a Grace F9e, but we were never a dealer and I wasn't about to pay full retail. I paid full retail for my first two systems but haven't since either as an employee of Hifi store or after words buying from dealers who new me and gave me a nice discount or by buying pre-owned from dealers who give warranty's and have exchange policies. But mostly from Audio Classics. A few things from Bjorns in Texas when my God brother worked their. Also from Pearl Audio in Portland Oregon, where I knew some of the employees when they worked in Dallas Texas. Plus there is no sales tax in Oregon at the time.
The only thing you really have to look out for is impedance ratings and voltage levels. Older tube pre amps tuners, and home tape recorders need a much higher load or input impedance than most modern tube units. Older units have various out put level voltages and input voltage ratings. So a unit that requires 2.0 to 3 volts to reach full out put levels with maximum signal to noise ratios can hardly be driven by units with a .7 volt rating. Fortunately most older amps have input level controls to match the amps to the pre-amps. Today tube units mostly have buffer amps to make sure they can drive low and medium impedance amplifiers. Plus most devices now days can generate enough current and voltage to easily drive any power amp no matter the age. A lot of integrated amps and pre-amps have sensitivity controls on each input so you can match phono inputs levels to CD, Tuner, tape, and auxiliary in puts. I don't have that feature but all my source inputs have output controls exluding the phono crtridge so I balance everything else to the phono cartridge levels.
Another issue is balancing the electronics to the speakers. If you have very sensitive speakers over 105 d/ 1 meter 1 watt having noisy tube amps or pre-amp can be an issue or early SS amps that aren't that quiet. Another thing is how much can your speakers handle. Some speakers that are rated at 50 watts can handle 200 watt very short peaks, where others most definitely cannot. Also normally tweeters can't handle the same amont of power as woofers. So if you play acoustic recordings that isn't such a prolem. But if you play a lot of digital recordings with digitally created sounds , especially synthesizers, then you have to be very concerned about your HF tweeters and some cases midrange drivers that extend past 6000 HZ. Mids that extend down below 700 HZ if a metal dome type can be an issue too. Where as cone based mids that extend down to 3 or 400 HZ with a sharp cut off crossover ought to be of no concern. No one said Hifi or Home Theatre was easy. So read, read and study very care fully what you are considering and don't be afraid to ask questions. As my Grandfather use to say" There is no such thing as a bad question!"
