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Thoughts on 80's equipment

djwhy60 said:
I bought my first 'real" system from the Air Force Exchange in the Azores....1983....the one in the picture. Came in a nice rack with glass doors...had a TT and even purchased a set of Bose 501's to go with it. So you can imagine what my mind sees when I think 80's gear!

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Its looks similar to a Sansui I had in Germany in '81.In fact I found that tuner at a thrift a few years ago.As a young man then I was just happy to have a powerful stereo.SQ was quite a bit down the road.It wasn't until about fifteen years ago that I really learned about real good SQ.I have a soft spot for early 80s digital gear as it reminds me of a simpler time of my life.Looks good lit up in a dark room also.
 
OMGCat! said:
Agreed totally. The Japanese were a technological powerhouse back in the 80's and were building whatever their imagination could come up with.
My B-2x is a bit more pedestrian than the ones you mention but it is one of the finest sounding amps I've ever heard and the build quality is amazing.
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80s Yamaha gear.:music:If it was all I had I would be content.That B2X looks bad ass,
 
djwhy60 said:
I bought my first 'real" system from the Air Force Exchange in the Azores....1983....the one in the picture. Came in a nice rack with glass doors...had a TT and even purchased a set of Bose 501's to go with it. So you can imagine what my mind sees when I think 80's gear!

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This is the example of mass market products. Aren't we talking real high-end here?
 
@for_p1

Mass market systems are cool if a picture of a one brings good memories about serving in the armed forces.

This doesn't only have to be about high end gear.

But in all seriousness, my dad's plastic fisher system really was horribly awful crap.
 
for_p1 said:
This is the example of mass market products. Aren't we talking real high-end here?
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No just that 80s and 90s gear had a lot to offer and a lot of the cheaper stuff is good just because of tech advancements. And yes there was a big shift form Japanese mass market to boutique that can be had fairly cheap these days but it's still high end.
 
I like many others here have a bunch of 80's & 90's gear around here.

This includes:
My current favorite preamp the NAD 106 ('92-'96 IIRC) have 1 of these already and just bought another.
And then there's my NAD monitor series stack (1300 preamp,4300 tuner,and a 2600 power amp) from the mid-to-late 80's.
Another great preamp the Sanyo C-55+ just makes it from the early 80's.
And we cant forget the very nice Kenwood Basic C1 preamp (and amps) either ('83-'90).
My current favorite vintage MB/r2r DAC the Parasound D/AC-1000 ('94-'95) have 2 of these right now.
All sorts of Adcom gear,GFA-535/GFA-545/GFA-555 all Mk1 models,GTP-450/GTP500 Mk1 pretuners.
And yeah lots of great sounding CDP's,Magnavox CDB-460 & CDB-470,Kenwood DP-5020,Onkyo DX-1400 among others.
Just to name a few items I have from this timeframe.

And that does'nt even begin to cover speakers and headphones or such.
All my high impedence AKG headphones are likely from that era as well.

None of which were really considered "high end" by most accounts,but all are very good sounding consumer audio gear from that era.
So it was'nt just the high end stuff from that time period that was worthwhile,lots of really good mid tier stuff was out there as well.

FWIW

Bret P.
 
If your the kind of person that only wants the best top of the line equipment, there are better sounding units than made in the seventies. If your the kind of person that just has to buy the cheapest unit, 80’s and 90’s equipment is not for you. Just like today, if you don’t buy certain pieces of equipment irregardless of the price, you won’t get equipment worth listening to.
 
There is some great 80's gear out there. I generally favor the decade because of reasonable prices for quality equipment. I also like the look and build quality. Are there some goofy looking items from the 80's? Absolutely, and I avoid those. This would include anything with colored lines or graphs and charts on the face etc.
 
@Robisme

That looks like some nice gear. A bit shiny for my taste, but cool none the less.
Reminds me of my Yamaha RX-V530 AVR that I bought in 2001. (Great piece for what it was, recently retired)
 
I forgot my Kenwood C2. I like it so much I'm going to try to unload some stuff and find another one. I'm currently trying to put together the funds to buy a pair of L-09Ms that are available locally, so some of the extras have to go.
 
CD and Cassette machines were at peak. Turntables save for a few models began going downhill (and Linear trackers, T4p mount, DC motor belt drives with the Matsushita motor) and too many plastic fantastics were around). Too much IC chips in everything, too much cost cut build, and gadgets which did little but make gear less reliable save for better separates and too much plastic and cheap thin cabinet construction. But there were exceptions here and there. Big things which also affected survival rates of this gear.
 
I'm probably in the minority, but I love the linear tracking TTs from this era. Really wished they could've been developed further. Minimal setup, extremely low tracking weight, and sometimes CD convenience.
 
@bigx5murf

The linear tracking turntables were mostly B&O and Sony, right?
My co-worker and I have a communal system that we set up in the office.
His contribution was a Sony PS-X600. He can go on and on about the "Bio-Tracer" Tech.
 
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