Vintage gear, HPM-100 vs new speakers, gear

[redcbx78]

Once in awhile I think my current vintage gear just doesn't sound that great, or that new gear has to sound better.

So every once in awhile I decide to give some modern gear a go.

My current vintage gear is:

Pioneer SA-8800 - fully restored and recapped
Sansui AU-719- fully restored and recapped
Sansui AYU-717 - in the process of restoring
Pioneer HPM-100 - crossovers recapped
HRT DAC
Mac Mini
Channel D Pure Music
Mixture of Apple Lossless and High bit rate mp3's

Nothing great - but general opinion of most people that listen is that it is some of the best sounding music they have ever heard.

So I order a Yamaha A-S500, NAD C356DAC, Cambridge Azur 651A, Klipsh RF-82II speakers, Magnapan MMG speakers.

All come with a 60 day return policy.

Right off the bat, the Cambridge 651A is back in the box - going back. For lack of a better word - the sound was fuzzy - not clear, sharp. Lacking depth.

The Yamaha and NAD are about even. Nice and clear, sharp highs, tight lows - midrange that is there, not a mixed in with or muddled by the lows. Either one would be a keeper.

Klipsh speakers - well I was tired of listening to them after about 15 minutes. They seem to just be kind of muddled. Highs seemed to be almost absent.

The MMG's get here on Wed - I'm actually kind of excited to give them a go.

Now I might be biased toward the 8800 and the HPM-100's but I did ask some family members to listen, and the general feeling was about the same. Seems like the younger members of the family, really like the heavier bass, and didn't seem to miss the high notes.

So just my 2 cents worth. I could spend $500 to $1000 for a new integrated amp and $1000 for a pair of speakers, but in the end, wouldn't have anything much, if any better than my gear.

 

[Pandovski]

JBL L112 + Harman Kardon HK990 should kick some ass.

 

[Skylab]

Nothing surprising there to me. SA-8800 and HPM-100 are nice pieces of kit, and you're feeding them a very nice digital source. In the price ranges of modern gear represented by what you bought, you will only get different sound, which may or may not sound "better" to one listener or another, but fundamentally isn't across the board better, just different.

 

[lico]

I have the A-S500 and a SA-8800. To me, both amps are great and I could live with either. I tend to move things around every few months and swap things around just because, but always come back to these two when it comes to good sound. They are both excellent integrateds.

Right now I have my SA-8800 playing again and am back in "vintage" mode.

 

[qguy]

You should compare them with similar size speakers, two 6.5 woofers wont be a match vs a 12 inch woofer

 

[Hunt55]

My personal take is unless you want to spend an aweful lot on new speakers, the HPM 100s are awesome. Do you have 100W are 200W HPMs. I have a pair of HPM 100s 200W and CS-99As and another Pioneer pair of 150 watt speakers from a 1982 SYSCOM set that are realy nice. But, I use the HPMs and 99As daily. Something about that old wood case and metal woofers.

I rotate between an SA-9800, A-90, A80 or A70 amp. The 9800 has some of the best tones and for youth great base. Probably similar to SA8800. The A-90 is very powerful and really pushes the HPM100s but you need a little equalizing depending on the room but has more than enough of raw base at 200w.

I have a pioneer service center near me with some great older techs and a few years ago I asked if they would work on vintage equipment and they agreed. They recently brought the SA9800 back to factory specs and told me it is one of the best amps made. They also wanted to keep the A-80 -lol.

I am very pleased with the sounds of vintage equipment. Even running digital sounds through it is not bad.

 

[pognoot]

My take is that I really haven't heard a speaker made in the 1970s or even early 80s that competes with the products offered today even at modest price points. The 70s wide baffle monsters crank out the bottom end, but in terms of tonal balance, clarity, imaging, accuracy, etc. the products of today just sound better. And you don't have to spend that much more money. Polk Audio frequently has killer deals on their lines. Same with Energy. I'm talking floorstanders BTW.

To be fair I really haven't had that much exposure to vintage speakers. I've heard these systems: HPM-100, HD-880, Quantum 4, Cerwin Vegas D, Mach-2s, Optimus 50s, JBL L80T and some of the early 80s MCS variety. But stuff like AR90s, Polk SDAs, and high end 70s JBL I haven't heard. So my opinion is probably not be very well informed.

I would love to attend a future AK-Fest, if there is one, to get a better feel for the speaker technology of yesteryear.

 

[lico]

There are great speakers from the 70's, but due to space constraints/look and feel, these days I like newer speakers better for some of the reasons you mention.

But nothing too small though... minimum of 6.5 inch modern bookshelf is the sweet spot for most setups in my opinion. Given that, enough bass to satisfy, subwoofer not necessarily required, just desired.

I run my Pioneer SA-8800 with some Monitor Audios - they are a great match with the amp.

But that's beside the point. The OP said he ordered some Magnepan MMGs in his first post. I'm interested to hear how that turned out, or if he did a listen once/and then return policy.

Magnepans are some speakers I've alway wanted to try out, but have never pulled the trigger on any.