Ultimate Old-School Stereo Components Setup?
Big_Stacks
"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
Hey Old-School 'Strutters (and new-schoolers too),
Me and wifey just had a conversation about old school stereo components. Man, did they sound good! It made me think about what components I would've had (if I had enough grip) in my 'ultimate old-school stereo components setup.' Here are the pieces I would've bought:
Pioneer PL-630 Turntable
McIntosh MA-5100 Pre-Amp Amplifier
Nakamichi RX-505 Cassette Deck
Kenwood L-O2T AM/FM Stereo Tuner
Denon DCD-3300 CD Player
Bose 901 Speakers
So, what components would you have for your 'ultimate old-school stereo components setup'?
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Me and wifey just had a conversation about old school stereo components. Man, did they sound good! It made me think about what components I would've had (if I had enough grip) in my 'ultimate old-school stereo components setup.' Here are the pieces I would've bought:
Pioneer PL-630 Turntable
McIntosh MA-5100 Pre-Amp Amplifier
Nakamichi RX-505 Cassette Deck
Kenwood L-O2T AM/FM Stereo Tuner
Denon DCD-3300 CD Player
Bose 901 Speakers
So, what components would you have for your 'ultimate old-school stereo components setup'?
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Comments
Technique 1200
Denon Receiver - AirPlay/8 HDMI ports/Wireless
Pioneer DVD player - (the only advantage is for one Daredevil disc that has a DVD only intro that doesnt show up on Bluray players).
PS3 - w/ Bluray, Netflix, wireless streaming (dont need Apple TV)
Denon Duo-Cassette player - super-speed dub steez
Pioneer 5 Disc CD Changer
4 Bose speakers
-do i need a pre-amp? how much is it going to improve my listening experience?
-what sort of wireless headphones are recommended for listening to records?
Im scurred of wireless headphones.
I never heard anyone say they use a pair. Interference and quality used to be issues.
I see a gang of models in these Stereo/Audio magazines....but im old and skeptical.
Hi Crabmongerfunk,
Your question depends on what you use as components. Pre-amps usually are built to interface with turntables thus negating the need for an external phono pre-amp. In my case, I use a NAD amplifier and a separate NAD phono pre-amp (for grounding). Initially, amps were not designed to handle phono capability on their own, but later models were designed to do so. I used to use receivers, but amps have better sound quality so I went that route later on. As a pre-teen, I used to have a killer Harmon Kardan amp handed down from pops (along with Bose 301s from my brother, and dad's Pioneer turntable; it pays to be the youngest).
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
You're old, pops!!! ;-) (me too) What model of Bose are you rockin'. Nice setup!!!
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
My setup right now is more for music creating than audiophile listening, but it consists of:
Numark TTX Turntable - not fusking with 1200s, but a great table with +/-50% pitch range for scratching
Numark X6 Mixer - cheap mixer w/ effects
Native Instruments Audio 8 DJ - Audio interface for Traktor
ART Project Series USB Dual Tube Preamp - great tube preamp / computer interface unit
Kenwood Receiver/Amp
JVC home theatre speakers from the early 90s
KRK Rokit 5 speakers
Obviously not everything is running at the same time. It varies depending on what I'm doing: listening, ripping/sampling records, making synthy beats. The ART pre is a little tube preamp and computer interface as well. It also works like an opto compressor. I love it for recording scratches and ripping vinyl to the laptop. The compression means you can ride a bit of a hotter signal without worrying about peaking digitally on AD conversion. I want to upgrade the mixer the most. It's ok for recording scratches but doesn't have great audio fidelity. The Rokits sound great for production work but I'd like a better set of speakers than these old JVCs for casual listening.
How come you old folk didn't scoop up any of that old gear before the hipster vinyl craze started! Prices probably inflated now!! Everybody got a "vintage analog" stereo these days!!
Simply put, because I was broke!
-Kenwood (and Pioneer) turntables
-Harmon Kardon amplifier
-Technics (and JVC) cassette decks.
-Bose 301s and BIC Ventura (with sub-bass) speakers
-Yamaha tuner
Before that, I had one of those all-in-one Panasonic receiver, turntable, and speakers joints. :weaksauce:
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
I got a pair of these but need to replace the woofers, anyone know the best way to get one? I called bose and they said I should just ship in my old speakers and pay for for the current 301's but fuck that I dig my series II's circa 1981
At the store I have 1200s with white labels going into an old Clubman 1-5, and a Marantz model 140 power amp. Some random Polk Audio bookshelf joints. Shit sounds fantastic. I need to get the mixer touched up tho. And could probably get better speakers, but I have had a few different ones come through that didn't sound as good as these random Polks.
The coral and teal jernts. Real heads know.
Stripped out the innards and sold them for top $.
But they sounded REALLY GREAT even with the cracks/holes in the cabinets.
Always swore id pick some up some day if I had the $.
Would've loved to had them brand new.
The current (now school), family-room setup includes:
NAD 317 Stereo Integrated Amplifier.
NAD 553 turntable (along with a phono pre-amp).
Boston Acoustics VR960R speakers (with monster copper cables).
NAD C520 Compact Disc Player.
Yamaha KX-393 Natural Sound Stereo Cassette Player.
On the DJ and producing tips (in the music room), I rock:
Two Stanton ST-150 direct-drive turntables
Gemini PS-626USB Mixer
Samson A8 Studio Monitors
The beat and music making tools:
Zoom R16 Audio Interface
Logic 9 on an I-Mac 21"
Ensoniq ASR-10 and the Korg Triton Extreme
Drum set
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
with
and
audiophiles hate on newer Bose systems because they're all about the subwoofers, there's not much mid-range. Plus for what you pay for a basic receiver + tweeter + sub set from Bose you can get a pretty decent pair of speakers from a higher-end company.
Amplification: NAD 3020 Original Series 20
Vinyl source: Thorens TD 150
Speakers: Acoustic Research AR 18
Alternatives would include:
Marantz 1060 instead of the NAD amplifier, a Rega Planar 3 instead of the Thorens and Bowers & Wilkins Matrix 801s instead of the AR18.
My current set-ups are as follows:
Main: NAD C720BEE stereo receiver, NAD C515BEE CD player, Emotiva XDA1 DAC and B&W 685 speakers.
Secondary: NAD 3020 amplifier, Proton 420 tuner, NAD 502 CD player, Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 speakers.
My NAD 5025 turntable is out of commission.
Also I clearly have too much gear...
G'
My main set-up and favorite pieces:
Micro Seiki TT:
PSE pre-amp and mono-block power amps. One step further than a separate pre-amp is one power amp per speaker (monoblock):
JBL L-110 speakers:
Other old gear I have and love:
Sansui AU-series:
Dynaco A25 speakers:
Thorens TD160 super with Grace tonearm:
Celestion 3 bookshelf speakers. For the money and small space used, these can't be beat:
I'm restoring a Marantz 2230 currently:
Dyncao SCA-35 Tube amp:
Pioneer CS-88a speakers:
I left home (decades ago) with my dads mid 60s KLH system, which I got when he updated to to early 70s KLH.
I burned through many many Technics and Pioneer turntables before getting my 1200.
I just love it, works all the time, have had it for years now.
Likewise I have owned many amps, but was never really happy until I recently got a Marantz 2270.
I have some little Goodman speakers that were very good about 1990, but I should probably get something a little larger, bassier, now.
In my front room. Linn Sondek LP12. Chinese Yarland valve amp and ZU speakers (from Utah i think). only thing truly old school is the TT but looks old school
My set up in my bedroom during high school 1987:
Harmon Kardon HK 870 power amp
Harmon Kardon HK 825 pre amp
Infinity SM 150 speakers
Technics 1200 turntable
Sony ES CDP-507ESD CD player
Yamaha dual cassette deck
My older Denon (dead readout panel) and my 1990 JVC Auto-Reverse Cassette player(still rocks).
David Bogen RF-35.Pre-amp tubes have been replaced with Mullards and Telefunken 12AX7, 12AU7s and 6EU7s. The main output tubes are a quad of RCA 7408s for 35 beautiful analog watts per channel.