When anyone asks me what the allure is of vintage audio equipment I’m going send them this pic.
Congratulations on getting that solution. Very nice.
Very good to have, inlaws, parents and so on so we who like HiFi and have our own stuff can make HiFi bargains and place these with them. They will be happy and we think it's fun to fix it for them. Win win as they say.Sheesh - well that Nakamichi pic pretty much closed the thread...
I had to go to my spreadsheet (yeah I keep one for this purpose)... The $60 Altec Santana's we're a candidate (but I hated them and they barely lasted a month) so the more appropriate answer:
Onkyo 2500 with a pair of Dynaco A25s both in perfect working (and decent looking) condition for $18. Still enjoyed daily, by my inlaws, some 15 years after I got em, and probably 50+ years since they were made.
(Not my pic - above - just illustrative)
PS BTW @mhardy6647 my CR3020 was ~$500 and just need some new lighbulbs (bargain?)
Yeah -- painfully -- a CR-3020 in almost any intact condition at $500 would have to be considered a bargain. A working one, absolutely and irrevocably.Sheesh - well that Nakamichi pic pretty much closed the thread...
I had to go to my spreadsheet (yeah I keep one for this purpose)... The $60 Altec Santana's we're a candidate (but I hated them and they barely lasted a month) so the more appropriate answer:
Onkyo 2500 with a pair of Dynaco A25s both in perfect working (and decent looking) condition for $18. Still enjoyed daily, by my inlaws, some 15 years after I got em, and probably 50+ years since they were made.
(Not my pic - above - just illustrative)
PS BTW @mhardy6647 my CR3020 was ~$500 and just need some new lighbulbs (bargain?)
How does it sound?
CR3020 - I'm not all that fond of it. To be frank, I also have a Sansui G971 - and I enjoyed that one more. Yeah it was "tubby" - but - it's a 1970s monster receiver; I want it to be ostentatious; because why else have one?Yeah -- painfully -- a CR-3020 in almost any intact condition at $500 would have to be considered a bargain. A working one, absolutely and irrevocably.
The TX-2500 is a pretty nice receiver. Onkyo "did" nice tuners. I had one for a while and might have it still were it not for the complete lack of silkscreening on the front panel! Someone had gotten over-aggressive in cleaning it. It was a freebie.
No A-25 freebies*, but I did find a nice pair of A-35s on the swap pile at the good ol' Harvard, MA town "dump" (actually, transfer station) many years ago. Still have those.
(the grilles are also in very nice condition, actually -- and remarkably)
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* Well, I guess arguably, my parents' erstwhile A-25s... but since I bought the A-25s for them ca. 1980 (for $75 used but in like-new condition from Gramophone near Baltimore, MD) they weren't really, technically free.
Wrong. This is an undeclared support group; you posting your pain helps us deal with ours.I'd post pictures of my 511 horns, straight outta 1953, but no one wants to see that!
Huh, of course you should show pictures of them. Fits here in the thread.I'd post pictures of my 511 horns, straight outta 1953, but no one wants to see that!
. Surprisingly good actually. The coax driver is in good condition. Fun to try a coax speaker, I must say.
Looks good! Is it SEAS Excel the one with the magnesium cone we see in the pictures?
Those are W18E001s, the magnesium cone version with the higher Qts, in trapezoidal sealed cabinets. They get crossed at 110Hz to the woofer, and 773Hz to the horn, both LR4.Looks good! Is it SEAS Excel the one with the magnesium cone we see in the pictures?
In that case, vintage and new in a mix. SEAS Excel can hardly be considered vintage. That's what I like, that is, mixing old and new.
Are these your "End Game Speakers"?
weirdly beautiful . . . and so ugly - at the same timeFinally, the 511 in situ. My version of vintage
There's a 50s grade Z Sci-Fi movie that used the 511 as a Death Ray device prop. Wish I knew what movie that was!
Well... I don't know about that.I'd post pictures of my 511 horns, straight outta 1953, but no one wants to see that!
Well -- and please don't read more into this than intended
-- I have always really, really loved the aesthetic of the A-401 amp. By far the most elegant entry level (which in those days, at 20 wpc, it was) component of its era. By far. ( ), but (and, in the spirit of this thread!) I do have its bigger sibling, the A-402. Dump find, and (still) not re-habbed, but works "fine" and sounds good. 
Another nice hk tuner, and, again, quite elegant in appearance, as well.
Christ that's fugly! If you have a better half then their saint-hood is all but assured!
