HI-FI
Collecting vintage Hi-Fi is a funny old game, and while there are a lot of separate units available in the line of amps, CD players, cassette decks, etc, you can be sure a lot of them will be clapped out. You can pick up units very heap but try go for quality brands that still work, so you don't end up with a shed full of junk. Remember, it will be difficult to get spares or repairs done on some time-ex units. Blow is my current gear line-up which I set up in different configurations in different locations.
The 'main' one!
4 Cassette Decks, 2 CD Players, 1 MD player, 1 Tuner,
Expander and 1 amp! A pair of Bose 301 and a pair of Goodmans Speakers
Music for Master Bedrooms!
Sony CD and MD, Kenwood Amp, Pioneer Cassette Deck, Pioneer SACD/DVD,
Rega Planar 2 Turntable, Mission M73 Speakers.
CASSETTE DECKS
Technics RS BX404 (1991-1993) Made in Japan
This a 2 head machine I picked up very cheaply and while it is a bog standard deck it is a pretty sturdy belt driven ship with a nice simple design. It sounds good and I love the two mic inputs which are ideal for making guitar/vocal one take demos! It's a pity it does not have a volume control on the headphone socket. When I cleaned the heads I was amazed to see that they had barely any use at all, they almost looked like new.
Pioneer CT-S430S (1996) Made in Malaysia
In the mid 90s my Technics double deck had burned out, no I actually burned the heads off the unit and I needed a replacement. I went for a middle of the road single well deck with Dolby S. Enter CT-S430S. While not the greatest sounding deck in the world, plus clickety-clack controls that are pretty noisy and annoying, it makes decent enough recordings thanks to Super Auto BLE. There is a 'Flex' button for older duller sounding tapes on playback which is useful for running dialog tapes to PC. I don't like the way the door does not line flush with the face, a thing that was readdressed with the newer models that came after. It still works perfectly well for a deck heading for twenty.
Pioneer CT-S810S (1992) Made in Japan
This recent acquisition is big leap up the tape deck ladder and a mighty 3 headed monster. This is my first ever high end deck and a beauty it is too. It has all the features a 'deckhand' would want, Dolby B, C and S, Super Auto BLE, smooth controls and superb sound. It's well made too, heavy and classy. There are a few things I don't fancy and that is the 'timer' switch, a thing I'd never use and the electronic door, even though very sexy, is a thing that can fail, but I guess these things were pricy in yesteryear so companies had to give customers all the creature comforts to get their money, but now I feel, if something does not enhance the sound, get rid of it. With certain tapes it's hard to tell the difference from the source and it warms the coldest digital recordings to some degree. A killer!
Yamaha KX-530 (1990) Made in Japan
This came used from a second hand shop. It works well and it's a nice deck with some nice features. An amorphous head, tape length display, Dolby B and C, trim control that adds treble to dull tapes and Bias control. The L and R channel recording meters are controlled with two separate dials and then a master fader controls both. Looking inside the unit I noticed chips from various manufacturers including Sanyo and Sony which is on the Dolby chip! The feet are the small crap, plastic type, which is funny as I've seen this deck with big silver feet. I have a spare set and very soon they are going to be nailed on this unit, simply because it's worth it. Another thing I noticed is that the length of the unit is 435mm which is 15mm longer than my Pioneer units. Playback is great with that rich, detailed fiery Yamaha sound. I recorded with the NR and on playback the trim can add back any lack of sparkle the NR takes out. A very nice deck indeed.
Sony TC-R503ES (1987) Made in Japan
This rather excellent Sony deck came to me in a buy and sell site. I was looking at another deck the seller had on offer only to find he had sold it. He said I should consider the Sony, and am I glad I did. I was never an Auto-Reverse fan, and more so in this day and age simply because there is too much going on and then you have the rotating head, unstable azimuth and all that malarky, plus I still have a pair of hands to change the cassette when I need too! Now this deck is probably 27 years old but when I gave it a little clean and gave the heads a good clean, it ran like a little dinger. The sound was bright, punchy and exciting. This deck was an attempt by Sony to make a top class Auto-Reverse machine. It also has Bias and record calibration which is rare for Auto-Reverse decks. I'm glad I listened to the seller and more glad I overcame my negative outlook on Auto-Reverse in general. Hey, I just figured, I never had a Sony deck. Well now I've a pretty good one and this deck was pretty expensive back in 1987 retailing at around $500, so it's hardly a middle of the road deck. Recordings are superb, the musicality sparkles with detail and rumbles with punchy tough bass. This is a great deck by any measure.
COMPACT DISC PLAYERS
Pioneer PD-S702 (1993) Made in Japan
I shelled out a small fortune for this in early 1994. It is a thing of beauty with it's simplistic design and ultra-cool 'Stable Platter Mechanism' which demanded that you flip the CD and place it label side down on a beautiful aluminium, rubber-matted mini turntable platter. This was all very cool back then and possible started CD player envy. Then you had the sophisticated 'Legato Link Conversion' which added predetermined high frequencies to the CD bandwidth's algorithm cut-off. Do ask me anymore, as I don't know!
Anyway this player gave a bit of trouble in the last few years but after giving it a good clean, hey presto, it's back in action. I also had the 701 but that machines laser
fell apart and it was sadly scrapped.
Pioneer PD-S701 (1992) Made in Japan
This model does not have Legato Link but Pulseflow conversion. It is not as attractive
as the 702 but it's still a decent machine. I always felt the play button is a bit long! It has optical out which is ideal for Mini Disc recording.
Pioneer DV 747 (2005) Made in Malaysia
Ok, so this is a DVD player, but, and it is a big but. It also plays CD, SACD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-V, DVD-A, in other words all discs of the CD size. So you can watch a film, watch your own PC burned films, play CD-R with mp3 files on them for non-stop music round the clock. The high quality Super Audio CD that now have almost died out. What is the sound like? Absolutely superb. In the SACD setting the music is rich, beautifully detailed and very warm sounding for a digital unit. This is my main CD player and I love the fact it shares the same numeric name as the Boeing 747 Jumbo jet!
Sony CDP-XB720E (1998) Made in France
I picked this up on an advertising site. It is in good condition for it's age and sounds really nice. It's a basic machine with nice tidy controls. The jog wheel is a bit odd for track selection. I would have preferred two buttons instead. The player is pretty heavy, which is surprising all the same. There are Coaxial and Optical sockets as well as analog. What I find good about this machine is that it plays CDs from the 80s with new clarity and depth, as I find a lot of these masters were a bit dull and bland sounding. It has enticed my to pick up some more used early CDs as it really opens them up sonically.
Technics SL-P200 (1988) Made in Japan
This is an amazing CD player. Yes, totally amazing and brilliant. Why, it's very old. It's almost 26 years old? It's old technology. I agree with all of the latter, but it is still working! That's right, it's still working! This was the first CD player I ever bought in August 1988. Friends actually congratulated me, believe it or not! Insane but back then the CD was thee big thing. All the other people had to make do with tapes and records but the cognosinti had the Compact Disc which gave us faithful reproduction of the digital image! Such a load of baloney now but this was the late 80s and the CD was
the zenith of digital excellence. This player came without a remote would you believe it, and after buying it and two CDs I was broke and could not afford a ticket to see Michael Jackson's Bad concert, until my girlfriend subbed me the money for the second night's show. I got a CD player and saw Jacko. Now that's not too bad at all!
Cambridge Audio CD4 (Early 90s)
This is another hand over job from last year. It works but does skip from time to time. The sound is noticeably very good and it must surely be well over 20 years old at this stage. While I do like minimal design, I find this a bit too minimal and the small window and daisy style track display is small and a little confusing at a glance. There is no headphone socket either so stand alone bedside use is out of the question!
AMPLIFIERS
Yamaha AX-396 (1996)
This was used in a restaurant for almost ten years and was going in the bin. I interveined and now it is rocking like a motherf**er. The powerful, fiery but detailed sound is what you can expect from Yamaha amps. The controls are under the letterbox front panel but even remaining flat, they never seem to need fiddling about with for all kinds of music. The detail is superb and the kick mighty. It is a remote amp, I don't have the remote, who cares, I love Yamaha gear and this one is a keeper!
Kenwood KA-3020 Special Edition (1994) Made in Japan
I cannot remember where I got this but as far as I can gather, it was given to me for free about twelve years ago, along with a Technics CD carousel (things I absolutely hate by the way) by a person that was moving house. It's a fine amp and still works well delivering a well placed soundstage with plenty of bass and detail. I replaced it at one stage with a far better sounding NAD amp which packed up soon after! The Special Edition means it is an upgraded more powerful version of the previous 3020. A good old workhorse that plays anything you can throw at it.
Aiwa KA 006 (1993) Made in Singapore
This amp is a powerful beast but I always kept it purely for back-up. There is a good growl from it and it is in pretty good nick for an amp over 20 years old. It needs a good old clean up as some of the dials are a little crackly. While it is not the best amp I have ever heard it does entertain mainly because it hams up plenty of bass.
Pioneer A-303R (1993) Made in Japan
This is a nice amp that delivers clear detailed sound but it has no real balls. The controls are slight and flimsy too. It is remote control but that's something I'd never use with an amp. It's clean, uncluttered design is appealing but it's got no real muscle. This amp was bought recently on an advertising site as is in very good condition.
Marantz PM26 (1987) Made in Japan
This baby is on the way out I'm afraid. It is old and has too many miles on the clock. I don't know too much about these amps but it looks like it's from the mid 80s.
SOLD FOR PARTS!
Pioneer MJ-D707 (1999)
Another recent purchase, this Mini Disc player/recorder has all the features you could need for that now dying format. I never had a full sized unit only a Sony portable so this is a bit novel. What I don't really like a bout Mini Disc is the gurgling that happens before a disc plays. This is less noticeable with portables but part of the TOC reading that discs go through once activated. I guess when you are used to CDs smooth and quieter loading this is a bit annoying. Still this machine sounds great and looks pretty slick.
Sony MDS-JE530 (1999) Made in Japan
I picked this up on an advertising site. It is a basic MD recorder that uses Sony ATRAC-DSP Type-R. The sound is good and the mechanism is pretty fast and efficient. The jog wheel is a bit too sensitive and can slip all over the place when trying to do simple functions such as erasing, naming and editing. It has pitch control and can record in mono as well as stereo. It has the three record modes you would expect to have with a player of it's time. It's not as pretty as the Pioneer and I was never keen on the chamfer on top and bottom of some of the Sony range from this era. All in all it's a nice, easy to use player that sounds pretty good.
TURNTABLES
Rega Planar 2 (1995) Made in England
This is a very special part of my music playing arsenal. The story goes like this. May 1996, I saw an add in a local shop and rang the number. An old man with an American accent answered the phone and we arranged a meeting. Next day I called to his house and he told me he was moving back to the USA in one week and unfortunately he had packed his amp away so I could not audition the Rega. I knew if something looked this good it has to sound good too. He said "trust me, you'll love it". I paid him, took it home and plugged it in. Wow! I could not believe my ears. Not only was the sound incredibly detailed, the bass was warm and strong and it definitely sounded better than CD overall. This is one of my treasured possessions and my reference turntable. I can record from vinyl to PC with superb quality and I 'know' the sound of this after 18 years. It's a masterpiece
of Hi-Fi design no less.
Technics SL1210MK2 (1989) Made in Japan
There is nothing I can say about this legendary piece of equipment, that hasn't already been said, except that it is the Mercedes - Benz of turntables. Ask any DJ that used them and there will be nothing but praise and affection. These were, and still are peoples lives! They are over-engineered. Just open one up, I have, to fix bulbs, etc, and there are no crap parts, what you will find are high quality components. I have four in total, two 1200s and two 1210s. I was thinking of fitting an RB250 tone arm to this one as the original arm is half shot and needs replacing.
The same deck in dry dock. This needs a good clean and more than likely a new tone arm.
There are no short cuts when fixing these over-engineered turntables.
SPEAKERS
Mission 762i (1992) Made in England
Remember these? When people say the upside-down design of the 762i it was a controversial affair. You can of course turn them upside-down, or sideways in a book shelf and they still give you a nice flat sound. These are British made and date back to the early 90s. A fine and solid pair of speakers indeed.
I was given these over 20 years ago by a friend that was about to dump them. They are small, sound good and are pretty powerful. I'm glad I still have them and they are very hand as monitors for recording music on a PC. These are pretty old and must be heading for 30 years old. I recently masked off the front of these and sprayed the cabinets glossy black. They now look great and shiny clean.
B&W (1985) Made in England
These were saved from the same skip. Another great pair with a nice thump. They are still functioning well. I have no model number so I don't know much about these. These also got sprayed up and now gleam gloss black. I will work on cleaning the rusty screws soon. Upon opening one up I found a label that was date stamped 21 March 1985 and the unit reference was BZ 150.
Bose 301 (1990)
An odd looking speaker with it's clothes off I must say. These were popular in the late 80s and early 90s and why? Well Bose make great speakers and these are now a classic pair indeed. The reflex may be novel but it gives another dimension to the sound in a room. The sound is precise and the bass punchy and strong. Detail is great and these serve up music from all sources with great ease.
Mission M73 (2003) Made in Malaysia
These have been my main speakers since 2003 when I bought them. I like tall speakers, (like the song goes!) and these deliver a nice crisp flat sound with good bass that's not over exaggerated. They can be filled with sand bags to make them give a heavier thump. I never did that for fear of making a mess!
TUNERS
Pioneer TX-540L Made in Japan
I was also given this analog tuner last year. It sounds fine but I do not listen to the radio, so it's a hi-fi ornament I guess.
Sony ST-SE300 Made in Japan
This came as part of a deal. I didn't really want it as don't use tuners at all but who know one day I may tune in to radio gaga!
EXPANDER
Pioneer EX-90000 Dynamic Expander (1988) Made in Japan
A lot of people say that expanders and graphic equalizers only make the sound worse, or after a few times messing with them you end up not using them at all. I like a natural sound myself without having to do a lot of tweaking but I will admit the novelty value of the flashing meters on this is well worth the price I paid for it which wasn't that much at all. It does pack a punch sonically and is a nice piece of gear to have. These were all the rage in the 80s for the old 'Hi-Fi envy' game!
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