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Post by rickyguitar on Jan 20, 2020 14:13:05 GMT -5
My wife just showed me an ad for a vintage Pioneer receiver for $26000. I am in utter disbelief. I have been missing the old gear with the huge floor speakers but not that bad. I would like a seriously better stereo system than the 5" nearfield monitors I have but I dont even know what current systems are out there now. $26000? Hell no.
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Post by Chris Greene on Jan 20, 2020 14:50:32 GMT -5
Current gear is far superior to most of the old stuff and far easier to to hook up and use without drama. I worked in a stereo shop where we sold Marantz, Kenwood, Teac, Revox, Grado, etc. Very pretty stuff but no thanks for today. I like my remotes as well (except for the turntables).
I can tell you exactly what to buy if you give us a budget and if you're playing records, CDs, streaming, etc. Of course, so can NSR, insanecooker, and others but my advice will be the best... ;o)
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Post by NoSoapRadio on Jan 20, 2020 16:02:22 GMT -5
I was playing in that sand box back in the late 70s and early 80s. I owned a Luxman R-1120 which cost me more than I could afford to spend and a girlfriend -- who, as it turns out, I could afford to lose. It was beautiful and sounded better than any other receiver out there at the time. I believe it is the best "super receiver" ever made, but it still didn't sound as good as the separate preamp/amps that were available. Long story short, A couple of power transistors failed in the Luxman and it was going to cost more than I could spend to have it fixed as those parts were no longer available. So I traded it for something that is also long gone. My point is, vintage receivers were nice to look at and sounded pretty good for their time, but they are long in the tooth and and cost a fortune to to bring back to the original spec. I'd love to have my Luxman back, but I'd never count on it for making music. Buy something new -- it will not look as cool as our old gear, but it will be less expensive than trying to maintain vintage gear and it will sound better. And for the record, there are plenty of brand new floor standing speakers out there.
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Post by rickyguitar on Jan 20, 2020 16:26:28 GMT -5
Current gear is far superior to most of the old stuff and far easier to to hook up and use without drama. I worked in a stereo shop where we sold Marantz, Kenwood, Teac, Revox, Grado, etc. Very pretty stuff but no thanks for today. I like my remotes as well (except for the turntables). I can tell you exactly what to buy if you give us a budget and if you're playing records, CDs, streaming, etc. Of course, so can NSR, insanecooker, and others but my advice will be the best... ;o) I would be interested in streaming, and CDs and would be interested in returning to done vinyl (foolishly sold it all years ago). I miss the room filling sound if the old stuff. This will not be an immediate deal but I would appreciate some information to develop a plan Thanks.
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Post by NoSoapRadio on Jan 20, 2020 16:40:43 GMT -5
If you don't already have a substantial collection of vinyl I wouldn't recommend going in that direction. Ten years ago you could go to yard sales and thrifts and get your old records back for a buck apiece. Those days are gone.
I'm not sure of your motivation, but if all you want to do is listen to older music, streaming is the way to go. Much less expensive than starting over.
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Post by rickyguitar on Jan 20, 2020 16:58:23 GMT -5
Oops forgot to mention budget. Can it be done for 400. 600? Point taken on vinyl.
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Post by Chris Greene on Jan 20, 2020 17:20:03 GMT -5
Stay away from vinyl, like NSR says. I only do it because I still have my old records and quite a lot of them.
$400-600 isn't much to play with. A Bluetooth receiver that you can stream from your phone or tablet would be one piece of gear. You mentioned very little about what equipment you actually have like the speakers other than they are other than "5" nearfield monitor".
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Post by rickyguitar on Jan 20, 2020 17:36:49 GMT -5
Stay away from vinyl, like NSR says. I only do it because I still have my old records and quite a lot of them. $400-600 isn't much to play with. A Bluetooth receiver that you can stream from your phone or tablet would be one piece of gear. You mentioned very little about what equipment you actually have (like the speakers other than they are other than "5" nearfield monitor". 5 Inch Krk rokit. Powered near field. We have several desktops and 2 tablets. I am not sure what would be next, blue tooth? Sub? I am looking to get room full of sound for a 12'x18'room. If I have to purchase pieces that is ok. Is bluetooth receiver a powered source? Is $1000 realistic?
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Post by NoSoapRadio on Jan 20, 2020 18:04:24 GMT -5
"Is bluetooth receiver a powered source?" Yes. You could look at something like this. It also has a phono stage if you want to go down that road later.
You can use your laptop or tablet as a streaming source and send it to the amp -- all you need is to hit a flea market and pick up a set of decent vintage speakers in good shape.
Or just buy a pair of these:
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Post by Chris Greene on Jan 20, 2020 20:56:56 GMT -5
I would take a different approach and get a Yamaha or Marantz integrated amp and use a mini stereo to RCA interconnect to hook up your phone or tablet into the Aux or similar inputs on the back of the amp. I prefer bookshelf sized speakers on stands and am a huge fanboy of the NHT SuperOne 2.1 speakers. You can get a pair of those for under $250 currently and check accessories4less.com for refurb'd gear. The Marantz integrated amps are sold with a three year Marantz warranty. I think they have the PM5005 for $380 currently. I use an iPad Mini 2 for streaming (mostly Spotify and Pandora) but run it through the DAC on my Marantz CD6004 CD player (a USB port is on the front). Still, even with this discounted set-up, your gonna be around $800-900 with stands, wire, interconnects, etc. FWIW, I have the SuperOnes in my living room which is a little bigger than yours and they fill the room with more than enough sound for me. Add a CD player and/or turntable and you're well over a grand.
The Marantz and Yamaha integrated amps all have good built-in phono stages.
www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/marpm5005/marantz-pm5005-2-ch-x-55-watts-integrated-amplifier/1.html
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Post by insanecooker on Jan 20, 2020 21:29:32 GMT -5
If you don't already have a substantial collection of vinyl I wouldn't recommend going in that direction. Ten years ago you could go to yard sales and thrifts and get your old records back for a buck apiece. Those days are gone. I'm not sure of your motivation, but if all you want to do is listen to older music, streaming is the way to go. Much less expensive than starting over. Ten years ago I had about 600 fewer records than now, so not sure about that advice... :-P
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Post by rickyguitar on Jan 20, 2020 21:47:41 GMT -5
I appreciate all the input. Thus will not be an immediate purchase, 6 to 8 months prolly. Feel free to share epiphanies. Thanks.
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Post by Chris Greene on Jan 20, 2020 22:06:56 GMT -5
Ask again in 6-8 months as the landscape will have changed by then.
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Post by NoSoapRadio on Jan 21, 2020 10:37:51 GMT -5
"Ten years ago I had about 600 fewer records than now, so not sure about that advice... :-P"
Maybe I'm just discouraging more people from getting into vinyl so there's more for me??
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