Any vintage gear that you believe is as good or beats today's gear?

joeinid

joeinid

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I have some friends that swear by some older gear that beats some of today's high end gear.

One name that comes up often is Threshold. I was a little oblivious to it growing up, not realizing that it might be a classic.

What are your thoughts? I've had limited experience earlier on but am curious what are some of your favorites.
 
Hey Joe :)
Preamps: Sony TA-E88, Sony TA-E86, Sony TA-ER1, Onkyo P-303, Rotel RHA-10, Pioneer Exclusive C7...
Power amps: Yamaha 101M, Onkyo Grand Integra M-510, Onkyo Integra M-588, Onkyo Integra M-200, Sony TA-N86, Rotel RB-2000, Rotel RB-5000, Hitachi HMA-8500 MKII, Hitachi HMA-7500, Hitachi HMA-6500...
CD players: Studer A730, Restek Radiant, Philips CD303, Marantz CD-94, Yamaha CD-1...
During 2016 I made a turn towards japanese vintage (for amps and preamps), couldn't be more happy with the sound :)
 
Great, thank you for that. I'll check out some of the items you mentioned.
 
You're most welcome. Most of the mentioned gear won't be cheap and easy to find. The best place to start exploring vintage is www.thevintageknob.org
Right now I have Sony TA-E86 and two Hitachi HMA-6500, until this week I also had Onkyo P-303 and Hitachi HMA-8500 MKII.
Any combination between these 2 amps and 2 preamps sounds the same: amazing.
 
Threshold is good gear, certainly, but I have no doubt (and that includes having owned Threshold and Pass, and still knowing a couple of people with working Threshold amps) that Pass Labs far surpasses it. The Infinity IRS speakers, depending on what you are comparing them to, remain impressive. Likewise Acoustat and Beveridge e-stats, if properly updated; obviously Quad 57's as well. Perhaps some Snell speakers. Krell amps from the '90's, again depending on what you are comparing them to.
 
Hmmm... I had a Nakamichi receiver with Threshold Stasis amplifier which was pretty darn good... I always liked Hafler, really great values, especially their kits! Older Harmon Kardon receivers were some of the best sounding, gutsy amplifiers.

I would also put KEF speakers right there. They used to eat Japanese amps alive (Sony, Pioneer, etc.), but when powered by a good amplifier they were so good... I still miss my Reference 104 aB's....

But speakers are very much personal preference in speaker type; for example I never like ribbon tweeters, I sold Inifinity and people liked them, I never did. The same as horns, sold tons of Klipsch, but I never liked the horn sound. Never liked electrostatic speakers either.

All three type of speakers had great followings and many people loved them, I prefer a more neutral speaker... Advent, Boston Acoustics, Paradign, but especially British speakers.... KEF, B&W... etc...
 
I own a 52 year old McIntosh MA230 integrated amplifier (solid state preamp/tube power amp), 30 watts per channel and sounds wonderful. I did this video in 2015.


 
joeinid said:
I have some friends that swear by some older gear that beats some of today's high end gear.

One name that comes up often is Threshold. I was a little oblivious to it growing up, not realizing that it might be a classic.

What are your thoughts? I've had limited experience earlier on but am curious what are some of your favorites.
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Currently have and have had many Threshold stuff over the years , good , but not on par with today's best on the other hand not all of today's so called best are worth their price of entry , many are posers and while a Pr of of SA1's ( past SOTA) would give most a run today , they would not best current day SOTA, but they do represent good value vs new .....

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This is the McIntosh MA5100 solid state integrated amplifier, 45 watts per channel. It is the integrated amplifier that replaced the McIntosh MA230 integrated amp. At the time I made this video in 2015 the MA5100 was 47 years old and working perfectly. I owned this integrate amp for 12 years and only recently sold it. These older McIntosh components stand up very well even in 2017.


 
rbbert said:
Threshold is good gear, certainly, but I have no doubt (and that includes having owned Threshold and Pass, and still knowing a couple of people with working Threshold amps) that Pass Labs far surpasses it. The Infinity IRS speakers, depending on what you are comparing them to, remain impressive. Likewise Acoustat and Beveridge e-stats, if properly updated; obviously Quad 57's as well. Perhaps some Snell speakers. Krell amps from the '90's, again depending on what you are comparing them to.
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I do agree current day Pass is Superior , just not as attractive ......
 
jdandy said:
This is the McIntosh MA5100 solid state integrated amplifier, 45 watts per channel. It is the integrated amplifier that replaced the McIntosh MA230 integrated amp. At the time I made this video in 2015 the MA5100 was 47 years old and working perfectly. I owned this integrate amp for 12 years and only recently sold it. These older McIntosh components stand up very well even in 2017.
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Dan , Have you ever tried an MC2500 in your system ...... ??


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a.wayne said:
Dan , Have you ever tried an MC2500 in your system ...... ??
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a.wayne.......I have not had the pleasure of ever hearing that amplifier. It certainly is a powerhouse. I don't think in a home system I could live with the two fans on the rear making noise keeping the amp within operating temperature. Sure is a beauty. I could certainly see this amplifier being used in a pro application.
 
jdandy said:
This is the McIntosh MA5100 solid state integrated amplifier, 45 watts per channel. It is the integrated amplifier that replaced the McIntosh MA230 integrated amp. At the time I made this video in 2015 the MA5100 was 47 years old and working perfectly. I owned this integrate amp for 12 years and only recently sold it. These older McIntosh components stand up very well even in 2017.


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I agree Dan.

Joe : McIntosh may be the best example of vintage gear that can compete with modern stuff. But I would stay away vintage preamps.
I still have at home, the MA5100, the MAC1500, the MR 77 ( vintage Mc tuners are imho much better sounding than the modern ones ) and the MC225 which I use on a daily basis.
Imho with the right speakers, a well restored 225 will indeed outperform many modern Mc amps, both in transparency, dynamics and naturalness.
I guess that the point to point wiring of that era may be much superior than the printed boards of today.
My friend Cédric, boss of Halgorythme also never uses printed circuits because not only he can hear a clear difference, he can also measure the effect of the printed circuit on the signal.
 
I like the Mac C-22 pre-amp the best of all the vintage models and it was capable of competing against other established pre's back then or later on, their SS pre-amps that followed for decades were not up to par IMO. The big SS amps are decent to good and on par with many, the MC3500/ MC275 set the standard for toob amplifiers for decades.

Most who find the "mac" sound so,so was mainly due to the Mac pre being used, try the amplifiers by themselves and see ...



Regards ...
 
Humbly, I am listening to a couple of pieces of vintage equipment that of course, cannot compete with today's SOTA. But I can say they sound fantastic and I wouldn't be embarrassed sharing the sound with anyone.

Digital front end through a competent McIntosh C35 PreAmp to a pair of Threshold S/200 Class A/AB Stasis amplifiers into my Infinity RS-IIa speakers.
 

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a.wayne said:
Currently have and have had many Threshold stuff over the years , good , but not on par with today's best on the other hand not all of today's so called best are worth their price of entry , many are posers and while a Pr of of SA1's ( past SOTA) would give most a run today , they would not best current day SOTA, but they do represent good value vs new .....

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agreed and with that being said re-capping and updating a pair of Threshold beauties from the past will provide an incredible value that I doubt you'll be able find 'new' today

crwilli said:
Humbly, I am listening to a couple of pieces of vintage equipment that of course, cannot compete with today's SOTA. But I can say they sound fantastic and I wouldn't be embarrassed sharing the sound with anyone.

Digital front end through a competent McIntosh C35 PreAmp to a pair of Threshold S/200 Class A/AB Stasis amplifiers into my Infinity RS-IIa speakers.
Click to expand...

Craig's, SC system is a case in point ............
 
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