OK, I'll weigh in.
Growing up during the time of vintage audio I often sat in wonder of the fine gear of the day. My parents only had a console system (you know mid-century deal). I think they got it from Sears. I don't know what they paid, but I'm sure back then it was a fortune. I remember it had a tuner on one side with a hole for records and on the other side was a turntable. A stacker to be exact. I'm not sure about the make, but I'd be willing to bet that it was a Gerard (or most likely made by the company for Sears).
I remember it was all metal and had a flip needle. I eventually came to know it as the record chewer.
Back then I did not know about other gear such as separates and all that one could do. However, when ever we went to friends of family or extended family houses for gatherings, about half of them had fine audio gear of the day. I remember at a young age that I would sit in front of said gear mesmerized by the shiny silver or lights and meters or both. Then there was the sound, oh the sound! Always on low, but I remember hearing every detail in the music. My parents never had to look for me at these occasions, I was always parked in front of the system. I remember my Dad's sister and her husband and kids place. They had a console system as will and my cousins had players with color organs. Everytime we would visit I and my cousins would go to their room and play records. I was fascinated by the color organs.
To this day, I wish I had one!
After a time I remember going into shops where they had fine gear and just looking at it wishing I would have a system someday.
Sadly, I never got my first real turntable or even mid-fi gear until the early 80s!! Way late to the party! However, still mesmerized by the finer stuff which was still out of reach.
It was not until about 6 or 7 years ago I finally got some of the stuff I was drawn to back in the early 70s! I now have a vintage system and a modern system and I am grateful and feel fortunate to have it.
Comparing them is not easy and I would say for me personally, there is no comparing them in a sense. The sounds are really different and both pleasurable to me.
With my vintage system I am running a pair of DCM TF-600s currently. Those were considered high-end back in the day. I have been enjoying their sound, especially with my Sansui receiver from the 70s. However, I have to say that speaker technology has come a long way and speakers are better than ever these days and vastly improved in my opinion and I am looking to replace the Time Frames down the road soon. I've kind of grown fatigued with them.
As for amps, those too have changed, but in my opinion not necessarily resulting in new ones sounding better than the vintage ones, but rather sounding different.
For me, I like both some of today's high-end and some of the vintage stuff. I like the choice of easily noticeable different sound.
I have a couple of pieces these days that are considered "high-end", but not much. My finance situation has never changed, still much of the high-end stuff to me is unobtainable. I'm grateful for what I do have and can attempt to reach for, at least over time.
I'm also very lucky to have a tech that knows vintage audio and higher-end stuff inside and out and I've had him work on a couple of pieces. In fact, I am fixing to have him do a complete re-cap on my beloved Sansui guaranteeing another 30 years of service.
That's the one thing about vintage gear that also stands out to me, the endurance. My vintage system and gear is 40 years old at least and it's still going!
For me, I look at it as all good. One thing that has transferred over both systems are my turntables. I like the legacy tables over many of the new ones out there for some reason. So I run a legacy table in both systems.
The bottom line for me is it all makes music and engages one in the music, that is what matters most and it's different strokes for different folks.
~Eric
