2 Channel Home Audio Systems - Vintage or Otherwise

After running across couple of mentions of home audio systems in some other threads I thought maybe there should be a thread to discuss and share people's 2 Channel audio addictions, preferably systems for vinyl fans.

For me, when I get the opportunity (e.g. home alone) I like nothing better than a couple of good drinks, maybe a good Cuban cigar, and firing up the ol' turntable and getting my groove on. The louder the better.

My setup is a mix of somewhat vintage gear that, quite frankly, just kicks A$$ (well, mine at least). Nothing fancy and expensive, just solid, clear, and loud.

My primary source is a 1978 MCS 6700 turntable (think Technics 1950 frame/guts with Hitachi controls). I picked this up at a yard sale a few years ago for a song. Current cartridge is a Stanton 681EEE. Nice solid little turntable. Being tucked away in a cabinet I really like the fully automatic features.

Prior to this I was using a Pioneer PL-7 and prior to that a Garrard Zero 100.

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The MCS 6700 feeds into an early 90's Yamaha AVC-70 preamp. This was Yamaha's lower end 5.1 preamp at the time. The phono stage is pretty darn good though (like most Yamaha phono pre's) and does the job for me.

Power is from an early 90's Yamaha MX-630 Amplifier. Again, nothing fancy here, just good, clean power. I got all the Yamaha stuff from a buddy several years ago.



Sound output comes from a pair of Infinity Kappa 7's. I LOVE these speakers!!! Bought them new in 1988 and just can't let them go.

The Polydome mids finally succumbed to age and I sent them off to the legendary Bill LeGall at Millersound for a rebuild a few years ago. If you need vintage Infinity speakers rebuilt this is your guy.

I've also had to replace the woofer surrounds a couple of times and did a recap on the crossovers about 7 or 8 years ago.

I'll probably keep them till the day I die.

 

I prefer the old stackable units like that. Growing up we had the top-of-the-line stuff. My mom worked for Akai. Needless to say we had a badass system. The receiver, separate equalizer, tape deck, turntable, four free standing speakers. I was a little kid but I knew that stuff was awesome. And it still works to this day! My dad has since bought Denon stuff and I’m tempted to see if my mom will give me all the old equipment. I wouldn’t mind setting it up as my home theater system. Records are a bit before my time although as a kid that’s all we listened to. I think it would be fun to listen to all that stuff again. He had a wide variety of stuff. My first piece of music to ever own was Michael Jackson on vinyl.

My biological father passed away and I kept quite a bit of his record collection. Back then I guess it was the thing to do and transfer your records on to real to reel. I have those too LOL.

 

If you want a different amp I've got a Marantz 1060 that I could part with. Probably needs new caps but still works.

 

what are you looking to get for that amp?

 

My Infinity's like a bit more power than the Marantz puts out.

That's a sweet amp though. Does it have the wood case or is it just the metal chassis?

 

I used to DJ on technics Sl1200mk2 and mk3 with Stanton needles. I still have them and my 100's of vinyls: mostly house music, techno, funk, disco, hip hop.

 

we could start tundras.com auctions?

 

Lol.....aahh...yes....someone besides myself who knows that the Marantz is a good old school receiver

 

PM me an offer on the amp, we could do best offer by Friday @4 and I can ship it out Monday. Proceeds are going to fundraising for our athletics department. Shipping won't be cheap though.

Unfortunately the wood case was cracked and missing a few pieces.

Also sorry for the thread derail lol.

 

(Back on Track) I am a huge 2-channel guy. In fact I would not even own a TV if i weren't married.
My gear is always changing but as it sits right now I am running:
2-Pioneer PLX1000 With Nagaoka MP-110H attached
Allen & Heath XONE 23
Cambridge Audio CXA60
Cambridge Audio CXC
and a pair of KEF R300

 

Sweeeeeeet!!!

 

I have no idea of the monetary value, but I do know I will never get rid of any of it. I can tell you a story about ever album I own. I know where and when I got each one. When I was in college I sold my car and walked for 1.5 years just so I could keep my collection intact.

 

Holy Moly!!!!!! Tunes for decades!!! Prolly got a whole wall just for the best decade ever THE 80's!!!!!!!!

 

I love it and often times do exactly that with a bottle of Pendleton by my side. I remember when it was the cheapest hobby I had. You could find people willing to give away their records because they did not use them anymore, and they were just taking up space. Alas like most things it became trendy and now things have gotten way too expensive.

 

Boy, ain't that the truth.

I don't have nearly the collection you have (maybe 500 albums +/-) but I REALLY enjoy what I have and I'm always on the lookout for good/cheap finds. I won't pay the retail prices for remasters/whatever because what fun is that?!? Obscure thrift stores in rural areas and garage/sales seem to work best for me.

Oh, my preferred "listening" bottle would be Zacapa XO

 

JBL Paragon ~ Accept nothing else.

 

Thread bump!

Awhile back we turned the daughters old bedroom into a "lounge" and I moved my gear back there.

Man, I LOVE hanging out back there to listen to some albums, sip a little rum, and do a little reading. Absolutely my favorite room in the house.

My gear hasn't really changed much since starting this thread except the addition of a Realistic Lab-420 turntable that I stumbled across (It was Radio Shacks top of the line table for 1981) and a Yamaha receiver/Wharfedale speaker combo to replace the crappy sound bar thing we had in the living room.

The Lounge.


The Lab-420.


A pristine Yamaha RX-V730 I snapped up for $35.


Wharfedale Diamond 10.2's I found on the cheap also.


Enjoying some Doorly's XO and The Cars, Heartbeat City.

 

This is awesome, great album selection.
That wall texture, or whatever it is, is awesome as well.

 

Thanks! It's a textured wall paper on the 2 walls.

 

Thread bump!

Always having an eye out for some home audio deals I grabbed a mint Parasound Zphono preamp for $60 this morning. I also had a couple new stylus show up yesterday. So far, I like the setup/change. Sounds seems a little tighter and a bit more detailed.





Now, if my buddy ever finishes the cabinet he's "supposedly" building for me I'll be able to setup both tables instead of just one at a time.

 

I just ordered a Pro-Ject T1 turntable in white. It'll connect to my pre-pro (Yamaha CX-A5200) powered by a 2-channel class H model RPA-2 Reference amp (with analogue VU meters ) from Emotiva, and playing through Bowers & Wilkins 705 S2s. Not vintage, I know, so my system will be "Otherwise". But more on that below.

I also picked up the following vinyl to get me started:

Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced? (Remastered)
Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (Remastered)
Pink Floyd: The Division Bell (Import, Remastered)
The Eagles: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & 2
The Eagles: Hotel California (Had to get Try and Love Again and The Last Resort)

15 years ago, I dumped my older/relatively vintage gear from the 70s, and also gave my vinyl collection to my brother, all for the convenience of FLAC rips and SACD which my younger self thought was good enough once higher bit-rate digital audio storage formats became available. But, after picking up the B&W 705s earlier this year, the speakers really brought out the midrange in just about everything I listened to, especially 24/96 FLAC and SACD. But even FLAC 16/44 was a night & day difference with these speakers. It reminded me so much of vinyl that it spawned my desire to go back. I'll post pics once I have everything set up.

 

Nothing wrong with new gear, that's for sure. Even though my current Yamaha does a great job I've been eyeballing one of those tube, preamps from Schiit, just because. I always have my eye out for a good deal on audio gear, vintage or otherwise.

I did pick up a NOS, SAE 1000LT and 1000E cartridge that were being blown out on EBay a few weeks ago. Apparently they sold for $260 back in 1980 and the vendor found a few hundred of each in his warehouse and was selling them for $99 a pop. A definite upgrade from my previous cartridge.



We've also been adding a few things to the room too. Picked up a new to us, 60's vintage Westnofa Siesta chair to replace the one I didn't really like, some cool art work an ex-hippie friend did for us, and some album frames on the walls.

Still need to do something with the closet doors, acoustics, and my buddy still hasn't finished the cabinet (mentioned in a previous post) which affects how I want to finish the lighting in there. It's been a fun project and has turned into a great space to hang out, have a drink, and listen to some great music.

Here's it's current state.

 

Just quoting myself for reference. I've had the turn-table setup and have been enjoying tunes since Christmas, but I'd been waiting to build a slide-out shelf for it before I posted any pics, and that finally happened over the weekend. My gear is listed above in my prior post.

TT In the cabinet when not in use.


Slides out when ready to jam.


View from the couch.


My 2-channel Class-H solid-state amp. It is a dual mono-bloc design that has 2 separate amp modules each with dedicated capacitors and dedicated power sources that deliver 200W each channel RMS, both channels driven. Love the silky-smoothness with vinyl from this thing!


Detail, imaging, midrange, and bass definition on these are amazing, and still pack a punch full-range for their size.

 

Don’t want to thread jack but does anyone run mono and/or tubes? I picked up a 1955 Stromberg Carlson cabinet that ran mono tubes years ago and upgraded the turntable. CSNY So Far (RIP David Crosby) on that thing was about the sweetest thing I’ve ever listened to. Hard to replicate the warmth of a tube. Unfortunately, had to get rid of it when we got married. Still have my LPs and a few 78s. Would love to get back into it some day. Some of you have BA systems..

 

Sorry to hear you had to get rid of it. But hey you do what you gotta do, and at least your decision sounds like it was a necessity. Unlike stupid me, I got rid of my ol' analog 2-channel gear and LPs about 15 years ago thinking hi-res digital was the way to go. That was a regrettable decision years later after I upgraded my speakers recently and realized what I was missing. But I'm back to vinyl now, at least.

My 2-channel amp, while not a tube amp obviously, is a dual mono-bloc design, each amp module having dedicated capacitors and power supplies (forgot to add that to my post above, which I just updated). It of course won't achieve the warmth of tubes, but damn vinyl still sounds smooth as silk!

This is an internal shot of its predecessor (RPA-1), but my model (RPA-2) still maintains the same design topology with dedicated toroidals.

 

I decided to try out a phono pre-amp vs the one on my pre-pro and went with one of these. I honestly wasn't expecting much from it, but holy crap it made a significant difference! Got it on sale 30% off the current price so even better.

 

Little update. First being, my buddy finally finished my cabinet a few months ago and I hauled it over to the cabinet shop that did our Murphy bed and had them finish it to match.


Then, a couple months ago I found, for a pittance, a Yamaha CX-1000 preamp and MX-1000 amp to replace the AVX-70 and MX-630 that I gave. HUGE upgrade in the amp department (260w per channel vs 125w) but it's the extra current capacity that was the game changer. Really opened up my old Kappa 7 speakers, especially at lower volumes.