So what's the opinion here on old receivers vs. new? The price/availability of the old are very subject- it's easy to find a old receivers that go for a lot on ebay for next to nothing on classifieds/goodwill. Then there's the new receivers that retail absurdly and the used market people are all over the place.
Personally im not one to need a million things hooked up at once or a lot of the other features that the new offer, and i don't think I'm alone there. Like realistically how many people are going to own a full 5.1 and how much of the audio people listen to on a daily basis just stereo anyways?
I feel like for average audio consumption a 70's receiver with a set of paradigm/jbl speakers can do better than a lot of the powered monitors and desktop speakers i see a lot of people here have for less.
Jayden Mitchell
They can be good but like all old tech suffer from degrading components. Really the only reason to consider them is the complete lack of modern quality receivers.
Luis Gomez
They've gotten kind of fashionable in the last few years so the values on the good ones are outrageous and the cheap ones are not really any better or cheaper than something with a warranty from say Parts Express. Plus they tend to be ginormous and have way too many knobs and terminals on the back. Too much to go wrong. In before "I bought one and it turned out fine", the idea of ripping open a chassis and spraying contact cleaner everywhere and replacing a bunch of leaky old caps is not my idea of time well spent. I could be shitposting on Sup Forums.
Noah Taylor
>the complete lack of modern quality receivers Ha ha ha. No.
Jacob Anderson
Look at this dumb kid thinking his made in China shit is good. Oh the dumb and ignorant have flooded this board.
Hudson Sullivan
>what is japan
Josiah Lee
You think a receiver is more complex than your made in china facebook machine?
Alexander Anderson
List an example, bucko.
Henry Ward
What does complexity have to do with anything?
Nathan Edwards
so you buy one serviced or get it done by someone yourself. "too many knobs and terminals on the back" you mean the 2 speaker outs, and 3 rca inputs? yeah its a clusterfuck alright. the new ones have twice the ports and shit to go wrong i literally don't know how to take your comment it's so contradictory.
Asher Jackson
Complexity = more possible ways to fail. If possible failures are not your concern, what is? >buy one serviced Lol, no. Why the fuck would anyone do that other than crippling autism? >"too many knobs and terminals on the back" you mean the 2 speaker outs, and 3 rca inputs? No I mean pic related
Adam Price
>more possible ways to fail. If possible failures are not your concern, what is? Quality? Are you 12 or not a native speaker or something?
Henry Cox
nothing has changed there
Adrian Bell
>Quality? Please define that >Are you 12 or not a native speaker or something? I'm 39 and I speak English just fine. You are being intentionally obtuse because you have superstitious beliefs about audio that you can't back up Yes, we have options now. All I see on the vintage market are abominations like this
Liam Powell
>You are being intentionally obtuse Now I know you're fucking retarded or not a native speaker. Either that or underage. What I said is perfectly clear and needs no definition. I'm not lowering the base level of competence on the topic for this discussion just because you're an idiot. Sorry this isn't your reddit hugbox and I'm not some spoon feeding retard.
Jayden Cook
Or, in other words, muh feelings
Thanks for clearing that up
Liam Gray
Quality is objectively measured in electronics. Sorry you can't meme your way out, kiddo.
Luke Mitchell
"Muh feelings" is not an objective measurement. What *measurable* characteristic of your crackly dumpster dive special is better than a modern high quality integrated? Certainly not THD or SNR, so it must be "muh feelings".
In before "but I was comparing a 1979 McIntosh amp that cost over $5000 in today's money to a $120 Sony 12-channel AV receiver from walmart"
Hunter Cook
It depends a bit if you can get something from before cost engineering was a big deal. This why 80s stuff should be largely considered junk.
Older isn't better (its got wear and degradation on it) but sometimes over-engineered is.
Mason Fisher
The "over engineering" is just a manufacturing relic from the days when they didn't have stuff like SMT boards
Everything was bigger, and therefore everything was heavier, and therefore everything that supported the functional parts had to be 5x stronger because otherwise something inside would crack from routine handling
The old stuff that was truly garbage back in the day ended up in landfills, and the same is true of the garbage sold today. On the other hand future neckbeards will be arguing that their vintage Bryston B135 is proof that they stopped making nice things in 2017
Charles Morris
>I can't read That's been established.
Matthew White
>muh feelings
Tyler Turner
Maybe try a danker mayamy that you kids love. In example one of the following: cuck t. ourguy
Or you can trying a reaction image. Reddit has many that popular these days. "Pepe" is usually considered a good choice and there's many versions.
Matthew Watson
Have this cutie pie. (Not my picture, google pulled an ebay listing that looks like shit)
Very comfy and reliable, don't possibly need much else but the radio and aux cord.
Disregard the buttdevestated autismdad above, old recievers are comfy as fuck.
Anthony Scott
I like how you've completely given up on defending your crackly dumpster dive specials and you've resorted to character assassination
Cooper Cruz
Nothing to defend. My point was made and is sound.
Thomas Cooper
>Very comfy >old recievers are comfy Oh look, this completely meaningless fucking word again.
Evan Jones
You made your point, yes. Crackly dumpster dived gear is so good it's got some unmeasurable advantage that can't be discussed without resorting to the following: calling the other person a child, asking if the other person doesn't speak English, calling them a memester, and insinuating that they must be a member of the alt-right.
Great argument!
Jaxon Morgan
kek.
Jackson Young
You really convinced me with those hot opinions.
William Butler
If you're good at electronics, go for the vintage gear. It's easily serviceable and built very well.
I've completely given up on new chinese made shit. Complexity doesn't matter. I've had everything from dvd players die to fans literally catching fire, but all of my vintage stuff (some of which is over a half-century old) are all going strong.
Hudson Diaz
>Japan
You do know most of Pioneers stuff is produced in Mudlaysia these days
Just saying.
Aiden Perez
>I've had everything from dvd players die to fans literally catching fire What in the actual fuck
What brands are you people buying?
David Martinez
So is most Seiko stuff but that doesn't stop the neckbeards around here from jacking off over it
Jace Flores
panasonic and lasko
funny enough my 20 year old sony dvd player and my 30 year old lakewood fan are both working fine
Lucas Sanchez
Still better than China
Hudson Russell
Lasko makes audio gear?
Jonathan Price
I said my fan caught fire, not my audio gear
Blake Johnson
Do older receivers sound better than modern machines? Generally, no. Components age (particularly caps) and wear out. They also usually have more hiss, and less channel separation. My best Vintage receiver is my Yamaha CR-1040, which was a decent machine back in it's day, won't keep up with my current home theater receiver, a Yamaha HTR 6050, which itself is already several years old.
Juan Ross
forgot to add... But the older ones just look fucking cool. Something about watching needles move around to the music, the solid clunk of the switches and selectors, and that tuning dial that has a 1/2 pound flywheel attached to it.
Ian Sanchez
Is that too much for you to handle hahaha
git gud scrub
Joshua Ross
I love my vintage audio junk. It's so pretty. With enough patience you'll find an old amp or receiver for pretty cheap. Pic related is a Kenwood ka 3500 I picked up for $30 because the right channel would cut in and out randomly. Just needed a little contact cleaner and it's good to go. Below you can see my pioneer sx1000tw. Got it for $50 at a swap meet and it's immaculate.
I also own a newer Marantz 7.1 and an almost brand new Yamaha 5.1 receiver. There's not really any audible difference between any of them save for sound floor. The older units likely have leaky transistors and caps and resistors that have drifted well out of spec. It's nothing major with speakers, but can be headache inducing with headphones.
Jason Sanchez
>having to hunt through 10 different input selectors with irrelevant names just to find one of the two things you plugged into the back of the receiver is "comfy" >mommy look! it even says tape deck! I bet those were neat! Millennials were a mistake
Andrew Foster
Home theater receiver too intimidating? Tri-path this. It has a power button, volume dial, and a selector for the A or B input.
Hunter Sullivan
Some are shit, some are good. Same for modern ones.
Levi Rogers
I have two Pioneer integrated amps from the 70's and one Marantz from the same era. Whether you like old hardware is just matter of preference.
Technically, an amplifier's job is only to amplify sound. Modern receivers do a very good job of doing this with minimal distortion. Older receivers from the 1970's do have a bit of distortion. But because of the amplifier design, that distortion is typically very smooth and pleasant sounding. Distortion from a modern class D amp is not so pleasant.
No matter how you look at it, vintage hardware is a novelty and a hobby. Unless you spend tons of money, anything you buy is going to require, at a bare minimum, opening the unit up and spending lots of time spraying Deoxit into the knobs. All of my receivers needed capacitors replaced and one of them had a bad relay which caused the audio to cut out.
The novelty is having a beautiful 40+ year old receiver connected to a 40+ year old turntable, admiring the beauty of the hardware, and listening to that sweet distortion. In my opinion that stuff sits in a room separate from your living room Denon or Yamaha setup. For casual movie watching or whatever, you use the living room system.
John Harris
I bought a tripath amp out of morbid curiosity, as expected it's a piece of shit, I gave it to my coworker
Maybe if you poorfags actually tried buying something nice for once you wouldn't be laboring under the erroneous impression that "they" stopped making good gear in 1967
Ian Ortiz
Funny enough I actually found a 6.1 receiver at a second hand store for like $35-40.
Jonathan Flores
That wasn't very comfy of you user.
Caleb Hill
Mine sounds fine and hasn't had a problem. Too sad for you. I also have a Yamaha B1 power amp, if that's any indication of what my budget constraints are.
Chase Cooper
New stuff is better. The few gems aren't worth the price they demand.
Like a chip amp, class d, etc will all produce far better sound than any vintage amp.
That said the worst part of most audio systems is the speakers. Good speakers are expensive and vintage speakers are fucking shit. Computer modelling did wonders for speakers.
Kevin Diaz
>Mine sounds fine and hasn't had a problem Probably because your ears are broken or you're one of those intolerable "horn loaded" fags. Which means your ears are broken. >I also have a Yamaha B1 power amp, if that's any indication of what my budget constraints are. A dumpster dived amp? So, basically, zero?
Connor Rivera
I used to buy vintage gear and to tell you the truth if you don't plan to recap/service them they can actually be quite risky to use. I had a old pioneer receiver blow a cap on the output stage and it took out one of my b&w speakers. That being said they are relatively simple and anyone with basic electronics knowledge would be able to service them with schematics being widely available for most of them. I just tend to stick with new equipment now its expensive to buy good gear yeah but I like having the peace of mind.
Parker Lee
Dumpster dive amp? You're a retarded know-nothing know-it-all if that's what you figure. And I suppose the paradigm titans I have hooked up to the topping are shit too.
Ethan Cooper
Dude paradigm Titans aren't great speakers..... Certainly nothing to brag about.....
Isaiah Bailey
You are already wasting your time when you are responding to any "muh feeling" shit. Audio losers, hardware faggots who insist emulators are bad, etc are just using this as an excuse, because they don't know what to say.
Thanks to the hipster movement, people today honestly think finding some thrown away garbage in a dumpster is better than buying something new and modern because it's "unique". It also sounds "unique" (shit). You could replicate this by buying something new, throwing it off a building or two, then leaving it in a dumpster and "finding" it a week later. It would at that point sound "unique".
You cannot argue with someone who is using feeling words like "unique", "warm", "shit", etc because there is not ever a way to PROVE that it makes them feel that way.
"It's better" = wrong "I pretend it's better" = Absolutely right, keyword being PRETEND.
Thankfully the free market solves this problem as regardless how hard audio shits cry at you here, they're dropping thousands overall on their "setup".
time to go start a business where I buy new audio hardware, temporarily remove the outside housing, beat it to shit and back, then sell it at 1000% and call it some weird modern retro unique piece art example so that when it shows up it actually does destroy all the other hipster shit in their retarded collection
Evan Flores
>muh craigslist find Looks like we've got a connoisseur here
Jonathan Collins
> Buy / find shit retro amp for next to nothing > Empty components, maybe save transformer, put in $30 class d from china > Sell for big dollars because it doesn't sound like shit but looks retro
Ryan Powell
Not a bad idea, but Walmart already sells them.
Nathaniel Sullivan
I had to wipe for like 3 minutes this morning after taking a shit. Something didn't digest right. Oh were we talking about audio gear? Sorry! I thought this was the "random irrelevant personal anecdotes" thread =^)
Jace Smith
Speakers need more wood grain, but I bet they sound just as "comfy" as a crackling dumpster find
Joshua Brown
Expanding on this idea:
Make up some retroshit sounding name. Make it german or european. submit names, just for now it will be scamgear.
-Make up fake wikipedia edgelord articles on how scamgear was the greatest holiest of holy audiofaggot gear to get, but some bullshit about how the factory burned down and everyone died etc.
-Pay people to shill to say they "heard about stories" in audiofaggot forums, provide unique pictures of ripped apart plastic/metal that has scamgear logo on it
-Run around to popular cities where audio shits reside and secretly deposit same metal scrap scamgear logos on it, put price logo on it and deposit in thrift stores where audioshits live, wait for audioshits to find one and flip shit
-Make huge forum post about OMG FOUND SECRET STASH OF SCAMGEAR IN ABANDONED WAREHOUSE
-Get regular audio equipment and do said method of just making it look like shit but modern internals with scraped up scamgear logo
time to retire
Kayden Campbell
>it's easy to find a old receivers that go for a lot on ebay for next to nothing on classifieds/goodwill
No it isn't. It's next to impossible. Two things would need to happen... 1, you have to live in a place where people are donating them and 2, the thrift stores would have to price them super cheap. Most people have neither of those things, let alone both.
Parker Diaz
And there's also these fucking abortions. Might actually be better off dumpster diving.
Anthony Lewis
Just requires a white van. Oy, wanna buy some speakas?
Michael Thomas
is this a joke post? how is that little pioneer complex? how is servicing a piece of high-quality vintage audio "crippling autism"? you'd rather throw it out and buy something cheap and new that won't last?
Angel Perry
Yeah but it doesn't look shitty enough. It doesn't have that 'sat in dad's garage collecting dust for two decades ' look.
It need character.
That's a lot of effort user. People will just see Sears logo on it and be sold. If you want to scam audiophools make some cat 5 braided speaker cables or interconnects. Put a piece of wood on each end for balance/high frequency harmonics.
Joshua Harris
I have amp on pic, it's shit.
Connor Wright
Needs a bit more of the "lost factory-working American dream" and vaguely racist insinuations about Asian countries
Also cheesy ad copy that tries to sound like simplistic cold war ad copy, golly gee and such. It's perceived as "more honest"
Evan Anderson
And epoxy a few magic gems to it too. Really sell it.
Owen Gonzalez
No, I'd rather buy something expensive and new that will last, because I'm not a delusional ignoramus who thinks that the only place to buy audio gear is fucking Walmart
John Carter
this guy gets it
Gavin Mitchell
I know we joking but you literally can do exactly this. Get some cheap ass cat 5 braided it and put something that makes it look nice like wood and sell it for big dollars.
Get some cat 5 and put sleeving on it, get a nice rj45 connector with metal on it. Audiophile network cable. I mean realistically you can probably get $50 for $5 of materials. More if you want to wait for the right buyer.
Cable sleeving and shit makes stuff audiophile. Buy that shit from China
Josiah Long
>Buying one serviced is autistic Holy shit nigger what are you smoking?
Samuel Mitchell
Picked up this bad bitch for 15 dingalings at value village, after a polish shes sparkling
Samuel Ward
It's kinda dumb because unless it's one of the gems that probably costs a few thousand, you're just paying a premium for something that won't sound as good as a okay class d.
If you have nostalgic value for a amp maybe paying to have it serviced makes sense but replacing some pots and caps isn't exactly brain surgery
Lucas Murphy
>ANRS
is that their version of dolby?
Colton Reed
You just made $250 user. Congratulations
Henry Cooper
why is it always the dumbest/saddest people who never stop replying
Jack Stewart
Digits confirm
Aiden Barnes
Okay actually this is a good idea. Build on an existing audiofaggot brand. Just say it was some lost model that was never sold in stores but is super duper good.
Jonathan Rivera
I dunno if you even need to do that. Just make up a brand.
Redisgold audio Douglas James Sven Roxie Adfg Jkol Pkm
It's easy to make up names
Jordan Brooks
whats with the angry children in this thread
Christian Rogers
That is the essence of the white van speaker scam. Cheap, barely functioning Chinese electronics, built to the absolute lowest price possible. Then branded with a name very similar to an established brand and sold for many times what it's worth. The guy selling it will usually have some story about how the equipment was from an overage or a mis-order, and they're trying to sell it off "cheap" to recoup losses. It's usually sold out of the back of a rented van or truck. By the time the customer realizes they've been rooked, the seller is long gone. Worst part, it's sort of legal to do. That said, you deserve what you get if you're dumb enough to buy your home stereo out of the back of a van in a parking lot somewhere.
Julian Robinson
You're stupid to buy audio stuff without listening to it first.
Oliver Torres
I'm biased but I'd rather have vintage gear I repaired or something I designed from scratch, myself.
A lot of the stuff available now is not all that great. Sure, maybe specs on paper are better for some newer stuff but how long will it last? And if it does break it's a lot more annoying having to deal with surface mount components and custom ICs. Anything I make can be as ridiculously over-engineered as I want and I have choice in what goes into it. I have an amp I built 12 years ago and it's still going no problems.
However repairing / renovating sitting gear can cost money if you use good parts and it can be a ton of work. I redid a 1959 Altec 353A and it cost me about $400 all said and done, well worth it though because it sounds amazing and was made in the USA with quality parts, plus 35WPC is plenty with decent speakers. It'll last another 30 with the only thing I'll need to do is maybe replace the power tubes.
Joseph Miller
It could go either way. Remember that we are talking about a community which duped itself into believing that the rca PS1 is some sort of lordly device. I assume that's a scam as well.
Leo Ortiz
get both... a vintage 2ch set-up (including speakers from same time frame) for LP's and a modern one with modern speakers for modern digital sources (and avr uses, if you choose).
You should also get a desktop set-up too, for speakers and headphones.
Christian White
It's compatible to dolby b but not as good as c
Joseph Morgan
Well the PS1 did have a good DAC for the time, it's not worth the sillyness that goes on these days but when it came out it was pretty decent. It's like how the ps2 was a pretty kickass DVD player.
Smd stuff doesn't tend to break that often. The stuff that does break is usually through hole. Smd Ics are also pretty easy to replace (with the exception of bga but audio stuff doesn't use that really)
I mean you're missing out with the class d stuff coming out these days. Take a look at what's out there it's pretty incredible. Smd isn't so scary either, getting pcbs fabbed is dirt cheap, stencils are cheap, and reflow is easy to do. (Most stuff is easy to hand solder though, watch some YouTube videos)
Xavier Gomez
>free market Just as romantic as the hipsters.
That said, don't spend too much on an amplifier/receiver. Particularly a receiver. It's just a radio and radio circuitry gets noticeably funky first. If you're concerned about audio quality then radio is not for you anyway.
Get vintage solid state stuff cheap and free and enjoy it while it lasts. When it gives up then give it to a tech or try your hand at fixing it. Some of the stuff is nice to look at, good design etc.
The things that really make a difference are speakers and your room. Doesn't have to look nice or be super expensive. Look into eq's and crossovers. Electrolyic crossover capacitors go bad.
Lots of fun to be had and you don't have to spend a whole lot or any at all.
The vintage tube stuff can be dangerous. High voltages at high amperage and a lot of it is two prong (without the wide plug) and not even transformer isolated. They can be worked on but unless you grew up around tubes in t.v.'s and high voltage circuits it's best to avoid. They can sound pretty neat. You never ever see tube power amps in the control booth in recording studios. Always solid state. That tells you something about the accuracy of tube circuits. Tubes make a nice sound but not an accurate sound without a lot of effort and expense.
Aaron Murphy
People might say that they're shit, but they're just fags who buy shitty AV receivers, lepais and memey headphone amps.
Old ones are usually over priced as fuck though, even though most are in working condition. You can still find a few less popular under the radar brands for cheap if you're patient.
Ayden Martin
Or just buy a $100 class d that sounds better than 99% of vintage shit.
Chase Kelly
>all these millennials calling eachother millennials
Asher Watson
The only problem is that you are selling dogshit. People don't go out and buy "new-retro" crosley-style shit. Especially audiophiles.
This whole thing is appealing to two kinds of people. Retarded 50-somethings at walmart, and the 20-something liberal arts hipster girls on tumblr because "omg so retro eeeeek"
Daniel Diaz
Yeah, overrated and memey :^)
Robert Anderson
>all this audiophile infighting
I'm soo sorry I have a vintage PIoneer and not the latest and greatest high end tech from fry's
It fits my needs, works perfectly, sounds great, and was only $10