Vintage Audio Equipment

For all of you audiophiles out there, please recommend some nice vintage audio equipment that I might be able to find on eBay for a reasonable price.

I do have a nice little setup that I love and has served me well for 23 years, but I now want some kit for my office. I currently have (in my wife's work den) a Nakamichi TA-3A tuner amplifier with a pair of KEF reference 102 monitor speakers. That kit still sounds amazing IMO.

k.

GMTA! I still love the sound from my Rotel RB-970BX amp, RC-950 pre-amp and Energy Reference 22 CBC monitor speakers. This setup has served my stereo-listening-only needs for almost 25 years. My TV-watching room has a mix of Energy (also 22s) and Mirage speakers with a Yamaha AV receiver.

Must it be vintage....or just analog? I make a career out of irking my wife with audio gear, but while most of it is analog, less than half would qualify as vintage.

It would help if you gave an idea of what "reasonable price" means, and also what type of components. Are you looking for another receiver, or do you want to go with separate amp, preamp and tuner?

Do you need a turntable or other source components?

Skim through audigon.com every now and then -- if nothing else it will give you ideas and price ranges.

The kef 102...i think I have 103, maybe 102 - triangular woofers - are amazing speakers and I have seen them dirt cheap on ebay. I definately go with those. I matched them with rotel integrated to make a 3 rd system and I love it. Not quite the higher end rotel with floor b&w 802, but amazing clarity and imaging. My kefs are 30 + years old!

I would recommend Audiogon.com if you want to buy or sell audio gear. It is much easier to figure out if the buyer or seller know what they are dealing with and since people are constantly flipping gear it behooves them to not ruin their reputations within this small community. It is like buying a knife from someone from KKF versus some random eBay seller who has not been the one loving the item

pitonboy said:

I would recommend Audiogon.com if you want to buy or sell audio gear. It is much easier to figure out if the buyer or seller know what they are dealing with and since people are constantly flipping gear it behooves them to not ruin their reputations within this small community. It is like buying a knife from someone from KKF versus some random eBay seller who has not been the one loving the item

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+1. Have used Audiogon several times without regret.

Thanks for spelling audiogon correctly -- I did not notice the error in my post.

I've got an Adcom GTP-500 II tuner/preamp and a GFA-545 power amp in my den... trouble free and sounds great. Actually, the GFA-535 might be a better power amp for an office if it's not too big. I haven't checked in a while, but the 500II and 535 usually go for around $150 each on eBay (nice thing about the 500II... it's old enough to have a nice phono stage, but new enough to have a remote). Speakers are hard to recommend, but there's quite a few vintage KEF or B&W speakers out there that won't break the bank and will probably sound close to what you're used to. If it was me, I'd get a set of KEF 105's for home and move your 102's to the office ;-).

WildBoar said:

It would help if you gave an idea of what "reasonable price" means, and also what type of components. Are you looking for another receiver, or do you want to go with separate amp, preamp and tuner?

Do you need a turntable or other source components?

Skim through audigon.com every now and then -- if nothing else it will give you ideas and price ranges.

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Good questions.

Either a receiver or amp setup is fine, but I was probably leaning more towards and integrated amp. No turntable or source components right now. A reasonable price for the two (amp+speakers) is max $800 (sort of) -- no McIntosh But I might go higher if it is something special.

I remember when I originally bought my pieces back in 1990, I also looked at a NAD stereo tuner with B&W 802s. I've entertained going that route, but the 802s are still really expensive.

The Rotel looks interesting too, and I will check out other recs. Also looking at Creek and arcam.

And thanks for the audiogon recommendation. I've already spent too much time browsing it.

k.

mr drinky said:

For all of you audiophiles out there, please recommend some nice vintage audio equipment that I might be able to find on eBay for a reasonable price.

I do have a nice little setup that I love and has served me well for 23 years, but I now want some kit for my office. I currently have (in my wife's work den) a Nakamichi TA-3A tuner amplifier with a pair of KEF reference 102 monitor speakers. That kit still sounds amazing IMO.

k.

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Can you be more specific re: what you're looking for and how much you want to spend? There's a ton of great stuff out there, a lot of it at bargain prices depending on what you want. Tubes/valves usually bring top dollar, even the Dynaco kits. Yeah, check audiogon and craigslist, too.

Do you want separate amp, preamp and tuner or an integrated amp? I had a Tandberg 3012 integrated with a good torroidal power supply that performed better than most separates.

Just sticking with good quality solid state, nothing esoteric there's Hafler, Luxman, Nakamichi, NAD, Adcom, Bryston, Arcam, Naim, Rotel b&K, Musical Fidelity, Aragon (I had their power amp), are pretty inexpensive used.

I'll post something about speakers later.

Older Bryston separates are coveted and hard to find, and are among the best solid-state amps and preamps -- then or now.

SameGuy said:

Older Bryston separates are coveted and hard to find, and are among the best solid-state amps and preamps -- then or now.

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Got a Bryston amp that is 21 years old now! It crapped out a few months ago (just past the 20 year warranty, of course), but it turned out to be blown fuses. Put in a new pair and it's all good once again. I tried out over a half dozen amps before settling on that one, and have not been disappointed. Preamp is an even older Audible Illusions 2 that was upgraded to '2B' at some point before I bought it 25 years ago.

Drinky, make sure the pre-amp has inputs/switching for things like CD player. A lot of vintage stuff was made before digital became popular. IIRC Hafler went out of business by that time.

Certainly not a professional audiophile, but SAE made some great stuff.