[cifani090]

Hey everyone, how is a G5000 for $90. Isnt that a steal?

 

 

[scottiebabie]

Quote:

I spent my formative audio years parked in front of an AR receiver I bought new long ago, driving Dynaco A25s with an AR turntable w/Shure V15. My 1st phones were Superex ProB-Vs (the green ones).
Loved that system (at least my really young ears did).
This led to my lifelong affair with with gear.

dynaco a25s sure brings back the good times. dont do loud nor big bad bass but they were & still are a great set of bookshelfs. i just snagged abit of canadian west coast loudspeaker history with a set of pro linear stage 3s ($30!! hoooyaaaa

) which reminds me alot of the dynacos. these pro linears sound esp good with vintage amps.
 
what i really want is a mint pair of the bullnose original large advent loudspeakers. a buds dad had them & i remembered them sounding awesome with big bad bass - for a 10" woofer (though with a 12" basket) that is. atleast thats what i can recall from my young teen years. LOL the red "fried egg" tweeters was something else which was again, never to be duplicated. man would i love to score a minty pair of them. after 30 odd years, i'd still put them up against any bookshelfs of today!
 
 
ps:not sure about a "steal" but a "Sui G5000 for $90 is a very decent deal. $50 would be a steal IMO but $90 woudnt be overpaying by any means. good for u! so buy it & let us know how u like it

 

[eggontoast]

What a great thread, nice to see a bit of interest in the vintage gear here on Head-Fi
 
There is some really nice gear listed on the thread. Here is my vintage stack comprising of a Pioneer SA-7800, RG-2, SR-303 and a DT510. Please excuse the image quality it was taken on my iPhone.
 

 

[rgs9200m]

After the Dyancos,  I had the big Advents, then moved on to Infinity Q5s. Ah the good old days...

 

[wualta]

Quote:

Here is my vintage stack comprising of a Pioneer SA-7800, RG-2, SR-303 and a DT510.  

Ah, Fluroscans. Your 7800 is one of the socalled "non-switching" amps. This is the roughly the start of the Japanese mfrs. tackling the problem of "transistor sound". Thumbs up!

 

[kstaken]

I've been following this thread for a while and it finally got the best of me so I stopped in a local shop that sells a lot of vintage and took a listen to a few pieces.
 
I tried a Pioneer SX 950, Kenwood KA-5700, Sansui Au-919 and Yamaha CR-2020 with both the LCD-2 and HE-5LE. These were VERY quick impressions but of these units the Yamaha, wasn't worth the time, muddy, diffuse and well ... just ugly sounding, everything I'd expected a piece from the 70s to sound like (If it wasn't for this thread anyway). The Kenwood was a bit on the bright side and was fatiguing in just a few minutes with the LCD-2s so I didn't listen very long. The Pioneer showed promise but I think the Sansui may have had the most promise based on these quick impressions. Unfortunately the Sansui was being auctioned on ebay so I ended up borrowing the Pioneer for some extended listening.
 
I now have the Pioneer on loan for a few days. This unit has been fully restored and recapped. My question is for the people that are impressed with these, are you using the headphone jack or the speaker outs to drive the orthos?
 
I ask this as I've found the headphone out to be OK but really pretty unrefined and it definitely runs out of steam with the HE-5LE, getting harsh and compressed at higher volumes. It's not terrible but definitely not what I was hoping for either. That said, the HE-5LE off the speaker jacks, completely different beast, best I've heard them sound. I have several more modern speaker amps and the Pioneer easily beats all of them. There's some hiss, but I find the sound much more dynamic, open and transparent with considerably more defined imaging and better texture overall. In general simply more engaging than any other amp I own. I don't have the ability to hook the LCD-2s to the speaker taps yet but I suspect the hiss will be too much for them. So is my experience here out of line? Is the SX 950 known for not having the best headphone output?
 
BTW, the guys in the shop thought I was crazy for thinking these things might be good headphone amps even though they sell a lot of vintage.

 

[eggontoast]

Quote:

 
Ah, Fluoroscans. Your 7800 is one of the socalled "non-switching" amps. This is the roughly the start of the Japanese mfrs. tackling the problem of "transistor sound". Thumbs up!

Cheers for the thumbs up.
 
Love these first Fluoroscan amplifiers, it took me a while to find one as you don't get to many over here in the UK. When I found it it was covered in dust and grime but no damage, it was missing knobs but was fully working albeit a trifle crackly. Done an overhaul on it by thoroughly cleaning inside and out, cleaned pots and switches, replaced electrolytics with some nice nichicons, replaced the power indicator with an led, reseated the power devices and finally after much searching found some replacement knobs from somewhere in Chicago. The result is outstanding, these amplifiers sound excellent through speakers and headphones IMO.

 

[scottiebabie]

Quote:

I've been following this thread for a while and it finally got the best of me so I stopped in a local shop that sells a lot of vintage and took a listen to a few pieces.
 
I tried a Pioneer SX 950, Kenwood KA-5700, Sansui Au-919 and Yamaha CR-2020 with both the LCD-2 and HE-5LE. These were VERY quick impressions but of these units the Yamaha, wasn't worth the time, muddy, diffuse and well ... just ugly sounding, everything I'd expected a piece from the 70s to sound like (If it wasn't for this thread anyway). The Kenwood was a bit on the bright side and was fatiguing in just a few minutes with the LCD-2s so I didn't listen very long. The Pioneer showed promise but I think the Sansui may have had the most promise based on these quick impressions. Unfortunately the Sansui was being auctioned on ebay so I ended up borrowing the Pioneer for some extended listening.
 
I now have the Pioneer on loan for a few days. This unit has been fully restored and recapped. My question is for the people that are impressed with these, are you using the headphone jack or the speaker outs to drive the orthos?
 
I ask this as I've found the headphone out to be OK but really pretty unrefined and it definitely runs out of steam with the HE-5LE, getting harsh and compressed at higher volumes. It's not terrible but definitely not what I was hoping for either. That said, the HE-5LE off the speaker jacks, completely different beast, best I've heard them sound. I have several more modern speaker amps and the Pioneer easily beats all of them. There's some hiss, but I find the sound much more dynamic, open and transparent with considerably more defined imaging and better texture overall. In general simply more engaging than any other amp I own. I don't have the ability to hook the LCD-2s to the speaker taps yet but I suspect the hiss will be too much for them. So is my experience here out of line? Is the SX 950 known for not having the best headphone output?
 
BTW, the guys in the shop thought I was crazy for thinking these things might be good headphone amps even though they sell a lot of vintage.

interesting impressions. i do agree with some of your observations but, albeit based on memory,  i heard an entirely different presentation of the yamaha & kenwood. that said, i absolutely respect your impressions & my interpretations does not in anyway invalidate what u heard.
 
the yami CA610 that i heard was clean quick transparent with very good dynamics much similar to a technics receiver that i have. the  kennie KR9400 receiver i heard was fabulous to my ears & every bit the equal of any of its comtempories IMO. both so impressed me that i have plans to own a higher end unit of both makes. to be honest its the 1st i've heard of the highly respected hi-end yami CRs termed "muddy & diffuse" & its a total surprize that any vintage kennie is "bright & fatiguing". its not beyond the realm of possibility that the brightness, harshness, muddiness, etc..etc u heard are bad caps, bad connectors, bad resistors, bad diodes, bad solder joints etc..as these are 30-40yr old vintage amps afterall. or we just plain hear differently. whatever the reason  all i can say is one flower does not a whole garland make & its quite possible another similar unit mite sound different.
 
OTOH i totally agree that pioneers are great amps both speaker & headouts. i bliv both Skylab & Frank run their orthos (LCD2 & HE6 respectively) off the headphone jack of their SXs. & with great success i hear. 
 
& yes with the HE5-LE, i like my sansui AU517 better than both my pioneers although the pioneer does synergize more with the HD650. FWIW the HD650 sounded totally fab on the yami CA610 i heard - better than both sansui & pioneers i have.
 
& yes speaker taps trumps headout in every respect on the HE5-LE atleast.
 
ps:a big YES to ppl freakin when i tell them i use these mainly as "headamps". its quite funny to me too! hehe
 
 
 
 

 

[REB]

I decided to take a gamble on a brand that is only seen as a major brand in australia afaik: TEAC. I bought a TEAC bx500 for the measly sum of 25 euros. It's supposed to be in a good state (guy who sells it knows how to maintain audio gear) and a bit of a sleeper according to a number of euro websites and the folks over at audiokarma. Its soundsig is supposed to be less seventies than sansui or pioneer. Less warm and more transparent. It was solidly built and features a pretty large ring transformer. And it's got those nice, big vu meters! Can't wait for it to arrive.

 

[REB]

I think I'll use it at the office, while my kenwood ka7002 gets revised.

 

[Frank I]

 
Quote:

I've been following this thread for a while and it finally got the best of me so I stopped in a local shop that sells a lot of vintage and took a listen to a few pieces.
 
I tried a Pioneer SX 950, Kenwood KA-5700, Sansui Au-919 and Yamaha CR-2020 with both the LCD-2 and HE-5LE. These were VERY quick impressions but of these units the Yamaha, wasn't worth the time, muddy, diffuse and well ... just ugly sounding, everything I'd expected a piece from the 70s to sound like (If it wasn't for this thread anyway). The Kenwood was a bit on the bright side and was fatiguing in just a few minutes with the LCD-2s so I didn't listen very long. The Pioneer showed promise but I think the Sansui may have had the most promise based on these quick impressions. Unfortunately the Sansui was being auctioned on ebay so I ended up borrowing the Pioneer for some extended listening.
 
I now have the Pioneer on loan for a few days. This unit has been fully restored and recapped. My question is for the people that are impressed with these, are you using the headphone jack or the speaker outs to drive the orthos?
 
I ask this as I've found the headphone out to be OK but really pretty unrefined and it definitely runs out of steam with the HE-5LE, getting harsh and compressed at higher volumes. It's not terrible but definitely not what I was hoping for either. That said, the HE-5LE off the speaker jacks, completely different beast, best I've heard them sound. I have several more modern speaker amps and the Pioneer easily beats all of them. There's some hiss, but I find the sound much more dynamic, open and transparent with considerably more defined imaging and better texture overall. In general simply more engaging than any other amp I own. I don't have the ability to hook the LCD-2s to the speaker taps yet but I suspect the hiss will be too much for them. So is my experience here out of line? Is the SX 950 known for not having the best headphone output?
 
BTW, the guys in the shop thought I was crazy for thinking these things might be good headphone amps even though they sell a lot of vintage.

I cant speak \ for the SX950 as I have the SX980 and can say IMO this is better than any other SS headamp I have heard or owned. The HE6 out of the headphone jack is perfect. Very detailed receiver and perfect for both my D7000 and HE6. I have compared to the speaker taps also with the HE6 and listen through the headphone jack mostly. Not sure about the 950 but the 980 works super.
 

 

[Skylab]

I agree, Frank.  I have a bit of experience with stand alone headphone amps

  And I can say with some certainty that for me anyway, the Pioneer SX-1250 drives the LCD-2 and HE-6 (and pretty much everything else) as well or better than any solid state dedicated headphone amps I have tried, and further is outstanding as a headphone amp in absolute terms.
 
I am SURE people would look at you sideways if you suggested to use the 70 lb, enourmous receivers like these as headphone amps, but it isn't due to the performance, it's the silliness in general, for most folk, who think for headphones, an iPod is fine.  Even audio shop people are likely not to have heard of the HE-5 or 6 and don't know what it takes to drive them.
 
Again, I still perefer my high end tube amps for headphones.  Not everyone will be into the performance these big vintage receivers have, and they absolutely all sound different!  The 1250 was the most neutral of all the ones I tried, while steering away from bright still.
 
Anyway JMO, YMMV.
 

 

[moodyrn]

I also agree. I think there must be a bad resistor or something with your headphone out. I have the sx-1010, and compared the speaker outs and headphone outs using the he-6. For the first time I can hear hiss with the he-6 using speaker outs. It's not a lot but it's there. This is really astonishing because I have listened to a few amps that was more than 100wpc and didn't get any hiss. That's just another testiment of how powerful and under rated the power ratings are. The speaker outs is just over kill for these. But the -20db button fixes this, and the background with the -20db button is completely quiet and sounds lovely. So I agree with you there about the speaker outs. But when I plug them into the headphone out, the sound is the same. The headphone out sounds pretty much the same as using the speaker out with -20db button. I can't really hear a difference which is very, very impressive. So if you love the sound out of the speaker outs, you should also love the sound out of the headphone out unless there's a problem. I am using the sx-1010, but I can't seeinng them being that different. I still prefer the speaker out on my fisher with my he-6. But I do prefer the 1010 with my d7000. The synergy with those is just lovely.

 

[Frank I]

Rob those Kenwood 11G are twice in size and I had an opportunity but honestly the Pioneer SX 980 fits in the rack so its all I need. I did not listen to the Kenwood but it probably a good one but you need lots of room for that beast if you getting one.  I see this as my last SS amp for my headphones and I like having a tuner again. I  can imagine the how great the  1250/1280 sound great also. Now if I decided to run Maggies again thats what i would be looking for also.

 

[moodyrn]

I use a onkyo nr5008 receiver(their current top of the line). This receiver tested at outputting more than their rated(2 channels driven) 145@8ohms. I have owned a few flagship receivers in the past. And this is by far the best sounding home theater receiver I've listened to. I thought my psb T65 were great for home theater but only so so with music. After getting this receiver, I don't feel that way. Now I really enjoy these with music, and their two channel performance is very good. I said all of that to say this. The sx-1010 is rated at 110 watts@8ohms, and it's much more powerful than my onkyo. It also sounds better as well. But I use it upstairs in my office with my klipsch epic CF-2s(along with my fisher). I've also owned dedicated power amps, and from memory it outperforms those as well. I really don't see myself ever needing another solid state amp of any kind. Whether it's a speaker amp or headphone amp. It's that good as far as solid state amps are concerned.