[SpeakerBox]

Yes, the build quality of the 1250 certainly speaks to its potential post restoration.

 

[Oregonian]

   
You sir are Pioneer of audio downgrade!!

 
If for good-looking, Setton RS-660 would be French Chick, and Marantz has blue lights..............

???
 
Anyway, this would be for a second system, not replacing the Spec 1/2 rack. 

 

[Meewoo]

  ???
 
Anyway, this would be for a second system, not replacing the Spec 1/2 rack. 

 
Oh, I just wanted to say that receivers might not sound better than your SPEC (IMHO, no receiver will).
 
If you plan a second system, then it's different game.
 
Edit,
I should say "within same brand", otherwise, I am just trolling.

 

[Oregonian]

   
Oh, I just wanted to say that receivers might not sound better than your SPEC (IMHO, no receiver will).
 
If you plan a second system, then it's different game.
 
Edit,
I should say "within same brand", otherwise, I am just trolling.

You'd never be considered a troll!  Fact.
 
I like having headphones and systems all over the house.

 

[moodyrn]

X2, and I also agree with the point about receivers vs separates within the same line. Vintage separates are the only thing on my radar right now.

 

[99-1]

hi every body
what do you think of my speaker box color ? i made it recently but i can't make up my mind whether to choose black or wood (self color)?
 

 
 

 

[Skylab]

Anyway, this would be for a second system, not replacing the Spec 1/2 rack. 

 
Yeah the Spec stuff is a level up and worthy of restoration in and of itself!
 

  Based on his description, Rob's 1280 was more than just restored as many crucial components were also upgraded from the stock components. It is really almost "upgrade"!
As such it could sound even better than new. This is what makes it so hard to compare 40 year old components - none sound stock and the differences have as much to do with age and condition as design and quality. 

 
EXACTLY - without a restoration, the age and condition of any given sample may impact the sound more than anything else.

 

[Trav]

Just picked up my first original Sony ES receiver, an STR 6055. She seems to be in pristine condition. Photos and impressions to come.

 

[LugBug1]

Just picked up my first original Sony ES receiver, an STR 6055. She seems to be in pristine condition. Photos and impressions to come.

Congrats Trav, look forward to your thoughts

 

[MattTCG]

Just picked up my first original Sony ES receiver, an STR 6055. She seems to be in pristine condition. Photos and impressions to come.

 
Nice Trav!! Looking forward to it...

 

[PhoenixG]

Just picked up my first original Sony ES receiver, an STR 6055. She seems to be in pristine condition. Photos and impressions to come.

 
Nice! I have the 6065, and I think it's the best sounding receiver under 1k. Great build quality, great sound, great features.

 

[kstuart]

By the way, something that relates to the restoration posts - one of the main aspects of the Sony "ES" products was that all the electronic components had to test within a much smaller tolerance than Sony's usual standards.   So if a resistor was normally okay +/- 10%, in the ES series it had to be +/- 1% (these are not the real figures, just giving you the sense).
 
I bought the Sony ES CD player, and it looked identical to the regular CD player (this was in the second generation of CD players).  I had the opportunity to A/B the two players, and there was indeed a noticeable difference.  IIRC it cost $600 ($1200 in today's dollars)...

 

[kstuart]

So, I am reading AudioKarma threads, and someone mentions (paraphrase) "If you are only interested in sound quality, and don't need a radio, then used 80's high end gear is actually a better deal than 70's Japanese receivers".  So, I start reading some threads on that stuff (a lot of which, like Adcom, I remember from that era), and I come across this on a different Forum:

Kenwood Basic series, dual monaural circuitry sharing a big trannie, great sound, dirt cheap usually under $200. I paid $70 for mine , best bang for the buck out there, people see 'Basic' and think it's crappy lower end stuff, trust me Chad, they ain't, mine drove my Martin Logans without breaking a sweat to very high levels, they should have no problem with your KEF 103.5's

Now, Martin Logan are TOTL speakers, period (if I won the lottery, I would buy a pair of them), so these must be pretty good.
 
So, I go to Google Images and start looking at them, and I find - OMG - some of them have Headphone Outs, and others have Input Level Controls (the latter would be awesome, because then I would not need a preamp at all, I could go straight from the DAC).  I then find that the M2 and M2A have both headphone outs and level controls.
 
SO, I search Google on them, and our own thread comes up:
 
Quote:

Made a cool find at the local flea market, a Kenwood Basic M2A. Paid $80, talked him down from $120.



It's in almost perfect condition, very clean. I didn't know the specs, but it weighs a ton (~40lbs) so I figured it had some power... 220W /ch into 8ohms (350W /ch into 4). Wow.

The 1/4" headphone out puts out up to 6000mW! Other good numbers too:

THD: < .004%
Damping factor: > 1000
Signal to noise ratio: 120dB

Gonna see how it sounds, provided it doesn't blow up my cans.

I'll start with the Q701s, they're the toughest to drive headphones that I own.

and the followup is:
Quote:

This M2A is a monster, it drives headphones with authority. Turning the gain knobs a little past 9 o'clock is as far as I can go with my Q701s before I risk hearing damage. There's deep black background, neutrality, and no coloration at all, just brute force. I have no doubt it would grab cans like the HE-6 by the scruff of the neck and make them do what it wants. I'm sure it would look at amps like the Darkstar and Lyr and say, "well, that's cute, let me show you something".

So I have been following auctions on ebay.   There is one for BuyItNow for $250+$50 shipping, which then represents the ceiling for other auctions.  SalvationArmy sold one for about $235.   I forgot to bid on one with broken meters (don't care about that), and then by searching on ebay, I came across someone selling a big stack of 90s crap Kenwood stuff and including an unrelated M2A, but without power cord.  Perhaps the missing power cord made some people uneasy, or else they thought that close to a dozen pieces of gear would go for way more money than they wanted to pay, but I ended up with it for about $110 and then told the seller they could keep everything except the M2A, in order to keep the shipping down. (By the way, zzounds musician store shipped the power cable the next day, great service, good prices.)
 
It arrived yesterday, and the input level controls were just noise city.  I deoxited them overnight, and today the controls are like new.
 
My current headphones are both planars - Mad Dog 3.2 and HE-400 - and they both have a lot more impact and dynamics using the M2A.   There is a hair more air and refinement with the tube hybrid amp, but the "coherence" of the M2A is excellent (i.e. every part of the sound seems integrated with every other part).   There is a tiny bit of "Japanese high frequency shrillness", but much less than I expected - it is only there on occasion.  The HE-400 sound significantly better than they ever have, so they are more like the HE-6 than people think - I expect that most HE-400 buyers have very little money and so tend to use FiiO and so forth.  The Mad Dog sound great out of my laptop, so even though they like having power, they don't need it as much as the HiFiMan.
 
The next tests are speakers, and then a shootout with the Sansui AU-417 which just arrived back...

 

[Trav]

Nice! I have the 6065, and I think it's the best sounding receiver under 1k. Great build quality, great sound, great features.

I remember your review. I would have liked a 6120, 6060, or 6065 but this was too good a deal to pass up.

 

[LugBug1]

  So I have been following auctions on ebay.   There is one for BuyItNow for $250+$50 shipping, which then represents the ceiling for other auctions.  SalvationArmy sold one for about $235.   I forgot to bid on one with broken meters (don't care about that), and then by searching on ebay, I came across someone selling a big stack of 90s crap Kenwood stuff and including an unrelated M2A, but without power cord.  Perhaps the missing power cord made some people uneasy, or else they thought that close to a dozen pieces of gear would go for way more money than they wanted to pay, but I ended up with it for about $110 and then told the seller they could keep everything except the M2A, in order to keep the shipping down. (By the way, zzounds musician store shipped the power cable the next day, great service, good prices.)
 
It arrived yesterday, and the input level controls were just noise city.  I deoxited them overnight, and today the controls are like new.
 
My current headphones are both planars - Mad Dog 3.2 and HE-400 - and they both have a lot more impact and dynamics using the M2A.   There is a hair more air and refinement with the tube hybrid amp, but the "coherence" of the M2A is excellent (i.e. every part of the sound seems integrated with every other part).   There is a tiny bit of "Japanese high frequency shrillness", but much less than I expected - it is only there on occasion.  The HE-400 sound significantly better than they ever have, so they are more like the HE-6 than people think - I expect that most HE-400 buyers have very little money and so tend to use FiiO and so forth.  The Mad Dog sound great out of my laptop, so even though they like having power, they don't need it as much as the HiFiMan.
 
The next tests are speakers, and then a shootout with the Sansui AU-417 which just arrived back...

Good stuff and look forward to your Sansui comparison.
I also think you can get some great gear from the eighties but I also think it is a taste thing, and not only with the looks. I rate my Technics V3 as a very good hp amp but the treble is sharp. Sharp compared to all my mid 70's amps. But this is were the sound was heading I think. A cleaner more clinical sound. Also its well documented that in general, production quality went down hill. Mass production, cheaper labor etc etc. Business is business. I would probably avoid the big names of the 70's within the 80's, with perhaps the odd exception. Marantz lower to mid end stuff was poop compared to the 70's. Pioneer still made some solid gear but not on par with their classics. Sony was as unpredictable as ever. The higher end es series being amazing while lower end stuff was just pop culture pap. Brands like JVC, Technics, Teac, Denon started to come their own in the eighties and I also agree Kenwood also kept components at a relatively good standard even through the midi market years! My friend had a good ole Kenwood midi stack and in all honesty it sounded better than his replacement Cambridge audio separates that I helped him choose

. BUT, it all depends on what sound you like and what plays well with the music you prefer. 
My favored sq attributes are; warmth and soundstage. I'm not too bothered about micro detail. The 70's sound is for me because it encapsulates a friendlier, more musical voice that plays well with my love of Jazz.  I've always preferred classical music with warmth over detail as well, and I know this is against the grain. HD650's where my go to cans for classical and jazz for many years with tubes. 
 
I think the only amp from the 80's that I would go all out on would be a high end Sony es. They do seem solid and quality.