[Ingo]

Head-Fi really opened up Audio as a hobby to me. I started off here after I bought a Rio Karma and was looking into new headphones, as many people do. For a long time I was content with my nice IEMs and a portable music player. Then I got the itch to build a "PC as Source" setup with a dedicated headphone amp for home. One E-MU 1212m, one pair of Grado SR-225s, and a Headfive later I was hooked on quality audio.
 
That step held me over for quite a while, but time passed and I was looking to expand. Vinyl! That was my next step. I went to a local used media store and bought an old Sanyo DD turntable and a few records. Ordered a cheap phono-pre off of the net and I was set up for vinyl! Well, thrift store vinyl and headphones sometimes don't go hand and hand so I started looking for something to replace my Sony shelf system with something a little more refined. Started out with an Insignia 2-Channel receiver and a set of Insignia speakers from Best Buy. I got the speakers back when they went on sale for $40. Well, that was a bit of an improvement, but I was still left wanting. I had been keeping my eye open for a better receiver but the Insignia receiver crapped out before I could find one. So one day I was at a Goodwill store and stumbled upon a JVC Prologic receiver for $15. It went into my system with the Insignias and served me well.
 
A couple years passed and I was still content with my low-fi speaker rig and my mid-fi headphone setup. Then I was at a Goodwill and I found a super nice Realistic STA-78 vintage receiver in like new condition. Took it home and tried it out in place of the JVC and it blew me away. Only 22wpc but it was such a huge difference, As a bonus the phono section of the Realistic sounded much better than my cheap phono-pre.
 
After finding the Realistic it inspired me to buy as much vinyl and vintage audio gear as I could get my hands on. I got a Pro-Ject Debut III against the better judgement of some people here who advised to just buy a nice vintage deck. Then I found a JVC JL-F50 TT from the same store where I found my first cheap Sanyo DD. It was only $25 and it had a cheap conical Audio Technica cartridge on it but it looked super cool, was nice and heavy, and appeared to have a nice tonearm on it. Turns out the cheap cartridge could be upgraded with just a new stylus to a very nice sounding pickup. It sounded as good and sometimes better than the Debut III (with an Ortofon Super OM-20)!
 
That settled it for me. I was all vintage minded from there on out. Now I have 3 receivers: Pioneer SX-780, Realistic STA-78, and a Marantz 2235. 3 sets of vintage speakers: Sansui SP-1500x, Realistic Mach Two, and EPI (Epicure) 100Ws. The three turntables I mentioned. Still have my trusty Computer-As-Source. And I have a really nice vinyl collection going.
 
It all sounds fantastic to me and I'm still excited about the future of collecting and enjoying vintage audio. It's amazing to hear really good digital on old systems, too. It's such an eye opener to how well they were doing it back in the heyday of stereo.
 
Anyhow, I know this is super long-winded and probably no one will read it, but if you do and have a similar story about how Head-Fi lead you into another area of audio I'd love to hear it.
 
Here's a picture of my latest Goodwill find, the Marantz model 2235

 

[Uncle Erik]

Very cool collection!

You're one of few who is going about hi-fi the *right* way. You are maximizing your value for the dollar, fashion be damned.

I wish more members - especially the young ones - would follow your example.

Your Marantz is really nice. I keep hoping to turn up one like that one of these days. The older receivers like yours are incredibly well made and an even more incredible bargain today. They're better than a lot of the fussy audiophile stuff.

Happy listening and may you turn up more excellent finds!

 

[justhavingfun]

Even with all of my "recent" stereo equipments, I still have two complete sets of two channel stereo system using vintage equipments. One set is consist of Marantz 2238, old Marantz turntable 6100 and the other one has old Sansui quad/2 channel receiver with same vintage Sansui turntable. They both have special sound to me. I recently sold my vintage Pioneer receiver with two phono inputs. So yeah, I love the sound of vintage equipments which spins that ol'records even with all those limitations vinyl brings to table.
 
I have collected close to 4 thousands LPs over the years, (I lost count...) few years back. I have lots of CDs as well but not as much as my LP collection. I know there are many people who hates all things about vinyl playback system with many legimate reasons but it has very special place in my heart and will likely never get rid of it. Enjoy your new found treasure and hit those old vinyl box in the Goodwill store and get ready to find the new treasure many years to come.

 

[Ingo]

Quote:

Very cool collection!

You're one of few who is going about hi-fi the *right* way. You are maximizing your value for the dollar, fashion be damned.

I wish more members - especially the young ones - would follow your example.

Your Marantz is really nice. I keep hoping to turn up one like that one of these days. The older receivers like yours are incredibly well made and an even more incredible bargain today. They're better than a lot of the fussy audiophile stuff.

Happy listening and may you turn up more excellent finds!

I haven't paid more than $60 for any individual piece of my vinatage gear. It's really awesome to be able to have this good of sound on my shoestring budget. I really put a lot of effort into checking Goodwills and other thrift shops on a regular basis. I ususally go 4-5 times a week.

 
Quote:

Even with all of my "recent" stereo equipments, I still have two complete sets of two channel stereo system using vintage equipments. One set is consist of Marantz 2238, old Marantz turntable 6100 and the other one has old Sansui quad/2 channel receiver with same vintage Sansui turntable. They both have special sound to me. I recently sold my vintage Pioneer receiver with two phono inputs. So yeah, I love the sound of vintage equipments which spins that ol'records even with all those limitations vinyl brings to table.
 
I have collected close to 4 thousands LPs over the years, (I lost count...) few years back. I have lots of CDs as well but not as much as my LP collection. I know there are many people who hates all things about vinyl playback system with many legimate reasons but it has very special place in my heart and will likely never get rid of it. Enjoy your new found treasure and hit those old vinyl box in the Goodwill store and get ready to find the new treasure many years to come.

Very cool! One of the record shops I frequent, the owner has a giant Sansui Quad receiver at the checkout counter. I've always looked enviously at it.