[atbglenn]

mulveling,

Very nice

 

[pcf]

My oldest gear is a Garrard 401 from the 60's. The plinth and arm/cartridge are new though. I still use it.
I also have some Mcintosh amps from the 70's that I no longer use but can't bring myself to selling them!

 

[catachresis]

Heathkit tuner - 1964. Next would be the 1982 Croft Mega Micro preamp.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catachresis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Heathkit tuner - 1964. Next would be the 1982 Croft Mega Micro preamp.

Did you build the Heathkit yourself? When I was a kid, my father built a Dynaco amp, a Knightkit tuner and some other stuff. Sometime before I die, I will build a component for my system.

 

[wuwhere]

An Audio Research D70 MK 2 from the early 1990s.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Wow,
the superclear photos of all the 70s equipment makes my day. We have retro in the car industry. We have retro in the clothing industry. When will retro hit Head-fi? OK, so we are all going to make some kind of purchase that's going to get outdated. Who cares, that's life. Minidisk anyone? What I love about this hobby is we have someone hooking up two mono tube amps to a reel to reel using some 2008 interconnects. He has self-made a homebrew concoction of his own build to kill the off the shelf equipment. His own savy and a dream got him to point B!

I will post photos of my oldest gear here before too long. I did not make this thread to brag about what old stuff we unearthed. This thread is about sharing what we found that works for us. Maybe some one who is into this hobby and in walking by an old piece of junk will have a dream and a goal for use of it. I use a Heath Kit tube tester. I do not know how old it is. It works. End of story.


Somehow we also have alot of technology being passed down from parent to child.
How many times have we read about someone asking Head-Fi how to hook somthing up? And the story continues. One of my best feelings came when I brought my Robertson Audio 40/10 to a repair guy for a small repair. Upon exiting he said that amp is a work of art. I felt like a father bringing his kid back from the hospital. ( Some of us need more help than others.} It's ART. That's what this stuff IS when you get down to it. Lets mix some old stuff with some new stuff and get our Ford Escort to go as fast as a Viper!



Maybe someone has an old electronic thingy-wingy that sits around and does nothing more than be, Is that not ART?

 

[Dr_Gus]

My oldest piece of HiFi gear are my headphones : AKG K340. Their production started in 1978 and finished something like 1982.
I just bought them this year.

 

[krmathis]

Ok, now I understand that this is not limited to headphone amplifiers only. But cover all audio reproduction units.
In that case that may very well be my lowest serial AKG K1000, from around 1991/92.

 

[catachresis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did you build the Heathkit yourself? When I was a kid, my father built a Dynaco amp, a Knightkit tuner and some other stuff. Sometime before I die, I will build a component for my system.

No! --I was born in '67. And my electronics skilz are mad pathetic. Your father's DIY work sounds quite admirable.

But I must say, it is a very nice sounding tuner. It's one of their earlier solid state tuners, loosely based on a broadcast model. It has a gob of settings and filters and the cabinet stylings of a '64 Chriscraft. But it also has a wonderful, mellifluous tonal character. I got it on the cheap on Ebay, and I feel confident that there are many more of the sort to be had for the +/- $100.00 price range. So if anyone is planning on putting many hundreds in a Magnum Dynalab radio, I suggest that they consider one of these first.

--And I'd be more specific about the model number, but I just can't get at the back of the cabinet at the moment.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catachresis /img/forum/go_quote.gif And my electronics skilz are mad pathetic.

Don't feel bad. I do simple projects/repairs, but the thing I do best with a soldering iron is burn myself.


Quote:

Originally Posted by catachresis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Your father's DIY work sounds quite admirable.

The kits were a little intimidating at first, if I remember correctly, but not that tough for someone with intermediate soldering skills and the ability to carefully follow instructions. I really wish there were still kits like that around. They were designed for amateurs, and came with everything you needed except tools. And after you enjoyed the building process, you were left with a very solid component for the money.


Quote:

Originally Posted by catachresis /img/forum/go_quote.gif But I must say, it is a very nice sounding tuner. It's one of their earlier solid state tuners, loosely based on a broadcast model. It has a gob of settings and filters and the cabinet stylings of a '64 Chriscraft. But it also has a wonderful, mellifluous tonal character.

The Knightkit tuner, which I inherited from my dad when he upgraded, was tubed, and it also sounded fantastic. I wince when I hear young people mouthing off about how much better sat radio sounds than FM.

Well, why not? It's digital, right? Never mind that I've seen data rates below 50k on some sat music channels, which sounded like keee-raaap. I've become very wary of what passes for progress in the audio realm.