I love old Hi-Fi systems as well as the Portables

The Coolest system I have has to be my Technics SA-R100 & SB-R100 Speakers

This is the sort of system they should make now, only 65mm deep and Full Remote Control

Need to repair the rotted speakers though

The other system is a little Akai Pyramid system with Subwoofer, also full remote control

I think there is something wrong with the Sub though, it doesn't sound very good, Sure it should be better bass than it is, as it is quite powerfull system for the size but sub just flaps, also get some sounds of the disc spinning before the sound plays

The cone on the top has colour changing LEDS in it. Such a shame the Akai name only gets used to sell rebadged stuff now, they made some great stuff

How's this for vintage?

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I forgot the cassette deck.

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It's from before the invention of Dolby B.  My best guess is 1970 or 71.

I have this pair, currently in storage waiting for a room big enough...

PPioneer SX-1980 & Yamaha NS-1000

Very nice agentorange, Check out these custom lacquered NS-1000's.

Oh my, that's superb.  It's a tough speaker to please, perfect with vinyl as they're just too critical of a low quality digital signal.

As far as ultimate stereo systems go, you need to check this out.

http://www.royaldevice.com/custom31.htm

Here's the owner building the subs into the floor...

he he   the true king of the hill

Ok

"THAT" ultimate sound system in a home is the definition of SONIC INSANITY !!!....   OMG what that must sound like.... better than anything live probably.   Sigh   not ever for me to experience in this life time.. maybe the next .

wholy shit.....the best speakers i ever had....had 2 true 30"" 1000w bass drivers complimented by others......just the bass cones were £1000 each but enough of my crap....i have never seen anything like this before WOOOW

think my bass cones were clarion or something like that

You wouldn't be exaggerating ever so slightly there Reno

Not atall chris i used to get a high wage years ago in the hotel buisness...sound has always been my utmost priority...but not now,,,,i live in a shit box so im happy with my kaboom.....people see me knocking m90s all the time...but realy there toys compaired to what i have had.....had my speakers professionally built....the bass cones were clarion ...HH or something like that but i do remember they were £1000 each,,,,,you have seen how mad i am on computers lad....well imagine that with hifi...i kid you not....i have spennt thousands and thousands on hifi over the years,,,

if i ever get a big place like i used to have yrs ago...i will do it again...because being disabled i am on good money...even though i am always broke lad

Cris your full of surprises..never knew you were such a collector of the best of the vintage receivers and truly audiophile vintage heaven the Yamaha speakers... Am in envy as generally the Pioneer SX-1980 was the finest best hour of the monster receivers.  Lucky man as these go for $2-3000 USD now mint.  At 270 watts per channel you have power to make your neighbors move .   

I too love the vintage stereo equipment and was addicted to learning about anything audiophile in college and spent all my earnings during college and few years out on equipment which most I still have and use.  Nothing built like it today unless your willing to spend uber sums of money.   I have the Granddaddy of receivers the FIRST Monster Receiver over 100 watts to have 110 watts/ch. @1kHz and first true acclaimed to be audiophile quality from 1975/76.  The Pioneer SX-1010 started the famed receiver wars.  Still regarded very highly today.   I bought mine new for $435 (close out sale) in 1976 my first year of college ( Dad lent me the cash, thanks Dad) and still have her today.  I was KING of the Hill my first year at the Fraternity with pair of Cerwin Vega 3 ways with 15 in woofers boy did I rock the house.  Good memories.  Sadly recently she starting having cracking sounds in Left channel so its retired to closet until it gets repaired.  I so love the blacked out face design of 70's prior to the push into all silver which is still cool.

Will post my current vintage Hi Fi system later tonight but heres some pics of the original beast weighing in at 50 pounds ( 23 kg )!

PIONEER  SX-1010

 She is BIG  20.5 x 7 x 17.6 inches  520 x 175 x 440 mm

1975 Advertising

btw that looks a beutiful amp chris....but i dont think much of the speakers....don't mean to offend son.....one of my mates had an amp the size  of a small couboard.....cant remember the propper name....a club amp....it was over 1000 per channel...he bought it from cash converters....no joke it was loud enough for a rave...easily

my Naim/Linn setup is pretty special

my humble sonys are what im using at the mo,

i have a bigger more powerfull set up but space is a factor

some nice speakers i owned once were technics sb1500...all mahogany over 50 pounds in weight.....wish i had never sold them.....not the best speakers but they were beutiful.....i would give my life for another pair,,,,,the most expensive speakers technics ever made.....they were only 100w rms each....im gunna try find some info on them....id chop my legs off to own them again lol

nick would love to see your system.....i mean i have spent thousands but you once told me just your stylus was £1000 i can't beat that bro

Reno, I'm not doubting you had the resources to afford such a set up I'm just doubting the existence of £1,000 30" drivers, 30 is very large, the largest serious drivers for some of the larger PA Bass bins is 18".

I've had the SX-1980 since my student days in the early 80's, I bought it in a 2nd hand shop in Lincoln for £100 but it needed a lot of work inc new power supply plus some of the bigger caps had gone.  It still has issues but nothing nasty.  The speakers were inherited from my brother in law in Denver, they needed their bass drivers rewinding at a fearsome cost & then they cost as much again to ship over to the UK.

The speakers really are a monitor, not your near-field units as per the NS-10.  Punchy bass, not warm at all and the upper mids and highs are bordering on unmanagable, too much for any modern amp.  A very critical speaker indeed.  A big 70's amp/receiver is the perfect compliment for these. 

I used this set up in my student days with an old Thorens TD-150 turntable plus I recall a mid range Trio cassette deck, nothing special, but I can almost hear the Velvet Underground in my head right now cranked up to the max just thinking about it.

as a tribute to john cage, who was born exactly 100 years ago, i propose to consider the world itself as the coolest, and certainly most vintage hifi system ever

haha god bless chris im glad your not offended thats the last thing on my mind.....the bass cones were club cones....had to order them special....they were eather of the makes i said or something else club related.......im enjoying this thread guys thanks....

2 things i would kill for are my old technics sb1500 speakers.....and those early sony headphones with the woodern housing......my setup is more than good enough for them

my grado rs1 would have blown on way less han half...with the bass cranked on both eq's my sb 1000 sony headphones are damn good....way better than any grado...i just wish they looked like those sonys with woodern housing....they were reliced the same time as the grado rs1 in the early 90's.....back then the grado rs1 were £1000 over here and the sony were 3k if im remembering correctly

I`ve got one of these, though, this one isn`t it, mine is identical. My pride and joy.

What is that one Ric?  Looks like a Panasonic.  I've got a Sony HMK-7000 in the UK too, I say this as I recall you had an HMK-9000.

Sony HMK-7000

Now were talking rich....had a few like that in the early 80's beutiful thing lad

what do you call that type of hifi rich....i would love to by something like that from ebay...very dearly

Ey up lad. They were music centres. This one, has sensor-touch tape deck. This wasn`t the king though, that was the sharp sg500.

This is the sg500.

This, is the only piece of sharp kit i know, that has a 2-motor tape deck. It`s also, the easiest deck to work on.

Sorry cris, didn`t see your posts. Yeah, it`s the panasonic sg6070. Have you still got that hmk? Didn`t you find it, next to the road?

Ha, yeah, by a bin.  Took it home, dried it out and it sparked up first time.  Turntable required slight tweakage

I still have my 9000. It`s in the shed.

500W watts of floor and wall shaking power. Those receivers are some seriously powerful stuff.

Killer speakers too. Can they handle that much juice?

I've always loved Yamaha gear. If I could get my hands on some good speakers for this thing I'd be happy:

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i can't imagine a 30" driver being efficient at all

probably do low freq's at fish type levels - but nothing you'd benefit from than a decent 18 wouldn;'t deliver

And what enclosure would you use?

I've seen some ref's to this bohemoth driver on the web - but they mention the same uselessness

Most gigs I went with clubs that had built in subs - had 12-18's with huge ducts

pics reno - or it never happened

I have one of these and it's not half bad although maybe not as vintage as some of yours !

dave you have some crackers 

Oh wow, I remember these.  Was it only 2" thick or something?

I too love Yamaha gear.  I'm currently using a very similar amp as the heart of my, er, home theater system.

It's a Yamaha P1600 power amp which is good for 200 watts at 8 0hms per channel through my skip-find HH speakers.  There's a Yamaha digital mixer for pre-amp duties which also has a USB interface so can be used direct from laptop bypassing the crappy laptop amps.  I also use a chipped 1TB Apple TV for movies and iPod, Yamaha graphic equaliser plus current cassette player of choice the TC-D5 Pro, not that I ever play cassettes.  There's a DBX effects box in there too for good measure (gets less use than the TC-D5).  There is a 15" bass bin under there too but I haven't wired it up yet.

We've tried numerous smaller systems but as you can see it's a tough space to fill...

nice cris do you live in a converted farm house .

Thta's what we cam here to do but we found this place instead, it's like an aircraft hanger...

very nice and peaceful to i bet .

Sweet setups here...del you've got a beautiful setup. What model of Marantz reciever is that?

I had an old 2252B model that was hooked up to some Polk speakers.

It was by far the best reciever I had owned....and regret when it was rendered useless after a large power surge

My current Hifi Setup is vintage in part, its as expensive, big or as powerful as what most of you guys have but Im quite proud of it expecially considering that its primariliy sourced from Car boots, second hand stores and clearence shops and I paid under what some of the items are worth.

Ive not got any good photos yet and I cant remember all the model numbers but the Amp/Tuner unit is an Aiwa RX-30, the minidisc is a Sony S39 (not yet hooked up), the CD player is a Phillips unit that Im not that impressed with, the tape Deck is a great big Kenwood twin (I originally wanted an older unit with one of the wierd and wonderful decks) and the record deck is a supermarket brand one I think, I was bought it as a gift because it plays 78's.

Speakers wise they arent anything to write home about, at the bottom (theres 4 pairs with 3 pairs in use, naughty and playing with fire I know) is the Hitachi AXC-40 speakers I paid £3 for (I know nothing about them but they seem to handle bass well, next is some unknown Aiwas that are small but really well made and sound great, then its the non operating Alba mini-system ones (They are there because of space and mounting issues) and at the top is a pair of big vintage sharp speakers, they are only 25 watts each but they have plenty of volume and a nice sound.

Ill get some photos later

and loads of second hand, part soiled one handed art pamphletts eh Del?

of course

Im rather glad Ive not come across anyone selling that at the car boots Ive been to, Ive come across the DVD equivlents in CEX and poundland before

you got to dig deeper into the boxes of Country Life and Bunty

Ah you see we dont get readers of country life here, the population seems to be primariliy chavs and the ones that can read tend to read the cheap glossys or happy time litriture which they usually just dump in the woods.

One of my systems, tape deck and reel to reel from 80's, tube amplifer is modded with upgraded tubes PSVANE KT-88T grade A, PSVANE 12AX7-T and sylvania 6sn7gtb chrome dome and circuit design change a bit. Main system is more modern, not consider vintage.

And my record deck, a Nakamichi ZX-9, which is in the process of getting overhauled and CMOS switches upgraded.

Here another 80's micro system I have by Pioneer

You guys have some great older stuff and impressive names/high end performers.   I bought most of my stereo equipment in 1981 ( for sure VINTAGE ) and still am using most of it today.  Orig. I had Polk Audio RTA-12 Reference monitors awesome speakers and loud too but time retired them.  My father had a pair of the  2-Way / Quasi-Ribbon Planar-Magnetic 1974 Magneplanar panel speakers ( yes 1 Inch thick and radiate sound equally front AND BACK.. very awesome live soundstage with speakers near corners and about 2 ft from them).  I sent them back to factory in 1984 new drivers put in.  They do double duty as front channel speakers for blue-ray dvd /tv surround system because of their spaciousness and awesome soundstage.  Not good for lower bass but have Audio Control spectrum analyzer EQ to pull out 180hz and lower which subs handle.

AMPLIFIERS/Pre-Amp

HAFLER 500 (1981)   255 watts/Ch 8 ohm   ALL Hafler equip. owned since new

HAFLER 200 (1981)   100 watts/Ch 8 ohm

HAFLER DH-110 (1981) Factory built and modified/upgraded 1990

KENWOOD BASIC M1D  (1988)  125 watts/Ch 8 ohm

Speakers

Magneplanar SMG owned since new

Cerwin Vega 15 in x 2 Sub-woofer

KEF 8 in x 2 woofers

TURNTABLE

SONY PS-X600 Biotracer (1981) owned since new

  SEE VIDEO with cool Picture Disc Record

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ysa8ASU8V4

Moving Coil Cartridge DYNAVECTOR Ruby DV-100R (1981)  RARE owned since new

PROSONICS MC-1 Moving Coil PreAmp  (1981) owned since new

TAPE DECK

NAKAMICHI LX3 (1981) owned since new, often use my WM-D6C for recording also

YAMAHA KX-W282  (1994) Double cassette deck for copying

COMPACT DISC

dbx DX-5 (1990) Awesome sounding with ultra unique compression/expansion circuits adjustable with meters.

Features 3 unique dbx signal-processing circuits built in :

DAIR, Digital Audio Impact Recovery, a 2 band design for adding impact to musical transients.

COMPRESSION control, also a 2 band design, for background listening, making car cassettes and easier

taping of CD's.

AMBIENCE control, for adding and subtracting difference information in the midrange and treble, increasing

/decreasing the spaciousness of sound.

THE Ambience is the most wonderful feature it adds a analog vinyl record smoothness to sometimes harsher

digital sound depending on recording on CD's.

SOUND PROCESORS

dbx 224X (the 224X-DS more specifically designed for recording tapes while the 224X more designed for decoding of my favorite dbx discs most awesome sound source available period IMO, Both good for creating hiss-less cassette tape recordings but 224x-DS is more flexible for tape creation) definitely better than dolby C.

dbx 2015G (1988) 15 band/channel Equalizer unique lower frequency one half octave equalization.

HOME THEATER SYSTEM

YAMAHA RX-V640 Surround sound Receiver (2003) using pre-outs to my big amps only use 85 watts/ch of receiver for rear and center speakers

AUDIO CONTROL model EQ Eight/series II with spectrum analyzer

YAMAHA NS-C444 Center speaker

MIRAGE Rear speakers

Magneplanars as front L & R speakers

         HAFLER / KENWOOD AMPS

MAGNEPLANAR SMG Speakers

HAFLER PREAMP / NAKAMICHI / dbx PROCESSORS

COMPACT DISC dbx DX-5

NEWER RECORDING RACK SETUP 11-2012  with 

DENON DR-M30HX Deck picked up for $50 locally nearly New .