Vintage Audio Hi-Fi Equipment/Setup Thread

[Baloo]

Any vintage audio fans on here? I got a nice setup from a friend of mine who entered the convent, and a record player from my cousin:



Luxman R-115 Receiver


Klipsch KG-4 Front Speakers

And a Gemini XL-100 Turntable. (Have a second one in storage)


Both the Luxman and the Gemini needs to be serviced, the Phono in on the Luxman only works in one speaker, but the rest of the audio in ports work fine so I'm fine with using it for other things since I don't play vinyl much at all. The belt on the Gemini is messed up where it needs to play a little while at +6 in order to be played at normal speed for 33, or -6 for 45 normal speed.

Now I'm looking to upgrade to a surround sound set up for my NVIdia Shield, since I just got this HDMI to Audio Out converter to hook up my Genesis and SNES Mini and NVidia Shield to my stereo system.

Apparently there are a lot of reviews out there that say that the new all-in-one stereo and surround sound receiver/amp combos are terrible.

I was looking at the Luxman F-114 to upgrade my system to surround sound.



But now I need to get speakers to go with the receiver when I get one at a good price.

Anyone else want to post their Hi-Fi setup or talk about their gear?

[cleeg]

Very nice. I haven't got a pic to hand of mine, but I have one of these...beomaster6000-4channel.jpg

I love it, my dad had one which broke down eventually, but he still has the turntable and a functioning remote. My amp works, but there is a problem with some of the sound controls which I need to fix.

Some new speakers and we're golden!

[Blades]

Nice setup! Yes stay away from the cheap surround receivers. You should visit Audiokarma or Tapeheads.net if you like discussing audio gear.

I have my old system I got on the cheap.

-Technics SA-R210 Receiver (1987)
-Technics SB-S16 Bookshelf Speakers (1993)
-Technics SL-5 Turntable w/ Stanton L737E (1982, 1986)
-Aiwa AD-F300 Cassette Deck (1992)
-Panasonic RP-HTF295 Headphones (2012)

I like compact, so my setup works for now. The total cost is less than $150. One of these days, I'll get a fully modern system. It's really annoying how clunky (and huge and ugly) new audio equipment still is. I would love a fully integrated small design that doesn't suck. I hate that everything is a silver or black rectangle.

I use the Sega CD for CDs these days. It's clunky but works since it has a dedicated audio output just for CDs. The JVC transport in the Sega CD has outlasted quite a few standalone CD players. It's funny because JVC made some of the worst CD players on the market in the '90s, but for some reason their transports were great.

I've found simpler devices are much much better in the long run. I used to have a TOTL Aiwa AD-F850 cassette deck 2011-2019, but it had so many problems and was so finicky it just wasn't worth it for the great sound. Belts for simple devices are still readily available.

[Baloo]

That's pretty neat about using the Sega CD for CDs. What is the sound like playing CDs on the Sega CD?

[Chibisteven]

That's pretty neat about using the Sega CD for CDs. What is the sound like playing CDs on the Sega CD?

I own a model 1 Sega CD so I can speak of my experiences with playing CDs on one.

RCA Outs With No Mixing Cable = Clean, Clear
RCA Outs With Mixing Cable = Added Hiss
Genesis Headphone Output = Rolled Off Highs, added hiss
Genesis A/V Out = Rolled Off Highs, mono.
RF OUT = Steeper Rolled Off Highs, mono.

[Blades]

That's pretty neat about using the Sega CD for CDs. What is the sound like playing CDs on the Sega CD?

It's acceptable for an early '90s player when using the CD Audio only outputs, which is miles better than any other video game system. At the time, CD players were still very expensive so I suspect they put some effort into making the Sega CD a capable CD audio player. The CD audio section is isolated and well put together, probably entirely lifted from Hitachi or another Sega partner from back then.

The interface is easy to use without a TV.

The CD audio section is based around a 16-bit 8x oversampling Sanyo LC7883 chip. The JVC Optima 6S transport in the Sega CD 2 is very well made and has simply outlasted many other dedicated CD players I've had.

Compared to high-end players with great audio sections, like the Sony XA5ES-based DVP-S7000 I had, it obviously falls short. But it's fine for my purposes.

Most other CD based systems of the time, and all that followed, integrated CD audio into the main audio that made them unusable for CD playback.

[Baloo]

Finally got a nice setup for my audio equipment with an HDMI Switcher from Amazon integrated really nicely in with my dumb TV (No Smart TVs here ) my record player, and I got a A/V to 3.5mm cord for my computer to plug into as well, and also have had a very small but good sounding Bluetooth dongle. So now I can watch stuff/play games on my PC, play audio through the phone, and hook up quite a few devices, even composite and component through the older stuff in case I ever come across any old systems again. Feels good.

[Blades]

Nice.

What dongle are you using if you don’t mind? I’m looking for a good one. I used to use Apple Airplay and it was downright unusable because of the dropouts.

[JCU]

I wouldn't say vintage but my set up is "retro" with Yamaha and Sony holding up both ends of the job in terms of receiver and turntable. I'm keeping my eye on a few vintage cd players but the prices have shot up recently.

[Baloo]

Nice.

What dongle are you using if you don’t mind? I’m looking for a good one. I used to use Apple Airplay and it was downright unusable because of the dropouts.

https://www.gogroove.com/index.php?r...roduct_id=9348 - This is the one I have that came with my stereo system from a friend. It sounds great, but it is not perfect by any means. After playing any audio from my Android phone you hear a noticeable pop of the bluetooth audio disconnecting, which then also occurs again after starting to play any new audio that is not in say, a playlist through VLC or another audio player app on my phone. It gets annoying after a while, but the connection is steady and the audio itself sounds great. I also can't seem to get the BLUEGATE to be noticed by my laptop running Linux and the Blueman package, but I have no need to connect my computer to the bluetooth receiver when I have an 3.5mm to RCA. But I haven't had any issues with dropouts on it, though I am also unsure of how far away you are trying to be from the Bluetooth receiver with your device.

There are other options that you can use, but they are proprietary and discontinued, such as Google's Chromecast Audio or the Yamaha WXAD-10, both of which can be used over wireless. But I am not sure how good they are.

[Segadream]

I dunno bout vintage, but I use a Sony Av receiver STR-DE597 and its suffice so far...
But lo and somebody threw a new in the box
Pioneer VSX-517-K on the curb just today...
friggan awesome...

[zyrobs]

Not vintage but my current Orion set is already 15+ years old....

[Joe Redifer]

Yikes! Those speaker grilles. I usually (not always) leave my grilles off because I like looking at the drivers.

I used to have a really nice old Pioneer receiver from the 60's. It was my grandfathers. I wish I still had it. I'd use it for my computer setup where I only need stereo, not surround. I have some weird ghosts or something in this room where more modern receivers will start adjusting the volume on their own for no reason. Maybe some sort of IR reflectivity coming from somewhere? The old stereo receiver I used to have was made of knobs and changing anything without touching it was something only people from Mars would ever think of back when it was designed. It was great.

[Segadream]

I have some weird ghosts or something in this room where more modern receivers will start adjusting the volume on their own for no reason.

A lot of knobs have that issue of loss of
or gain of the sensitivity of the brushes...
I had one that decided to change input modes
randomly...

[Tripredacus]

For audio setups only, I currently have two of them. One for cassettes and one for records.

The one for cassettes is setup like so:
AVR: Yamaha RX-V493*
EQ: Pyle PPEQ100
Cassette: Pioneer CT-M55R
Speakers: Jensen SBC65, RCA SP9900
Subwoofer: Vizio VSB211-Z

I did have a Sony STR-DE597 in this setup but I switched it out during testing and I believe I have the Yamaha in its place. The Yamaha used to be on my SDTV setup but I have since replaced that with an Onkyo with an extra feature that I needed. This setup that the cassette player is on is also the setup that my Saturns are connected to. Currently the only game system I have hooked up anywhere. The tape player is a 6 changer and the EQ is pretty much required to get good sound out of it. The speakers are just random ones, as this is like the 4th tier setup I have.

The other setup is for records, which is a lot simpler:
AVR: Sony STR-AV710
Turntable: Sony PS-LX300USB
Speakers: 2x Claxon SM-82

There's an HD TV and a tuner in this setup but they are not connected to the AVR yet. Not really an old-type turntable, since it has a USB port, but I got it for free and I'm not complaining. This AVR is decent as it has a built-in EQ which really helps the sound. I did used to have this AVR on the cassette setup, but it did not support subwoofer so it got moved out.