The Golden Boy 

So you've got the Local H disk there... I just saw that Brian St Clair is filling in/playing with Cheap Trick while Daxx has commitments.

Robvolz 

I bought my house back in 2000. In the basement was a McIntosh 2100 amp. “How steam punk” I thought.

It didn’t work.

when COVID began, bars closed, clients waned and I had time on my hands. I watched you-tube videos on repair. Got it going. Bought some Klipsch cornwalls. Had the foams replaced (paper)

then started seeking components for cheap.

CD player came from Aretha Franklin’s estate sale (marked as “Macintosh”) for $150

Like our vintage bikes, you can still find them at garage sales, thrift stores, NextDoor, etc.

Ive traded out the pieces I don’t want/need for the system of my dreams.

All Mac!!
MC 7300 amps x2 (300 wpc x4)
C 30 pre amp
MPI-4 oscilloscope
MCD 7007 cd player
MR 78 tuner w Richard Modafini mods
XR-7 speakers
Mac subwoofer

yes, I have a vintage Thorens
but, c’mon, the Mag-lev turntable is fun




Magic!!

52telecaster

I have two hifi systems. Both had dual turntables but now both have dual 1229 turntables. I bought a nonworking 1229 and got it running. The music room has 1229-dynaco-pas2-dynaco st35-altec lansing Valencias.

The living room uses dual 1229-fisher tube console receiver pull-altec Valencias.

All this stuff works pretty darn well but it isn't all in great looking condition, which is why I could afford it. Nothing like listening to good lps through tubes into Altec horns.

curbtender

Went by the Oakland Museum fundraiser, https://www.whiteelephantsale.org/ , on Wednesday and they had quite the audio repair crew working on old units getting them ready for sale. If you are local and looking for repair services, some of the repair volunteers were handing out cards.

Fredo76

(Mostly) old bikes and (mostly) old stereos in my living room, where they belong!

Renewed interest in cycling and audio transformed my mid-life crisis into a mid-life Renaissance.

Hip replacements helped tremendously, too.

masi61

Robvolz - how are you liking the 'Mag-Lev" turntable?

obrentharris 

Dahlquist speakers! That brings back some fine old memories. Thanks. I was a Magnepan guy back then.
Brent

BTinNYC 

Pioneer, Yamaha, Kenwood & Focal speakers. Mid-fi, but the room is acoustically superb, and that just lets it all sing.
edit: the Pioneer deck was their TOTL manual table in '76 plus a Denon cart that was like a CF wheelset when I got it...so not mid-fi.

thinktubes 

Would love to an ST-35 through a pair of those Altecs. I had a chance to buy a mint pair for $500 about 20 years ago. Didn’t quite have the cash/muscle/truck/space to pull the trigger.

i do still have my ST-35. Totally rebuilt it including new pcbs. Special little amps.

thinktubes 

Quad ESL? As a college student, I lived next to a tenured English professor who had a pair of those powered by Acoustic Research tube gear like these. Fantastic sounding setup!

Fredo76

Yes, a bronze pair of the original QUAD ESLs. The owner was the son of a service member who brought three pair home from England, gave two pair away, and stored my pair. They weren't even dusty - fit for a museum, and if ever played in the U.S. as found, set for 240 volts, would have been babied at 120 volts. I lucked out noticing them on eBay while working in Woodland Hills, and nobody else did, so that Saturday I listened to them and paid him his asking price with no haggling, as I had promised if they sounded right to me. $1500 for speakers that cost $4000 forty years ago when I first heard them in NYC, and would cost maybe $15K to replace with the current version. No way could I afford that in my retirement now.

QUAD ESLs were the first 'full range' electrostatic speakers, and first came out in 1957. Mine were produced in 1972, and my black pair in 1982 iirc.

On the thread topic, they are still considered a reference speaker - I read somewhere that Martin Logan keeps a pair in good shape for comparisons, and they have made every "most influential speaker' list ever written by a smart person. They were the model for Jon Dahlquist's DQ-10s, both visually and sonically. In an interview I read but cannot find, he was quoted as saying there were really only two kinds of speakers - "they are here" speakers, and "you are there" speakers. He was maybe the first to get a "you are there" sound with dynamic drivers.

Both vintage Luxman and modern PrimaLuna tube amps blew up on me, so they are now driven by a 12-watt class A amp, discussed here:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index....-repro.794345/

The longer legs were my modification. The rear legs are attached to the floor, as we have dogs and dog-sit other's.


MCM, or what?

I think a mix of vintage and modern works well, for me.

52telecaster

​​​​​​Looks fabulous

52telecaster

Heathkit version of Valencias. 8 ohm with refurbished crossovers.

Fisher head unit. About 10 watts/channel. Sounds amazing through the Heathkit/Altecs.

Dual 1229 in breadbox plinth. Currently running a radio shack shure.

Robvolz 

its a hoot.

Plus, with the Project carbon Fiber arm and decent stylus, it sounds great.

Because the platter is floating, footfalls mean nothing.

Lenton58 

Someday I'm going to finish rebuilding this Dynaco ... I started it so long ago, I'm ashamed to say when. It was my go to amp back in the 80's

rickrob 

I don't think I've ever seen a pair of Quads. I still have my Dahlquist DQ-10s , purchased in 1983. I drive them with two Hafler DH-220s, both bridged mono. I think Jon Dahlquist did accomplish the "You are there" goal with his design.