bigbob Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 Happiness is a Electronics repair shop three blocks from home. The Yamaha RX-350 got a Spring Cleaning a few weeks early, and whatever Sasa did--it sounds better than it did when it was new. Gone is the scratchy sound in the right channel, and he replaced the light bulb. Over thirty years of dust was blown out, and I can read the circuit boards inside....WOW! He took a $20 deposit, and charged me another $5 for some parts...$25 to make something old sound better than new--that is "the Computer Audiophile on the Cheap" at it's best. Link to comment
LCC0256 Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Sounds like Sasa likes his job Bob. More often than not I find it nice to restore something old instead of replacing it. I guess that belief comes with age. I would agree with you that 25 bucks was well spent. Bet you wish every dollar went so far... Link to comment
TubeLover Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 An honorable pursuit, resurrecting vintage electronics. Unfortunately, in most cases, what is charged by techs to restore the equipment is many times beyond what you paid. I purchased a superb vintage amplifier a couple years ago, but the cost to have it restored properly made it impossible to even consider. Be very thankful for your friend Sasa! JC Link to comment
jdjaye Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Sounds like a gem of a repair shop! What State is it in? Happiness is a Electronics repair shop three blocks from home. The Yamaha RX-350 got a Spring Cleaning a few weeks early, and whatever Sasa did--it sounds better than it did when it was new. Gone is the scratchy sound in the right channel, and he replaced the light bulb. Over thirty years of dust was blown out, and I can read the circuit boards inside....WOW! He took a $20 deposit, and charged me another $5 for some parts...$25 to make something old sound better than new--that is "the Computer Audiophile on the Cheap" at it's best. Best Stereo System: Wired Sonos Connect -> AQ Cinammon Digital Coax -> Marantz SA-8005 -> AA Black Momba 2 interconnects -> Marantz PM-15S2 -> Kimber 8TC speaker Cables -> Zu Soul Superfly speakers. Ingest> NAS> Distribution: Sony Vaio Laptop ripping via ITunes to Apple Lossless, manually synced to WD Mycloud NAS, Linksys 1900AC Router, Netgear Gig E switch, generic Ethernet cables, TPLinc ethernet power line extenders. Link to comment
NOMBEDES Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 On some of the other audio sites you see some beautiful vintage equipment. Some folks claim the performance from 1970 ~ 1980 equipment is better than current kit. Whatever makes you happy. If you can restore the equipment yourself, I would guess you would get a lot of satisfaction. In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake ~ Sayre's Law Link to comment
blownsi Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 The OP has found the secret to vintage. You have to find a repair shop you can trust or you end up spending more money and time than it's worth. Link to comment
GUTB Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 Vintage audio is vastly inferior to modern products. Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile Link to comment
Gonzbull Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 My system consists of equipment from the 70s-80s category. Luckily I have the skills and restored all of it myself. I can safely say you wouldn't be able to tell it's age from listening alone. I speak of design here as all the parts I used( caps and resistors ) are modern. Link to comment
NOMBEDES Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Vintage audio is vastly inferior to modern products Rather a general statement. Most likely for the most part, true, but on what do you base your opinion? In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake ~ Sayre's Law Link to comment
GUTB Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Rather a general statement. Most likely for the most part, true, but on what do you base your opinion? Computer design tools, much faster electronics, modern fabrication processes, modern audio research, etc. Vintage has one benefit -- it's cheap. The only category in which old gear competes with or beats modern gear are tubes as the original production techniques were lost in time. Also, I suppose we were wealthier 40+ years ago so old gear had a lot of big metal transformers and the like which we attempt to replace with bad class-d junk. Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile Link to comment
bigbob Posted February 11, 2017 Author Share Posted February 11, 2017 Charlotte, North Carolina Link to comment
bigbob Posted February 11, 2017 Author Share Posted February 11, 2017 The OP has found the secret to vintage. You have to find a repair shop you can trust or you end up spending more money and time than it's worth. The whole "Computer Audiophile on the Cheap" is based on making the stereo that have, sound as good as possible, with some rather inexpensive tweaks. If you already own a 'vintage' piece of 1970s-80s electronics, I believe the quality of the components--which were considered 'entry-level'-- were not as good as the "Audiophile" equipment of that day. But, if you can take an old rig and get it tuned up for less than $30--then that is a rather inexpensive tweak. And it should out perform what you remember of it playing LPs on a sub-standard turntable, devoid of magic cleaning machines, and whole lot of modern tweaks. A 24bit-96kHz signal is so much better that we are used to listening to. External DACs and passive pre-amps are driving Vintage speakers with a nice clean signal--unlike any signal it has heard in their lives. Link to comment
Gonzbull Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Well my setup consists of a Paragon System E preamp, Quad2 amplifiers and Tannoy HPD speakers (alnico magnets ) with a MBP running Audirvana! Fantastic sounding system in part due to the synergy of the various components. Garrard 301 for the odd time I listen to vinyl. Beats a lot of modern Audiophile systems I've heard. And I work with music all day as a composer and Mastering engineer with the occasional mixing job. Link to comment
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