Discontinued equipment that you wish were still here. What do you miss or think will miss?

The KLH Nine full-range electrostat! Arguably the best speaker of the Golden Age! Not many made so most younger audiophiles have never heard (or owned) a pair or two. I've had mine since 1992 - an original owner pair. Still working properly and awaiting set up with my pair of Futterman H3aa OTL amps!

Jim Strickland’s Acoustat speakers, when in good condition, they were without peer and almost indestructible, because the stators front and back were Teflon coated ofc wire, you just couldn’t arc them, and they went loud, very beamy though for the highs, one to two man listening position.

Aging after 15 to 20 years of the honeycomb acrylic plastic was their downfall in the end, becoming powdery and brittle and it absorbed moisture on humid days which cause HT edge leakage.

I think I now know where Jim got the honeycomb acrylic plastic panels for them.
Fluorescent office light diffusers.
1/2" x 1/2" cells and the panel 11.75" x 47.75" in size, ring a bell you Acoustat nutz??
https://www.1800ceiling.com/pub/media/catalog/product/cache/image/1000x1320/e9c3970ab036de70892d86c6...

Cheers George

American made Empire cartridges & stylus's. The MM Empire 4000 d/iii could outperform most of what is available today.  

I miss nothing i love my new stuff better.HELLO!!!!

The Townshend Rock turntable, the BEL power amps.

Pure i20 dock. I have two but they are starting to fail. My entire library is backed up to ipod classics. 

Integrated amps with pre out and amp in with removable jumper. For some reason this feature is not found anymore!

The return of the Beveridge Model 1 with integral high voltage drive would be most appreciated! Also see my post above about the KLH Nine. Two great electrostats worth reviving!

@yogiboy  my Proton integrated has input/output jacks, same as some NAD's. A most useful feature! 

I'm embarrassed to admit that every once in a while I miss the old Loudness button when listening at low volume.  Does that make me a "bad" person? ;-)

@roberjerman - I spoke with a KLH rep a week ago (at Ovation Audio in Indy) who said KLH is going to start making the KLH Nine again.

@yogiboy - The BAT VK-3000 integrated has pre/outs (also found on the older VK-300 series integrated). This makes them easy to bi-amp.

@bdp24 - I agree, the BEL amps, used as monos, were really special.

I would LOVE to get my hands on a NOS Onkyo TA-2090 cassette deck.

Also, Can Wilson Speakers PLEASE make an updated version of the WITT?

@three_easy_payments said

I'm embarrassed to admit that every once in a while I miss the old Loudness button when listening at low volume. Does that make me a "bad" person? ;-)

Not a bad person, just a bad audiophile........ ;~)

But seriously, I agree that having a bit of low end boost at low volume would sometimes improve the listening experience. Especially with some already thin sounding recordings.

Basis 1400

"Jim Strickland’s Acoustat speakers, when in good condition, they were without peer and almost indestructible, because the stators front and back were Teflon coated ofc wire, you just couldn’t arc them, and they went loud, very beamy though for the highs, one to two man listening position.

Aging after 15 to 20 years of the honeycomb acrylic plastic was their downfall in the end, becoming powdery and brittle and it absorbed moisture on humid days which cause HT edge leakage."

I was an Acoustat dealer from almost the beginning to the very end of the company.  Jim, (R.I.P.) and I became very good friends.

I just rebuilt and brought electronically into the 21st century a pair of 2+2's.  The are still one of the  best speakers out there.  Mine came out PERFECT cosmetically and electronically and sound marvelous.  You guys really should hear a pair that have been redone properly.  They are indeed spectacular.

An additional vote for the John Curl designed Vendetta Research SCP-2 phono stage.

I still use my Acoustat 2+2's as my main system speakers every day since 1992 and they sound as good as ever.  Great detail and natural sound. No deterioration of the honeycombs, maybe it helps to live in the West with low humidity. I pulled down the socks so no fabric blocking the pristine sound. Still dont understand all the hype for any speakers other than electrostats...I recall paying only around $1,600/pr way back then. Would be tough to replace for that price but I did buy some decent Martin Logans for that much about 8 years ago for a bedroom setup.

Great gear that’s unpretentious, all analog and doesn’t cost more than a 3-series BMW. That’s what I love about my vintage NAD and Technics gear.

Acoustats, heard them 30 years ago, wanted a pair ever since.

I miss my Rectilinear III highboy speakers.   I sold them for the Large Advents which were a disappointment compared to the Rectilinears.

Oh my, where to start?  

The Adam Audio Tensor speakers. 

Only recently discontinued, but I was planning to buy the Parasound Zcd. It seems like there are no longer any high end, narrow width CD players. Maybe I’m missing something obvious? Hard to search for “compact compact disc players” :-)

 @mattbonner - Rega makes some nice compact CD players. Do a search on "Rega Apollo-R CD Player" currently for sale.

Athena Audition Line of Speakers or really Athena the company itself. I have yet to come across a set of speakers that truly defied the "get what you pay for" aspect of home audio shopping. The AS-F2 tower speakers that retailed for $699 I think maybe $599 either way was such an amazing deal. I bought an extra pair used in Hattiesburg, MS last year for fifty bucks, I mean fifty #@$*&%+ bucks?!! Also, the AS-B1 bookshelf speakers for $149 MSRP,  are you kidding me? The quality, the craftsmanship and materials used for the money was just stupid good. Maybe that's why they went out business....hhmmmm. 
Anyway, does anyone know the names of the individuals involved in the design team that made the Athena Auditon Series and what they are responsible for today? 

Totem Mani-2. One of my favorite monitors of all time.  Was in production for around 20yrs with very little changes.

Sonus Faber Extrema speakers, original Mark Levinson Class A amps ?

A large selection of low priced high quality cartridges.

Tekna Sonic dampers for speaker cabinets. The real deal. 

+1 for the BEL 1001 power amps. I still take out my 33 year old Mark I from time to time, and it still sounds terrific. I could only imagine what a Richard Brown design would sound like today if he were still alive.

Bolivar speakers, great speaker from the 70’s.  

Marantz 7C, 8, 9

MacIntosh 225, 240

Acoustic Research AR3a, AR1W

JBL L100.............. but wait..............

Bozak Concert Grand

Just to name a few :-)

Fuselier speakers.  RIP John Fuselier who passed away in September.

Tandberg.

I wish all stereo equipment looked as well and performed like their FM tuners or tape decks.

I don't miss tone controls at all, especially since my amazingly good Schiit Loki arrived. I do miss the days before imaginary Magic tweaks arrived...was there less baloney back in the day or am I imagining things? (where am I? I'm frightened...oh  wait...I'm OK...). Nobody misses crap lamp cord wire...although lamps still depend on it...luckily the rational aspects of historical filtering haven't been kind to Tice clocks and CD coatings, and we can only hope that the future relegates faith based snake oil tweaks to the dustbin of history.

Whoever made that device that spun cd's to demagnitize them prior to putting them into the player. Yep, it worked well & unless I'm missing it somewhere (?), is no longer available.

@boxer12, I believe it is Bedini you are thinking of.

My body at 25. Way discontinued.

John Bedini made and sold the CD Demagnitizer. 

They can still be found for sale used!

I never bought one because I consider it Flat Earth science - like most tweaks!

My old Vintage Craig 8 Track Player FM Car Stereo Deck. Had it in my vet in the early 70's. Sounded GREAT in the day.

@weebeesdad  I have the first production BEL 1001 made! Serial number 0001. How's that for rarity! It is indeed an amp deserving of resurrection! All sound - no bling (unlike present day high end gear!).

Fidelity Research FR1mk3F. Sold new for $230 in 1980! At that time probably the best sounding mc below the price of the Koetsu ($1K). I had several FR1's!

bdp24 & roberjerman,
Thank you for identifying that. I'll see what I can find out there. 

GAS Thaedra, IMF TLS80, Fidelity Research MC201, Quatre power amp.

@grsz06: I have a GAS Thoebe preamp and a Quatre Gain Cell amp in my collection! Both worthy of resurrection! And I owned the FR MC201 in the long-ago past!

The FR MC201 was a really nice sounding cartridge! Favorably reviewed in IAR. Wish I still had It!

Too bad JBL couldn't re-issue the L166 Horizon! A much better speaker than the L100! I have a pair!