I have vintage amps in my system - but while I have worked on more vintage amps than I care to think about, I have really very little romantic attachment to them as collector's items, or because of their past. I use them because they're better than any of the modern amps that I've used with my system.
I will say that many times, the amount of effort required to make a vintage piece truly work as well as it when it was new . . . this can be a very tedious endavour, even for a skilled and experienced technician. For example, it was pretty straightforward to get my Marantz Model 2s to "work" again . . . but to make them really come alive required lots of time measuring (sometimes out-of-circuit) EVERY resistor and capacitor to make absolutely sure they were all within tolerance . . . many had drifted. Some irreplaceable switches and potentiometers had to be removed, disassembled, cleaned, and rebuilt, and then within the first 20-30 hours of operation some extremely subtle noises became audible just above the noise floor -- these turned out to be a few solder connections that had developed tiny cracks after 50 or so years of heat/cool cycles.
So when I hear people turn their nose up at the performance potential of vintage audio gear, it reminds me a bit of those who think that all 1950s and 1960s American cars handle poorly . . . you have to absolutely eliminate every trace of the decades of deterioration before making your conclusions - and there are lots of shiney hot-rods with rebuilt engines and beautiful bodywork . . . and old, worn-out vintage suspension.
I will say that many times, the amount of effort required to make a vintage piece truly work as well as it when it was new . . . this can be a very tedious endavour, even for a skilled and experienced technician. For example, it was pretty straightforward to get my Marantz Model 2s to "work" again . . . but to make them really come alive required lots of time measuring (sometimes out-of-circuit) EVERY resistor and capacitor to make absolutely sure they were all within tolerance . . . many had drifted. Some irreplaceable switches and potentiometers had to be removed, disassembled, cleaned, and rebuilt, and then within the first 20-30 hours of operation some extremely subtle noises became audible just above the noise floor -- these turned out to be a few solder connections that had developed tiny cracks after 50 or so years of heat/cool cycles.
So when I hear people turn their nose up at the performance potential of vintage audio gear, it reminds me a bit of those who think that all 1950s and 1960s American cars handle poorly . . . you have to absolutely eliminate every trace of the decades of deterioration before making your conclusions - and there are lots of shiney hot-rods with rebuilt engines and beautiful bodywork . . . and old, worn-out vintage suspension.