A pair of Marantz Model 2 monoblock amplifiers (ca. late 1950s), which I owned for a time during the early 1990s. I sold them because with the speakers I was using at the time, and when used in triode mode which I found to be sonically preferable to the more powerful ultralinear mode, they weren’t powerful enough to handle the peaks of some classical symphonic recordings having particularly wide dynamic range. But on less challenging material they sounded gorgeous.
Another contributing factor to my regret at having sold them is that their worth today is something like five times what it was then :-)
Best regards,
-- Al
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Speaker I never actually had room for: Snell A/III with CJ premiere pre and probably a modern amp.
I can't think of any tube amps that would drive it well, or any SS amps from the period that aren't seriously outclassed by most modern amps.
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The above mentioned CJ Premier 3 preamp
and the CJ P-2 Power amp would of course drive the Snell, the big Infinity never set it back, ask me how I know... |
A pair of Altec Valencia's. Home version of "Voice of the Theatre." Circa 1975. Fond memories... |
A pair of KEF Kit 104ab with mdf cabinet inside an oak cabinet from a log our family bandmilled, dried and turned into art :-) |
Should have saved the drivers and filters from Dad’s Bozak B305 just for fun... |
Damn @tomic601, you had a Dad with Bozak's?! Mine had a Magnavox console. :-( |
None of 'em. Not even the Quicksilver Mono's. I'm sitting pretty with my latest rig.
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bdp24 , well at least your folks had a Magnavox console, mine had a Montgomery Ward portable. |
Pass Labs Aleph 30, AES AE-3 DJH tube preamp, Thorens TD125 MkII w/ SME 3009 improved arm, and Altec Lansing Model 15 loudspeakers would be at the top of my most missed list. Would like to hear how these products fair today.
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My parents had bought an old Montgomery Wards Airline portable record player. You know the kind with the swing open attached speakers. They would obtain albums, throw away the cardboard covers, handle the records like they were shuffling cards, and store the bare records all piled up in a cupboard. I have NO idea how I became an audiophile..... |
mr_m1 my parents kept the records in the sleeves.But then stacked them on the spindle because they had an automatic turntable:-)
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I built my first radio in grade school. 1968. Something like that. No idea what happened to it. But man that would be cool to have. |
I should have kept my Dynaco A25 speakers...just the right size, nice cabinet, I could have experimented with drivers and x-over. Oh well. 1970s nostalgia maybe.
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Mitch Cotter Verion SUT P ! My first (1978) and maybe best SUT! Used it with a GAS Sleeping Beauty (Coral 777) mc cartridge and Lustre GST-1 arm on an Ariston RD11S TT. |
And all of the above was sold/lost over time! Now I have replaced some of it: Ariston RD11 TT and a Coral 777 mc cartridge. |
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mr_m1,294
I think many of us have had similar experiences growing up. And not being a snob or anything, but my parents drove automobiles that went from point A to point B without any pretense of "fun to drive". Somehow I got into racing Formula Fords and started driving some superb sports cars. In high school I did the old going in a straight line ala. drag racing. In later years I fell in love with the idea of winning races in corners, like at Road America and others. Since speeding can get you a ticket, most of us can enjoy driving by threshold and trail braking and learning about the proper apex of a corner...just a thrill. |
Actually, I can't really say there is anything I used to own that I yearn to own once again. |
@whatjd At 65 years old, I think I just went thru my second childhood. Just purchased a used mint condition 2018 Kawasaki Z900 Retro Sport motorcycle. I think my stereo is a much safer hobby.:-) |
@bdp24 yes, one of my most enduring memories is early winter 1965 a truck showing up and unloading big boxes into our almost 20’x40’ ancient house living room - like no furniture besides the B-305 in cherry and built in cabinet around fireplace to house records and the stereo: 1961 MC-240, 1965 MX-110Z, Dual 1019 and a Shure. My mom was a music school grad and could play piano and accordion and Dad could play trumpet. I don’t think they bought a TV until 1970...
I know exactly when the Hook was set.. Peter and the Wolf....
I still have the MC gear in my Seattle vintage system along w furniture from them... another reason for your music visit :-) |
@o_holter i have a pair of A-25 with the real wood cabinets that I listen to with a NAD 3020 in the garage..... fun
iF you are in Seattle you can borrow them for a trip down memory lane |
Ah yes, the idea of a 2nd childhood has happened to me repeatedly. I bought 3 sports cars in a row over a few years...vowing to my mate with each purchase it would be my last. A Porsche, a Lotus and a Lexus...and now that the mate is gone, I realized the cars were cheaper and more reliable.
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The 10 tube phono preamp with dual regulated supplies and oversized external transformers I built back in the 80s which my folks threw away in ignorance when I was abroad. Paralleled Mullard M8137 phono stage tubes and CV5042 Brimar black plate cathode followers. Grrr.
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Oh, they also dispatched a Garrard 301 and a box of spare tubes like CV4004/M8137/ECC803S etc. probably worth $000s now.
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VTL Tiny Triodes mono blocks, second version. Only 500 pairs made. They were gorgeous, small in stature and could scare the hell out of a lot of speakers much larger than them....... and I stupidly sold them.
I took them to an audio shop to demo a pair of Martin Logan Aerius and they took hold of them and shocked the salesman. Fun stuff.
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Most wanted to have back, in no particular order: MAC MC30’s,
Precision Fidelity C7A & Levinson No.29.
Mjcmt: I’m with you on the Pass Labs Aleph 30. I have one
and regularly rotate it into my system. It has a musical purity that is amazing
and drives my Audio Physic Virgo III’s with ease.
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Probably my Don Garber Fi-X integrated ... such a novel industrial design, and sounded great thru my Cain & Cain Abby’s (which I also miss).
From a nostalgic perspective, it would be the McIntosh MR-55 tube tuner, born about the same as me, and part of my first system out of college.
I have actually repurchased a good bit of some nostalgia ...
My college-bound sister (and I was high school bound) talked parents into first ‘real’ stereo based on Lafayette components, and I’ve reacquired the Lafayette LA-950 and matching tuna) but not the Garrard 40B nor Criterion 100B’s)
My system just out of college ... I’ve reacquired the JVC JA-S44 and matching tuna, and Polk Mon7’s (but not the Pioneer PL-117D nor McIntosh MR-55)
So Tom Wolfe and Yogi weren’t quite right.
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I lost a pair of 7, 8, and 9 Kappas due to the Campfire in Paradise Ca. a year and 4 months ago. I miss my Kappas. The 8's and 9's were hard to power, but they sounded great. |
I agree with whatjd: Dahlquist DQ-10's.
I think they lured more of us into the addiction than any other speaker.
$399/ea! |
Music Reference RM9
Music Reference RM 5 mkII
Proceed PCD2
Thorens TD125 mkII/Rega RB303/Grado Red
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I must have been about 7or 8 years old and I had saved some money for a small transistor radio. It was a typical unit from the day (back in the sixties) 8 transistor handheld.
I would play it while in bed at night and carry it around with me. I loved that thing. My dad of course would yell at me to turn it down. Funny, he had the big stereo with tubes and honkin Western Electric field coil drivers, and he was telling me MY radio was too loud ...
One day he took it and told me was going to ‘fix it’ for me so the batteries would last longer. When he gave it back it no longer would play louder than a whisper.
I was crushed. It felt to me at the time like the scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest where they took McMurphy’s mind and he became a veg.
I just wanted my radio to have it’s voice back.
That’s what I miss |
My grandfather's JBL Paragon (from about 1959/60/61). I didn't sell it; my grandmother did after he died in 1978. It didn't sit well with her idea of living room decor. It may have overpowered the room visually; but sonically, it was superb in its time. Don't know how it would fare today. |
I can mention the one that got away- a pair of Marantz 10b tuners. $1200. For both of them. Duh- what was I thinking? |
