Has this happened to you? How can it be stopped?


Well this question is for fun but also kinda serious too.

Have you felt the urger to buy a vintage piece of audio gear when you really didn’t need it? Have you felt that this is an addiction and how can it be stopped?

I have Marantz 2235 receiver in my office, a Sansui 1000x in my bedroom, a Realistic STA-52b in my spare bedroom and Yamaha RX-V995 in my wifes sewing room and a Yamaha RX-V690 in the garage with various vintage speakers connected to all of them. I already have two complete audio systems in my audio room.

 

When does the madness stop? My wife tells me I have an audio problem!?!

 

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I thought a vintage Marantz Tuner equipped with a scope would be a nice "shelf filler" for my ARC, Moon, Linn, Wilson system.  After attempting to purchase two tuners that were broken, and having to have Ebay bail me out on both, I realized purchasing 40+ year old electronics was perhaps not the smartest move.  Also, using tube hours that cost $2,000 to replace to listen to FM radio probably wasn't wise either.  I bought a digital clock (not a Tice) instead.  

The receiver in the garage is a Sony.

The receiver in the office is a Kenwood.

The receiver in the basement is a Yamaha.

The downstairs system is Acoustat & Audio Research.

The upstairs system is new.

The only way to help you stop this maddness buying outdated vintage gears is you need to recognize the fact the receivers / multichannel int. amp you were buying are in fact junks compared to the modern gears.  Low S/N ratio, low current, low damping factor and high harmonic distortion.  Other than Marantz 2235 which might be collectable, admit the reason you were buying them is probably the low cost.  To me, those gears were low-fi too.  Not worthy.

I’m with you 100% brother. During Covid I assembled two McIntosh vintage tube stereo systems, which I still have and enjoy, just not enough room. I also bought a pioneer integrated amp and an adcom pre…why I don’t know. The pioneer was my modification experiment, after new power caps and various other experiments, died a quick death. Etc etc. What a hobby….