Well, if you put it that way...
Good reply. Thanks.
We Can Make Classic Cars Outperform Today's "SuperCars": Why Not Vintage Audio?
If you spent $2M on a modern "Supercar", you’d arrive at the end of a quarter mile 2 football fields behind the quickest highly-modified "street legal" cars from the muscle car era. You could show up at an Autocross event in your late model "track ready" sports sedan, and be embarrassed by a lady pushing a 1986 Monte Carlo between the cones.
There’s a lot of resources and talent in the automotive aftermarket. Many of the brightest minds earned weekly paychecks in their "past lives" at major auto manufacturers. There are various disciplines involved including complete engine and drive train replacements, serious add-on/mods to existing components, bigger/better brakes, track-ready suspensions, etc. They can even slide a complete new high-performance rolling chassis underneath popular models.
So, why not vintage audio? Well, we do dip our toes into this a bit. There are popular speaker crossover replacements for the DYI crowd. But, these fall sonically short of their contemporary "high end" counterparts. The automotive equivalent of replacing a 2 BBL carb on a cast iron manifold with a 4 BBL carb on a cast iron manifold -- while keeping the original single exhaust system intact. We can do simple mods to improve the sonics -- like upgrading an original power cord that you wouldn’t want to use on a 2-splice toaster, much less a high-current amplifier. The really smart guys need to come to the rescue for true audiophile grade solutions.
Understandably there has to be a "high give a s--- factor" related to this. The speed parts industry is fueled by a wildly enthusiastic crowd while vintage audio owners are, like: "whatever". So, the chances of a superb $5k amp/preamp module that drops into a Marantz 1060 chassis and slays any modern gear near it’s price point may not be coming to a town near you anytime soon.
I think this can be incremental if we put our minds and wallets to it. You "car guys" know there are 3 basic types of collector cars. "Showroom stock" represents as close as possible the vehicle as it rolled off the assembly line. "Personalized" generally follows a stock appearance with performance and cosmetic improvements. Generally speaking, the car can be reverted to showroom stock at some point the future. All the original parts are carefully cataloged and placed in safe storage. "Modified" has the appearance of a race car, and performs like one. Often modifications to metal are performed, and in some cases there’s no going back. We can follow similar guidelines as well. We understand the motivation to keep things "stock". We can also understand the audiophiles that love their vintage gear would be open to the concept of a significantly better listening experience while maintaining a stock appearance and functionality. Chopping up an Auburn is a really bad idea. But, upgrading the input terminals on an integrated amplifier may be highly palatable for those cherished collectables.
I also get it that the ROI would be questionable. An amp that has a current market value of $2k with $5k worth of mods might still be worth $2k -- or less.
What say you?
- ...
- 96 posts total
Currently on local drag tracks many videos on YouTube show the family sedan Tesla Plaid cleaning up with the fastest time down that 1/4 mile track . With audio I think we live in an era of new advances unheard of just a decade ago though with a high degree of musicality . A great example of what I’m talking about is a reasonably priced electrostatic headphone system from WarWick Acoustics the Bravura system consisting of a all in one electrostatic energizer , chip based dac and headphones and like the Tesla is known for its speed the Bravura system is for its high level musicality . |
@invalid Good point. It’s just a matter of time. We’re improving the power/weight component of batteries. But, as one keynote speaker said at a convention I attended: "If you keep making these things smaller and more powerful, what you’re going to end up with is called a bomb." It’s going to be interesting to see how this develops. Hopefully, we’ll have it figured out before the law requires us to drain the "fossil fuels" from our existing hot rods and turn them into museum pieces. |
Gents, We’ve had some hits and misses on this forum, including some from the OP. From what I’ve learned from you, I’d like to submit some closing comments: - The objective of acheiving the best sound, and in particular, best sonic bang for the buck, is a completely different conversation than when someone loves their old gear, listens to it, and wants it to sound better. BOTH are valid. - Old cars are relatable to most of us. Most old car guys have benefited from the aftermarket to make their driving experience more exhilarating, more controlled, and comfortable, or ALL of the above. These same objectives CAN be acheived with old audio as well. The level of awareness of the existence of "performance parts" or "newer technology" adaptable to their old gear is very low, and there aren’t enough of us around who have actually "modded" our gear, are quite exuberant about the results and want to share our experiences. - I underestimated this group’s fondness of "supercars". I’m a car guy whose taken part in multiple forms of racing from an early age (55+ MPH go cart at age 11). I am in awe with esthetics, agility, and brute force of the new exotics. Getting behind the wheel of one of these is on my bucket list. Didn’t mean to ruffle any feathers. Just wanted to make a point about just how good aftermarket parts and "newer thinking" can be when applied to old iron -- relative to modern"reference" material. Thanks to all who participated. It was a lot of fun to be part of the conversations. John |
- 96 posts total