Call me "pedestrian" or "bourgeois" if you like, but Sansui and Pioneer stuff has always been pleasing to my eye, even in distressed states. Sansui gets the nod over pioneer for me though in the looks department, they just seem to have
just the right balance of silver, black and wood for me.
Acoustic Research has pretty much always been the speaker of choice for me that seems to sound best for my listening. I do have others, but I always seem to come back to the AR4x's for some reason. Just my old ears I guess....
I mainly stick to vintage gear for just about everything, even though I don't doubt there's better vintage (and modern) stuff out there. It just seems to sound
right to me. Sure, a remote would be nice as well as a few other modern conveniences, but there's something about having to actually get up off your seat to change something or select and change a vinyl record that just seems like you're more "involved" in the music reproduction than clicking "next disc" or "shuffle". I find we sit on our asses too much these days as a society anyways.....
Of course; it doesn't hurt that most vintage gear can still be found for fairly reasonable prices and is (for the most part) user fixable with a bit of research, learning and effort.
Just like manually having to physically move to change settings and media, repairing gear just makes me feel more involved in music reproduction. Not to mention the satisfaction of bringing and old soldier back to the line to fight the good fight once again.
I guess I've just reached a point where I'm tired of the "disposable society" mentality. Probably because I've pretty much reached the point in my own life where I'm at risk of also being "disposable"....LOL!
8080 DB on it's way back to usefulness:
Sansui "solid state" 350 and Pioneer CT-F750:
AR4X:
Pioneer Monitor 10 and Sansui SS-35:
I've also got some Akai, Onkyo, technics and other assorted stuff hanging around. But it's mostly project stuff and may (or may not) move on to someone else one day. I have a few modern Polk, Pioneer and other similar systems hagnign around, but mostly for tape players, CD players or surround systems.You know; the stuff you need to have around for certain media, but was never available "vintage".
But that Sansui stuff with it's silver, black, and wood balance combined with it's heavy construction and engraved lettering in the aluminum.....it just always seems to find a permanent (and treasured) home here....