Original owners only - Pre-1980

RobRoy

It's just stuff - but fun
Original owners only - Pre-1980's

This thread is going to leave out people under 45, but I decided to try it anyway. I'd like to know what pre-1980 equipment you purchased brand new (NOS doesn't count) and are still using. Any fun anecdotal stories about how and why (maybe where) you acquired it would be groovy too.

For extra credit, if you're still using it, how? Is it now your garage system, your main system, what? Enquiring minds want to know.

I may throw up a post about mine eventually, but this isn't about me. I really would like to hear your stories.
 
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Darn .... I miss it by 2 years! Let us know if you want to open it up to "purchased new within your family and still being used" - then I can participate!
 
Original owner Sansui AU-717 and TU-719 - both lugged home from London on the London Underground tube rail network (separate journeys) - I thought my arms were going to drop off ! - took me some time after I got home (with the AU-717) before I could summon up the energy to open the box and set it up - the sound I heard when I did this was well worth the effort. - I still have both.

I also did this with a pair of Sansui ES-207 speakers. Like the above bought in London, I could not carry both at the same time - so I had to move them one by one in hops - to the tube train - and the same when I got off the train near my house, still kicking myself for selling the speakers a few years ago.

I didn't have them delivered because I wanted the pleasure of buying them in the shop (store) myself.
 
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I've got a pair of Electrovoice Interface D's that I bought new in 1978. The woofers need refoamed (and the grills are shot) but they are currently sitting in a closet awaiting some love & attention.

I bought some Klipsch LaScalas in 1979. They are in current use in the basement and will be the rear channels for my HT once I get things done and moved downstairs. They have original drivers in them and (as with the EV's) journeyed with me through college and now, beyond. I have however, replaced their crossovers with some of Al K's 'extreme slope' crossovers.

I've got some dbx stuff that works, but currently idle in speaker closet (3bx, subharmonic synth) as well as an Audio Control C-101 eq RTA.

I think I got my Yamaha CR-2040 in 1980 but I'm not sure. If I didn't then disregard my comment...if I did....then it's currently plugged in downstairs to the LaScalas of the same time period. The Yamaha is bone stock.... had it to the shop once for some bulbs and power switch but otherwise, bone stock.

I'm over 45 :thmbsp:
 
All bought in the mid to late 70's. Not counting the RS stuff I had in High School. Including some GE towers.

Pioneer SA 9900 int. amp
Spec 1 & 4...I thought the Spec 1 had too much going on and the Spec 4 was easily out performed by the SA 9900. No head room in that 4.
I also used a Pioneer Series 20 class A amp for about a month and a Knight tube amp I bought, to try and convince me to keep the 19's, but I still sold them for the stats.
Altec 19's
Philips 210 wpc amp and matching pre. Forgot #'s and to lazy to check.
Koss model 1a Stats
Technics SL 1300 MKII turntable...POS turntable as the damped cueing went out on all of them.
AT 32 moving coil cart. and matching pre.
 
Quintessence Preamp, Technics SL 1300 Turntable, Pickering XSV3000 cart., Kenwood KT8300 tuner, Kenwood KX1130 Cassette deck, Technics SE9600 power amp, AR 3a speakers woofer only with M&K passive crossover with Magnepan MGII.
I've got some other pieces but this system is still in use, intact as "in the day" and working perfectly. Oh yeah, it sounds great too, excellent synergy with each piece individually auditioned at home before deciding if it stays. All pieces were purchased before 1978.
I'm sure there's better now but I still get compliments on how it sounds.
 
AR XA-91 turntable (1974). I used it for more than thirty years and only reluctantly boxed it up when I found that it induced hum in my Grado cartridge. If I replace the Grado, that AR will probably come out of storage and go back into the big system.

Realistic STA-18B receiver (1975). I used this for just over a year and sold it to my parents after I built my first two Dynakits. I got it back through inheritance in 2007.

Jensen 17 speakers (1975). I used these for two years, sold them to my parents when I upgraded, and got them back through inheritance when my parents passed away in 2007. I put new surrounds in them and am looking for a way to use them in an extension system.

Dynaco SCA-80Q integrated amp (1976). I built this from a kit and used it in either a main or an extension system for the next 16 years. It currently sees occasional use as a bench amp for testing other components.

Dynaco AF-6 AM/FM tuner (1976). I also built this from a kit. It's been part of my big system ever since, though it seldom sees use because there's so little worth hearing on Detroit's airwaves.

B&O S-60 speakers (1977). I used these in my main system until 1996. They've seen use, on and off, in my kids' systems since then.
 
JBL L100's - ca. 1976 - Replaced the rotten foam grills with black cloth, have some foam tweeter rings on the way,(2nd set!) otherwise all original and sounding good....

SAE Two P10 preamp and PA10 amp - ca. 1980, still in daily use. I love this preamp for it's versatility, two phono inputs, one with adjustable input impedance and capacitance, the other switchable MM/MC. Defeatable tone controls, processor loop plus two tape loops, two aux inputs. These get a bad rap occasionally since they were the SAE "budget" line but if mine are representative they may beat out the top line SAE gear!

Lots of oddball stuff which has been with me for many moons - a Discwasher Disckit with the little walnut stand and dustcover, a Nortronics bulk tape eraser, lots of cartridges, etc......

And all my LP's and 45's!
 
Pioneer SX550 receiver. It was my pride and joy in 76-77. Now out in the garage and still sounds good.
 
Back in 1977-78, I bought Pioneer HPM-100's, SA-8500, TX-8500, SG-9500, RT-707 and a PL-518. Im still using the amp, 707, and EQ in basement, and the 100's upstairs. The TT died and the tuner is on a shelf waiting for a good cleaning. I had all the rack mounts, and made an oak cabinet and mounted it in all in the wall behind a glass door, but when I moved to a new house, I sold all the rack handles.:screwy: Luckily I kept the equipment. I was using a SX-780 in the basment, and decided to bring the 8500 out of storage and glad I did. Still pumps pretty good!:music:
 
Would be a lot shorter and simpler to list all the equipment I own in use today that I bought new after 1980!
 
Pioneer SX 650,
Used daily at work now. Dashboard lights finally went out last year. It is on 8-5 and has been for the last 20 years or so. I purchased it my last year in highschool, gave it to my brother when I picked up my Yamaha CR 800 ( which I still use too ). After blowing up his 3rd set of Advents, my brother gave it back. It then became the shop stereo while I was in graduate school. Interestingly enough at that time our shop speakers were a pair of Linn Sondek isobaric speakers, a donation, too bad I could not leave with them.
Now it drives a pair of JBL,s and a set of large Advents. That is one workhorse of a reciever.
 
PIONEER SX-434. Bought new in 1975 in the Navy. Run Daily until about 5 years ago, when the wife HAD to get a home theater set up. The 434 got recapped, and packed up, sealed in plastic with Silica Gel packs, and boxed up to be used by my 1st Grandchild which is now in the assy plant and due for delivery in May/June.

Larry
 
Marantz 2270 circa. 1976. All original still in use. Bought this in NY city and had it shipped to Chicago to circumvent the "fair trade laws".
 
Sansui G9000DB, bought on sale in the Fall 1978 at the PX in Giessen, Germany for ~$600. I had it refurbished by AK's own Merrylander last year and it is still in my main rig.
 
Kenwood KA-8100 amp
Kenwood KT-7500 tuner
Kenwood KX-830 tape deck
Marantz 6350Q TT with Shure V15 MKlll cartridge
JBL L65's

Bought everything new in 1978 and still using it as main system. Was a mail order purchace from Stereo Warehouse in Chicago. Price was somewhere around $3500.
 
Sansui 8080DB w/ four Wharfedale W60e's. Speakers bought in 1972 and the rec. in 1975. As I recall the Sansui was just over $500 and the Wharf's were around $175 ea. Also have a set of Whafedale W70e's from 1973, which are not currently in service (I rotate them every once in a while) an ARx turntable is sitting on top of the W70's--it has not been used in at least 25 yrs. These are the only items I bought new and still have. The 70's were a wonderful period for nice, well made stereo equipment.
 
Onkyo TX 2500 MK II. Still used every day in the living room for the radio and occasional CD.
My quest for an "upgrade" is what got me here. I bought a TOTL surround sound receiver thinking I was stepping up, only to be disappointed. So I went looking for the TOTL of the old Onkyo series. Member Rastafish had one on CL after about a year of looking. He had a stack of silver, and you know what happened to me next.
My dad still uses the Onkyo tt I bought with it, he got it when Simi sold me a Thorens.
 
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