What's the oldest piece of hi-fi you own?

Creek CAS3140 tuner, bought in 1988 from the Sound Organisation in Southwark. Predates my LP12 by about six months (that six months being an unhappy interlude with a Roksan Xerxes). Both still in daily use. The Creek is remarkable because it hasn't missed a beat in nearly 3 decades, nor has it ever been serviced.

Proac Response 1S bought in 1994, mahogany veneered, are still in use regularly in my study. In fact they had been my main speakers until 5 years ago. Fantastic little speakers. Some may find it hard to comprehend, but I actually prefer them to Naim SBLs. Perhaps my system at the time (Meridian 500/563, Naim 72/Hi-cap/140) was not able to drive the SBLs properly.

Allaes from 2002. Newest one is the Rega Planar 3. 

Under the stairs I have a spare pair of Mk1 1989 SBLs in case my more recent pair give up the ghost one day...

In the loft a knackered Xerxes with an SME IV. Also 1989. Replaced with a new LP12 last year.

Stu

Innocent Bystander posted:

Bf56 posted:

Mr Tibbs & Quad 33... fab Gale GS401....i used to seĺl them in the 70's, never wealthy enough to own them. Fantastic speakers. 

Bob F

Oh dear, the Gales were in my mega-audition back in 1975 when I got my first IMFs - but I didn't like the sound of them at all, not getting past the first listen. 

As they say, there's no accounting for taste!

And yet for me the 401s come close to that loudspeaker ideal of not having 'a sound' as such, being remarkably uncoloured for a conventional enclosed box design. Their failing is in being incredibly fussy about upstream equipment, particularly the power amp because of their difficult load characteristic.  My audition of them was with early Naim amps and they (with LP12/Grace/Supex up front) sounded wonderful.  At home with my Quad amps they sounded a lot less wonderful. Of course in those days a blameless amp was all that was needed ....

Mr Tibbs

Mine would be my Nytech 202 amp, which I've just rebuilt.

And rear view.

The oldest piece of hi-fi I own is a 1960s Quad FM2 valve tuner.  Bought some years ago for less than £100, it needed very little work to restore its performance and it probably gets more use than any other source. 

Mr Tibbs

nitrous posted:

Mine would be my Nytech 202 amp, which I've just rebuilt.

I had one of those as a teenager ! Cost me an arm and a leg when I didn't have money to spend on any thing like that! Used it with a NAD TT with B&W DM something-or-other floor standing speakers. 

Still have the old Cyrus IIIi amp and a couple of Powers and PSX-Rs now sitting in a holiday home...non-playing DAD3Q CDP in the loft...oldest piece would be a Revox B795 linear tracking turntable....which I keep telling myself I must get fixed....

Mr.Tibbs posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

Bf56 posted:

Mr Tibbs & Quad 33... fab Gale GS401....i used to seĺl them in the 70's, never wealthy enough to own them. Fantastic speakers. 

Bob F

Oh dear, the Gales were in my mega-audition back in 1975 when I got my first IMFs - but I didn't like the sound of them at all, not getting past the first listen. 

As they say, there's no accounting for taste!

And yet for me the 401s come close to that loudspeaker ideal of not having 'a sound' as such, being remarkably uncoloured for a conventional enclosed box design. Their failing is in being incredibly fussy about upstream equipment, particularly the power amp because of their difficult load characteristic.  My audition of them was with early Naim amps and they (with LP12/Grace/Supex up front) sounded wonderful.  At home with my Quad amps they sounded a lot less wonderful. Of course in those days a blameless amp was all that was needed ....

Mr Tibbs

I have to say I don't know for sure what amp was used, although The Crown DC150 comes to mind, which IIRC was reasonably well regarded in terms of ability to control difficult loads (i don't know if anyone else on here recalls what KJ Leisuresound in the road behing Googe St underground station typically used for speaker demos)

My recollection of the Goles, and admittedly only very vaguely given the time that has passed, is that they were on the 'bright' side and didn't go deep enough at the bass end

A NAC 42 sitting awaiting a suitable power amp to be purchased.

A Sony Professional Walkman.I purchased it in 1985 and still use it occasionally.

Also have a Creek 4040 amp and 3040 FM tuner but they don't get used so maybe that doesn't count.

For me it's a 1978 Nakamichi 482 cassettedeck. It is still in my set up and I like to play it now and then on my Naim Supernait 2. It still performs rather good.

Th second oldest is an Denon DP60L record player or turntable. It carries a Denon 304 cartridge and is also still of my favorite hifi apliances. 

 And yes, I have the wired remote as well.

My oldest bit of kit is the LP12 which was purchased on 6th Feb 1981 from Perfect Electronics in Birmingham and has been in constant use to this day. Still amazed at how something that old and seemingly left well behind by the advances of technology can sound so good.

It's had a few minor replacement parts over the years, a new arm, several cartridges (currently 2M Black), new rubber feet and a belt or two but that's about it - it's well and truly become part of the family!

My next oldest is young by comparison dating back to '91, a Sony STS-730 ES Tuner, again been in constant use through many system changes.

Rega Planar 3 from about 1990. Still works perfectly and looks great.

The oldest toy (I mean piece of HiFi equipment) that I still use fairly regularly, is a lovingly restored Pioneer RT-909, aligned for use with the still manufactured LPR tape.  

When used with properly aligned new tape and playing recordings at 7&1/2 ips, it sounds very surprisingly good. I also have a Revox B77 Mk II which I may attempt to restore at some point, but it's the 3&3/4, 7&1/2, 1/4 track variant and so I doubt that it would be anything like as good as the Pioneer.

Be interesting to compare it against my half track B77! Better or worse it's nice to see that these old machines can still hold their heads above much of the digital hype! As much as I. Love my NDS I doubt if it will still be dong it's stiff in 30 years time.

As well as the early 1/2 track 77A above, I also have a 1/4 track A77 Mk.II.  Despite the latter being a very lightly used "minter" it is easily outperformed by the earlier 1/2 track machine.  But of course all those lovely 4 track pre-recorded tapes out there can only be played on a 1/4 track machine (or one with a combination head)...

Ravenswood10 posted:

Be interesting to compare it against my half track B77! Better or worse it's nice to see that these old machines can still hold their heads above much of the digital hype! As much as I. Love my NDS I doubt if it will still be dong it's stiff in 30 years time.

HI Ravenswood,

I would expect your half track B77 (especially if the 15 ips version) to comfortably beat the Pioneer in most respects, assuming it has been renovated to 'nearly new' standard. Having said that, the Pioneer produces recordings at 71/2 ips that are astonishing given its vintage, with no semblance whatsoever of tape hiss.

The one caveat I would have is that the output amps on my Pioneer have been replaced by more up-to-date amps that are very much better than the originals. I think that the (standard) output amps on your Revox are likely to be the limiting factor if the ones on my own Revox are anything to go by.

I would love to have a tape deck capable of participating in the 'Tape Project', but if I had gone for one, I probably wouldn't have been able to afford more than about half a dozen master tape copies. They would have sounded pretty good though, I'm sure, but I think that their appeal would pale in time.

I love my Klimax DS/1 as well. The Pioneer RT-90i is really just a toy, but a very fine one that gives me a lot of fun. Tape decks just look so fantastic in operation.

Who knows? The NDS and Klimax DS/1 are both built like tanks, and so who's to say they won't last another 30 years?  

The B77 renovation  included a complete overhaul of the circuit boards so all caps went along with many other components. The heads said to be better than the originals came from a company in Belgium.  The capstan was an NOS Item. I'd wanted a B77 since I was a student back in the 1980s and saw one in Radfords in Windsor. I finally managed to get a half decent one more than a few years later! Not inexpensive but worth it especially as the company who undertook the work still works on the Abbey Road machines...Studers in the main.

All of the caps (along with many other components) in my Pioneer were replaced as well, but your B77 is likely to be pretty nigh on perfect. I too would love a fully restored B77. I had always hankered for a Revox A77 in the mid 70s, but ended up with a Technics RS-279-US cassette deck instead. It was pretty good, but I never really liked the cassette medium. My own quarter track deck would just be too expensive to bring back to an 'as new' state, and even then it probably wouldn't be as good as my Pioneer. I think I would look around for a good high speed half track example, were I to seriously consider renovating a Revox.

In the meantime, the Pioneer is good enough for its occasional use, and my quarter track Revox still serves its purpose as a great ornamental piece.    

Nice to see these old components can still find  a home even if mine is eye candy more time than in care to mention. The Revox is biased for RMG 911but also sound very good with ATR tape.

1986 vintage Hicap.  It has been recapped twice and will probably be off for service again in a year or two.