Vintage Audio

Anyone here into vintage stereo systems ? If so what ya got. Also anyone have any Akai gear from the early 1980's ?

Is this vintage enough? I have some 70's and 80's stuff too but rarely listen to them. I do enjoy record players on a regular basis, 60's stuff.

Yes, thats vintage..

I have a late 70's Marantz receiver out in the shop. The tuner in the Marantz is MUCH better than the ~10 year old receiver I have in the house, and it just seems to have a nice sound.

found this at a antique shop, needs a new power cord, it's pretty crispy. hopefully work on it this winter. I think it's 5 band, includes short wave?
. not really stereo. this count? Got an older pioneer in the basement with an 8Track player.

W, I remember sittin around a unit like that as a kid & listenin to the Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, Amos & Andy, etc!!!

I like the horn for listening to Polka, which they play every morning for 2 hrs at a local station. And I still listen to the Grand ole Opry too. Love it, but it doesnt sound good with rock-n-roll.

I have an Akai reel to reel with an 8 track on the side that I bought in Viet Nam & had sent home, still listen to it often. Got a bunch of other stuff I picked up at estate sales back when nobody wanted the older models, still have to find time to see what works or not.

Someone say Akai? I was a military brat when this stuff came out. I was a permanent fixture at the PX, drooling thinking I could never have this stuff.
This was my Dad's. It needs a full recap and time to do it. Speed no longer stays where it should but I couldn't leave it in Florida for anyone else to give my Mom $ 50.00 for it.
My babys. A pair of 1801 amps and a 4401 quad preamp. Not a whole lot with more power until you go commercial or McIntosh and my pockets will never be deep enough for the 2kW amps I'd love to have in my living room.

These all play through Ohm Model 5s at the moment but are due to change for any other speakers that reside here soon. There is a pair of Model 4s, DCM Timewindow 1s, DCM Timewindow 3s, Klipsch Cornwalls (still don't care for them but wife loves them) and many others in the garage playroom.

Yeah, I like me some vintage stereo stuff...almost too much at times.

Hey grumpster, are you looking to purchase some Akai stuff? Pretty sure my last combo system in our house was Akai. But it got worn out, and went to that great stereo graveyard in the sky. Never thought this "modern" equipment had any value. But recently a friend and I were browsing an antique store, and there on the shelves was all this 70s-80s stereo systems. Depressing how new stuff becomes "antiques". I still can't get use-ta a 64 GTO driving around with antique plates. To me, an antique car is a model A or T.
I like WNYs pic of the Philco radio cabinet, and have always wanted to "disguise" my modern stuff into a gutted cabinet like that. Guess my most dated piece is this Dynavox I acquired years ago, but the needle has gone bye-bye, and am having trouble finding a replacement. Not sure how well the tubes will take to a new wave of 110.

This is my current modern set-up, that sees frequent useage. not an "Akai", but an Aiwa.

My favorite year for music, was 69, but listen to swing from the 40s, up to some 80s stuff, and a few songs beyond. But the past 10-20 years have been pretty much, not even considered music. (But that's just me.)
In the 90s, I would bring my 8-track player to work, to listen to music not played anymore, but got worried I was gunna wear out the tapes, so I brought them home, and use them for entertainment in my cellar workshop

People in work, would laugh at my choice of music, and players, and I'ld be the guy to bring their old "junk" that had been taking up space in their attic. I would gladly take the 8-tracks, and sift through the good ones. Problem with attic storage is the tapes don't take kindly to 120° temps in the summer, and 0 in the winter, year after year. Usually after one song, "snap", the tapes would break.
A co-worker had a family member who cleaned out houses after the owners would "expire", and loaded a pick-up truck 8'bed full of 8-tracks from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Offerd them to me, and of course I couldn't say no. More old country, and elevator music than anything else, but there were/are literally hundreds of them in boxes and containers, and seeing my storage areas were full, had to put them in an old tent structure housing my 73 T/A. Because the tarps have ripped, and allowed water inside, some of them got damaged, and are being dumped.

But some are still good(?), being kept dry in these plastic containers.

Not sure how well they'll handle the stress of operation, but I still haven' made the time to sort through them all. If anyone is interested in some of them, ( ), let me know, and I'll see what I can find. Any requests

I have a 60's push-button AM - FM radio out of a Mercedes. It's mounted so that it's hidden under the driver's seat of my 33 Austin where I can just reach it, but it can't be seen.

Does that count ?

Paul

Joeq, before you play 8-tracks, you should replace that foam piece under the tape. That is why they get destroyed when you play them. The 1st one or two you replace will seem hard but its easy after that, and costs only pennies. There are websites and probably videos online that explain how. it should probably be done to any you want to play. The tapes will last a long time if you do that, providing your player is in good shape.

You'd be surprised how valuable some of the old common stuff is, but not if it cant be repaired or is beat up. What people ask for stuff doesnt mean thats what its worth. Its what things sell for that matters.

cabinover, your collection makes me jealous.

Joeq, is that a Panasonic 8 track sitting on the TV? They were pretty much a thing of the past when I was a kid (born in '68) thankfully. I like a lot of the music from then but an 8 track has to be the worst sounding medium I've heard. And then they'd switch tracks right in the middle of the song!

I can't talk though, I've several cassettes in the garage that don't sound much better. Fortunately there is Pandora, CDs, and records.

I'm with ya on the variety of music though. From the old blues to swing bands, to old country, rock, and very little new country. There are a couple recordings from the 40s that just make me scratch my head and wonder how they got that on tape sounding so good. Most of it is terrible recordings though.

Thanks for the post guys.

Hey grumpster, are you looking to purchase some Akai stuff?

Yes an Akai GX F51 cassette deck.. Hang on to your Akai decks, it was good stuff and still worth something today..