[Harley90]

Hi all, Great site. I'm in the Atlanta GA area and occasionally Charleston SC area. Stereos in every room, Piles of Vintage gear. trying to get my questions answered like should I get rid of my old stuff and buy new? Is it really better. Old high end gear still great?

Speaker junkie so looking to buy some GR Research gear, just too old to build but looking to get something going.

Glad the community is so strong, nothing beats a great audio forum.

Pleased to be here!

[JLM]

Welcome!

Suggest getting out and carefully auditioning loudspeakers yourself.  Find shops with rooms that match your's for size, bring a wide assortment of music that reflects what you like, even nasty recordings of stuff that can still sound listenable.  Don't rush, limit yourself to 3 or 4 loudspeakers per day to avoid listener's fatigue, take notes (which forces you to really compare).  Of course educate yourself on the latest developments (active design, DSP, waveguides, adding subwoofers).  Try focusing on companies with deep R&D and manufacturing resources versus one man shops.

Vintage gear can have various aging issues (old caps, dirty switches, etc.).  Nowadays everything is going towards streaming and for someone with systems in each room, local networking.

[Early B.]

Stereos in every room, Piles of Vintage gear. trying to get my questions answered like should I get rid of my old stuff and buy new? Is it really better. Old high end gear still great?

New stuff, in general, sounds significantly better than old stuff. Sell most of your vintage gear to fund a modern setup.

[Phil A]

Welcome!

[DannyBadorine]

Welcome!

Suggest getting out and carefully auditioning loudspeakers yourself.  Find shops with rooms that match your's for size, bring a wide assortment of music that reflects what you like, even nasty recordings of stuff that can still sound listenable.  Don't rush, limit yourself to 3 or 4 loudspeakers per day to avoid listener's fatigue, take notes (which forces you to really compare).  Of course educate yourself on the latest developments (active design, DSP, waveguides, adding subwoofers).  Try focusing on companies with deep R&D and manufacturing resources versus one man shops.

Vintage gear can have various aging issues (old caps, dirty switches, etc.).  Nowadays everything is going towards streaming and for someone with systems in each room, local networking.

Really good suggestions here.  Definitely listen to new stuff and take notes.  Most people agree that new gear sounds much better since drivers are designed better, crossover networks are far more advanced and the use of DSP in many situations can you take you where vintage gear never could.  But it will all depend on your ears and how the new gear makes you feel.  I love the GR Research stuff and you won't be disappointed by any of it. 

[ArthurDent]

Greetings & Welcome to AC Harley90   

[toocool4]

Harley90 welcome to AudioCircle

Newer is not always better than older, may just be different. The only way to know is to take your gear and compare it, if you can get the newer kit to your listening room for comparison that’s even better still.

[Harley90]

Thanks for the responses !

I'll formally post up my 2 systems that I'm keeping to get some input, I'm in a start up that eats all of my time and going from a house to a condo and doing the downsizing thing that limits what I can do both in DYI and testing out gear.

If I sell of all the vintage stuff , can probably put together a good system 6-8k range total I'd guess. Prefer turn key synergy system this go around.

Huge record collection and turn table stays for now....although space is the issue so streaming which I mess with from time to time is how I'm going to focus, I subscribe to tidal but it isn't perfect and buffers a bit when I'm mobile so I think I'll move on to something else.....

Anyway thanks again for the warm welcome and looking forward to digging into the hobby again.

 

[mresseguie]

Welcome to AC, Harley90.

My son lives in Atlanta. He’s got a pair of XLS Encores that I gave him as a housewarming gift.

Why are there so few brick and mortar audio stores in the greater Atlanta area? Considering the population, I’d expect to see more such shops, but what do I know? 

Michael

[Jazzman53]

Welcome to the AC, Harley

Since you mentioned you are looking for speakers; I will mention that I'm a long-time electrostatic speaker designer/builder in Savannah, GA.  And I happen to have two newly built pairs of my Jazzman MkIII wire-stator ESLs for sale:

Jazzman MkIII video: https://youtu.be/Q_4sddiBEoU

My ESL website:  http://jazzman-esl-page.blogspot.com/     

Enjoy the AC! 

[Early B.]

Why are there so few brick and mortar audio stores in the greater Atlanta area? Considering the population, I’d expect to see more such shops, but what do I know? 

Most of the Atlanta audio stores closed in recent years due to something called the "Internet."