Gear which has stood the test of time

SteveFord · « **on:** 12 May 2013, 10:32 am »

It's always fun to buy a brand new stereo component but when I look around the place very few things are actually current production.
Some of the items are current (speakers, a preamp or two, cartridge, headphone amp, etc.) but a lot of it has been around forever.

Tuners are all from the early 1960s (Sherwood, Harman Kardon)
Turntables are at least 20 years old (Well Tempered)
Headphones are 25 years old (Stax)
Preamps are old enough to vote (Sonic Frontiers, Carver)
Amps are 20 - 30 years old (VTL, Bryston, Hafler)
Most of the tubes are 30 - 50 years old

These particular items will never be replaced by me because they're keepers.
They work well and sound good.
Which items do you own which has stood the test of time?

bardamu · « **Reply #1 on:** 12 May 2013, 11:43 am »

Hello,
Altec voice of the theatre bass bins with 515 16g woofers combined with Tad 2001 drivers and sandfilled wooden horns from '' la maison de l'' audiophile ''
sota sapphire turntable
fidelity reasearch 64s tonearm
ortofon spu gold cartridge
greetings

Freo-1 · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 May 2013, 12:33 pm »

Threshold 400A: The first true high end solid state amp. Amps may come and go, but mine is still here for occasional use and enjoyment.

decal · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 May 2013, 01:07 pm »

The Bose 901 speaker system has been around since 1968 and are still selling. Regardless of what one might think about them, they have definitely stood the "test of time".

S Clark · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 May 2013, 01:16 pm »

Moscode amps. I've got a model 300 (with extensive upgrades) from the 1980's that still compares well to modern amps.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 May 2013, 01:59 pm »

+1 on the Moscode 300!

The Dahlquist LP-1 crossover is another winner! Several have been for sale on 'bay lately.

bside123 · « **Reply #6 on:** 12 May 2013, 02:24 pm »

Although they may not be the ultimate in "hi-fi," I think that two amps that have "stood the test of time" and still can deliver venerable performance are:

* B&K ST-140
* ADCOM GFA-555 MKII

avahifi · « **Reply #7 on:** 12 May 2013, 02:39 pm »

The B&K 140 was a unauthorized and nearly part for part copy of our first Mos-Fet 150B amplifier sold to the "K" of B&K about a year earlier. The only difference was that they put the DC offset trim pot on the wrong side of the front end matched pair transistors so that improper adjustments could blow up the B&K amp. With our original, that could not happen.

They jumped into the market with a big advertising splash that we could not hope to match. Of course they did not have to spend any money on engineering. We wrote to all the audio magazines about this at the time and were blown off by everyone.

Anyway, they are long gone, and we are still doing just fine, so perhaps you should give the credit to our Mos-Fet 150B instead.

Frank Van Alstine

mark funk · « **Reply #8 on:** 12 May 2013, 02:58 pm »

I still have a Dynaco 416 from the 70s. Frank could tell a story about this amp too.

bside123 · « **Reply #9 on:** 12 May 2013, 03:05 pm »

Hi Frank,

Thanks for noting this. It was not my intention to stir things up. I had only even become aware of this issue through "blog talk" in the last few years. I do not know the details, and certainly knew nothing about the issues or politics at the time... or since. I was simply a retail customer and liked the sound of the amp.

If the design is yours, then my hat's off to you. A wonderful sound came out of that little amp. Fortunately, none of the B&K ST-140s that I heard, including the one that I owned way back in the day, ever blew up.

So then, here's credit your Mos-Fet 150B amplifier. I would love to hear the original one sometime.

Din

Quote from: avahifi on 12 May 2013, 02:39 pm

The B&K 140 was a unauthorized and nearly part for part copy of our first Mos-Fet 150B amplifier sold to the "K" of B&K about a year earlier. The only difference was that they put the DC offset trim pot on the wrong side of the front end matched pair transistors so that improper adjustments could blow up the B&K amp. With our original, that could not happen.

They jumped into the market with a big advertising splash that we could not hope to match. Of course they did not have to spend any money on engineering. We wrote to all the audio magazines about this at the time and were blown off by everyone.

Anyway, they are long gone, and we are still doing just fine, so perhaps you should give the credit to our Mos-Fet 150B instead.

Frank Van Alstine

geowak · « **Reply #10 on:** 12 May 2013, 03:58 pm »

Marantz receivers. Almost all of them. I like the 2230 and 2270.

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #11 on:** 12 May 2013, 03:59 pm »

Audio Research

geowak · « **Reply #12 on:** 12 May 2013, 04:06 pm »

Quote from: jimdgoulding on 12 May 2013, 03:59 pm

Audio Research

That reminds me of a funny comment a friend at work made to me, (the reply of the Bose and ARC). I said to my co-worker I may want to get a really good amp in the future. I may want to sell much of my audio equipment and get a good older ARC amp. His reply to me was this, "Well make sure to get some good speakers, get some Bose".

That made me laugh. He He

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #13 on:** 12 May 2013, 06:01 pm »

I've found any amplification equipment that's dual mono (fully dual mono with matching transmission lines straight back to the dual trannies) has stood up rather well over time. Twin mono amps qualify of course, too

There's simply no substitute for eliminating crosstalk between channels and the enhanced stereo imaging they offer.

Dual mono was as or more prevalent in days gone by I think than today...too bad for us audiophiles.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #14 on:** 12 May 2013, 06:26 pm »

SME tonearm.........

Edit: Thorens TTs

Mitsuman · « **Reply #15 on:** 12 May 2013, 06:28 pm »

Quote from: TheChairGuy on 12 May 2013, 06:01 pm

I've found any amplification equipment that's dual mono (fully dual mono with matching transmission lines straight back to the dual trannies) has stood up rather well over time. Twin mono amps qualify of course, too

There's simply no substitute for eliminating crosstalk between channels and the enhanced stereo imaging they offer.

Dual mono was as or more prevalent in days gone by I think than today...too bad for us audiophiles.

You mean like these?

Mark Korda · « **Reply #16 on:** 12 May 2013, 07:57 pm »

Hey S Clark, It's been a while since I saw that amp you have. I remember the fliers sent out by that company called Tube God. I still have a few copies hangin around. Julius Futterman and Harvey (Gizmo) Rosenberg teamed up for that company. I'll see what I can dig up...Mark Korda

WireNut · « **Reply #17 on:** 12 May 2013, 08:05 pm »

Quote from: thunderbrick on 12 May 2013, 01:59 pm

The Dahlquist LP-1 crossover is another winner! Several have been for sale on 'bay lately.

I had one of those. I could kick myself for selling it.

Same with the Ultimate Attenuators I had

hdspeakerman · « **Reply #18 on:** 12 May 2013, 08:21 pm »

McIntosh MC2100 purchased new in 1975 for $500. Still played daily. One repair to the stereo/mono switch in 37 years. i have a second McIntosh amp that is over 25 years old with no repairs.
Howard

medium jim · « **Reply #19 on:** 12 May 2013, 08:46 pm »

Marantz tube amps and pre's. Dynaco tube amps/pre's & speakers, McIntosh tube amps and HK Citation tube amps. Altec VOTT speakers, as well as Tannoy's.

Jim