1980's HiFi v 2020's HiFi

[Deleted member 201267]

Oh yes, a very nice machine. I was looking at a couple of those and contemplating buying one, but I couldn't resist the ES because of the price.
Did you say that no player is going to sound as good as your Sony? Or am I mistaken.
I got my Meridian 508.20 back the from Russell Phillips, that is "Mr Tech Guy Ltd" yesterday, Meridian experts, him and Ed. In addition yesterday, the crossovers for my B&W 802 Matrix S2 arrived from Dave Smith of Wilmslow Audio, the speaker specialists. They've had nice new top quality Mundorf and Jantzen capacitors fitted and some other new components. The original B&W quality control test stickers are dated October the 18th 1989.
The Meridian, has had New lasers (the best available) full re-cap, new transformer and full service.
That player is terrific.

It was post #20 by Revolutions where its claimed his 80's made Sony could not be bettered. I believe the ES models that were for sale in 1999 would beat the QS 1999 model i own !

 

[JDL]

My setup was originally a Marantz CD63 KI-SIG, AudioLab 8000s and Mission 782. The Marantz is still an excellent player and i did some clock stage upgrades to improve it even further. However the transport failed and I can't get an exact replacement. I upgraded to an Audiolab 8200CD which I got used for £400 and nirvana. My speakers are old but since bi-amping, the system is awesome. Can I improve it? - probably but there is the case of obsession and diminishing returns. After all , there's more to life!

I like old speakers.

 

[JDL]

It was post #20 by Revolutions where its claimed his 80's made Sony could not be bettered. I believe the ES models that were for sale in 1999 would beat the QS 1999 model i own !

Oh ..I wonder what player Revolutions has????????

 

[JDL]

Oh ..I wonder what player Revolutions has????????

I’d imagine “stay in your lane” for 7% yoy growth is probably a good description of the brand level goals set by the parent company.

“You can innovate as much as you like. As long as it sits in this, this, or this price bracket. Oh, and if it doesn’t compete with this, this, this, or this product.”

Revolutions Sir....what is your Sony CD player that cannot be bettered.
Pray tell.......we want to know.

 

[SteveH72]

My setup was originally a Marantz CD63 KI-SIG, AudioLab 8000s and Mission 782. The Marantz is still an excellent player and i did some clock stage upgrades to improve it even further. However the transport failed and I can't get an exact replacement. I upgraded to an Audiolab 8200CD which I got used for £400 and nirvana. My speakers are old but since bi-amping, the system is awesome. Can I improve it? - probably but there is the case of obsession and diminishing returns. After all , there's more to life!

The 63 KI-Sig is still an outstanding player. I put my one back in my system and it’s so musical. My Rega Apollo’s more modern DAC beats it slightly for resolution but, despite the Marantz being nearly 30 years old, it’s still in my system and has become my go-to cd player. Go figure.

 

[Revolutions]

Revolutions Sir....what is your Sony CD player that cannot be bettered.
Pray tell.......we want to know.

oh, I must apologise- I thought someone would pick up on the obvious mistake in my post… “1980”

I was being facetious. And even then it wasn’t funny 😔

 

[JDL]

I’d imagine “stay in your lane” for 7% yoy growth is probably a good description of the brand level goals set by the parent company.

“You can innovate as much as you like. As long as it sits in this, this, or this price bracket. Oh, and if it doesn’t compete with this, this, this, or this product.”

What's your Sony CDP

oh, I must apologise- I thought someone would pick up on the obvious mistake in my post… “1980”

I was being facetious. And even then it wasn’t funny 😔

Oh it was funny. I was in stitches. 😂😂😂

 

[JDL]

The 63 KI-Sig is still an outstanding player. I put my one back in my system and it’s so musical. My Rega Apollo’s more modern DAC beats it slightly for resolution but, despite the Marantz being nearly 30 years old, it’s still in my system and has become my go-to cd player. Go figure.

I haven't even tried a modern player yet. Anyway my 1990s Meridian 508.20 sounds really nice to my ears.

 

[martois]

Back in the late 1980's when I picked up my first serious piece of HiFi kit there were a number of 'high end kit makers' whose products were the aspirational aims of many, for example; the list could include the like of Exposure, Naim, Linn, Musical Fidelity, although I am sure people could name a few more.

I well remember browsing the shelves of local hifi stores dreaming of having the dosh to buy some of these exotic pieces of kit but sadly the opportunity never arose, instead I accepted my lot and enjoyed my music fix with less exotic but nevertheless excellent products that I could afford.

So my question is how does the perceived high end kit maker of the 1980's fair in the 2020's are they as good today as they were yesterday, does the brand still hold that special place in the HiFi world or has time moved on and now there is a new breed of aspirational brands.

I appreciate that this is quite a subjective subject as what works for one doesn't mean that it works for another, but I am curious as to what people think on how the brands of yesteryear are received today.

This is an interesting topic, even to someone relatively new to HiFi. I wonder where Emotiva fits into the hierarchy today, and how it compares to the products from the 1960s.

 

[aversaurus]

Hifi from the 1970,s was really good but by the time you get to the 80,s it' not a great decade for hifi and from then it gets better

 

[Stuart83]

All I know in bearing with the original question is I have a Marantz cd52 mk2 from the early 1990s which became my favourite and tried to better it with the Marantz cd 6007 both sharing the budget bracket price point of today and yesteryear and it wasn't better just a different design.

I still prefer the sound from the cd52 mk2 despite trying to lie to myself about its age probably causing sound degradation etc but after sitting with the new player a few months ended up swapping the 6007 into my second set and putting the cd52 back into my main hifi.

Recently I had to replace the cd draw transport wheel as some of you know which is an inherint fault with those and some Philips players sharing the same mechanism but quality wise its a proven player.
I'm not sure if the 6007 will be around playing CDs after 20 plus yrs of sporadic use but do know which I prefer the sound of.

I've had simar findings with mission having a few pairs though the yrs and always preferred their older speakers.

The quality seems the same but I prefer the older variations.
The 760i was my first ever bought speakers at 12 and I loved them to literal death, followed by the 763i and mx3 which I loved.

I auditioned the modern mission lx series to modernize but couldn't get what I wanted out of them instead coming home with the q acoustics 3050i instead after being very impressed.

After the rear driver reflex failed in the much played 763i on my second hifi I knew I wanted the older mx3s.
Coincidentally they are driven by an old pioneer a400 and sound so good that I lie to myself again and again that my main modern hifi is better costing much more.

I can and will only comment on what I've personally experienced and haven't got the hindsight to know if the modern equivalents of older kit I've had will last as long.
I do know older quality hifi kit is indeed probably better than the modern equivalent given that other technologies I've had especially TVs seem to be getting worse.
Even a slight knock and the screen is dead.
I've dropped an old set face first and it still refused to die, the floor actually came of worse.

We live in a "throw away" society which to me seems to be because things just don't last as long.

In a nutshell I've found older hifi to be'

"as good if not better at the same price point as the modern equivalent"

 

[Oxfordian]

We live in a "throw away" society which to me seems to be because things just don't last as long.

I think that this sums up my feelings nicely on some products from today, it seems that products are built to last a certain period of time and then they go to the small electrical bin at the local skip.

 

[plastic penguin]

Hifi from the 1970,s was really good but by the time you get to the 80,s it' not a great decade for hifi and from then it gets better

The 80s and 90s wasn't great for two channel. A lot of my favourite brands from the 70s, such as Pioneer, JVC etc etc concentrated too much on multi-channel gear, as did Marantz but they still came up smelling of two channel roses. Quite unusual in the day.

 

[martois]

All I know in bearing with the original question is I have a Marantz cd52 mk2 from the early 1990s which became my favourite and tried to better it with the Marantz cd 6007 both sharing the budget bracket price point of today and yesteryear and it wasn't better just a different design.

I still prefer the sound from the cd52 mk2 despite trying to lie to myself about its age probably causing sound degradation etc but after sitting with the new player a few months ended up swapping the 6007 into my second set and putting the cd52 back into my main hifi.

Recently I had to replace the cd draw transport wheel as some of you know which is an inherint fault with those and some Philips players sharing the same mechanism but quality wise its a proven player.
I'm not sure if the 6007 will be around playing CDs after 20 plus yrs of sporadic use but do know which I prefer the sound of.

I've had simar findings with mission having a few pairs though the yrs and always preferred their older speakers.

The quality seems the same but I prefer the older variations.
The 760i was my first ever bought speakers at 12 and I loved them to literal death, followed by the 763i and mx3 which I loved.

I auditioned the modern mission lx series to modernize but couldn't get what I wanted out of them instead coming home with the q acoustics 3050i instead after being very impressed.

After the rear driver reflex failed in the much played 763i on my second hifi I knew I wanted the older mx3s.
Coincidentally they are driven by an old pioneer a400 and sound so good that I lie to myself again and again that my main modern hifi is better costing much more.

I can and will only comment on what I've personally experienced and haven't got the hindsight to know if the modern equivalents of older kit I've had will last as long.
I do know older quality hifi kit is indeed probably better than the modern equivalent given that other technologies I've had especially TVs seem to be getting worse.
Even a slight knock and the screen is dead.
I've dropped an old set face first and it still refused to die, the floor actually came of worse.

We live in a "throw away" society which to me seems to be because things just don't last as long.

In a nutshell I've found older hifi to be'

"as good if not better at the same price point as the modern equivalent"

"We live in a 'throw away' society." This is so true. My father (now in his 70s) wont part with a thing. Opens up electronics and fixes them. Recently fixed his Keurig coffee maker, something most people would just readily replace (myself included). He also has resurrected his Dual TT from the 60s. Wish I had the expertise to tinker on things like him!

 

[podknocker]

"We live in a 'throw away' society." This is so true. My father (now in his 70s) wont part with a thing. Opens up electronics and fixes them. Recently fixed his Keurig coffee maker, something most people would just readily replace (myself included). He also has resurrected his Dual TT from the 60s. Wish I had the expertise to tinker on things like him!

It must be great being able to fix stuff. I'm not good at that, but most kit today isn't fixable. I work in IT and regularly see memory issues on new HP laptops. Unlike previous models, the new ones don't have memory DIMMS. The RAM is soldered to the CPU mainboard and if it goes wrong, you replace the entire laptop, as it's cheaper. It's just more landfill and wasted resources. I would never buy a laptop where I couldn't replace the RAM, SSDs and even CPU at a push. It's the way of the world and it's making large companies a great deal of money, by selling non fixable, or non upgradeable kit. Apple do it, but so do HP and others. The repair loop business model is disappearing and whole devices are being thrown away. Some materials get recycled, but it's not enough. A bit off topic, but I think companies and consumers need to change their attitude to this and try their best to make stuff last longer. At some point, we will all be living in caves again with open fires because all the world's resources will have been used up. What's in the ground and surrounding us will disappear eventually and it could be as soon as a 1000 years. I don't envy the future generations.

 

[Navanski]

I bought a Philips CD473 in 1988 with the famous TDA1541 DAC and it sounded great and lasted about 12 years with no noise or fuss. I've had many CD players since then and few have sounded as good, or been as reliable. I did have a Rotel CD player and matching amp and they were exquisite. I don't think new CD players can sound better than ones from decades ago. It's still 16 bits at 44.1kHz, using an infra red laser, chucking out 1411kbps. CD players do sound different, but I don't think new ones have anything new to offer. It's 40 year old technology.

My Rotel RDD-980 CD transport and matching RDP-980 DAC are stilling going strong and providing wonderful sound. I can only concur that the old Philips CD mechs with single laser are really hard to beat.

 

[podknocker]

My Rotel RDD-980 CD transport and matching RDP-980 DAC are stilling going strong and providing wonderful sound. I can only concur that the old Philips CD mechs with single laser are really hard to beat.

I had the Rotel RCD02 and RA02 in silver, with the blue LEDs, one denoting HDCD playback. I nearly cried when the CD player broke. I loved those units and they don't make 'em like they used to.

 

[Navanski]

All I know in bearing with the original question is I have a Marantz cd52 mk2 from the early 1990s which became my favourite and tried to better it with the Marantz cd 6007 both sharing the budget bracket price point of today and yesteryear and it wasn't better just a different design.

I still prefer the sound from the cd52 mk2 despite trying to lie to myself about its age probably causing sound degradation etc but after sitting with the new player a few months ended up swapping the 6007 into my second set and putting the cd52 back into my main hifi.

Recently I had to replace the cd draw transport wheel as some of you know which is an inherint fault with those and some Philips players sharing the same mechanism but quality wise its a proven player.
I'm not sure if the 6007 will be around playing CDs after 20 plus yrs of sporadic use but do know which I prefer the sound of.

I've had simar findings with mission having a few pairs though the yrs and always preferred their older speakers.

The quality seems the same but I prefer the older variations.
The 760i was my first ever bought speakers at 12 and I loved them to literal death, followed by the 763i and mx3 which I loved.

I auditioned the modern mission lx series to modernize but couldn't get what I wanted out of them instead coming home with the q acoustics 3050i instead after being very impressed.

After the rear driver reflex failed in the much played 763i on my second hifi I knew I wanted the older mx3s.
Coincidentally they are driven by an old pioneer a400 and sound so good that I lie to myself again and again that my main modern hifi is better costing much more.

I can and will only comment on what I've personally experienced and haven't got the hindsight to know if the modern equivalents of older kit I've had will last as long.
I do know older quality hifi kit is indeed probably better than the modern equivalent given that other technologies I've had especially TVs seem to be getting worse.
Even a slight knock and the screen is dead.
I've dropped an old set face first and it still refused to die, the floor actually came of worse.

We live in a "throw away" society which to me seems to be because things just don't last as long.

In a nutshell I've found older hifi to be'

"as good if not better at the same price point as the modern equivalent"

Similar experience with my Rotel RDD-980 CD transport. Both the CD52 and the RDD-980 have a single beam swing arm Philips CD mechanism.
I don't think they can be beaten.

 

[podknocker]

A lot of the CD4 transports were used back in the day.

 

[Navanski]

A lot of the CD4 transports were used back in the day.

Indeed but mine is a CDM9 the last of the single beam swing arm mechanisms. Still with a tray drive wheel which literally falls to bits but you have to take the rough with the smooth.
It was all about getting information from a CD - there were no other objectives - and it shows.