This is for anyone on a budget who likes music I have a 30 year old Nad 3020 amp had from new a technics PG4 CD player bought last year on eBay mint in box with remote for £20 I understand it's the last CD player Technics made from what I've read online ! And a 40 year old pair of Mordaunt short pageant speakers I use Cambridge audio interconnects and quality speaker wire ! The whole system some people would take up the tip but I cannot tell you the amount of people relations neighbours my wife etc etc who say how nice it sounds with pop classical music ! The moral of this story is if your room is 16 feet by 13 feet and you want a lovely sound for a small price have a look for these items on gumtree or eBay etc hope this advice helps someone
My old Hifi sounds wonderful and worth £100 ?
- Thread starter Nadfan
- Start date
Old hifi can sound very good indeed. Not everything has to be a what hifi five star product! Funny thing is that your system could proably wipe the floor with some of the five star product systems some people on here have!
MeanandGreen
Well-known member
People these days don't want the boxes/clutter of a separates Hi-Fi system. They can't be bothered to select sources/amplification/speakers and then go faffing about setting it up for optimum results.
Instead these days it's all about Bluetooth speakers, soundbars etc... That you plug in switch on and forget about. More fool them I say! For me separates Hi-Fi will always be in my life, like you say it needn't cost the earth either.
Second hand equipment can be very cheap, I recently got a Pioneer CD-R for £30, a NAD tuner for £40, a Lenco 4 speed Turntable for free and I repaired my old NAD C350 amp for £12. The sound quality of this gear is incredibly good!
Also separates are very flexible. You have both extremes of old and new tech as you can play vinyl and also stream with separates. You can build a system to suit your wants very easily.
Instead these days it's all about Bluetooth speakers, soundbars etc... That you plug in switch on and forget about. More fool them I say! For me separates Hi-Fi will always be in my life, like you say it needn't cost the earth either.
Second hand equipment can be very cheap, I recently got a Pioneer CD-R for £30, a NAD tuner for £40, a Lenco 4 speed Turntable for free and I repaired my old NAD C350 amp for £12. The sound quality of this gear is incredibly good!
Also separates are very flexible. You have both extremes of old and new tech as you can play vinyl and also stream with separates. You can build a system to suit your wants very easily.
knaithrover
Well-known member
I have a mixture of old and new. 2 x 20yr old Marantz cd players which are amazing sounding pieces of kit which cost £100 and £50 respectively are my main sources both are as new and collectively cost less than 1 new budget player... My Arcam amp is over 10yrs old and cost a fraction of its original price it is immaculate and again knocks spots off comparable new kit. I tend to have more up to date speakers to complement my separates as speakers seem to be the one aspect of hifi which is improving the most particularly at the cheaper end of the market. My Dali Zensor 3's were pretty cheap and my quite frankly awesome Boston M25's were even less I reckon I will have to go into the £1000's to better them. Shop around mix and match oh what fun.
rymidd
Well-known member
ive have an old sony midi hifi from late 80s early 90s cost me 40quid used 20 years ago, it sounds amazing for a midi systems. Modern midi systems may sound more powerful but not all have same clarity of this old system.
Nothing wrong with old HiFi til some attractive features come along that change the game and your old HiFi doesn't cut it. E.g.: I love the sound of my PM66KI, I'm of a seniority where my ears aren't what they were and I doubt I'd get the benefit from anything new that sounded better. But I sure wish it had Airplay, internet radio and some built-in streaming function that could read the ALAC files from my NAS.
good to hear you're happy with it and it sounds good... but speak to any 'friendly dealer' and you soon realize that it sounds s.h.i.t. and you could replace this, fix that, mount something else, upgrade it all and adjust.
BigH
Well-known member
Sometimes old hifi sounds good but then you hear something better and you realise the short coming of your old hifi. Mine was 20 years old, thought modern hifi would be much better but I was generally disappointed. Its amazing with hifi mags saying how everything has improved year after year.
Yeah funny that. Add a "i" to the end or "mk2", or if your lucky something like signature or refernece you better sell your older version because this version blows them away!*biggrin*
Paul.
Well-known member
I find the easiest way to stay happy with your gear is to not go in hifi shops 
. Many seem to think my humble BR5s are rubbish but I love them.
. Many seem to think my humble BR5s are rubbish but I love them.I love to look on eBay and Gumtree at old seperates Hifi equipment and speakers but I'm happy with my sound I was thinking of changing my old Nad 4225 tuner but it sounds as good as the dab radio in my new VW golf so I won't bother ! I'm surprised at the prices old Nad stuff is fetching on eBay and the prices of old Bowers and Wilkins speakers is amazing !
MeanandGreen
Well-known member
Nadfan said:
That's because the NAD and B&W stuff of old is every bit as good as what you can get today. There is more choice with older models, so people are willing to pay for what they want. It's a very specialist market now.
I also enjoy mooching about the vintage Hi-Fi kit on eBay, I particularly have a soft spot for NAD and Pioneer from personal experience with their kit from over 30 years ago and today.
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