New old gear

[paradiziac]

I'm currently rocking away to some new arrivals, old "classic" gear picked up yesterday on that auction site:

- Sugden AU51 DAC

Dynamics in spades. Instruments have body and sound realistic. Seems to get to the soul of the music. Except for not doing hi-res (only a problem to me because my MF V-Link pads 16/44 to 24/44), it's great. I think they sold for about 1200+ pounds in the 90's.

- Mission 770 Freedom (version 5)

An interesting design (1986 or 87?), horn loaded eliptical tweeter, 8" polymeric bass driver, 80's retro styling.

Not the last word in neutrality or refinement, but great imaging/soundstage, dynamics, remarkably detailed treble, thumping but tuneful/contolled bass, unfussy to position....you maybe wouldn't want these with over-bright/budget electronics, but they rock with my Sugden Mystro and either the Audio-gd or Sugden DAC. Nice to hear those kick drums again!

:dance: :cheers: >)

 

[plastic penguin]

Nice one: it proves yet again that it doesn't have to be new to sound really impressive. I still reckon some old gear from the 70s: Pioneer, JVC, AR speakers, Garrard TTs, Ferguson... most of which disappeared off the face of the planet or re-branded.

Like modern gear old is good and bad. I've often mentioned about 'soul' or 'emotion' in the music which gets the big thumbs up from me.

Enjoy!

 

[FennerMachine]

I changed a Cyrus Aca7.5 Pre amp for a much older Quad 44 pre.

Overall I much more enjoy my music.

Older can be better if you get the right thing for your tastes!

 

[paradiziac]

Cheers!

Certainly some of this older gear got soul! No doubt you can find equally musical modern equivalents, though I suspect you'd end up paying thousands rather than hundreds! Having said that, not too many good implementations of the long discontinued "Phillips TDA1541 S1" DAC chips around these days, or speakers with 8" woofers. Both of which have their merits compared to the "more advanced" technology they've been replaced with.

Just need to look out for a really good digital streamer/transport/USB converter to feed the DAC--no chance of a vintage one of those!

 

[MUSICRAFT]

I changed a Cyrus Aca7.5 Pre amp for a much older Quad 44 pre.

Overall I much more enjoy my music.

Older can be better if you get the right thing for your tastes!

Hi FennerMachine

Nice one

the 44 is an excellent pre amplifier 🙂 Anyway i hope that you enjoy the performance of your Quad pre amplifier for many yesrs to come :rockout:

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[MUSICRAFT]

I'm currently rocking away to some new arrivals, old "classic" gear picked up yesterday on that auction site:

- Sugden AU51 DAC

Dynamics in spades. Instruments have body and sound realistic. Seems to get to the soul of the music. Except for not doing hi-res (only a problem to me because my MF V-Link pads 16/44 to 24/44), it's great. I think they sold for about 1200+ pounds in the 90's.

- Mission 770 Freedom (version 5)

An interesting design (1986 or 87?), horn loaded eliptical tweeter, 8" polymeric bass driver, 80's retro styling.

Not the last word in neutrality or refinement, but great imaging/soundstage, dynamics, remarkably detailed treble, thumping but tuneful/contolled bass, unfussy to position....you maybe wouldn't want these with over-bright/budget electronics, but they rock with my Sugden Mystro and either the Audio-gd or Sugden DAC. Nice to hear those kick drums again!

:dance: :cheers: >)

Hi paradiziac

One of the reasons the AU51 sounds good is because of its use of the classic Philips TDA1541 chipset. These chipsets are known to offer excellent levels of performance in areas such as rhythm, weight and dynamics. My Marantz CDA94 DAC/Pre amplifier also uses this chipset and sounds superb. Old is gold 🙂

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft