Calling to all audiophiles

Hi there,

I am a music lover, but by no means an audiophile. I have decided that I want to go old school with my stereo setup and was wondering if I could glean some information from my fellow tiki brethren.

I have a great record player that I am using as my base for the system, but I want to get a high-quality 1970s receiver to go with it and then some great speakers as well.

From all of the research I have done, I am thinking I want either a Marantz, Pioneer or Sansui receiver. Do you suggest one brand over the other? My listening tastes run from Stoner Rock/Heavy Metal to Rap to Oldies to Exotica.

As for speakers, I am really lost...I used to think I wanted Cerwin Vegas but with all the negative feedback on them, I have changed my mind...I think the quote that resonated best with me about them "They are great if you only listen to heavy metal, but I wouldn't suggest them to anyone else..." So I am open to finding out what you suggest.

I hope others will join in the discussion as well so we can all learn something. I would also love to find out what kind of rigs you all use. Please include your home address and if you are planning on being out of town anytime soon! LOL :)

I am fussy about how I listen to my music. I have always been impressed with Bose (I know...kinda expensive) but a good clean sound and equally impressive on hard rock, jazz, rap and exotica. Not a 70's sound per se, but overall excellent sound from the system. I don't have Bose for my home (would love to have a system though), but I do have it in my car and I listen to some music at full volume and I love a heavy base sound. Bose can handle a pretty beefy low end all the way up to a nice ping off a symbol. I suggest you go to a store that has a sound room to listen to the various receivers and speakers, it makes a difference...that is how I got turned on to Bose many years ago.

How you set your speakers up in your room and the sound quality of your room also has a lot to do with the sound you will get. If you have lots of echo, you can reduce that with use of heavy curtains, positioning of furniture, rugs, and even what you have on your walls (emulate baffles to reduce the echo).

I'll be interested in hearing what you decide on.

So as with everything, I went a little overboard.

It started with a Marantz 2275, a beautiful receiver, which was made from 1974 to 1977. It had a list price of $600. It was a fabulous receiver, had this great blue lighting. I enjoyed audio nirvana for about 3 hours, then the left channel went out. Thank god for 30-day warranties! The sad news is that it has been in the shop for over a month now.

The same day I picked up four Kenwood KL-777 speakers. These are from 1976. They have six drivers in each cabinet. 1 15" woofer, 2 mids and 3 tweeters. They aren't the greatest speakers of all time, but they do sound pretty good!

I also picked up a lower end Marantz, the 2220b. I mainly picked this one up as a project and it has a beautiful wood case that I can put on my 2275 when it comes back. The guy threw in two Harmon Kardon HK-40 speakers from the mid-60s. I haven't hooked them up yet as they have an old way of being plugged in and I haven't picked up the right wire yet.

Then I hit the jackpot. I found a Pioneer SX-1250. It was the receiver that kicked off the Wattage Wars in the mid-1970s. It was Pioneer's flagship model in 1976-77. It cost the tidy sum of $900 when it came out. This is truly a monster receiver. It pumps out 160 watts per channel (1970s watts, not today's trumped up watts). It weighs in at a staggering 65 pounds. That is due to the four coke can sized capacitors and the coffee can sized torodial. It sounds amazing and it's not lacking in power. The SX-1250 was part of a package deal with two Acoustic Research AR2-ax speakers. Mine happen to be the pre-1970 version, which means they have cloth around the woofers. I need to get them serviced and have the cloth replaced with foam since they don't make the cloth surrounds anymore.

Well that's my update. I am sure this will just be the beginning...but the Tiki Lounge is definitely rocking these days. :)

I remember gramps and grams had these optical lightshow speakers...Well they weren't speakers, but they were in speaker cabinets with fitted frosted plexiglass ceiling fixture covers. The boxes put out random colored flower shaped designs to the beat of the music. Those were way early to mid 70s and looked awesome. They were like colorbars for your home stereo. If anyone has any more technical info,let us know. Those would be icing on the cake!

On 2008-01-21 16:35, Cool Manchu wrote:
Hi there,

I am a music lover, but by no means an audiophile. I have decided that I want to go old school with my stereo setup and was wondering if I could glean some information from my fellow tiki brethren.

I have a great record player that I am using as my base for the system, but I want to get a high-quality 1970s receiver to go with it and then some great speakers as well.

As for speakers, I am really lost...I used to think I wanted Cerwin Vegas but with all the negative feedback on them, I have changed my mind...I think the quote that resonated best with me about them "They are great if you only listen to heavy metal, but I wouldn't suggest them to anyone else..." So I am open to finding out what you suggest.

Speakers are absolutely personal taste. You have to listen to them before you buy. I have a CD of a theater organ that I use. You can't get more dynamic range than a theater organ. Take a favorite CD that has a good range and see how the speakers handle the highs & lows and soft & loud part.

I have CVs mostly because I got an incredible deal on them. (It's funny that I like a really treble-ly sound and I have CVs.) I tuned them to be as treble-happy as possible and I'm happy too. I listen to just about everything from opera to girl groups on vinyl and CDs.

Well I upgraded my speakers this weekend. I now have an incredible pair of Klipsch Forte speakers, circa 1986. These things sound so sweet and are super impressive to look at.

Back to some sweet vinyl listening...Let's go with Martin Denny's Primitiva in honor of my Tiki-brethren. :)

I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about, but it seems that all that cool equipment from the 70's I could only dream about (while listening to some dimestore, quadraSONIC ...not real quadraphonic... stereo set up) is now showing up at garage sales for practically nothing. People who have to have the latest and greatest are dumping the good stuff for 10 and 15 bucks a pop. I've picked up a few pretty nice speaker sets and recievers for practically nothing.

Yeah, flea markets, estate sales and the like are the best. You can also find good deals on Craigslist. Now eBay, that's a different story. The big names command big bucks on eBay. Like crazy money sometimes....

in a slightly related question,
as a kid I went with my dad to a friend of his house that had a huge Audiophile quality stereo set up.

he broke out a LP, but before he put it on the turntable.
he had this plastic gun type thing.
he clicked the trigger while pointing at the LP, and then put it on the
turntable.

I asked him what it was,
and he said it was an anti static gun.
and the dust just falls off, instead of scrubbing the record with the
brush type things, and possible grinding the dust into the grooves.

does anybody know if these are still around,
and where to get them?

thanks.
Jeff(bigtikidude)

Well, I know where you can get one in Sweden (link, scroll down to the bottom or click here). Try googling after "Zerostat" and maybe you'll turn up something closer to home.

Ironically I just bought a Zerostat 3 this past weekend from my local audiophile store. It cost me around $60.

You can find them on eBay and online...

thanks guys

Jeff(bigtikidude)