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Re: VINTAGE STUPID - why not new

James,

I think you're spot on in your assessment. Things like coupling caps don't need really close tolerances if the circuits are well designed, their variance should be part of the design consideration. But modern electrolytics are better in terms of life, dissipation factor, and leakage. And, yes, replacing or upgrading the caps in a vintage piece is probably just part of the regular maintenance program. Like brake linings, points, and plugs on a vintage car.

Things like close tolerance capacitors and metal film resistors were available in the 60's, but not readily. Today, it's gotten much easier to find those items. The other thing that has changed for the better is much wider use of precious metal contacts and connections. I absolutely do not believe gold and silver sound different than clean nickel or tinned contacts, but the gold contacts do not corrode and if the connection is left alone for a while, a true metallurgical bond occurs, eliminating any contact resistance. A lot of early 70's electronics (Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood) made extensive use of wire wrap terminations in receivers and such. Over time, these connections do corrode/oxidize with the result of poor connections and degraded sound. I've soldered up literally dozens of amps, preamps and receivers that used wire wraps, and the sonic improvement is immediately noticeable. Modern gear, with very large PC boards eliminates most of the board to board connections, and they will not degrade as much or as fast. Also, I think later PC board production techniques with wave soldered boards gives a better and more consistent joint than hand soldered. Just about every 60's or 70's Harman-Kardon unit I've had has had very poor quality soldering and many have had cold solder joints or rosin joints which have degraded over time. You don't see those problems with wave soldered boards to the same degree. You also don't see them on hand wired point to point wiring on older factory gear from Marantz, McIntosh, Fairchild, Scott, Fisher, or Dyna.

Before I close, a comment on phono systems. Back when everybody used phono, the need for proper cartridge loading was well known and talked about in all the newstand magazines. Load capacitance and load resistance for most all high output MM cartridges was published. Phono sections were measured in test reports and load resistance and capacitance for many preamps and receivers were available. The low output MC cartridges were much more of a mystery. That still seems to be true. It's still very much a trial and error kind of thing; trying to match a cartridge to a MC pre-preamp or transformer. Also, because of the very low outputs, this is an area where gold plated connections, good grounds and shielding are essential.

I have noticed with speaker cables and witrh interconnects, that a new one, brought in to replace the older, sounds better, simply because it has fresh clean contacts. This is probably true of components like preamps or pre-preamps as well. A thorough treatment with Deoxit, and tightening of connections can make a surprising difference in older cables and wires, and components. I also soldered up all the internal mechanical connections in my speakers (wire nuts and slip-on connections) and it made a definite difference in the left-right match of my speaker pairs, and the overall smoothness.

So yes, I still think the basic circuits in the old stuff are as good as they need to be. But there is preventive maintenance to be done, newer caps are better, simpler is better to a point (I want one volume knob) until it affects convenience or basic functions, and phono stages are the primary area of differentiation in preamps.

I also think it's absurd to pay as much for a component as for a new car. My wife and I just returned from a 25 day cruise and tour of Australia and new Zealand. It cost as much as her 2002 Focus ZTS list price. So we can afford items in that price range. But I absolutely refuse to even consider paying that much for my hi-fi gear. First, I don't think it's necessary for sound quality; second, I think it's very poor value for money; and third, I resent being played like that; whether I can afford it or not. How can a little box with a few electronic components cost as much as a car? The car contains far more electronic components (on board computer, voltage regulator, radio, CD player, amplifiers, controls for lights, power windows, remote entry, temperature controls, etc.) plus an engine, interior, lighting, steering, etc.

Jerry



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  • Re: VINTAGE STUPID - why not new - Bold Eagle 09:07:00 12/26/03 (0)


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