Retro Separates System for £300?

[Mouse1903]

Hey guys. Long term I plan on saving 5k over the next 10 years for a really nice set of Hifi Seperates. In the meantime as opposed to buying a £300 stereo for the living room, I'm wondering if anyone could recommend a set of vintage separates for a budget of £300 as I've always loved the look of them?

Would be looking for an 80's CD player (earliest as possible), an amplifier (ideally 70's/early 80's) and a set of speakers (70's/80's again). Although not retro, I have a 8 year old Project Debut SB turntable to compliment this. I'm a big fan of the older Yamaha amps as my Dad used to have one.

Can this be done on a tight budget? Are there any particular makes and models that anyone would recommend? Is reliability going to be an issue given the budget and age?

[greggers]

My old man still has an old Sansui amp & receiver, must be early 80s with a pair of Goodmans speakers he built himself. To be honest it still sounds great today.

Should be able to pick up Sansui gear on eBay for next to nothing, just a case of finding something close enough to pick up.

I'm trying to think what make his tape deck is... Let me delve into my childhood memories to see if I can remember.

[greggers]

This is the amp the old man has...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sansui-AU-217-II-HiFi-St...

These are the sort of speakers... Or you can just buy the [retro] components and built some retro looking cabinets.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GOODMANS-SPEAKERS-201-AX...

I've found the tape deck he had... Akai, like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Classic-Vintage-AKAI-GXC...

[Crackie]

Mouse1903 said:

Hey guys. Long term I plan on saving 5k over the next 10 years for a really nice set of Hifi Seperates. In the meantime as opposed to buying a £300 stereo for the living room, I'm wondering if anyone could recommend a set of vintage separates for a budget of £300 as I've always loved the look of them?

Would be looking for an 80's CD player (earliest as possible), an amplifier (ideally 70's/early 80's) and a set of speakers (70's/80's again). Although not retro, I have a 8 year old Project Debut SB turntable to compliment this. I'm a big fan of the older Yamaha amps as my Dad used to have one.

Can this be done on a tight budget? Are there any particular makes and models that anyone would recommend? Is reliability going to be an issue given the budget and age?

Reliability could be an issue but risks should be low if you choose carefully. A speaker with foam woofer surrounds will be a much higher risk than one with rubber surrounds. Speaker cones made of paper are likely to be in much better condition now than ones with polymer cones; plastic based cones can often become brittle due to UV light damage. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-1980-SONY-SS-G1-... or
Early eighties CD players are big money now; A good Philips CD100/101/104 might blow the budget on its own. Instead slightly later players with Philips 'swing arm' laser mechanisms ( this includes Marantz players and Technics players with model numbers ending in A ) are likely to have much better long term reliability than 'sled' type laser mechs. Something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SL-PG520A-Technics-Compa... . or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Technics-SL-P222A-CD-Pla...
Amps/receivers. Hard to say......buy from an E-bayer with a great feedback score??? Alternatively try and buy from retro/vintage shop where you can check out the gear before buying. Is the volume control noisy ? Do the switches noisy or fiddly to get working ? http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Stereo-Receivers-/175707...
Good luck.

[Mouse1903]

Cheers guys. Currently bidding on a Marantz CD-63 (aka Philips CD-100) on Ebay. I've gone up to £130 but not sure how much more to bid, I probably would go up to £180 but only if it's really worth it. I know there are better players but it has retro value being one of the first players, plus it's in excellent nick and one owner since new

[Mouse1903]

These Heybrooks look like a good buy, ending in 8 hours...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Extremely-Rare-Vintage-H...

Edit:

Nice pair of Sony's. More pleasing on the eye and a quick read on the web shows they are a nice pair

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SONY-APM-22ES-speakers-/...

Edited by Mouse1903 on Sunday 12th May 12:22

[Mouse1903]

Ok, now have a proposed line up as follows:

CD: Marantz CD-63 (1982)
Amp: Technics SU-7700 (1978)
Speakers: Sony APM22ES (1987?)
Turntable: Project Debut SB (2005)

[daveydave7]

The Sony APM 22 are simply superb I have a pair I still use now bought in 1988 or so
Deep warm superb base crisp treble simply stunning speakers
On a side note someone got a Meridian 206 (may be a 206B) for £130

Edited by daveydave7 on Sunday 12th May 19:38

[TonyRPH]

Mouse1903 said:

Cheers guys. Currently bidding on a Marantz CD-63 (aka Philips CD-100) on Ebay. I've gone up to £130 but not sure how much more to bid, I probably would go up to £180 but only if it's really worth it. I know there are better players but it has retro value being one of the first players, plus it's in excellent nick and one owner since new

You can do far better than a CD63 for £180.

Even at £130 it's expensive.

<part of post removed>

I missed the bit about early 80's.

Edited by TonyRPH on Monday 13th May 12:12

[Mouse1903]

Sounds good Dave, I won them for 135 including postage.

Tony, there is a CD-73 starting at 200. Guy has had it since new. It still retains the retro look and is a front loader. Is it worth paying the extra over the 63?

[TonyRPH]

There is another at £395 "Buy It Now".

However - the laser assembly (CDM 1) on the CD-73 is obsolete - so if that fails, you have thrown your money away.

There is a MK II version, but I'm fairly certain the laser on that is obsolete too.

At least the CD-63 uses a fairly common transport / laser (CDM12.1 / VAM1202 ) which are still in abundant supply.

But that's still a lot of money to pay for a CD-63 - even a "KI" version!!!

You could look at Sony / Yamaha / Kenwood or Denon - as they too did some early players - but again, watch out for laser obsolesence.

You can check what kind of laser (sometimes also known as transport) a specific machine uses here

The same applies to early Pioneer and Technics players - lasers are becoming difficult to find, and in some cases impossible for certain models.

You could try looking for an earlier Marantz like the CD52 although lasers (CDM-4/19) for these
are also rapidly approaching obsolescence.

Also be careful with some Technics amps - I think the earlier ones did actually use discrete transistor output stages, but the later ones used an "IC" which is also now practically unobtainable - so if you blow it, you throw it.

Edited by TonyRPH on Tuesday 14th May 20:25

[daveydave7]

Cheaper alternatives:
Philips CD473 circa '88:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PHILIPS-CD-PLAYER-DECK-C...

Dearer but an older model considered classic by many:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Philips-CD650-Compact-Di...

An arcam late 80's:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arcam-Alpha-Hi-fi-Home-A...

Cheap as chips rotel player (when rotel used Philips parts oversampling circuits etc)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-RCD-865-CD-Player-...

Want to add a dac arcam black box :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arcam-Delta-Black-Box-3-...

Authentic mid late 80's tuner well liked at time - Rotel

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rotel-RT850L-Quality-Vin...

Just loose ideas as im waiting for my dinner to cook click on the lkinks if you wish

[Mouse1903]

Cheers guys. Willing to sacrifice the absolute best sound quality if it means getting an earlier player, so the CD-63 fits the bill. Good to hear about the laser assembly. I'm still keeping an eye out for early Sony, Denon, Philips and Meridian units

[TonyRPH]

What about the CD-63's brother - CD-53 good price too.

I bet there isn't much to choose between the sound of the two units either.

ETA: just checked in the service manual - and there's not much between the spec of the 53 and the 63..

Incidentally - these were initially manufactured in the early 90's, not 80's according to the service manual.

Edited by TonyRPH on Tuesday 14th May 21:35

Edited by TonyRPH on Tuesday 14th May 21:37

[mickrick]

I still have some of my stuff from the 80´s a Sony CDP101 CD player, still works, but the drawer sticks, a Technics amp, and a pair of Kef C60 two way speakers.
I still use the amp and speakers with an ipod dock, and it still sounds great!
They weigh a ton compared to new stuff!

[petop]

I still use my Kenwood 3020SE amp, Mission 731 speakers and Pioneer 703 CD player. Awesome sounding and you can get all on Ebay very cheap.

[Mouse1903]

Ok I have got the CD-63. Just need an amp as was outbid on the Technics. Couple of these on ebay: http://www.hifiengine.com/library/pioneer/sa-7800....

Worth going for and how much tops? Browsing odd forums they seem to be a good amp

[TonyRPH]

The Pioneer is a nice amp, but I suspect it's going to attract top money too.

ETA: JVC did some nice amps here and here

These amps are 40w per channel - don't be misled by the wild power descriptions - people read the maximum *mains* consumption from the rear of the amp, and assume that's the output power.

It isn't.

If you can find one of this series (the one pictured is a JVC AX 5) even better. There are 3 models in the series that look pretty much identical.

AX-5 / AX-7 / AX-9

Expect to pay top money for the AX 9 (£400 +) but you should be able to pick up one of the others for around £100 - £200 depending on condition.




Here is an AX-9 - 'Buy it now' a mere £580 with postage of £130 (it's in Canada).

It's a beast!

Edited by TonyRPH on Monday 20th May 22:14

[Mouse1903]

So much for the £300 budget. Got the final piece of the puzzle, a Pioneer SA-8800. Overall excellent condition, a few niggly things like some hazing behind the Fluroscan screen and the power indicator doesn't work. Not tried through the speakers as don't have cables but even using my Ipod and Seinheiser IE8's the quality is so much better than through a pc, it sounds amazing. I bid £325 but was outbid by £15, the buyer didn't read they couldn't post abroad so I got 2nd chance offer. A mint SA-7800 went for over £300 the other week so I figure I got a good price given the 8800 is a better amp.

I'll get pictures of everything when I hook it all up.

[rumple]

Mouse I would strongly advise you view any APM 22es's before buying, I had a set back in the day and my Dad did, they were truly great speakers but on both sets the treble went and was very expensive to repair.