music quality of speakers in the 70's vs now

[caprice_2nv]

I'm 36 years old (could be considered young or old depending on your view), my main stereo at home consists of a 1978 Realistic receiver I bought used years back and a pair of small off brand bookshelf speakers that were rated very well for the price (probably 20 years old and cost me $150 or something). Not high end but you didn't have to spend much to get half decent quality back then.

These days I often use headphones (Grado SR60 or Sony MDR 7506) connected to my phone but I still enjoy listening to music with some quality. It would pain me to spend much $$ on anything knowing the sound quality would be worse than my old stereo. I can't stand Bluetooth unless in a really noisy environment and can't hear all the details anyway.

Our mom and shop stereo shops still seem to be doing okay around here although who knows how the covid thing affected them. Very expensive rent downtown where the one is located in our town. I had them service my old receiver years back and would go back again for sure.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Mom and Pop Stereo Shop?

Never heard them called that.

Quilt Shop - Maybe

Breakfast Cottage - Sure

In Town General Store - Absolutely.

Mom don't like no Stereo !
____________________

Near Me Sort of .....

Q Audio

FIDELIS

 

[Silverado12]

I had a set of Advent speakers but the foam around the woofers went bad. I replaced the entire woofer with modern woofers and they sounded better. I downsized to Bose 301 Bookshelf speakers and they sound decent. I have a Yamaha receiver but it's modern.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Better check the foam on the Bose too

You can get a surround replacement kit for not much bucks.

Tedious and messy but gives O.E.. performance.Simply Speakers - Bose 301 Woofer Surround Repair Kit

 

[Papa Bear]

I got a pair of Cerwin Vega D5s ( $3.00 at the Thrift Store) last week and have 12" woofer surrounds ordered as we speak.
The cabinets, grill cloths and other drivers are mint.

 

[Dwight_Frye]

I am also a veteran of the hi fi stores back in the late 1970's. i worked for University Stereo, Pacific Stereo and Shelly's Audio in Sou. Cal. There is no substitute for raw power in amplifiers and size of the drivers in the speakers, period. That is if you wish to come anywhere close to recreating live sound. And I am not necessarily talking about concert level volumes.

I suspect that a lot of those who are under 40 years old and are satisfied with the mainstream, "stereo in a box" systems available today have not had much experience listening to live bands or going to concerts like most of us who are now in their 60's did. If their main experience with music is listening with ear buds through an iPad, they simply don't know what they have been missing.

A system with a minimum of 100 watts clean power per channel paired with quality speakers with at least 10" woofers and a CD player or turntable with a good cartridge is light years ahead of a sound bar system & subwoofer, designed for surround sound with movies and with maybe 25 watts per channel with high distortion and an MP3 source.
Bump it up to 250 watts per channel and 4 speakers with 12" woofers and you'll really have something.

 

[DBMaster]

I had a pair of KLH Model 17 picked up for $10 at a garage sale in 1989. One of the capacitors was burned out in the crossover circuit and once I replaced it those speakers sounded great. I refinished the cabinets and replaced the 70s vintage speaker cloth with some black stuff from Radio Shack. They looked pretty, too. I see they still fetch a pretty penny online. Playing music alone became so infrequent that I sold them to a friend. Nowadays I find less obtrusive, smaller speakers to my liking. I used the Bluetooth feature on my sound bar to play music from my phone if I'm in the mood. It's fine.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted by sloinker
Anybody that thinks that modern home speakers and modern multi channel electronics sound better than home hi-fi sytems of the 1970's and 1980's don't have a grasp on reality. MP3...really?

In real $ to $ comparison a modern setup will sound better. You also realize there are other sources out there besides 128 MP3.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted by CDX825
Having worked on both modern and vintage home audio gear I can you the vintage stuff was better. It wasn't nearly as powerful wattage wise but the build quality was far superior to what they are cranking out now.

Give examples. Be sure to compare similar priced gear adjusted for inflation. Good audio gear was $$$ back in the day. People like to compare stuff that would have cost $3000 today with $399 stuff at Best Buy.

These two are a similar price.

Yamaha A-S1200
Pioneer SX-828

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted by alarmguy
For those that do care Quattro made a statement a few pages back and stands very true, there is a LOT of good high performance reasonably priced equipment out there(maybe taking into account inflation better then ever prices but less selection) if one cares to look for it. I just think, its just, like a lot of things, a hobby that has grown old.

Also, the fact that there are SO MANY choices out there nowadays may be overwhelming for an average consumer. Add to that the enormous amount of reviews/tests that are available for each product, and difficulty in deciphering which one is honest and which one is a paid advertisement. And even if you do come across an honest review, there's no guarantee that the reviewer's listening preferences are similar to yours.

The current lack of physical stores where one could audition speakers does hurt a bit. Some Best Buy's Magnolia outfits still have dedicated music/HT rooms, but their options are usually limited. Yes, there are several internet-direct speaker companies that will allow you to return speakers without charging for return shipping, but not that many. Then there are on-line retailers like Crutchfield that have a flat $10 per box return shipping fee, which is reasonable, IMO. So yeah, the good and reasonably priced stuff is out there, but to your point, not too many folks want to spend time chasing after it, especially when it's just for casual background music duty.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
Mom and Pop Stereo Shop?

Never heard them called that.

Quilt Shop - Maybe

Breakfast Cottage - Sure

In Town General Store - Absolutely.

Mom don't like no Stereo !
____________________

Near Me Sort of .....

Q Audio

FIDELIS

Actually here it was the dad and his cute daughter running the store I believe. Lol.

Both were awesome to deal with.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by hatt
Originally Posted by CDX825
Having worked on both modern and vintage home audio gear I can you the vintage stuff was better. It wasn't nearly as powerful wattage wise but the build quality was far superior to what they are cranking out now.

Give examples. Be sure to compare similar priced gear adjusted for inflation. Good audio gear was $$$ back in the day. People like to compare stuff that would have cost $3000 today with $399 stuff at Best Buy.

These two are a similar price.

Yamaha A-S1200
Pioneer SX-828


For me the original price is irrelevant, talking about buying a used 1970s receiver for what it cost today (like my late 70s realistic) what do I have to pay now to get equally good sound from something made in the last 10 years. I think you're going to lose this argument there pretty quick.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted by caprice_2nv


For me the original price is irrelevant, talking about buying a used 1970s receiver for what it cost today (like my late 70s realistic) what do I have to pay now to get equally good sound from something made in the last 10 years. I think you're going to lose this argument there pretty quick.

I'm not sure what your argument is. Original price adjusted for inflation is what matters when talking about gear quality. You can't sensibly compare a 50 year old receiver that cost $400 new with new $400 receiver. No kidding it had better build quality. When you compare it to a modern $2600 receiver things change.

If your argument is that a Goodwill find $15 HiFi receiver from the 70s is better than a brand new $15 receiver, yeah, I guess.

 

[ffhdriver]

Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by hatt

Having worked on both modern and vintage home audio gear I can you the vintage stuff was better. It wasn't nearly as powerful wattage wise but the build quality was far superior to what they are cranking out now.

Give examples. Be sure to compare similar priced gear adjusted for inflation. Good audio gear was $$$ back in the day. People like to compare stuff that would have cost $3000 today with $399 stuff at Best Buy.

These two are a similar price.

Yamaha A-S1200
Pioneer SX-828


For me the original price is irrelevant, talking about buying a used 1970s receiver for what it cost today (like my late 70s realistic) what do I have to pay now to get equally good sound from something made in the last 10 years. I think you're going to lose this argument there pretty quick. [ Wow those are heavy.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by hatt
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv


For me the original price is irrelevant, talking about buying a used 1970s receiver for what it cost today (like my late 70s realistic) what do I have to pay now to get equally good sound from something made in the last 10 years. I think you're going to lose this argument there pretty quick.

I'm not sure what your argument is. Original price adjusted for inflation is what matters when talking about gear quality. You can't sensibly compare a 50 year old receiver that cost $400 new with new $400 receiver. No kidding it had better build quality. When you compare it to a modern $2600 receiver things change.

If your argument is that a Goodwill find $15 HiFi receiver from the 70s is better than a brand new $15 receiver, yeah, I guess.

This adjusted for inflation thing has some incorrect assumptions.

It seemed easier for me to buy a $300 Integrated in the 70's than to buy a $2000 integrated today.
Yes that Cambridge CX60 sounds way better than that Old Supserscope or Marantzor or Kenwood. Yamaha stuff is not even in the running.

Many Mid -sized affordable bookshelf speakers sold today are generally much better than most all from the early 70's.

My First "big speaker" a pair of Altec 891V would sound like it had a blanket over it compared to a little 250 dollar Wharfedale diamond. or Dali Spektor 2. China manufacturing has lowered the buy-in more than anything.

I Did get a Used pair of KLH Model 6 in the early 80;s and they were head and shoulders over the California noise makers.
Ran it with a Harvey Rosenberg NYAL Moscode 300 (excellent) and a Modulus 2 preamp (fair)

Most Everything was relatively less expensive in the 70's. Food, gasoline, Houses were ~ 2x annual salary not 3 or 4X.
Rent was too high. then in the late 80s Interest rates were killers.

Estate sale buys are a load of fun and more rewarding for layinig down $$ for Made in China.
Especially if you have a master tech in the back room to freshen things up cheaply where needed.

 

[Al]

I have Polks all around. I really like them

 

[odie]

Sound Dynamics 300TI with Titanium tweeter . Paid under $300 for the new pair in '98 (?) .

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted by Al
I have Polks all around. I really like them


Remember these? Polks from the early 80s:

 

[aquariuscsm]

Here's some more I remember from when I was a kid. Infinity Reference Standard:

 

[aquariuscsm]

And my all time faves, the North American Sound "Studio Monitors" made in Dallas Texas around 1985: