Never heard that either. lolI've heard it referenced myriad times as "Just be Loud"
Onkyo and Denon
- Thread starter JT20
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A couple years ago there was a complete Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater system on the local marketplace. The system was as big as my house, huge! The speakers were also black and industrial looking thing's, a couple giant racks of tube? amplifiers came with it. IIRC they wanted $2500, but as much as I wanted them, I just could not justify buying them. I still regret not buying them but I suppose that is human nature. The attached photo is pretty close to what was being offered but older, 1960's probably the A-2's and the A5X's look correct and a couple smaller speakers I don't see here and including the electronics in a couple racks.
Up in Boston it was "Junk But Loud"I've heard it referenced myriad times as "Just be Loud"
Yama HA HA
San-Sewer.
Blows
A very nice affordable power amp was the Apt Holman Amplifier 1; Good current drive, liquid texture.
But, I didn't like the preamp's sound at all.
Adcom GFA555 had some power but didnt cut it sound wise, being fine grain textured, monochromatic and dry.
NYAL Moscode 300 was a great amp.
The Hafler DH-200 was good after it got Musical Concept MODDED and very high bias A/B.
SUMO The Nine class-A Beast " heater" was Stunning all around.
The Pioneer M22 Statement product (30W Class A?) was excellent when in good tune
And, the best amp I ran with some Martin Logan's - which need MUCH care in feeding - was a Bedini 802.
The only good active preamps I've head were: Spectral DMC20 and CAT SL-1 and they are pricey.
If you want nice sound on the Cheap, likely a Pair of French Triangle bookshelfs with an older Mike Creek integrated
should do the trick.
On a real tight budget - Used Rules!
My buddy recently got a pair of mint, used B&W DM2 ( made back when they made GOOD stuff) for 200 bucks.
They are STUNNING.
So its either used high end or
Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 leftovers on nice stands with a Cambridge Audio AXA35
As far as Bose goes, the Model 501 from the late 70's were pretty tolerable sounding
Bose model 501 Direct Reflecting Loudspeakers
Wow, that's a nice sounding humidifier you have there!
I wouldn’t get wrapped up in brand names these days. Most of the big names you knew are now owned by bigger conglomerates. The brand name is just marketing for the most part.
As an example, Denon is a brand that I had experience with in the 70’s and 80’s and a bit beyond. I really liked their gear. Denon is now owned by DEI Holdings which also owns, Bowers and Wilkins, Marantz, Boston Acoustics and Polk Audio among others.
JBL is owned by Harman which in turn is owned by Samsung. Among the brand names Harman produces besides JBL are Mark Levinson, Harman Kardon, Infinity, Bang and Olufsen and more.
As an example, Denon is a brand that I had experience with in the 70’s and 80’s and a bit beyond. I really liked their gear. Denon is now owned by DEI Holdings which also owns, Bowers and Wilkins, Marantz, Boston Acoustics and Polk Audio among others.
JBL is owned by Harman which in turn is owned by Samsung. Among the brand names Harman produces besides JBL are Mark Levinson, Harman Kardon, Infinity, Bang and Olufsen and more.
I think I am the only employee at the now-defunct MSG that used to walk around and look at the sound system.
I think it was a mix of the Altec Lansing's and the Klipschorns. Had to be ..
I remember how it was when they turned the system up. Sounded SPECTACULAR! (Especially since the performers were basically just lip synching. I'm looking at you, Cher. The Security guy made you. lol)
It is the love of audio. I can see if you paid just to hear THAT SOUND. Because the rest of the experience was GARBAGE...
I think it was a mix of the Altec Lansing's and the Klipschorns. Had to be ..
I remember how it was when they turned the system up. Sounded SPECTACULAR! (Especially since the performers were basically just lip synching. I'm looking at you, Cher. The Security guy made you. lol)
It is the love of audio. I can see if you paid just to hear THAT SOUND. Because the rest of the experience was GARBAGE...
I'm still running a Yamaha 2095 with Paradigm 9SEs (now Monitor 9) for music (matched surround for movies). I have to do some creative wiring to get DD/DTS, but I still love how it sounds. The back looks like an ICBM launch center, though, and its always a process/ordeal to get everything rewired. HDMI makes things SO much simpler. I have no sub, but a couple people have asked where it was when I played movies! Makes me grin!
I compared this receiver to an equal level Sony SE model and there was no comparison. The Sony sounded almost muffled compared to the 2095.
My first foray into better sound was a $200 (a lot of money for me at the time) Fisher boom box. Thought it sounded great...lol.
Its funny how subjective people's ears are. A friend has a couple of small rear surround speakers hooked up as FRONTS to his receiver and tells me "Sounds great, huh?" He "knows" what I have so I just said "I'm used to mine, so...meh." He is getting some Elac Debut 2.0 b6.2 to replace those rears and I think he'll be happy once he takes a listen. Great reviews! Will be almost like going from an AM mono speaker to FM stereo!
The same can be said about my setup, too. I think it sounds great, but a high end audiophile would walk in take one look and say "Nope." and walk out.
Speaker placement is also a huge factor. I just tweaked my fronts location a little bit because I heard some "wwwwww" in the midrange when I played The Cars "Its All I Can Do" and some "boomyness" with Andreas Vollenweider "Stella". Everything had to be moved for some termite drilling and I guess I didn't get everything back the way it was. I did some reading to see if anything could help me get things even better than before, moved the speakers and they sound better now. I'll probably try a bit more fine tuning as well.
My computer speakers are from my original Dell purchase 20 years ago: Altec Lansing ACS430, a 2.1 setup. I think I have better sound with these than what is in my '18 GT with 9 speakers.
I compared this receiver to an equal level Sony SE model and there was no comparison. The Sony sounded almost muffled compared to the 2095.
My first foray into better sound was a $200 (a lot of money for me at the time) Fisher boom box. Thought it sounded great...lol.
Its funny how subjective people's ears are. A friend has a couple of small rear surround speakers hooked up as FRONTS to his receiver and tells me "Sounds great, huh?" He "knows" what I have so I just said "I'm used to mine, so...meh." He is getting some Elac Debut 2.0 b6.2 to replace those rears and I think he'll be happy once he takes a listen. Great reviews! Will be almost like going from an AM mono speaker to FM stereo!
The same can be said about my setup, too. I think it sounds great, but a high end audiophile would walk in take one look and say "Nope." and walk out.
Speaker placement is also a huge factor. I just tweaked my fronts location a little bit because I heard some "wwwwww" in the midrange when I played The Cars "Its All I Can Do" and some "boomyness" with Andreas Vollenweider "Stella". Everything had to be moved for some termite drilling and I guess I didn't get everything back the way it was. I did some reading to see if anything could help me get things even better than before, moved the speakers and they sound better now. I'll probably try a bit more fine tuning as well.
My computer speakers are from my original Dell purchase 20 years ago: Altec Lansing ACS430, a 2.1 setup. I think I have better sound with these than what is in my '18 GT with 9 speakers.
The D-series had the knob on it, could tune for carpeted or hardwood floor. Made a HUGE difference. I think we have similar pickiness!
And "The Ear.."
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Oh that's VERY recent (October). So now that's Rotel/B&W/Classe all rolled in there with Denon/Marantz/Polk.
Jesus, the field is getting thin.
Yeah.
Some time last year, Sound United/DEI was also getting ready to acquire Onkyo and Pioneer, but that deal fell through.
I've heard of Marantz.
Who got Paradigm?
Not sure Cerwin Vega still exists as its own company, I see stuff with that name on it and mostly car stuff but somebody has to be producing their stuff, that's always been a boutique audio company as far as I know, but who took over them?
And if I were to walk into a store today maybe one of the last remaining Best buy stores and go in the speaker section, what would be the best probably quality unit I could purchase in terms of prestige?
further complicating the issue was that everyone's ears are different and there's people that think Polk Audio speakers sound good when you get people like me that like more bass in their presentation. Like Boston Acoustics for example.
Marantz is a bit more upscale version of Denon, kind of like Lexus vs Toyota. They share a lot of components.
Paradigm, Anthem, and MartinLogan are owned by Scott Bagby.
Ahhhh. Okay. Marantz higher up on the food chain. Got it.
QP, I came into this thread with the understanding kind of like OVERKILL mentioned: Most/all of the "names" of 80s/90s/possible 2000s stereo equipment I mentioned is either Mid or Mid-High, depending on the segment.
I grew up thinking...
Garbage tier:
- Radio Shack (Archer, Optimus, there are others escaping me right now.)
- Anything Chinese
- Budget items
- Emerson
- Jensen. (And other cheap electronics.)
Possible "Blaupunkt" though they too maybe were once good.
Same on Sanyo. Once good.
May be more.
Bottom tier:
- Fisher (quality not good in 90s. May have been first started.
- Sanyo
Good/OK tier:
- Panasonic
- Sony
- Toshiba.
OK/Very good tier:
- some Sony
- TECHNICS (high end Panasonic)
- Philips
- "Akai"
- Yamaha
... Higher than that, Premier/getting elite:
- Denon.
- Onkyo
*Sort of like Denon was the Danish version of Onkyo on the ladder, if you will.
- Nakamichi (never seen in real life. Only read about)
- Pioneer
There are many, many more escaping me but attempting to show you what I thought the pecking order was.
It gets more confusing when we interject speaker/acoustics names into the mix vs stereo components.. California Audio, I once heard it suggested that component makers in boutique outfits really just used a 24-bit Sony DAC chip to de-code the CD data and produce awesome crisp sound, meaning.. a CD player is basically a CD player whether it cost $300 or $2000. ?
If that particular BB store has a Magnolia section, then Mark Levinson possibly:
All the companies you mentioned made stuff at different price points, though. The Pioneer VSX-D1S receiver was something like $2000 and a true 180WPC, but Pioneer made tons of $300-400 receivers back in the 80s and 90s, too. I can buy $40 a pair Pioneer speakers for my car or $200 a pair Pioneer speakers for my car, if that makes any sense. Realistic stuff from Radio Shack actually has some respect in the audiophile realm for some models, too. Stuff like the Realistic Mach speakers for example are very well loved. Also you're forgetting about JVC, too, they made some really good gear, especially the "Super A" stuff. Kennwood, too.
Great video about Kennwood from Techmoan.
One other weird thing is some units were private label made. MCS was JC Penny's private label, that sold a lot of rebranded Panasonic/Technics, but also sold some NEC for their highest end stuff. Even some Nakamichi stuff was made by NEC, and I have 1990s Nakamichi headphones that have Primo drivers, the same ones Grado used in that era. There's also the issue that in Japan during the late 80s and early 90s some stuff released only for the Japanese market was much better than anything we got here, like the Sansui AU-X1. Even brands like Mitsubishi made really high end stuff but mostly for the Japanese market, Mitsubishi made the Diatone series speakers there, which are hugely respected in Asia. SHARP also made great stuff for the JDM market, but in USA they could really only sell cheaper stuff to us to hit a certain price point.
So when you're thinking of gear to buy, ultimately it's less about the brand and more about where the unit sat on the market at any given time. Every brand still has a different "color" and sound (JVC imo is bassy, Nakamichi is my favorite overall) but that's totally personal preference, but if you're looking at used gear to get it's better to pull out the spec sheets and look for reviews online first, even if it's a brand you may not have on your radar, because you might be scoring a huge deal.
Our Sanyo looked like this, kind of. Had the same dials and VU (Volume Units.)
I sometimes look at old stuff.
I sometimes look at old stuff.
MCS TECHNICS 3554 CASSETTE DECK SERVICED DOLBY METAL TAPE * NICE! | eBay
This is a solid performing deck engineered to high standards. 3554 Cassette Deck. This cassette deck has been carefully tested and is in excellent working order. All lights have been checked and replaced as needed.
www.ebay.com
What I still have a lot of love for are my Panasonic all in ones like that. I gave one to a friend, and one is my garage stereo.
I recently picked up a super nice Sharp all in one for free by the side of the road and another friend has that.
Receivers or an amp and separate speakers are still better than all in ones, but most of the all in ones except really crap Lennox Sound, Sounddesign, etc, I'd prefer over a Bluetooth pod any day of the week, and they're priced at free or almost nothing on the used market now.
Another really weirdly decent thing to pick up are Bose computer speakers. They're top notch. I have a pair I got for free on the side of the road I use for work speakers when I'm out, and a pair of the Series II ones for $15 at Savers one day for my sister's PC. Honestly those I could almost rate as nice as something like Polk T15s and a lower end amp (I think my pair of T15s were somewhat tired, though...)
I actually found a Denon what was it "AVS-200" put out for trash. And if I had a workbench and time.. probably could have made it work. It was a Denon or an .. I am misremembering the model number but I believe it was a Denon receiver. Put out in the trash.
That JVC is a PC-XC60 and it still works. One channel makes poor connection but I believe that can be fixed if I ever look at it.
I drive past the former Sharp building off 287 sometimes. It no longer says Sharp. Sharp went to Hi-Sense in 2016 now I think they are just gone. Sharp was awesome.
Kenwood.. used to be a poor quality name? VERY Inflated wattage numbers. Sherwood too IIRC ...
I have a car amp. 300 watt one channel (300.1) "Mono Class D." Never opened. Should I un-box it another thread? (Jumped to car audio)
Here is closer to the Technics we had. Digital.
Technics is high end Panasonic. I always remembered it.. Panasonic = Video, Technics = Audio.
Panasonic had good sets until their Ultra Black CRTs (flat screen) went to Made in Malaysia. Mid 90s. Colors bled too bad. Sony was king.
Technics is high end Panasonic. I always remembered it.. Panasonic = Video, Technics = Audio.
Panasonic had good sets until their Ultra Black CRTs (flat screen) went to Made in Malaysia. Mid 90s. Colors bled too bad. Sony was king.
Vintage Technics RS-M45 Tape Deck Cassette | eBay
Nice clean unit, minor scuffs. Rewind to the right works very slow, much faster to the left. Play works fine. Checked recording from CD, works fine. All buttons working properly and functions too.
www.ebay.com
Denon has nothing to do with Denmark. Denon was founded in Japan.
