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Your best equipment. (long lasting, reliable)

 
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cmjohnson




Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 5180
Location: Buried under G90s


PostLink    Posted: Sat May 20, 2017 1:08 am    Post subject: Your best equipment. (long lasting, reliable) Reply with quote


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Of all the equipment you've ever had in your home audio or video system, what have been the stand-out best pieces,
and why? Performance? Reliability? Insanely long service life?


My best: Pioneer C-90 control preamplifier (Elite series before they called them Elites) Dates from 1987.

I've had it for about 20 years and in that time the only time it has not been plugged in was when I've got the
system apart to make changes to it, and the time when I had it overhauled just because it was 15 years old
and needed recapping, cleaning, and a new volume control.

I estimate it has been connected to AC power for 200,000 hours or more.

When off, a little red LED standby indicator is lit. It's been connected to power so long that LED is almost completely dimmed to nothing. Red LEDs have incredibly long lifespans.

Aside from one overhaul it has been utterly bulletproof. Never fails to work, EVER. Even when I had the volume control replaced, it was only because it would no longer rotate via remote control. (Motor went bad.)

It was the first preamp ever reviewed by ...Stereo Review?...that they found to be truly "CD ready", featuring a noise floor that was below that of the CD.

Indeed it was, and still is, extremely quiet. I use it regularly as it's the center of my stereo based system, even to this day, and with the input paused, I can turn it up all the way and barely hear any background hiss with my ear to the speakers.

I think I should get another one as I'd rather put another one of these into my system should this one finally die, than buy a modern A/V receiver and use it as a preamp but with a great deal more functionality that I actually COULD make use of.


My other favorites have to be my pair of Krell KMA-160 monoblock power amps. I've had them since about 1990 and coimpletely rebuilt them myself with my own two hands and lots of solder. They'd been in a house fire and while they had not been burned, they were hosed down, put out with the fire, got full of ash and dirt and left to rot in a basement for two years, and after all that it turned out that neither of them had any electronic failures of note. One was perfect, no faults, the other had lost one output transistor (out of 24) and even that was out of circuit as the fusible emitter resister had opened up as it was supposed to. Those amps have also been workhorses, completely reliable to this day, though I rarely use them as they generate an enormous amount of heat. I have a much cooler running stereo amp that I use when I'm watching movies. (Yes, in stereo. I prefer excellent stereo to mediocre surround sound and I have not invested in surround sound equipment.)

I bought those Krells for 500 bucks for the pair plus shipping. It turned out to be a phenomenal bargain, after I put 40 labor hours into EACH amplifier to totally overhaul them.
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech



Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24296
Location: Langley, BC

TV/Projector: All of them!


PostLink    Posted: Sat May 20, 2017 1:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Funny, as much stuff as I get through here, I don't really value any of it. My two 909s have been running flawlessly for almost 3 years. I run through reel to reels like crazy, all 40+ years old, easy to rebuild and to resell, but I don't even have a two channel setup here.

My favorite vintage gear would be the Sansui 1970s series, either the G33,000 or the BA5000/CA5000, or the Pioneer SX1980. I've repaired many in the past, but the 33000 is now running about $8K USD, and the BA5000/CA5000 about $5K. The SX1980 typically sells for $3500-5K depending on condition. Killer vintage units though, with lots of balls.
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nettwerkjohn




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 915
Location: Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand


PostLink    Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 10:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My accuphase monoblocks date from 1980, and aside from blowing fuse lamps every second year or so, have been totally flawless.

I an also partial to my janszen z30 and z40 speakers, from 1982. Still running perfectly and they sound fantastic.

Most unreliable piece of gear is my meridian g08 cd player. In 3 odd years, it's had two drives and a replacement motherboard. Sounds fantastic, but ultra unreliable.
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racerxnet




Joined: 20 Jun 2007
Posts: 362
Location: Illinois


PostLink    Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 10:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Best Amps at a reasonable cost are the Bryston 4BST, 7BSST, and 28's. Have and had all of them. BP25 Pre Amp. Bryston has the best warranty (20 yrs) in the industry and a very good following. The amps have driven my Infinity Kappa 9's, Infinity RS1B's, and present Genesis 1.2's. The kappa 9's are amp killers due to the impedance at both ends of the frequency response. Best speakers are the Genesis 1.2 I now own. I've had good luck with the tube DAC (Tri Vista 21) and only had to replace the output tubes once. All the equipment from the posts are good. Have fun.

MAK
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AnalogRocks
Forum Moderator



Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 12:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

RadioShack Realistic LAB-1600 Turntable. Drawer loading, Buttons for cue ff and rew. Super light tracking and decent sound. c.1986
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Nashou66




Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 16171
Location: West Seneca NY


PostLink    Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SOTA Sapphire Turntable and my Acoustic Research AR-XA Turntables.

The Sota has the best isolation of any TT out there, and the AR-XA is simplicity at its best.





Athanasios

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