I was 4 years old, listening to a record on headphones connected to this rig. Leaned too far back, and caught the 1/4 inch input jack on the headphones right in my fucking eyeball.
The coolest thing ever was when those old receivers had a motorized volume knob that would move when you used the remote. I’m a simple man, but that always made me happy.
You just unlocked an ancient memory in me
Pfft. I had one of these.
Old? Buddy not only did I have an RCA system like that with surround sound as a kid, I have a Technics one in my living room now that I literally found on the side of the road. Full cabinet system with the floor speakers and everything. Radio tuner, cassette player, 6 disk CD player, phono preamp for my record player as well. I use it instead of a shitty sound bar or the tv speakers because it was free and sounds loads better.
Cd player? Oh you sweet summer child
Those all-in-one audio systems were fantastic, I will not hear any more of this slander
They are*, plenty of them still around and pretty much all of them superior to soundbars.
Soundbars are cute, but they are form over function. You just cannot expect good sound out of cheap single-driver applications where the tiny amplifier, power supply and electronics are all shoved into the same package with no regard for anything but keeping it slim. They need a separate subwoofer at a minimum.
Most people dont seem to own a stereo anymore. I know so few people who have anything more than an amazon echo or something similar. Sound quality is impressive for the size, but not at all good. They all use the same cheap 2" single speaker that has to produce high and low frequencies at the same time, so the sound is always muddy.
If you get an inexpensive (and tiny) class d amplifier from Fosi and a modest pair of bookshelf speakers, the sound is far better than smart speakers that cost 5x the price.
That EQ is worth its weight in gold.
And I would literally kill somebody for that record player and by literally killing I mean figuratively so not really at all.
I had a victrola. My grandma raised me.
That has a frigging CD player in it. Ours had an 8-track.
Missing an 8-track player. Not sure if Sony ever made one, but I imagine they might have.
Yes.
My ex had this. You can crank an astonishing amount of noise out of these things in a way a Bluetooth speaker paired to a device cannot. The first time I was over and he put it on as I was leaving, we were then outside his place and I still couldn’t hear him talking.
That one appears to have a CD player, which most certainly wasn’t included in the one I grew up with.
No problem, since it’s all modular, you could always add one later
My parents’ cabinet (console) didn’t even have the cassette tape unit, just turntable and reel-to-reel.
Ours has an 8 track, but no real to real, a later one has a cassette and 8-track (long after 8-tracks were obsolete.
I am that old, we just were never that rich.
My dad did splurge on a CD player that came in a self-contained one-off unit that also had a dual deck tape player pretty early on in 1989. He bought it off a encyclopaedia seller and it came with a huge collection of classical music CDs and a bunch of books. Pretty decent purchase, in the end, given the financing. None of my friends had an easy way to copy CDs to tape for years after that, so even that was ahead of the curve.
I dumped the CDs from that collection that haven’t died to disc rot last year, too.
Holy shit, that exact Sony EQ is right beside me! It’s an SEH-310, made in Japan, 1981. I’m old enough to remember racks like that, was far too poor for stack of Sony gear. My shit has always been a random mess of cobbled together gear.
This was common. I didn’t know anyone who actually went out and bought everything all the same brand right out of the gate.
There was always that one family in the neighborhood.
That was my dad, sorry. He was 100% the crabass who had the system and never let anybody touch it, and, worst of all, barely ever used it himself. It was just as fun being his daughter as it sounds. Plbbbt!
Lol, this comment at least makes up for it some 😂
Also, i love the aesthetic of these old stereos. Kinda makes me want to hunt one down now. Of course with my luck the market is probably hot for them these days so it’s probably not as cheap as it would have been 10-15 years ago and given the age there’s a chance they’ll need some TLC to get them working properly again… Then i would probably plug my phone in through the Aux and just end up using it that way like 90% of the time if I’m being real, lol 😅
The phone-aux concern is real. An old system like that is nice for decor if you like the look, but having a physical collection of music is so inconvenient when you’re used to streaming and mp3s, I fucking feel that.
If you do want one for the aesthetic, though, I’d recommend checking brick and mortar thrift stores or garage/estate sales. My nearby charity shop always has a few components stacked up on a shelf, same corner as the pandemic breadmakers, haha.
That’s a very good suggestion!! Next time I’m cruising past the goodwill or thrift store I’m gonna have to do a little exploring…
I have a mismatched stack of ancient shit as pictured and run my PC audio through the EQ and amp. Could use some tightening up for hiss, but good enough. Haven’t wired the tape deck yet, no CD player.
Getting matching gear together will cost ya. If you’re willing to take some time and mix and match, the thrifts and FB Marketplace have deals now and again.
We were decidedly middle class. My dad pounded tin for a living. He just liked music I guess.
I remember dorking around the EQ sliders, though having to reach a bit to get at them. This thing (black eye excluded) is probably why I’m hugely into music to this day. Some core memory forming shit or something
Honestly, aging capacitors and cracked motor drive belts aside, a complete hi-fi is a thing of beauty. And it’s supposed to be, hence the showy front and glass case to keep the dust off.
I’m no audiophile, but with refurbished power supplies, updated noise reduction* & EQ, and modern speaker technology, that setup would be an old media blasting beast.
* - for the uninitiated, or if you’re old enough to smell OP’s photo, the way tape-hiss intrudes on music is just hot garbage by today’s standards. So, having a way to mitigate it would be strongly advised.
Yes, but how does Huey Lewis sound on it?
LOL.
On CD? Almost as good as a new drug.
I’ve got news for you
So, having a way to mitigate it would be strongly advised.
oldReliable.jpg : Aux cord connected to digital music
Honestly, has there been any progress of high end speakers? On the low end sure, high end not so sure.
Progress has been steady as far as I can tell. We have a much better understanding of the physics now and much better material engineering.
The problem is that anything “high end” in the audio space is either for professional use, or for audiophiles, aka, expensive as all heck.
You’ll probably need another mortgage to get a setup like this working in modern days with all the up to date bells and whistles.
Don’t get me wrong, if you spend the cash, it will sound amazing. There’s some question as to what actually helps with sound quality and what is audiophile snake oil, but even with the snake oil, it sounds great; it just costs more than it would without the snake oil, and separating the snake oil from the stuff that actually improves the sound is a nightmare.
I assume engineering and materials used on higher end speakers today are better, but most are still hand made like their older counterparts. The reason why low-end mass produced speakers are much better today is because the manufacturing process is more automated. Usually handmade for mass produced stuff isn’t going to be as high quality as mass produced stuff made by a machine. This is me just speculating because I don’t work in that industry.
Compared with the 1980’s? IMO, absolutely, yes. At the very least we have stronger stationary magnets (neodymium) that make for more compact designs. They also need to hold up for higher and lower-end frequencies, due to how music has changed. I think the media used to make speaker cones uses more composites these days, instead of just stiff paper.
The market for a “nice stereo” kind of died, didn’t it?
Audiophiles get ridiculously high end gear that is intentionally fiddly. Like fully manual turntables where to change the speed you have to move the actual belt to a different pulley. Or you get a sound bar for your TV.
Boom boxes aren’t a thing anymore. Like, is that a symptom of a dying society?
intentionally fiddly. Like fully manual turntables
To be fair, the whole act of playing music on LP’s and 45’s is just… fiddly. Sleeves, cleaning the vinyl, occasionally replacing the needle, and flipping the album over after 20-30 minutes. It’s like reading a book - you dedicate time to fuss with all this stuff. So, futzing with the turntable itself is kind of like a “while I’m already here” sort of thing.
Boom boxes aren’t a thing anymore. Like, is that a symptom of a dying society?
Maybe just a changing one. Boomboxes were the combination of conspicuous consumption (yet down-market-ish), ready to party on the go (aspirationally), and building space for yourself with music (loud, annoying). The form-factor was also a product of its time: all the parts couldn’t be miniaturized any further than what you typically got. Portable bluetooth speakers do most of that work these days, while letting your phone do the heavy lifting of playing media, and the battery life is WAY better. If that was available back in 1984, everyone would have used that instead.
