I didn't know where to post this so maybe admin will move it to the appropriate section.
I wanted to know if anyone else here is into vintage hi-fi from 1970s -1990s and if so, what is their experience of buying it and any tips or guidance or preferences for speakers, amps, tape decks, cd players or what era they prefer. Has anyone mixed vintage with modern such as old amps with new speakers or vice versa or modern streaming devices with vintage gear. Any preferences for certain makes of speakers or amps?
Klipsch Heresy speakers, McIntosh solid state amplifier. The speakers are amazing, some of the best you will ever hear. They are usually unfinished looking in plain plywood which makes them go unnoticed. McIntosh solid state amplifier, 60 watts, would give you everything you would need with those speakers. They have tube models but I think those would cost thousands.
The 1970s and 1980s have some of the best high fidelity speakers and amplifiers ever made, in my opinion. JBL made standing speakers that were incredible and so efficient you could shake the room or house with just a few watts.
My suggestion is not to go with looks, go with performance. The best way to test equipment is to play something with high dynamic range. The best audio to test speakers et al would be CDs by Flim and the BB's. Strange name I know. Get their Tricycle album. Using this bands music to test audio is so universal that when I was in Boston at a house a salesperson had just to demonstrate equipment, I started asking if he had the group and he finished my sentence for me and got out the CD I was thinking of and even the track.
The point of high dynamic range, something you can test with a good vinyl LP too is to listen with your eyes closed, if you have eyesight. Listen from the very beginning of the song, I mean the part that you usually think of as silent. It isn't. If you listen to a track you have heard many many times on other equipment, you will notice there are sounds where you never heard them before, starting before you realized there was music.
Keep listening and notice instruments starting sooner than you realized and trailing off faintly the same. Really great equipment will let you hear what you've been missing all this time.