One of the best vintage hi-fi shops in the world?

[BTH K10A]

Not for sale and it's likely you've seen it before but this is one on the most amazing collections of vintage hifi anywhere. Browse room by room.

Good reference material too.

http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Vanguard/room1/room1.htm

[Barry]

Not for sale and it's likely you've seen it before but this is one on the most amazing collections of vintage hifi anywhere. Browse room by room.

Good reference material too.

http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Vanguard/room1/room1.htm

What an incredible collection of ancient equipment. Obviously the man is not married!

No doubt it sounded amazing in 1930, but I'd imagine it sounds hopelessly coloured now. Fancy using a record cutting lathe as a turntable!

Seriously, the only items that interest me and that I covet are: the Nagra 4.2 reel to reel; the wonderful collection of Ortofon/EMT cartridges and possibly the Mimisis amplifiers.

Sorry

[BTH K10A]

What an incredible collection of ancient equipment. Obviously the man is not married!

No doubt it sounded amazing in 1930, but I'd imagine it sounds hopelessly coloured now. Fancy using a record cutting lathe as a turntable!

Seriously, the only items that interest me and that I covet are: the Nagra 4.2 reel to reel; the wonderful collection of Ortofon/EMT cartridges and possibly the Mimisis amplifiers.

Sorry

Don't fudge an old book by it's cover. Granted some of the old 78 equipment may not be up to todays standards but most of the eqipment would show a clean pair of heels to the majority of hifi produced today.

A large ammount of the collection is kit built for cinema and recording studio use and were built without cost constraints. You would be amazed how uncoloured a large vintage cinema horn system is. The only area where the old kit may not match todays standards is in the HF response. Most of the old stuff never went above 16-17kHz. Then again most of us probably can't hear much above that anyway.

The neumann cutting lathe is a not the cheapest way to play vinyl but considering considering it's direct drive and most of the classic recorings were cut on one its specs must be good. Incidently the motor in these was made by Lyrec and the collection has a Lyrec AG40-2, thats the one that looks similar to an EMT 927F. It uses the same motor as the lathe and is direct drive. In later years some of these lathes were converted to use the Technics SP10 Mk 3 motor.
He also has a few Neumann tonearms and cartridges that were contemporary with the Ortofon cartridges that are novel in their design.

[Marco]

Bazza, old chap, soz, but you're showing your ignorance (or perhaps, bias?)....

I have to agree here with Andy:

You would be amazed how uncoloured a large vintage cinema horn system is.

Indeed - Altec 'Voice of the Theatre' stuff rules! It sounds freaking amazing

I just love horns, done well, as they have a realism and dynamic impact completely lacking in 'conventional' speakers. I mean, you've gotta lurve this:




I can just imagine how AWESOME that must sound on the end of a top-notch system!

And of course, everyone's lounge should look something like this:







Like Andy says, apart from the old 78 stuff, most of the gear that guy has would sonically piss all over much of the equipment made today!

Marco.

P.S Oh, and check out his music collection!! This dude's not just a vintage hi-fi freak.....

[BTH K10A]

And of course, everyone's lounge should look something like this:

There's so much to see on that site it's like visual overload. I hadn't really noticed those amps in the pic. Obviously new build but looks like single ended WE 212 or STC 4212 driven by a WE 205D. Voltages to fry an elephant on the anode of that 212 and supposedly can put out 90 watts single ended.

Marco, at one time my lounge/music room did look like that.
No cutting lathe but plenty of Klangfilm, Telefunken and british valve amps plus cinema horns and drivers (BTH, Vitavox, BAF etc), 3 pairs of big JBL's and quite a few EMT's and Garrards. Fortunately we have another two lounges and a dining room so the wife was ok with it.

[Marco]

Hi Andy,

I know, that's what you call a valve!!

I'd love to hear those amps, with some Klangflims, Westrex or Altecs on the end!!

Marco, at one time my lounge/music room did look like that.
No cutting lathe but plenty of Klangfilm, Telefunken and british valve amps plus cinema horns and drivers (BTH, Vitavox, BAF etc), 3 pairs of big JBL's and quite a few EMT's and Garrards. Fortunately we have another two lounges and a dining room so the wife was ok with it.

Hehehe... Respect! You really do need a dedicated listening room to be able to build a proper system, unless you live alone.

What you mention is proper hi-fi equipment that most people these days wouldn’t have a clue of its capabilities, produced in an era when there was genuine innovation in audio. The cinema horns, in particular, are just awesome things.

If anyone wants to hear the closest thing to live music in their room, those are the babies to use!

Marco.

[Jonboy]

Not for sale and it's likely you've seen it before but this is one on the most amazing collections of vintage hifi anywhere. Browse room by room.

Good reference material too.

http://www.gokudo.co.jp/Vanguard/room1/room1.htm

As you say Some amazing stuff there

[Reid Malenfant]

Jeez those Avantgarde Trios are enormous

I'd love to hear a pair 10W of class A should knock your socks off

[BTH K10A]

The cinema horns, in particular, are just awesome things.
If anyone wants to hear the closest thing to live music in their room, those are the babies to use!
Marco.

Only ever had the one of these but with a pair of 18" vintage dual concentrics (effectively permanent magnet WE 4181's with a horn centre) in a makeshift front loaded horn and wired up to use the bass cones only and driven by a Decca PAVI Px4 amp the result was astonishing. Obviously mono only but with great depth, height and body. Too big and bulky to live with though.

[Marco]

Lol - Andy, that's just outrageous, but I love it!

Is that your room? If so, very nice it is, with a superb collection of vinyl

Marco.