Opinions on Recapping vs Repairing Vintage Receivers

The funny thing is that I have a (motley) bunch of '70s hifi components... but it's never been what I listened to regularly since I took my purchased-new Yamaha CA-610II "off line" when we moved up to NH (2013). Even then, the Yamaha was the family room stereo amp, used mostly with the TV and for 'background listening'.

The 70s stuff is all about nostalgia for me.
 
My modern gear is very much in a vintage mindset. Stereo integrated amp with phono input. My turntables are old. Both of my pairs of speakers are new but look old. I have a streamer but I'm moving a bit back to physical media as the last year, with all the g(#*#*da)**#ned video conferences and shit that goes with remote work plus the general online persona of the United States in 2020, has just made me despise the internet. My stereo, while not vintage, is used like a vintage stereo. Its a break from all the BS.

Not sure what this has to do with caps but if people want to recap or don't want to, I think they know what they're doing here and have their reasons.
 
I have an unrestored Marantz 2245 that I have been listening to in the shop for about the last year. It showed no obvious cap issues when I took the cover off last summer. Yesterday I turned it on and the tuner lights were flickering and radio sounded a bit distant, so it will probably get a full recap. Not an expensive proposition and the problem areas are particularly well documented. It is almost 50 years old, so it is getting a full refurb whether it needs it or not. Sometimes its just easier to spend a couple extra hours and take care of everything at once.
 
My modern gear is very much in a vintage mindset. Stereo integrated amp with phono input. My turntables are old. Both of my pairs of speakers are new but look old. I have a streamer but I'm moving a bit back to physical media as the last year, with all the g(#*#*da)**#ned video conferences and shit that goes with remote work plus the general online persona of the United States in 2020, has just made me despise the internet. My stereo, while not vintage, is used like a vintage stereo. Its a break from all the BS.

Not sure what this has to do with caps but if people want to recap or don't want to, I think they know what they're doing here and have their reasons.
I love the vintage aesthetics of your current system. Especially the Luxman and JBLs. But I couldn't come close to affording such a system at this time. I am ok with that as I have never found sound quality as important as this weird feeling of nostalgia I get when listening to vintage audio. But of course that nostalgia quickly disappears when your gear spends more time in the shop than in your room. And for me, nothing reminds me of that time in my life like a receiver. I wish it didn't, because I don't even listen to the tuner but it's just a feeling I get looking at it while listening to music.
 
Well. One thing I give Vintage gear over modern gear is the non audio tactile things. I had mentioned this regarding both my now departed Kenwood KA-9100 and my current, lovely sounding Cyrus Phono Signature. The buttons on the Cyrus are nowhere near the quality of engineering and quality of the knobs and buttons of the Kenwood. It was just another league of build. But there is absolutely no denying that the Cyrus Phono signature is lightyears ahead of the Kenwood's phono section. The closest I came to the Kenwood in regards to tactile quality was the Luxman EQ-500, which is a little over double the cost of the Cyrus.
 
I love the vintage aesthetics of your current system. Especially the Luxman and JBLs. But I couldn't come close to affording such a system at this time. I am ok with that as I have never found sound quality as important as this weird feeling of nostalgia I get when listening to vintage audio. But of course that nostalgia quickly disappears when your gear spends more time in the shop than in your room. And for me, nothing reminds me of that time in my life like a receiver. I wish it didn't, because I don't even listen to the tuner but it's just a feeling I get looking at it while listening to music.
I still go back and forth on wanting to run the new(er) Luxman or the HK Citation Receiver. The Luxman sounds better, and with the HK I would need to run a phono pre because the phono preamp on it is surprisingly mediocre, but the HK is just so....cool. It's much more cool than the Luxman even with the Luxman's big blue meters. It's the one receiver I kept, and that's kind of why I bought it. I just don't ever NOT want to have a vintage receiver. Its what got me into this hobby, I used to collect them, had dozens...and they give me that warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia.

My nostalgia is based around them when they were already used. I grew up in the '80s and vintage receivers were what was in friend's basements and wreck rooms. They had been passed up by 80s black boxes, to end up in the room us kids played in.
 
The 70s stuff is all about nostalgia for me.
That is the only reason I want to keep one set of components here--it's the first "real" system I had. It sounds like ass, but I had so many great years listening to it. Likewise, the Hafler preamp I assembled isn't going anywhere, as it still works perfectly. And the first "real" pair of speakers can probably stay. Grandpa's Heathkit receiver? His work was meticulous. That stays also. The rest? Either it goes in the trash bin (a pile of dead Sony products) or gets sold/donated.
 
Oh, and as for the price...I bought the Luxman with proceeds from selling off my vintage collection. As well as a BMW Z3. I had a LOT of gear. I collapsed it all down into that system.
 
That is the only reason I want to keep one set of components here--it's the first "real" system I had. It sounds like ass, but I had so many great years listening to it. Likewise, the Hafler preamp I assembled isn't going anywhere, as it still works perfectly. And the first "real" pair of speakers can probably stay. Grandpa's Heathkit receiver? His work was meticulous. That stays also. The rest? Either it goes in the trash bin (a pile of dead Sony products) or gets sold/donated.
I knew over the years I was going to bail on the vintage thing, which is probably why here and there I picked out a few things to give to my dad. I think I'm out of the game then I visit and see that, oh yeah, there's my ARC Sp-3a1, there's my Dual 721, there's this and that... getting better use than it did in my closet, and I'm glad its still in the family.
 
My problem is that I hate selling stuff online, and that the pile I own really isn't worth that much. I still get that occasional bug where I think of a 70s or 80s component I wish I'd owned back in the day, and go looking for one....then realize I have nowhere to use it.

Given how little most of it is worth, the best I could manage is a used Yugo...
 
My problem is that I hate selling stuff online, and that the pile I own really isn't worth that much. I still get that occasional bug where I think of a 70s or 80s component I wish I'd owned back in the day, and go looking for one....then realize I have nowhere to use it.

Given how little most of it is worth, the best I could manage is a used Yugo...
I had a friend who sold it all for me, and he took a percentage. Well worth it to me, and he had fun playing with all that gear. I just ripped the bandage off.... gave it all to him on one day right before moving. Several SUV trips worth.
 
That topic has become, to me, the best argument for running vintage gear. Most of the other arguments have fallen down for me. It doesn't sound better than anything made today, though I have known some people who like the sound of aging gear. It isn't better built than anything made today, though it may be better built than some of it up to a price. What it looks like is subjective. And nostalgia is relative to the person's age.

But if it's what you like? If it's what you WANT to run? If it's what connects you to the music, for whatever reason even if it is or isn't about the sound quality? How can anybody argue with that?

That might be one of the reasons I bolted from other audio boards and now chill out here in this quaint cul de sac with its nice pub. I got tired of fighting about something that, in the end, is inconsequential to anything direly important, and that doesn't need a logical, objective, reason for choices... and if it does for any given person? Well, that's great too. Who cares? It's just a stereo. That should be a relief in today's world, not something to fight over.

Preach brother! I tried several other audio forum sites before I landed here, and what the moderators would allow or ignore chased me away. Just general nastiness and arrogance by many posters.
 
Preach brother! I tried several other audio forum sites before I landed here, and what the moderators would allow or ignore chased me away. Just general nastiness and arrogance by many posters.
I can't say I didn't used to get into it all the time, I did. Not sure why. That kind of attitude is contagious. You get somebody telling you that you're doing it wrong and your natural reaction is to tell them the same.
 
Seems unavoidable though, doesn't it? When broken down to its component parts it's entertainment and belief systems.
 
I can't say I didn't used to get into it all the time, I did. Not sure why. That kind of attitude is contagious. You get somebody telling you that you're doing it wrong and your natural reaction is to tell them the same.
I’d say most of us are guilty of some level of repaying nastiness and arrogance with the same at some point. I used to debate people on politics when they would share something on social media that was blatantly false, but came to realize I was wasting my time and getting worked up over something no level of fact sharing would change. I learned to ignore most posts of this sort and for those that feel social media is their place to air that nonsense continuously I simply blocked them.
 
And I appreciate it. Even though my budget and systems are modest compared to many on this site, I love talking audio equipment, music, and the rest. Thanks to all who moderate here.
It's never about money or the quality of gear. We aren't here to impress anyone with out wallets, or our willingness to burn out the credit card in the quest to have the "right" system. I've learned a lot from what you are putting together, and I alway enjoyed seeing where your path is taking you.
 
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