You can't go home again.

[MikeO]

One thing to keep in mind is the room you will be in. I struggle with this all the time. The system I would have in any future potential larger mancave would be different than I have now. My tiny bookshelf speakers sound better than any large speakers I have tried in my incredibly tiny listening space. But I really want a pair of Altec Model 14s just because of the way they look. And I know they won't sound good in this room. So I keep telling myself to stay put until I actually get a bigger room. Must resist temptation as I look at 3 pairs for sale.

I am not sure what your near future living situation will be. If you can see a near future with a mancave where you can set up all the big stuff, it might make sense to store it and just make slight tweeks to your current system just to get through the short term. Ie. Buy a cheap modern tiny phono stage to tuck behind the citation and a decent mid range cartridge that isn't fussy. (Nagaoka?). Added bonus, when you do get a space to set up the big system your normal will have been set lower and it will sound even better.

If you think you will be in a small space for a long time, then it may be time to re-assess the system for simplicity and size. Something like Erik's Meadowlark active speakers do a lot in a small package. But of course, we all know that this hobby also leaves us always wanting to try new things so the initial appeal of simplicity leaves us considering what we can do to improve it.

 

[JohnVF]

I recall plugging the Yamaha A-1 into my setup before selling it, and being, for the first time in a long time, really surprised by how a vintage piece sounded with the Harbeths. It's a really good integrated, and adheres to a lot of the philosophy of modern gear...simplicity, etc, instead of a pre section loaded with this that and the other.

 

[MikeT.]

I've no history of WAF issues, thank goodness. I understand your darling's love of the Citation as I'm sure it sounds quite good and is almost absurdly beautiful. Solve the phono aspect and be happy for the nonce.

Even without solving the phono aspect, you’re 80% there @JohnVF , very good sound, high WAF and terrific gear.

 

[Ds2000]

The Tandberg 2080 is the one receiver that still intrigues me, after getting the Citation Receiver. Though given how far down the Citation is in the sonic pecking order here, I may just leave that one to 'what could have been' status.

So much of this thread is about my love/hate relationship with my own path in this hobby. I really want to love vintage audio ....but I end up loving it more in theory than I end up loving it in reality.

I’ve been curious about that Citation. I’d have one just to look at, but yes I have other things here I prefer to listen to.
The Tandberg is a curious one too, it was more of a mashup of three things they had handy into one. The tuner is their really excellent varactor based item. Itmtoo has been restored, but it only exists as a memento of my past. This belonged to a friend, I bought it for her in 2000 or so as the front end of a nice little system. So I had it rebuilt to run some Sonab OA5/2, but more for nostalgia and the preservation of a memory.
I’ll hopefully find a Citation sometime to put next to it and run some JBL C50/S8

 

[JohnVF]

I’ve been curious about that Citation. I’d have one just to look at, but yes I have other things here I prefer to listen to.
The Tandberg is a curious one too, it was more of a mashup of three things they had handy into one. The tuner is their really excellent varactor based item. Itmtoo has been restored, but it only exists as a memento of my past. This belonged to a friend, I bought it for her in 2000 or so as the front end of a nice little system. So I had it rebuilt to run some Sonab OA5/2, but more for nostalgia and the preservation of a memory.
I’ll hopefully find a Citation sometime to put next to it and run some JBL C50/S8

The Citation was, for me, putting the period at the end of a long sentence. I started out as a vintage receiver and integrated amp collector about 15 years ago. I had maybe a couple dozen over a few years, back when you could find them pretty cheaply. The one I always wanted was The Citation Receiver, but I’d only seen them in photos. I eventually moved on to more esoteric things but a soft spot for receivers remained and when this one was made available to me I felt I had to get it, to finish that path. I do like it, quite a bit, but I don’t prefer it as my only stereo.

 

[Kpatch]

For a while I had a thrift store find of an Advent Model 300. Under the hood it looked cheaply made because it was cheaply made BUT it had an outstanding phono preamp designed by Tomlinson Holman, later Mr. “THX”. Only 15w though, but a beautiful sounding phono pre. Not my preferred look. Gave it to my nephew.

I also had a Yammie CR-1040. Very pretty, very shiny. Worked a treat. Very smartly designed open chassis layout for those clever enough - not me - to actually work on them. Anyway, that nice man who crawled in through the bathroom window
took it along with as much as he could stuff into his car while we were at the first Terminator movie. He apparently butterfingered my brand new AR turntable on the way out, dropping it in the driveway and snapping off the arm. He thoughtfully left it where it fell. People can be so considerate. No, thankfully, he wasn’t back.

 

[JohnVF]

For a while I had a thrift store find of an Advent Model 300. Under the hood it looked cheaply made because it was cheaply made BUT it had an outstanding phono preamp designed by Tomlinson Holman, later Mr. “THX”. Only 15w though, but a beautiful sounding phono pre. Not my preferred look. Gave it to my nephew.

I also had a Yammie CR-1040. Very pretty, very shiny. Worked a treat. Very smartly designed open chassis layout for those clever enough - not me - to actually work on them. Anyway, that nice man who crawled in through the bathroom window
took it along with as much as he could stuff into his car while we were at the first Terminator movie. He apparently butterfingered my brand new AR turntable on the way out, dropping it in the driveway and snapping off the arm. He thoughtfully left it where it fell. People can be so considerate. No, thankfully, he wasn’t back.

As tragic as that was, I applaud you for following through with the "I'll be bahck" reference. And sorry about the loss. I, too, had a CR-1040 and it was a very nice receiver. One of the first ones I had in my collecting days. I had a CR-2020, too, which was a keeper that I didn't keep. I cannot even remember who ended up with some of this stuff, though I think my friend Ross bought it?

 

[Kpatch]

As tragic as that was, I applaud you for following through with the "I'll be bahck" reference. And sorry about the loss. I, too, had a CR-1040 and it was a very nice receiver. One of the first ones I had in my collecting days. I had a CR-2020, too, which was a keeper that I didn't keep. I cannot even remember who ended up with some of this stuff, though I think my friend Ross bought it?

The police actually caught the guy but all the stuff had already been fenced and I never saw any of it again.The funny part - if you could call it funny - was that he thought he had actually robbed my neighbor’s apt, who apparently owed him money. The true tragedy was that he had the balls to go back in to get the four crates of records which included my LedZep 1 signed by John Bonham! Son of a bitch!

 

[JohnVF]

I think I’ve been a bit unfair to the Citation in this assessment. The line level playback is actually pretty good. I’m just tainted by how much of a drop off the phono stage is. But beyond sound I really like using it. It’s just cool and fun to use.

So much so that I’m thinking of trying something different in this setup than the Benchmark amp I’ve been pondering in another thread. More to come. Maybe.

 

[JohnVF]

Ok yeah, its official I went a different direction, this one inspired somewhat by the Citation and a long overdue Detroit tax refund.

 

[S0und Dragon]

Ok yeah, its official I went a different direction, this one inspired somewhat by the Citation and a long overdue Detroit tax refund.

I was never fooled in the first place......So HA! Whatcha git?

 

[Drugolf]

I like this thread.

 

[JohnVF]

I like this thread.

I'm happy that you did. I just realized that I never finished it, and I should have because it had a happy conclusion.

The Citation Receiver was almost there, and it was the kind of thing I really wanted. All of my original stereos growing up were kind of all-in-ones. Fake '80s 'rack' units...one cheap box that looked like components, but really just a receiver that didn't look like one. And then after that a 1970s silver-faced Kenwood receiver in the early 1990s when such things weren't cool.Those kind of things were how I originally enjoyed listening to music, before the separates came along with their sound quality...but without the fun of just sitting there with an integrated amp or receiver and having everything at your fingertips and one power button. Something to focus on as the thing making the music. So the Citation led directly to the Luxman L-507u mentioned in another thread. And I finally have what I was after all this time... a listening experience like I had when was younger, but with sound quality that approaches that of my modern separates, something all of the vintage receivers and integrated amps I've had over the years failed to do. Even the headphone output sounds great. I'm so happy with this thing... I wish I'd gone this route sooner.

Blurry photo until the light is better:

 

[Drugolf]

I just read the other thread. Good for you. Great exercise. Sorta a chance to reassess things I guess and today with everything else hoovering around us 24/7, it is nice to simplify things wherever we can. I find our MCM furnishing to be a big part of that.