Initially I had not set out to build a vintage audio system. I bought a Stanton t.52 turntable and hooked it up through a preamp into a Sony 5.1 receiver just sitting in our attic. The turntable was nice, it had good reviews for its price range. The Sony receiver had a nice steady power output and two good bookshelf speakers, early on I had removed the midrange because there really wasn’t any use for a third speaker until I found a subwoofer to help the smaller woofers of the bookshelf speakers.

I knew at some point I would add a cassette deck to the system. To be honest, I was frustrated with the reviews for the newer decks in my price range. It was because of constant complaint about their cheap construction that I began searching Ebay for a used deck. I found a JVC KD-V100 for $40 with free shipping. There are better decks and more vintage decks, but not at that price. This player from the middle 1980’s uses all major cassette types including chrome and metal and has Dolby noise reduction. Someday I will probably get a better deck but this one records very well from Vinyl or CD. It also plays my copy of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Soundtrack, so what I lose in Total Harmonic Distortion I make up in Turtle Power.

After purchasing my first vintagy piece I realized just how new the old Sony receiver looked, and how bored it sounded. It’s like through every song the receiver wanted to say, “I have all these channels and you’re just using two, please, add a TV or something. Due to the complaints of my receiver I decided to start looking for other vintage parts. I began looking at reel-to-reels, 8 tracks, receivers, amplifiers, and speakers. After spending a month on Ebay I realized I was never going to be able to get the piece I wanted for the right price because of shipping. That’s when I started hitting thrift stores and Craigslist.

One day I found a reel to reel on Craigslist thirty minutes away, I never called the seller until my wife encouraged me to do so a day later. Of course, the post was already 3 days old and his number was disconnected. But I noticed something else had popped up while I was trying to contact him. A woman who had just finished a yard sale posted her receiver and speakers, which didn’t sell. I found out she had a Pioneer SX-650 and two HPM-60 speakers.

I bought the set for 100 dollars. I found out that she bought this system new. I looked up when that was, and it would have been between 1977 and 1979. This system had only had one owner, and she was glad someone saw in it what she did, she had spent decades enjoying music through this receiver and didn’t want to just give it away. I learned a lot setting this system up, mainly distance matters, the further away I moved my speakers from the turntable the better everything sounded. I still struggle with the phono input though, I have a nice stable sound through the auxiliary input using my preamp, but I randomly lose left or right with the phono, also when I got the speakers home I noticed I was missing a terminal, which was a little difficult to replace.

Covered in sweat I wondered if all the work was going to be worth it. The speakers sat for days as I waited on a replacement part. Then, when I finally got the part I played Beck’s Morning Phase on vinyl and realized how different the sound was. My Sony speakers projected an amplified sound adequately and clearly, the HPM 60’s offer something else, a full rounded sound, almost soft. It is like I am resting on a bed of pine needles in spring while a breeze blew over my body. It is so different. Everything is clear and round and also soft, like the embrace of a lover.

I don’t have audiophile ears. And I learned through my reading that I don’t really have a HiFi system. I know that the SX-650 with its 300 dollar price tag was the “affordable” model in 1977. It pushes a solid 35 watts per channel with Total Harmonic Distortion of only 0.3%. And though they tell me it’s not a HiFi system, there seems to be consensus that it is a good vintage system But in the end that doesn’t mean much to me I can tell the color of the music and the feel, and that’s fine for me. Over time I may add another turntable but until then, I will continue the tradition of the woman who sold me the system and rock on.