I was 4 years old, listening to a record on headphones connected to this rig. Leaned too far back, and caught the 1/4 inch input jack on the headphones right in my fucking eyeball.

  • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    edit-2
    10 hours ago

    Honestly, aging capacitors and cracked motor drive belts aside, a complete hi-fi is a thing of beauty. And it’s supposed to be, hence the showy front and glass case to keep the dust off.

    I’m no audiophile, but with refurbished power supplies, updated noise reduction* & EQ, and modern speaker technology, that setup would be an old media blasting beast.

    * - for the uninitiated, or if you’re old enough to smell OP’s photo, the way tape-hiss intrudes on music is just hot garbage by today’s standards. So, having a way to mitigate it would be strongly advised.

    • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      10 hours ago

      So, having a way to mitigate it would be strongly advised.

      oldReliable.jpg : Aux cord connected to digital music

    • Benaaasaaas@group.lt
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Honestly, has there been any progress of high end speakers? On the low end sure, high end not so sure.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        8 hours ago

        Progress has been steady as far as I can tell. We have a much better understanding of the physics now and much better material engineering.

        The problem is that anything “high end” in the audio space is either for professional use, or for audiophiles, aka, expensive as all heck.

        You’ll probably need another mortgage to get a setup like this working in modern days with all the up to date bells and whistles.

        Don’t get me wrong, if you spend the cash, it will sound amazing. There’s some question as to what actually helps with sound quality and what is audiophile snake oil, but even with the snake oil, it sounds great; it just costs more than it would without the snake oil, and separating the snake oil from the stuff that actually improves the sound is a nightmare.

      • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        8 hours ago

        Compared with the 1980’s? IMO, absolutely, yes. At the very least we have stronger stationary magnets (neodymium) that make for more compact designs. They also need to hold up for higher and lower-end frequencies, due to how music has changed. I think the media used to make speaker cones uses more composites these days, instead of just stiff paper.

      • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        9 hours ago

        I assume engineering and materials used on higher end speakers today are better, but most are still hand made like their older counterparts. The reason why low-end mass produced speakers are much better today is because the manufacturing process is more automated. Usually handmade for mass produced stuff isn’t going to be as high quality as mass produced stuff made by a machine. This is me just speculating because I don’t work in that industry.