07-12-2016, 07:36 PM
The debate's as old as the hills really, but here goes one more time ...
If all that matters is performance/reliability then we should strip out absolutely everything we possibly can and replace it with new. It will measure better and last longer. (But maybe we should really just buy a new one ?)
If the vintage nature counts for anything, anything at all, then we will have to draw a line somewhere. The debate now is just about where to draw the line - vintageness versus performance/reliability. For some folks it's OK if it looks the same from the outside (I've seen radiograms which contain not a single piece of the original electronics, or speakers, or record deck - lovely cabinet though). There are others who are happy to preserve the concept of the original piece, and maybe one or two components (the mains and output transformers in a power amp, say) but who will modernise any of the other components they can get to. The next bunch down (actually up, since I'm in here somewhere) will keep what they reasonably can, tweaking it if necessary and only replacing it completely if it's failed completely or if it's likely to fail and take something precious with it (yes, I mean you, Hunts Micamoulds !). Then there are the people who are primarily in this game for the vintageness. The thing is not going to have to earn its keep - it's going to sit on a shelf instead. It'll look wonderful, it may be worth proper money to like-minded collectors, it'll have been a joy to get 'just right' and it will give future generations a really accurate guide to how this stuff was once done. For them there's no need to change anything really, except to reverse anything at all that's been done since the kit was built, because all the more recent bits are not true to the original.
You pays your money and you takes your choice, as they say, and I don't really have a problem with that. If I ever do feel the urge to describe someone else's approach as 'nuts' though, well, I bite my lip and remember that I voluntarily spend my time out in a workshop fiddling with vintage audio gear. Mrs VB would remind me very pointedly about a bloke in a glass house not throwing too many stones
.
VB
If all that matters is performance/reliability then we should strip out absolutely everything we possibly can and replace it with new. It will measure better and last longer. (But maybe we should really just buy a new one ?)
If the vintage nature counts for anything, anything at all, then we will have to draw a line somewhere. The debate now is just about where to draw the line - vintageness versus performance/reliability. For some folks it's OK if it looks the same from the outside (I've seen radiograms which contain not a single piece of the original electronics, or speakers, or record deck - lovely cabinet though). There are others who are happy to preserve the concept of the original piece, and maybe one or two components (the mains and output transformers in a power amp, say) but who will modernise any of the other components they can get to. The next bunch down (actually up, since I'm in here somewhere) will keep what they reasonably can, tweaking it if necessary and only replacing it completely if it's failed completely or if it's likely to fail and take something precious with it (yes, I mean you, Hunts Micamoulds !). Then there are the people who are primarily in this game for the vintageness. The thing is not going to have to earn its keep - it's going to sit on a shelf instead. It'll look wonderful, it may be worth proper money to like-minded collectors, it'll have been a joy to get 'just right' and it will give future generations a really accurate guide to how this stuff was once done. For them there's no need to change anything really, except to reverse anything at all that's been done since the kit was built, because all the more recent bits are not true to the original.
You pays your money and you takes your choice, as they say, and I don't really have a problem with that. If I ever do feel the urge to describe someone else's approach as 'nuts' though, well, I bite my lip and remember that I voluntarily spend my time out in a workshop fiddling with vintage audio gear. Mrs VB would remind me very pointedly about a bloke in a glass house not throwing too many stones
.VB
Ampregen Ltd http://www.ampregen.com
