I'd been missing these little buggers since I sold the last ones I owned to my friend John nearly ten years ago.
A bit of history:
I bought a set of these new back in 1979 shortly after they came out. I remember first seeing them while walking down the aisle at LaBelle's and I did a double-take as I strode past. What the fuck were these?
There was no internet at the time where I could go look them up. Fortunately there was an print ad and a product brochure available that answered all my questions. The fire had been started. One way or another I had to get a set!
At the time the tuner and pre-amp each sold for $260 (approx. $950 in today's dollars). The power amp was $360 ($1300 now). Not out of reach, but definitely not cheap.
And even though I was making decent money at the time and still living at home, I couldn't afford to buy the entire set at once. (Like I couldn't afford to buy the complete set all at once at today's prices either, because using the same inflation calculator I used to determine today's price, I made the very sad discovery that my overall wages have essentially remained stagnant for the last 40 years.) So they came piecemeal over the course of about two months.
At the time they were wonders of technology, packing the performance and specs of full-sized audio components into a very small form factor. Probably not all that surprising today, but thirty-nine years ago it was amazing. It was a trend followed by the entire industry, but Technics did it first, and in my humble opinion—even after all these years—did it best. The fit and finish of these components remains unparalleled. Each case was milled from a solid block of aluminum and everything from the adjustable feet on the bottom to the trippy LED power meter on the amp spoke attention to detail.
I sold the set a few months after I bought them because—despite their technological prowess—I'd been spoiled by the sound of my Sony V-FET amp, and despite its proclivity for self-destruction, maintaining that sound was (at least for the first few years) worth the expense of getting it repaired each time it happened.
I reconnected with the Technics Micro Series in 2000 via eBay. In fact, I picked up a couple sets, immediately reselling one for a slight profit. I held onto the other set until around 2008, when my desire for a shiny new DSLR outweighed my need to keep them, and off to John they went.
While I have thoroughly enjoyed the camera over the years and don't regret having sold them in order to get it, every time I ran across a photo of these components online, I felt a little pang. Now and then I'd ask John if he'd be willing to part with them if I wanted to buy them back, and without fail he'd say he was "keeping them for me" and I could get them back any time.
That is, until a couple weeks ago, when I actually had funds available to do it. "I'd like to keep the set honestly."
As luck would have it, however, two other sets were being offered on eBay, both of which going for substantially less than what I would've paid John to get my set back. The cheaper of the two eBay sets looked like it'd been ridden hard and put away wet. The other had only a few minor scuffs, and was definitely worth the $100 differential between the two. I threw caution to the wind, and clicked "Buy It Now."
I had a milestone birthday coming up, y'know…
They arrived yesterday. The seller knew what he was doing with the packing, as they arrived in perfect condition. He even sent them Priority Mail (a friggin' $79 expense) at no additional cost.
I haven't tested everything yet, but they are connected to the television and believe me, to these 60 year old ears, they sound just fine.
And those power meters are just as trippy now as they were in 1980.