It's a Sickness

So I bought another piece of vintage audio gear off eBay.

What follows is no doubt going to be a long winded dissertation from an aging audio-enthusiast who no longer has any living friends with whom to discuss this shit, so if it's not your cup of tea, I won't be offended if you just skip to the next entry of nekkid menz or political griping…

For the last several weeks I've been contemplating dropping some serious coin on a new amplifier/receiver, but keep returning mentally to the incredible build quality and nostalgia of my existing equipment and the urge passes. I'm quite enamored of my current receiver, as exemplified by my numerous posts waxing poetic about it. But still, there's something enticing about getting a unit that's brand new and has all the modern bells and whistles built-in.

Don't misunderstand; my Kenwood is great and I'm happy with it…but there's something missing—a punch, a presence—that to be honest I haven't experienced since the days of my old Yamaha A-700 amp that I bought new in 1986 and owned until 1999. (I foolishly sold it after having been bitten by the eBay vintage bug and was able to pick up equipment I'd lusted over 25 years earlier for cents on the dollar.) When I think about the thousands of dollars I've spent on this shit over the past 24 years, my Starbucks habit pales in comparison.

Anyhow, that's why I'd been looking at new Yamaha gear. But my god…the price! Could I justify $1800 for a new piece of audio equipment when what I currently owned was more than adequate?

No. At least not at this point in time.

But it got me thinking. Can I get that famous Yamaha sound that I longed for…  inexpensively?

For shits-n-giggles, I went on eBay and searched for Yamaha A-700 amps. I'd done this before over the past couple years and was always disappointed. The units offered for sale looked like they'd been through rock tumblers. This time was different, however. There were several that supposedly worked and looked decent, but one stood out that was truly stunning for a 37 year old piece of black anodized equipment. (Black anodized aluminum does not generally age well and mercilessly shows every scratch and ding, unlike regular anodized aluminum which is much more forgiving to the eye.) And it was quite reasonably priced at $350. The seller indicated that everything worked and the unit sounded great.

Next I went over to YouTube and checked for videos of this model—to see if there were any common and/or glaring repair issues looming that I should be aware of before hitting that BUY IT NOW button. Both the A-700s I'd owned (yeah, I bought a replacement unit in 2002 because I missed the sound so much that this is not something new) were rock solid…but that was twenty years ago. The construction was first rate (as was pretty much anything you bought from Yamaha at the time). The internal components they used were of highest quality, so I didn't anticipate needing a recapping or anything (something I paid my tech up north to do with both my Technics micro series and the Kenwood 7400—and afterward were both ultimately put in storage as I returned to my Kenwood 6600).

This "new" Yamaha may need some work done, based on what I saw on YouTube, but nothing that would break the bank. So I went ahead and bought it.

Ben bemusedly just shook his head, but since he is as guilty as I am of spending money, he also pointed out that with my retirement looming in a mere 14 months, we both need to cut back on our superfluous purchases.

Hence the reason why theoretically I could afford to spend $1800 on a brand new receiver now (because in 14 months that will be an impossibility) at this point in time, I won't.