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Originally Posted by JCE
I found my 1958 Zenith transoceanic Royal 1000 SW radio in the back of the closet the other day. This was the first transistorized portable SW radio, (the transistors plug into sockets and are removable because, well, thats the way they did it with vacuum tubes, so ...) It was the first portable to use 'D' cell batteries rather than the odd high voltage short lived 'brick' batteries previous portables needed. I stuck in 9 (!) D cells, and despite having been on the shelf for at least 15 years, it fired right up and tuned in stations in Germany, Kuwait, and Russia.
Intrigued, I did a search on the web and found comparison tests between these old units and new, $250 solid state digital tuner SW portable radios. The tests say the 1958 Zenith matched or exceeded everything the new radios accomplished, with the exception that the digital tuner was easier to use, and the newer ones had better between station noise filtering. On the other hand, all the Zenith compnents are 45+ years old - wonder what the results would be with fresh components! The Zenith also had better tone quality in the tests.
How many of you have older electronics that have held up well (in contrast to modern telephones, computers, etc.)?
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The same applies to professional music recording equipment as well.
Even with all of the amazing modern computer technology available for recording music, many people (myself included) prefer the "warm" sound of vintage, analog recording equipment.
You wouldn't believe some of the INSANE prices that are commonly paid for certain pieces of very desirable vintage recording gear (such as certain brands of analog recording/mixing consoles, pre-amps, compressors, equalizers, tube microphones, tube-powered guitar and/or bass amps, etc.).
I have a wish-list of certain pieces of recording gear that I'd like to acquire, and the going-rates for all of it reaches into the tens of thousands of dollars range!
Mike