Anyone into vintage audio?

I've opted for modern convenience over the past decade or so, soundbars, bluetooth speakers etc. Growing up my dad was an audiophile and was constantly upgrading his stereo. I eventually bought a decent setup in college with a Harmon Kardon Receiver and Infinity Kappa 5.1's. A couple of years after college my dad gave me his set of B&W 802's and an old high current amp called "the leach amp". I figured I'd roll with that forever, but eventually I unhooked it and moved to bluetooth audio.

A few weeks ago I was cleaning out my basement and decided to test the speakers I have. I started with some B&W rock solid speakers, still sound decent but they are small and a cheap offering from B&W. I tried the Kappa's and they sounded terrible, opened the grill and the cushions surrounding the speakers was completely disintigrated. I then tried the B&W 802's and they sound great. But they are studio monitors, they produce a "true" sound. I then tried a cheap but large pair of fischer speakers from the 80's that I got from my grandmother's estate. They boomed, but lack clarity.

So, I brought the 802's back up to my office, but now I want something more musical, something that booms with clarity. I always loved those Kappa speakers, so I got the foam to replace and started looking at Kappa 8.1's to match the 5.1's but produce "bigger better sound", and use the 5.1's as rears. But I did some research and the foam disintigrating is a common theme, and the 8's have a "polycell" tweater that is fragile and an expensive repair. So I looked at other speakers, wanted to buy a set of Thiel cs3.6's but the guy never responded.

Then I saw a pair of Polk Audio SDA SRS 2.3TL that a guy was selling for $800, the value range was 800-2000 and the sound profile looked like what I was looking for.  I picked them up for $600.  Picked up 2 amps, a B&K sts 202 high current amp for $300, puts out 200 watts at 8 ohms, 300 watts at 4 ohms, and a NAD 2200, a 100 watt amp that has some dynamic response that pushes the wattage much higher, it's supposed to be a superior amp to the B&K and the guy with the polks wanted $200 so I got that too.



These things are 56 inches tall, 21 wide, 13 deep, 3 tweeters, 6 midranges a 15 inch woofer, 100 lbs each.

With just the B&K amp hooked up they literally shake my house. The sound envelopes you. I am blown away. Not as clear as my B&W 802's but that isn't the sound I was looking for, this is exactly it.

I believe this will be my 2026 obsession, I have not even tried the NAD amp yet, and I'm may get the Kappa 8's and/or the thiels as well if I can get the right deal and if the thiel guy ever responds.

So what do you guys have?

Those are absolutely sick. What a great purchase I am jelly.



I have some old Polk bookshelf speakers that were my mom's from the 80s in my basement. No idea what model they are

As far as vintage audio that's it. But I have klipshe rp600m 2's in my office running on tube amp with an audio technica record player and lots of records. and a klipshe rp-somethingsomething (forget the model number) dolby atmos 5.2.4 setup in my living room


I try not to go any farther down the rabbit hole. I already have enough expensive hobbies. My wife's dad has a ton of really expensive vintage audio stuff that I'm pretty sure he's going to leave me in his will since we are both really into audio

nice man

not having a wife is the reason I don't see a reason not to get a collection of big vintage speakers, even my dad is limited to 1 stereo by my mom, but he has a dedicated sound room, and he cycles through them rather than collect them

Next time you're there post what your father in law has...