We’ll be OPEN this Saturday 12-7, Sunday 12-6, and Monday 12-6.

Everything is 20% off!

One watt is the rate at which work is done when an object’s velocity is held constant at one meter per second against constant opposing force of one newton.

Get it? Got it? Me either… In other words (and for those us who don’t have the watt named after us) a watt is a measure of work. In the case of stereo and home theater systems, the work being done is moving the drivers (tweeters, midrange, and/or woofers) back and forth inside your speakers. The power to do this work is supplied by an amplifier. This amplifier is either inside your receiver, or in its own cabinet.

If you’ve been into a stereo or home theater (HT) store, you’ve probably heard that watts matter. The higher in price you go, so go the watts. The best pieces are sometimes three or even four times more powerful – in terms of watts – than the least expensive gear. So how many watts do you need? Not as many as most of today’s equipment manufacturers would have you believe, unfortunately.

It’s no conspiracy theory, just business. Many of today’s manufacturers are owned by private corporations or private equity funds: dispassionate, financially-minded managers with a beady eye on the bottom-line. They study customers’ willingness to pay for certain packages of features, combine those results with the imperatives of their long-term technology and new-product release schedules, and design products based on these results, and the vagaries of current prices of different metals. Finally, they add in whatever cost-cutting measures they think the market will tolerate, and violá!

Most of the basics that customers require are relatively inexpensive. So manufacturers use wattage to differentiate the top of the line from the bottom. This has led to the inexorable creep of more and more watts of power packed into receivers, amplifiers, and powered subwoofers. Meanwhile, workmanship slowly creeps downward, as engineers game the measurements (distortion, for example) to create the appearance (on paper) of good sounding gear, for as little cost of goods sold as possible. After decades of this, most new equipment, and almost all of what you’ll find at a big-box store, is of low quality and FAR OVERPOWERED.

It is hard to blame the manufacturers for this trend. After all, it’s much more difficult to explain why using gold-plated contacts is better than aluminum – and even harder to get customers to pay for gold-plated when the next product on the shelf boasts so many more watts for the same price. So cost-cutting goes largely unnoticed.

One of the most common ways is to have different components share parts. For example, if two channels (or five channels) all share the same amplification components (transformers, transistors, etc…), then the amp can produce more “watts per channel” but use less copper wire. Another cost-cutting measure is to have many speakers share one crossover, which is one of the reasons for the deluge of all-in-one systems.

So the next time you’re in a big-box store, ask yourself: how do i find out which one of these receivers uses the most gold in their contacts? Or if not gold, how much do the contacts weigh? You may well find you can’t find that information. That should tell you just how powerful the concept of wattage has become, and how little you can find out about the quality of the equipment.

Also in that store, you’re likely to hear something that’s true: more wattage in general often results in better sound. But it would be more correct to say that more wattage of a given quality sounds better in general. There’s that pesky quality thing again! You see, not all wattage is created equal.

How much is enough?

So how many watts do you need for your stereo or home theater?  Well, unfortunately, it depends.  Here are the things that affect your power needs the most:

Room Size: the larger your room, the more power you’ll need to fill it, all else equal.  For a room 18 feet by 18 feet, with 9-foot ceilings, you’ll want a stereo with at least 25 watts per channel with efficient speakers, or 40 watts per channel with non-efficient speakers.  Think those numbers are low? They’re not.  You simply do not need a stereo where you only turn up the volume to “3″.  Oddly, take a look around and that’s what most people have.  Interesting, no?  That 200 watt-per-channel Sony you got from the electronics store could power a P.A. for a large church…how did it end up in your living room?

Type of music: if you listen to music loud, you’ll need more power than the guy whose ears hurt at the slightest hint of decibels, obviously.  Also, rock, reggae, and rap are not only bass-driven styles of music, but listeners to these often like to boost the bass relative to the rest of the music.  If that’s you, you’ll need speakers to make the really low frequencies, and the wattage to match.  Again, for that fabled 18 x 18 – foot room, an extra 125 watts or so for bass reinforcement should be plenty.

Buy the Lowest of the High

Once you recognize that most gear is overpowered, you’ll notice something annoying: it’s hard to find a quality component without all those unnecessary watts! The top-of-the-line in a big-box store is always jam-packed with wattage. But why pay for it? And you know you are paying for it. What to do? The thing to do is go upscale – not to the top of the line in the big-box store, but to the bottom of the line at the audiophile store. Or better yet, go vintage. Here’s why:

The technology behind the best amplifiers, pre-amplifiers, and, to a lesser extent, speakers, hasn’t changed much in fifty years.  Sure, technology allows manufacturers to do more with less, but since when has that translated into value for the customer?  The reason new equipment comes out year after year is because it must.  Companies must sell new equipment every year, but even the cheapest Sony will last twenty years, 80% of the time.  The new gear has WAY more power than vintage stuff, but we already saw why all those watts don’t mean much.

There’s another reason buying vintage is a good idea: Every year, hundreds of new products come to market.  Some of them will prove to be of poor quality – filled with cost-cutting measures that cut too close for comfort.  But some will prove to be elegant compromises of function and cost, and rise over the decades to legendary status.

Do I practice what I preach? Well, Let me introduce you to my main-squeeze.

She’s a JVC VR-5511, her name is Gertie, and I love her.

Just how many watts does she pump through her vintage veins?

A whopping 17 per-channel of pure audio gold. And that’s plenty.

I LOVE Vintage Audio!

Rare Concept 2QD Direct Drive Turntable

Beautiful Concept 6.5 AM/FM Stereo Receiver

Rewind Audio has been in business for the past year and a half. During this time, we have had so many wonderful triumphs. We owe it all to our loyal customers, friends, and family, who have trusted and supported us all the way. Oscar and I are delighted that our shop has become a cherished local business. Without you we couldn’t have made it. Thank you.

It is our get pleasure to announce our recent accomplishment; LA Weekly voted Rewind Audio as the Best Electronics That Don’t Fit in a Pocket – 2011 winner! The October 2011 issue is currently in newsstands. If you can’t wait to read the article check out the link: http://tinyurl.com/4yq2pp4

Please feel free to share the link with your friends or family who might also be interested in quality vintage audio. A referral is the highest compliment that we could receive, and we count on our customers and friends to spread the word about the quality and customer service that we strive so hard to deliver.

Thank you once again for your support, and we hope that you’ll keep us in mind the next time you have a need for vintage audio gear!

Come join the FUN at Rewind Audio on Saturday, August 27th!

We will be offering 10% off ALL MERCHANDISE and giving away bottled water and Coca Cola.

1 Klipsch Synergy KSF C5 Center Channel Stereo Speakers

1. BUILT FROM: 1997
2. BUILT UNTIL: 1999
3. DIMENSIONS: 7.875″ (20cm) x 23.9″ (60.7cm) x 7.3″ (18.5cm)
4. ENCLOSURE MATERIAL: Medium density fiberboard construction (MDF)
5. ENCLOSURE TYPE: Bass reflex via dual rear-mounted ports
6. FINISHES: Matte-finish Black vinyl
7. FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 63Hz-20kHz(+-)3dB
8. HIGH FREQUENCY HORN: 6″ square 90(o)x60(o) Tractrix(r) Horn
9. NOMINAL IMPEDANCE: 8 ohms
10. POWER HANDLING: 100 watts maximum continuous (400 watts peak)
11. SENSITIVITY: 96dB @ 1watt/1meter
12. TWEETER: K-96-KV 1″ (2.54cm) Polymer dome compression driver
13. WEIGHT: 20 lbs. 12 oz.
14. WOOFER: Two K-1053-SV 6.5″ (16.51cm) Poly cones

Music educators who have seen the new Superscope PSD230/220 CD players are buzzing with excitement. That’s because these innovative products are ideal for music and dance practice, with controls so intuitive that even beginners can operate them.

For even more control during practice, a segment of a track can be selected and continually replayed until mastered. Step through an entire track or CD by making the endpoint of one loop the beginning point of the next one. In addition, a voice reduction system within the unit effectively reduces the lead vocals on many CDs, allowing a practicing musician to better hear the instrumentals or a vocalist to sing along as the new lead.

The PSD220 is specifically designed for those situations that require tempo change only, such as aerobics, dance, and instrument practice. Both PSD220 and PSD230 include many other professional features, such as analog and digital stereo outputs for connection to powered speakers or a recording device, 3-band EQ for tone balancing, CD-TEXT display, and 3-way power, as well as built-in speaker and headphone jack with volume control. Play compilations recorded on CD-R or CD-RW discs.

Hey Friends and Fans,

We want to take a second to talk about how far we’ve come.

When Oscar and I first started our little shop, choosing a name was one of the hardest decisions. We had so many ideas but settling on one that we absolutely loved was more difficult than we ever imagined. Finally we decided on “Rewind the Recycled Electronics Store. ” We felt that it best reflected our merchandise and our committed interest in creating a safer environment at the time. However, even though we’ve received positive feedback from friends and family on the title we still weren’t satisfied with our store name.

The good news is this: We have boldly decided on a name change! We are now Rewind Audio. We feel this will make things simpler and tie everything together. It will no doubt probably make things confusing too, especially for our fans. In fact, because of this process we noticed we have close to 900 followers from Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and our website and blog combined! Quite an accomplishment indeed -and we thank you all for making us what we are today!

With the rebirth of our shop, we are also creating a Youtube channel, a new Rewind Audio Twitter account and email subscription account which you can access at the new rewindaudio.com. And of course our new Facebook page which will always share the latest news and developments as they happen. We will be whole lot easier to locate as Rewind Audio. And your fingers will thank you, not having to type in so many words. (I know. You are so welcome!)

So wish us luck creating a newer, shinier, more tied together image of Rewind Audio’s awesome vintage gear and lifestyle! We couldn’t do it without you, see you soon!