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Stereo equipment

DED - 17-3-2006 at 09:37

Important to enjoy music is the use of good audio equipment.
I curious to know what you are using.

As a collector of vintage audio I joined the dutch audioforum
audiofreaks.nl. Within 1 year I'am in the top 10 of posters with over 4000 posts in a 1500 members forum. Not bad at all, at least I think. Maybe 10 of my posts are on topic :offtopic:

Back to the equipment
I have over 50 tapedecks/tapecorders
Several old radio's, pickups, turntables
In the living there is at this moment
a maxi Akai set ( seperate cd/casette/tuner/turntable)
and it is joined by A professional Philips N5846 cassettedeck and a Teac X2000R reel to reel tape deck. A Philips DCC deck
,a Philips CDi player, a Philips laserdisk player, Sony stereo VHS. Sony mono VHS and two DVD players. I recently added an 8-track player. Still looking for a reasonable elcaset and DAT.

[Edited on 17-3-2006 by DED]

[Edited on 17-3-06 by BBP]

scallopino - 17-3-2006 at 09:53

DED, from what i've gathered so far, you are one cool bloke. :-)

aquagoat - 17-3-2006 at 10:08

I'm not very well equipped, I have:

Tecnics SU-V620 amplifier
Phillips CD775 cd recorder
Tecnics RS-TR474 stereo cassette desk
Speakers the name of which I don't know.
Sennheiser HD265 headphones

I watch dvds on my playstation
I've also got a Roland VS1824 workstation I can use to listen to records if the cd player breaks down.

As you can see, there's no turntables (cause it's for the people who live in the past :devil:

) cause I don't like vinyl, it's not practical, gets worn very quickly, takes a lot of space and sounds bad due to its physical limitations (even though lots of people think it sounds better and warmer, simply because they're accustomed to this sound.

)

I wish I had better equipment but I ain't got enough money. :-D

I spend it all on CDs and recording stuff.

[Edited on 17-3-2006 by aquabot]

DED - 17-3-2006 at 10:46

Quote:

Originally posted by aquabot
I'm not very well equipped, I have:

Tecnics SU-V620 amplifier
Phillips CD775 cd recorder
Tecnics RS-TR474 stereo cassette desk
Speakers the name of which I don't know.
Sennheiser HD265 headphones

I watch dvds on my playstation
I've also got a Roland VS1824 workstation I can use to listen to records if the cd player fails.

As you can see, there's no turntables (cause it's for the people who live in the past :devil:

)

I wish I had better equipment but I ain't got enough money. :-D

I spend it all on CDs and recording stuff.

Technics and Philips are not bad brands.
And having a cd-copier is also not a bad investment.
The music only CD's are a little more expensive than CD-roms, but with a price of 0,80 Euro pp, what the hack.
I forgot in my list the cd copier of pioneer we have.
PDR-w739. He is copying ery easy and in very good quality.
The only thing is that the 3cd-player has a lot of malfunctions if you are not very careful.
About not having a turntable you are free to do so.
We maintain our carefully builded collection of vinyl.
The quality of sound is very good but will depend on your player. At least we have the advantage to enjoy the peaces of graphical art that surrounds the vinyl. I never have seen any cd that had a beatiful box.
Cd's made out of old recordings are sometimes remastered in the worst possible way. In that case the original vinyl is way out the best.

aquagoat - 17-3-2006 at 10:58

Quote:

Cd's made out of old recordings are sometimes remastered in the worst possible way.

That's very true, I've heard many "remastered" albums with too much compression, that makes the music pop up once the singer stops singing, very unnatural. Zappa CDs are a good example of that sometimes.

Concerning vinyl, it depends on your turntable and also on the quality of the pressing (which is sometimes very bad) plus, the physical limitations of vinyl force the sound guys to add an EQ curve that removes all the low end (the opposite curve restores it in you amplifier), something you don't have to do with digital recording. It's really boring to record on vinyl since you must place the brightest tracks first and the darkest tracks near the center and other boring things like that. I saw guys do that, I would never do it, too annoying for me.

But sure, the vinyl sleeves are great, even though you can put more pages in a CD booklet.

[Edited on 17-3-2006 by aquabot]

Puptent - 17-3-2006 at 11:08

I have a Sony STR-6046 receiver, Technics SL-3310 turntable, Philips cd player, Sony MDM-X4 minidisc player / 4 track recorder and a pair of Fostex studio monitors I also use as speakers.

Not exactly gear that makes the audiophile's heart beat faster, but it works good enough for me until I have some serious cash to buy high end equipment. Over the years I've spent a lot more money on records than on stereo equipment, I'd guess.

I do like vinyl a lot. It might not be really practical, but you can pick up tons of good records for cheap (although storage is pretty space-consuming once you pass the 1000 mark).

BBP - 9-12-2006 at 21:35

@#$%^& under bbp's acount. sorry wrong browser

Quote:

Originally posted by DED
Important to enjoy music is the use of good audio equipment.
I curious to know what you are using.

As a collector of vintage audio I joined the dutch audioforum
audiofreaks.nl. Within 1 year I'am in the top 10 of posters with over 4000 posts in a 1500 members forum. Not bad at all, at least I think. Maybe 10 of my posts are on topic :offtopic:

Here is my new list of reel to reel taperecorders
I'm working on the rest

01 PHILIPS N4506
02 PHILIPS N4506
03 PHILIPS N4506
04 PHILIPS N4504
05 PHILIPS N4504
06 PHILIPS N4420
07 PHILIPS EL3573
08 PHILIPS EL3541
09 PHILIPS EL3548
10 PHILIPS EL3549A
11 PHILIPS EL3549A
12 PHILIPS EL4307
13 PHILIPS EL4404
14 PHILIPS EL4404
15 PHILIPS EL4510
16 ARISTONA SA9120/A
17 PHILIPS EL3527
18 PHILIPS EL3527
19 PHILIPS EL3527
20 PHILIPS EL3586
21 PHILIPS N7150
22 PHILIPS N4404
23 PHILIPS N4418
24 ARISTONA EW5506
25 ARISTONA EW5506
26 ARISTONA 9123
27 ARISTONA 9197
28 TANDBERG 3500X
29 TANDBERG TD20A
30 TEAC X2000R
31 PIONEER T110 100%
32 SAJA M40
33 SAJA M45
34 SAJA M??
35 SAJA memo with magn. disc.
36 SABA TG544
37 UHER varicord
38 UHER varicord
39 UHER varicord
40 UHER 4400 Report IC
41 UHER 4400 Report IC
42 AKAI X150D
43 AKAI 1722
44 AKAI GX1820D (minor problems)
45 AKAI 4000D
46 AKAI 4000DS
47 AKAI GX215D
48 AKAI GX230D
49 AKAI 4000 ?
50 AKAI 4000 ?
51 AKAI 4000 ?
52 AKAI 4000 ?
53 AKAI 4000 ?
54 REVOX A77
55 REVOX A77
56 SONY TC 230
57 SONY TC 280
58 SONY TC 252
59 SONY TC 252
60 SONY TC 252
61 SONY TC 399
62 SONY TC 252D
63 SONY TC 252W
64 SONY TC 270
65 TELEFUNKEN 3002L not compl
66 TELEFUNKEN 205 not compl
67 TELEFUNKEN Magnetophone 85
68 GRUNDIG TK23L status unknown
69 GRUNDIG TK126
70 GRUNDIG TK146
71 GRUNDIG TK247 ok
72 GRUNDIG TK245 ok
73 MAYFAIR PT111
74 GELOSO G257
75 GELOSO G651
76 AIWA 32A
77 SHARP RD303E
78 SONY 355
79 TELEFUNKEN M5 in trunk
80 SABA TG544
81 PHILIPS N4404
82 ROYAL DE LUXE C
83 UHER Variocord 63 DIA
84 SONY TC106
85 TELEFUNKEN 203 de luxe
86 TELEFUNKEN M5 in trunk without lid
87 PHILIPS N4419

[Edited on 9-12-06 by BBP]

Fido3 - 10-12-2006 at 01:54

At the moment i have

Cambridge Audio Azur 540C V2 CD player
Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Amplifier
with Wharfedale diamond 9.1 speakers and Grado SR60 headphones.

For DVD i use a

Denon ADV-M71 DVD surround receiver
with Mission M70 speakers.

DED - 10-12-2006 at 11:41

Quote:

Originally posted by Fido3
At the moment i have

Cambridge Audio Azur 540C V2 CD player
Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Amplifier
with Wharfedale diamond 9.1 speakers and Grado SR60 headphones.

For DVD i use a

Denon ADV-M71 DVD surround receiver
with Mission M70 speakers.

Quality instead of quantity
BTW no record player?

Fido3 - 10-12-2006 at 11:51

Quote:

Originally posted by DED

Quote:

Quality instead of quantity
BTW no record player?

Oh yeah! I forgot about that.
It's just a basic Aiwa turntable i found in a hedge one day.
I'm saving up my money to buy a good one.

That quite an impressive collection of audio equipment you have there, no Telefunken U45 microphone?

punknaynowned - 10-12-2006 at 21:05

woah! wow!! whoohooooooooo!

I have only bare essentials as far as equipment is concerned.
I have an old Hitachi MXW50 that I run the output of the computer thru and play tapes and the radio thru. the cd player is broken.
the speakers are a Bose acoustimass bass woofer with the outputs of that being design acoustics PS3 satellites. The woofer acoustimass deal is rated at 200 Watts. I don't push it.
Downstairs I have a '60's era, Scottish made, RCA cabinet hifi set. It has a turntable and a radio. the speakers are poorly connected but is all one, top access cabinet with sliding doors for record wells and a clumsy arm for the needle that I have to put a penny on to keep it from scratching the records. I keep it because it was given by a dear departed friend and it's still a good looking piece of furniture. I don't play my records very often. It does best with 78's.

that collection of equipment ded is phenomenal!
I have to look at that more carefully. WOW!
jealous I am but I would have no where to put any of it. I'm strapped as it is with all my books and cd's . . .

Fido3 - 10-12-2006 at 22:43

Quote:

Originally posted by punknaynowned

Downstairs I have a '60's era, Scottish made, RCA cabinet hifi set. It has a turntable and a radio. the speakers are poorly connected but is all one, top access cabinet with sliding doors for record wells and a clumsy arm for the needle that I have to put a penny on to keep it from scratching the records.

I used to have to put a penny on my needle arm to prevent it jumping too! LOL

A Scottish made hi-fi eh! Do you know what the make is?
The only audio makers in Scotland i know of, are 'Linn' who make top notch audio equipment. (a bit out my price bracket) Don't know if they were around in the 60's though.

DED - 10-12-2006 at 22:47

Space is a known problem, also here.
I gave the list of reel to reel
The rest is not indexed but contains a lot of microphones
in case or box.
the recordplayers 10 last time I counted it
One reel to reel is a combination of reel to reel and 8 track
apart of that 4 eight track players
a lot of tuners and cassettedecks
little radio's cristal incl. box and earphones
Clock radio's with several types of clocks
Old vintage tube radio's
a video reel to reel tape recorder
and more more more.

yoko - 11-12-2006 at 18:20

87 reel to reel recorders?
wow...
i only have one reel to reel
a sony TC-440
it's not a pro exelent one but the heads are in mint condition
and i've only use it for doing transfers to digital and have some extra money
you're really a equipment freak ded,
i have a broken machintosh bulb amplifier my father gave me
not easy to find replacement parts for it in mexico
it's a very niice amplifier
i remember how it sounded when i was a child
beatles day tripper at top volume on sundays was my way of wakeup

punknaynowned - 11-12-2006 at 23:42

that sounds great!
there is only one reason I would use a reel to reel.
I don't have any tapes.
My brother-in-law does, but it's a rare boot of Dylan at the Isle of Wight, 1970, some BBC tracks and like a piece of a Buffalo(?) show. Rare. If I could find somebody to play it for him, I'm sure he'd enjoy it. Maybe I should just look in his neighborhood eh?

DED - 12-12-2006 at 10:47

Quote:

Originally posted by yoko
87 reel to reel recorders?
wow...
i only have one reel to reel
a sony TC-440
it's not a pro exelent one but the heads are in mint condition
and i've only use it for doing transfers to digital and have some extra money
you're really a equipment freak ded,
i have a broken machintosh bulb amplifier my father gave me
not easy to find replacement parts for it in mexico
it's a very niice amplifier
i remember how it sounded when i was a child
beatles day tripper at top volume on sundays was my way of wakeup

For tubes you can look at
http://www.radiodaze.com/index-alt.htm
in new york but they ship to the world.
And are not expensive
All the other parts must be widely available.
Tar condensators you can make them yourself
with the help of a modern condensator with the wright capacity
A part of a wooden stick with a hole drilled in. Condensator in hole. Use filler for filling up the ends and paint it black.

DED - 12-12-2006 at 10:51

Quote:

Originally posted by punknaynowned
that sounds great!
there is only one reason I would use a reel to reel.
I don't have any tapes.
My brother-in-law does, but it's a rare boot of Dylan at the Isle of Wight, 1970, some BBC tracks and like a piece of a Buffalo(?) show. Rare. If I could find somebody to play it for him, I'm sure he'd enjoy it. Maybe I should just look in his neighborhood eh?

There are a lot of reel to reel collectors and fans of the analogue sound. Sure there must be a hifi or audio forum in your country too. You must do it, tape is powdering, full of drop outs and so on after years and years and maybe someone needs to bake the tape in order to get it playable. But when it is a rare recording its worth the work

yoko - 16-12-2006 at 14:54

Quote:

Originally posted by DED
...A part of a wooden stick with a hole drilled in. Condensator in hole. Use filler for filling up the ends and paint it black.

yes good idea man, thanks

yoko - 18-12-2006 at 07:39

hey ded, have you posted this before in another audio forum?
or someone else told me to do that?
what kind of wood did you used?
and where did you screw it? or glued it?
i really want this amp to work
but i hate when something goes out of place after couple of uses
i have a broken 4 track cassette tascam that had this little piece that is broken
but this piece is what holds the record button...if that make sense,
i have some kind of sentimental care for it...and i like the way the recorded tape sounds...
i repaired it with this thing that you mix two different materials and have
a sort of modeling plastiline and it worked nice but after like ten record button
presses it broked again...well, nothing to do with the amp but...

DED - 18-12-2006 at 09:25

I think something mixed up.
What I said was about restoring a tar condensator (you find them in the fifties. The story you tell its about a record knob.
Give me the type number of the apparatus and/or some sketch about the problem.
Mostly I try to fix broken parts to glue them and making them stronger by glueing in a needle,nail or piece of plastic as a splint.
for restoring a tar condensator there must be a link on this computer somewhere. Teac/Tascam parts are still widely available

yoko - 23-12-2006 at 07:17

i'll take a photo when i get back home
thanks for the infos ded