Fixed my turntable.... lots of home audio pictures...

[Night Wolf]

So before my hobby of cars...wayyy back when, I was into home audio equipment... more specifically, vintage home audio gear, mostly 70's solid state stuff as I haven't gotten into tubes yet. I like older things that stand the test of time, cars, airplanes.... home audio gear etc...

So I'll admit, once I got my car I really wasn't into the hobby much anymore, I'd have everything set up, but I woudln't enjoy it like I used to. See, at the time I had gotten the exact receiver and speakers I had wanted (took a long time to get there though) so once I got them and had my fun, which shortly after I got the Coupe, I was pretty much done with it at that point.

I dragged everything to Florida, where I had the system setup in my apartment, and aside from the occasional listen, it never got used, then it all came to Georgia, where it was again quickly setup but never used.... until last week

See I started helping out with the audio/video stuff at my church, its a small church that started eariler this year, we rent the building for the morning, so everything is setup then torn down and loaded into a small enclosed trailer... but some how the mix of amp, speakers, sound board and cables really sparked my intrest in audio again.

So I started tinkering with my gear. My main receiver (the one I worked up to get) is a Sansui 9090DB, it is an awesome receiver, but I also have an Onkyo TX-2500 MKII, which is close to bottom of the line (while the Sansui was top of the line) Something that has bugged me since I got the Onkyo for either $25 or $35 at Salvation Army in NY, was that... it sounds alot better then my 9090DB.... and that should not be the case at all... My 9090DB needs to be recapped and restored to bring it back to its origanal glory, and thats why I've held onto it despite it not sounding as good as it should, because one day I want to send it out and get it refurbished so I can really enjoy it.

I was talking with my friend who lives in Hawaii, we first met on an audio forum years and years ago, he was happy to know I was getting back in the hobby, and when I mentioned (again) that my little Onkyo has a better sound to it then the 9090DB... he offered to send me a 2nd Sansui AU-517 integrated amp that he had, but really didn't have a use for... it was broke and left at the shop at his tech school when he was in college, so he took it and fixed it... the entire amp has been recapped (pretty much what my 9090DB needs) So he sent it out... I got it... and... man it's really gotten me back into the hobby! It is an awesome amp, I am really enjoying it.

So anyway, about my turbtable, its been broke for about a year now, See, its not like most tt's in that it is direct or belt drive, it uses an idler pully, simialr to a snow blower. The spring that keeps tension on the pully against the motor shaft was very weak, and finally broke, since then I've left it and haven't fixed it.... but today I got inspiration, so I took it apart and looked at it.... I fixed it using the spring from a clickly ball point pen.... man it works great! I am so happy to have my turntable working again... nothing like listening to good quality vinyl

My turntable is a BSR 810 Transcription with a Shure M91ED cartridge. I got this for $6 at Goodwill. The cart was on it already too, but I've replaced the stylus. BSR mostly made junk, but this was their top line turn table, and built super well, it is very solid. It was built in the UK IIRC. The whole thing is mechanical, which is pretty neat. It's not the best out there, but it gets the job done... I like it.

Here is the platter removed, under the idler pully is the spring I replaced to make it work again...



The platter is solid and very heavy, it has a rubber mat on it, but I got a nice little turntable mat that is alot better on the records for letting it slide when removing and putting them on.... this was one of my favorite stores when I lived in Clearwater...





dust cover on:



The end result:

[Night Wolf]

So the rest of the gear...

here is my new Sansui AU-517. Made in 1978, it is 65watts per channel (wpc) Which is plenty. See my 9090DB is 125wpc, that thing is a beast, but my little Onkyo is only 35wpc, yet that would push my speakers to levels higher then I'd normally listen to, and sound very good doing it. The 65wpc of the AU-517 is nearly perfect, because it does keep me from pushing it too loud, as I have done in the past.

The AU-517 is the smaller brother to the AU-717, they were marketed and sold side by side. The main difference is the 717 is 85wpc, and has a few extra features on the pre-amp side.... most of which I wouldn't need and the extra power, while nice, isn't needed as my speakers are very efficent. I've had huge monster receivers in the past, but somehow I really like the simple, no-nonsense design of the AU-517.

It is a Direct Coupled amp, and it is a dual mono design, which is very cool. It's got seperate power supplies and amps for each channel, very neat.... removing the cover is the equivlent of looking at audio porn. Despite my 9090DB being a top line model and what many consider the pinnacle of Sansui solid state, taking a look inside leaves alot to be desired, it's built very well, it just dosn't show it off nearly as well as the AU-517.

The matching tuner to the AU-517 is the TU-517, but I've already got a vintage Sony and JVC tuner, so I think I'll be set for now.

Mine also has the neat rack handles, they can be removed, but I think they are pretty cool, so on they stay



A peak inside revels stright up vintage home audio porn....



Here is the Onkyo TX-2500 MKII. Very awesome little receiver, 35wpc. I don't plan on selling this.... I'll always have a use for it either as a bedroom system or garage system or something, it's got a very nice sound to it.



Here is my Sansui 9090DB, 125wpc. Very awesome receiver, when I wanted my "top of the line" receiver, it was between this, a Kenwood KR-9600 or a Pioneer SX-1280 (or 1250) but I ultimately decided on the 9090DB.... I've been very happy with it, its just disapointing that the sound isn't anywhere it should be, so i've been holding onto it planning on having it resotred one day. I could sell it, but I like having it around.



My CD player is a Nakamichi CD Player2 Limited. Built in 1991, its a very high end player with specs that match new pricey players. This is cdp is very cool for a few reasons, first is, it has a variable output, with volume control on the remote. One of the worst things about running vintage gear is, no remote. Well, when listening to CD's it's really nice to be able to control the volume via remote.

On top of that, the CD player has Nakamichi's Music Bank system. Basically, its a single disc drawer CD player, but it can store 6+1 CD's, 1-6 in store mode, plus "single" basically you load the CDs in it, and once in, it can change between all the discs internally and via remote... so I can literally spend hours just sitting in the recliner listening to CD's, and thats where the volume control via remote control comes in really handy



Somehow though, despite the convience and features of the cdp, its just not as fun and rewarding as the turn table, plus, IMO vinyl sounds better then CD anyway. But I dunno, its easy to plop a CD in and hit play.... but the joy isn't there... its kinda like driving an automatic vs. manual trans car.... yeah, one is more convienent, but there is a certain level of connection involved with the other.

[dkozloski]

I just gave my whole setup away: Empire turntable, Marantz pre-amp and amp, Teac reel to reel tape drive, the cassette player was produced by some Boeing engineers, tuner was high end, Wharfdale W90 speakers and about 300lbs. of vinyl records. It was all just collecting dust.

[ejguillot]

Very nice collection Rick! I have vintage gear also, some of which is running and some of which needs work.

Need work:

Pioneer SX-1080 (120wpc, not running, blows fuses)
Marantz 4400: (quad receiver, 50wx4 or 125wx2, scope, needs a recap and a reworked light section)
Marantz 2230: (30wpc, weak channel)

Running:
Marantz 2275 (75wpc, could use a cleaning, will be recapped in the future)
Marantz TA-165 (Mid 80's receiver, 165wpc, looks kind of cheesy but the build quality went into the amp section - reports are that this can hang with most 70's receivers of the same wpc)
Thorens TD-165 turntable (belt drive, Grado Black cartridge)
Pioneer CLD-703 CD/LD player (one of the best laserdisc players eer sold in the US)

The 2275 is my current main receiver, with the Turntable, LD player, and my main computer (Power Mac G4 MDD) hooked into it, driving 2 Infinity RSb speakers (10" woofer, 5" midrange, EMIT tweeter).

The TD-165 is hooked to a second set of Infinity RSb's.

What speakers do you use with your system?

Edwin

[Night Wolf]

Ah yes... speakers... My choice of speakers years ago, which are still personal favorites, are the JBL L100's. Basically the consumer version of the 4311 studio monitors. I really like these speakers alot, being able to stand the test of time and continue to flat out crank and sound darn good doing it is just cool IMO.

I bought these quite a while ago. The guy was parting them out, but I managed to catch him before anything sold (they are worth more parted out then whole) Mine, while sonically sound great, are not in the best cosmetic shape. The cabinates are somewhat rough. When I got them I sanded them down, stained them and polyurethaned them, I also repainted the front face black. I have home made speaker grilles for them that I recovered with nice speaker grille fabric, but I never use them.

This is an origanal pair, never split up, the tweeters in it are not origanal, they are actually my 3rd set, I used to be crazy with the volume control (when I had them bi-amped with 2 Kenwood KR-8010 150wpc reveivers!) I still have the origanal tweeters though, one is blown, but I'd like to get them reconned some day. The midrange in this speaker has a small hole poked thru it, by me, with a screw driver... I glued it up, no sonic difference, so it stays. The speakers have been internally rewired, as the origanal stuff wasn't that good, and the woofer in this speaker pictured had to have the spider wires replaced. But they are awesome, and I really enjoy them. My particular models are the latest of the late versions, 1978, as they have the 123A-3 woofer (eariler versions had the 123A-1) and the JBL logo on the front is orange, but also the presence and brilliance controls are scaled from 0-10, not -3 to +3 like all the others.

JBL considerd them a "book shelf" speaker.... but they are quite big. 3-way 12" woofer, around 45lbs each. All 3 drivers have AlNiCo magnets, which are twice as strong as normal magnets... these things are built well. Subwoofers aren't needed as these have amazing bass response, literally shakes the house. Of course I listen to music with tone controls defeated and no loudness or anything, it's just an awesome sound.



The L100's were quite popular in the 70's, more recording studios used the L100/4311 then all other speakers conbined too. So naturally when Maxell started their ad compaign for their cassette tapes in their "blown away" poster... their only choice was to use L100's as speakers For a while if you wrote to Maxell they were sending these posters out for free, there was no way I could let something like that pass me by...

L100's in the Blown Away ad:



Here is a picture of the whole system. Everything is a huge mess, like I said, before last week I wasn't even using everything, so it was just roughly setup and left alone. I was going to move the music gear into the room that is currently my bedroom (alot bigger) and move my bedroom into this room, but eh, I am not in the mood to do that right now, plus I don't know how much longer I'll be in this house right now. Like I said, its a big mess, but when I put my favorite record or CD in and close my eyes... none of that matters I built the rack myself, its a very sturdy design, I can sit on the top of it and it dosn't even feel stressed at all. I made a 4th shelf for it, but at the time didn't need it and I haven't seen it since I left NY oh well, it was only about $80 in supplied and a weekend of my time... I'd like to build another one some day.



Heh, I have little external power meters hooked up to it... I've kinda got a thing for power meters... its like a tachometer on a car... my 9090DB has built in power meters (much more responsive then these) but these are still cool, so I have them hooked up... fun to watch, not exactly accurate though. The little black line before the numbers is the "50" mark, just goes to show how the louder you go the more power you need, at a much higher rate.



My small collection of vinyl... in NY there was a store that sold used records (in good shape) and Vinyl Fever was flat out awesome, I gotta find a place around here that has them... I know Hot Topic sells new vinyl, but their selection is very limited.

No I don't have a Parasound 5ch power amp... thats the (double) box my friend sent the AU-517 in... all the way from Hawaii



This is for Chad :





Still sounds great:

[Ranger]

Hey Nightwolf, since you seem to be well versed in this, maybe you can help me. I too have an old Marrantz 2245 that I love. Also have a couple of big, beautiful Sansui SP1000 speakers. One of the speakers sounds as though it has a blown speaker in it (I haven't checked yet). Any idea where to start looking for a replacement if that is what I need?

[Night Wolf]

Originally Posted by dkozloski

I just gave my whole setup away: Empire turntable, Marantz pre-amp and amp, Teac reel to reel tape drive, the cassette player was produced by some Boeing engineers, tuner was high end, Wharfdale W90 speakers and about 300lbs. of vinyl records. It was all just collecting dust.

*sniffles*

[Night Wolf]

Originally Posted by Ranger

Hey Nightwolf, since you seem to be well versed in this, maybe you can help me. I too have an old Marrantz 2245 that I love. Also have a couple of big, beautiful Sansui SP1000 speakers. One of the speakers sounds as though it has a blown speaker in it (I haven't checked yet). Any idea where to start looking for a replacement if that is what I need?

Is the driver actually blown?

If its a woofer, and it has foam surround, chances are the foam is shot, you can get new surround put on a driver for pretty cheap, just gotta find out who does it in your area.

If the speaker itself is blown, you can get it re-coned, which can be expensive, otherwise the best bet would be to check ebay, thats where I got my extra L100 tweeters. Other then that, I'm not too sure.

I've always been a fan of the vintae Marrantz, the blue lights are cool Though I've never had any of their gear.

[ejguillot]

To all the readers of this thread: If audio advice is what you're looking for, go to audiokarma.org for all you can use. It's a forum like this one, but dedicated to all things audio. Ranger, they have a fairly big Marantz section, and the Sansui section is even bigger.

[Ranger]

Thanks, I'll check it out.