Vintage Stereo Gear, Look what I got today!

[Radspin]

Some of the '70s audio gear seems bulletproof. They used quality components instead of some of the disposable junk of today. I have a Pioneer SX-434 that accidentally fell about two feet onto my concrete garage floor. It broke my heart because it was mint and now it's scratched and dented--but it still works perfectly.

[Warm Gums]

I scored the folllowing in a thrift last year...(sorry I'm not good with model numbers & such..)
Bang & Olfson TT
Nakamichi casette deck
Yamaha CD player
Technics Receiver
AR Speakers
With the owners manuals & a receipt for a "CLA" from last year from the stereo "salon" in the next town over....everything works a treat. OTD for $70...

[Big Mike Simpson]

Now you guys are gonna make me hook mine up again... I bought all this in 1975... The Sansui 9090 110w amp/reciever and Thorens TD145 turntable are in the garage... the Nakamichi 500 tape deck broke and I sold it on ebay... the JBL Century L100's are still in the living room but the foam egg crate grills rotted and fell off many years ago.

[xStonr]

Nice score on the amp. I owned the Pioneer SX626

which I bought at Sam Goodys (remember them?) in 1971 or 72. I owned it until 1980 and sold it to my friend Mark when I bought a Vector Research VR7000 which I still have and use today.

[photoweborama]

I just picked up a set of Criterion '77 speakers. Three way speakers with adjustable crossorver for $4.99!!!

I oiled the cabinets, and they look and sound GREAT!!
I'm set!

I got a Dire Straights, Brothers in Arms LP, and it sounds FABULOUS!!!

[6942]

I drove up to York, Pa. for a pair of 1950's, NINE cubic foot, University UCX-12 triaxial speakers.
I spent more money on gas, than I did for the speakers.
It took TWO people just to lift them up!?
My son helped my unload them, when I got home.
I thought my wife was gonna have a freakin' heart attack, when she saw two freezer-sized speakers, in the family room!!??
They sound GREAT, and are SO EFFICIENT, that I can drive them to crazy db levels, with a 1.5 watt-per-channel tube (12b4a/6au6) flea amp.

Steve

[chet]

Uh....that's what you call...


slightly "Over-The-Top".

[Mik]

I had the Pioneer SX-636. My first receiver, 1975, mowed a lot of lawns...took a beating from 4ohm load speakers. A channel died, a worker at the dump got it about 9 years ago.

[photoweborama]

Reminds me of my friend Eric.
The stereo in his family room is a 1200 watt Carvin PA with PA speakers that sit about four feet tall..

When I bought my speakers yesterday, my wife says to me "Those are what you are buying??????"

But I love em!!!1

[Bernie]

Originally Posted by xStonr

Nice score on the amp. I owned the Pioneer SX626

which I bought at Sam Goodys (remember them?) in 1971 or 72. I owned it until 1980 and sold it to my friend Mark when I bought a Vector Research VR7000 which I still have and use today.

I the the SX626, too. I had that thing for years. The backlight for the tuner burned out, but it still worked fine. It fed a pair of JBL L36 three way speakers and I had a Dual 721 turntable. It sounded great, and I got more enjoyment out of that stereo than I got out of anything else I bought for entertainment. Opened a lot of doors for me, got me to take the leap and buy a guitar and the rest is history, and I still use the speakers - had the woofers refoamed and we're back in business. The beginning of a musical obsession lol.

[PapaBeef]

Originally Posted by photoweborama

I looked closer at the turntable, and the only markings I found were Dual 1245.
I assumed dual reffered to that fact that it is a dual speed unit. 45 and 33 1/2.

I did a google search and I found out dual IS THE BRAND!

Dual 1245
manufacture between 1975 and 1976.
$245.00 new...

I remember being infatuated with the gyroscope like design of the DUAL tone arm mounts.
I always wanted one. But at the time they were out of my league. And by the time I was able to start buying some serious gear they were no longer around & CDs were starting to come to light.
At some point in the mid to late 70s I replaced my old BSR 310AXE with a BIC that I bought used. And that lasted me until about 84 when I replaced it with a Pioneer direct drive turntable & bought a Technics CD player for just under $400., a bargain for a CD player at the time.

[Groovey Records]

[keithcc]

We pulled a huge amount of Allen Organ stuff out of what had been a church that was repurposed into a wine store. I got four of the tube amplifiers out of the Gyro cabs that are actually superb hi fi amps. The same install had-I can't make this up- a bunch of Altec 604 speakers as monitors for the organist and the sanctuary. For the labor of hauling it off I got the guts of a first rate vintage stereo system. I sold two amps and all but four of the speakers on eBay and had cabs for the speakers built.


Sometimes you get lucky. The real reason I went there was to find some wood for guitars. It was all oak, which for guitars is skankwood.

[vjf1968]

Originally Posted by tele-rain

We still have my Dad's audio rig set up in the living room. It consists of Reel to Reel (the brand escapes me right now, an Onkyo (not sure of the spelling) tuner, and a turntable, also not sure of the brand. It's all hooked up to speakers that he built cabinets around. Again, I don't know the specs of what they are. I sometimes listen to his jazz LPs, but the sound is not all that great. I don't know if it's the speakers going bad, some connections, or just that my ears are not used to the way it sounds anymore. But the sound kind of fizzes in and out a bit...it could also be the turntable now that I'm thinking of it. One thing I notice is that the speakers only sound properly balanced when I'm centered in between them. Of course I realize this is always the best way to listen to music, however, this is to the point that if you move 3 inches to the left or right, you would hear it completely tinny and off. My guess is the speakers are one dimentional, if that's the correct word useage (I'm guessing not....). But that's how it sounds to me, anyway. Clearly I don't really understand all this audio stuff, but I would love to learn.

One day I was futzing with the reel to reel but I couldn't get any sound to come out of it. It could be that the tapes on there are blank, but I was too chicken to put one of the label tapes on. Those things are so fragile and I'm not comfortable yet handling them...don't want the tape to snap! But I bet he has a LOT of awesome stuff on those tapes, some jazz shows, classical music. And of course, there's the infamous tape of me, mysisters, and cousin as kids singing and being silly. Actually one year, I had this idea that I wanted to get that transerred to CD for preservation, and also as a momento to share with my Mom and sisters, but I wasn't sure how to go about it. I wouldn't feel right about just shipping the tapes off somewhere. I should look into learning how to do it myself. Hmmmmmmm. So, if one wanted to learn about all this vintage audio from the start, how would one do so?

There are computer interfaces for transferring vinyl and tape to your computer. From there you can transfer it to CD. Make sure that the reel to reels are working and take your time. And make sure to set aside a weekend because the transfers have to be done in real time. Some of this stuff is pretty cheap, you can check DAK Industries or other companies that specialize in audio gadgets for the non-professional. You can do this yourself, it just takes time.

Here is a short list of what you would need:

A tape splicing kit with a couple extra rolls of splicing tape.
Brass scissors or razor blades (demagnetized) for cutting tape.
Headphones
Grease pencil
Tape head cleaner
Box of Q-Tips
An area that gives you a lot of room.
Head demagnetizor
A free weekend

[chet]

I cleaned up my Kenwood Integrated amplifier. Here's a pic of it:

[rangercaster]

i bought a Carver CM-1090 on Ebay 6 years ago (100 watt per channel integrated amp) ... the seller listed that it had a problem that factored into a lower price of around $100 ... it has worked perfectly from day one and is built like a tank (MIJ)

[Crotalus Atrox]

Originally Posted by Agave_Blue

Friend of mine had one of the coolest turntables I've seen/heard. An early/mid-80's Denon with a heavy duty wood (mahogany??) base. They made a similar model with a granite base.

A thing of beauty, precision and function.

I still have mine, even though it went haywire and I've been told it's not economically fixable. It's too beautiful to throw away.

[photoweborama]

Hey!
I just leaned how to Bias my tape deck correctly for Dolby B use!

I recorded some stuff earlier and it sounded like mush, now it sounds AWESOME!!
I recorded a CD to tape on a Type II cassette and it is lacking just a tiny bit of the highs, but it general, you would not notice the difference unless you were A - B testing the two of them.