These arrived while I was faffing around with the VU meters.
Just fitted one into the fuse holder on the rear (or bottom depending on how it’s sited) of the deck, better to have the correct fuse in place, there was a 3A one in when I bought the deck. I guess the 0.8A ones don’t come in those assorted fuse packs you get at the pound shops
Barrie
Looks good to me! I bet the only person to notice the difference is you!
My no cost option on the VU meters certainly worked out a treat.
Here’s another one. Rather than go to the pound shop for a pack of fuses you can make around five of them from a six inch nail using only a hacksaw. Always here to help.
What amps are they rated at?
Barrie
No need to worry. They will easily carry way more current than even the 13A variety.
Disclaimer. Other methods of maiming, combusting and killing yourself are available. Following my suggestions or any other idiotic behavior is at your own risk.
Think I’ve found the lost tapes! While browsing (and listening to) some of the pile of 7" reels I got with the AKAI deck, I came across this type written (remember them) list from 1983 in an unmarked reel box was this list hidden away in the box. Sounds like all recorded from vinyl (you can hear the scratches or maybe just dirty records). They are a mixture of monaural and stereo which had me baffled until I switched the selector from stereo to tracks 1-4
Jerry Lee was going for it in the background, singing along with the Four Aces “three coins in a fountain”
im having so much fun with all this stuff, good job I’m retired and have time to play best job I’ve ever had!
Reminds me of that fictitious one hit single “Don’t make love in the cornfield Nellie, you’re working against the grain” and “I wonder whose kissing her now” on the backside!
Barrie
Would that be risque or risky?
My best mate at high school (1960’s) ended up manager of a music shop in Leeds and did the club circuit with a mix of vocals,guitar and light comedy. He used to use that to introduce his next song (he never actually sung it as it didn’t exist)! Used to go down OK on his second set when the audience was well inebriated
Barrie
I presume you are now searching eBay for a typewriter to catalogue the rest of your collection.
Better still a bottle of Quink or Stephens to fill my Parker fountain pen ( pre cartridge type) was bought it for passing my 11+ and going to high school. Some of the lists are handwritten, I guess the previous owners ribbon needed sorting
Barrie
Well, it’s about 8 months since I last posted on this thread
Pleased to see that there has been over 23,000 views though
Anyway, a lot has happened in those months, not least being I sold, the main stack with all its boxes, booklets, magazine feature, original connectors and point of sale brochure! Not for long though. Sold on eBay (big mistake) which appears to be frequented by a lot of timewasters and messers. Suffice it to say but a guy pestered me for an age to buy the stuff, he was in London, wanted it all posting even though it was collection only, then he didn’t want the original speakers, then he didn’t want the paperwork. All the time trying to drive the price down. Then messaged me with an offer after the listing ended. Based on a no fees scenario, I agreed a price, only to find the eBay police had got involved, were going to charge the full listing and sale price to me even though it sold for a lot less. On and on it went, eventually got it sorted, or do I thought ( just for clarity, I appreciate charges as I had listed the items and they did sell, it was the scale of the fees that concerned me as it sold for a lot less than the original listing). Anyway, my fault and lesson learnt. So, posted all the stuff out, described very honestly, loads of pics etc, working perfect at time of posting.
Fully insured etc, loads of tracking detail updates sent to purchaser, then on day of delivery, after he signed for it, he msg’d to say, where was his item? I got back to him stating the obvious, he replied saying he’d forgot that he’d got it?
OK, move on a day. He msg’d again asking where the interconnects were? They were the final item packaged by me. I told him this, he replied with “oh yes, I’d forgot when I unpacked things that I had them”
A day later, another msg, this time there was a screeching sound from the amp? Really? When I asked for more detail, it changed to a buzz from the pre amp? I asked him to make his mind up what was what so I could help him further. No reply.
Another day later and he said he couldn’t possibly accept these faulty goods and wanted to return them. He started a resolution before I had chance to respond. The way it works is, the seller is always wrong on eBay, I had to accept postage costs both ways which was well over £40.00 in this instance. If I didn’t comply, the guy could retain the equipment, get reimbursed by eBay who would then pursue me for their money. So I could have ended up 100% out of pocket and no goods!
I paid, got my equipment back, which worked perfectly, as I knew it would, then counter claimed against eBay for my postage costs in full. I did get them back as they could see all the transcriptions of my conversations with this guy over those several days and previously where he plagued me to sell him the stack. I think I was lucky to come out of it relatively unscathed
Fast forward to today ( it’s not all bad news) I picked these beauties up last night, a pair of LEAK 2060 floor stander, cabinets in fantastic condition with just one of the LEAK badges missing from one of the grilles. Well over 2ft tall, very weighty and just fantastic
The dust covers on the 12" woofers were slightly indented but a judicious application of duct tape and some gentle pulling, restored their shape very quickly
Here’s a pic of one with the grille off.
Complete with over 40 years of dust and cobwebs
Couple of interesting things, my surname is LEAK, same as H J LEAK who partnered the LEAK company, secondly, I live about 8 miles from where they were distributed (Idle, Bradford) all those years ago!
Very pleased to have these now. Well, certainly more pleased than Mrs B anyway
The woofers are LEAK’s sandwich construction for the cones with two layers of thin aluminium bonded to a layer of foam, they don’t use foam rings for the suspension, but a woven cloth material which is in excellent condition in both speakers. I do have one issue though, the voice coil catches causing the bass on one speaker to sound iffy. Any advice out their for rectifying this? The cone itself is not parallel to the alloy chassis, I have read that due to the weight of these drivers, they sag over time so will rotate 180* to see if it will correct itself, worth a try I suppose.
Barrie
“The woofers are LEAK’s sandwich construction for the cones with two layers of thin aluminium bonded to a layer of foam, they don’t use foam rings for the suspension, but a woven cloth material which is in excellent condition in both speakers. I do have one issue though, the voice coil catches causing the bass on one speaker to sound iffy. Any advice out their for rectifying this? The cone itself is not parallel to the alloy chassis, I have read that due to the weight of these drivers, they sag over time so will rotate 180* to see if it will correct itself, worth a try I suppose.”
Inverting the box can help. but takes ages, and it might not be the cause. However it famously was a necessary repeat job with the early Spendor speakers after every couple of years - the whole cone sagged.
Use a very good magnifier and take a careful close look at the suspension folds between the edge of the cone to the frame. If the plastic goo stuff has cracked anywhere or the cloth has frayed, this is the most likely problem. The other possibility is fractured connection wires between terminal block and cone giving intermittent connection.
It can always be repaired! With care! I repaired my 1960’s Maxims at least three decades ago and even now they are still working as the hidden hifi lurking among the books.
. gummy polymer suspension.
The original suspension coating is a proprietary mix of polymers, but for local repairs (if merely thin cracks) some Copydex rubbery glue (ammonia smell) works well, as does the alternative thin vulcanising glue used on puncture repairs. In either case use the absolute minimum, like touching up a scratch in the car paintwork with a one hair brush. Too much glue (having different elasticity) compromises the flex on the surround.
. paper cone de-laminating.
Dilute pva carefully brushed in to pull the fibres back together, bigger holes PVA and ‘strong when wet’ tissue paper layer(s) as new papier mache.
. broken copper braids to voice coil.
Replace the braids entirely by soldering in the same length of thin tinned steel wires cut from (eg) old 1N914 glass-body diodes (the steel spring flexing lasts forever). Check they are steel with a magnet, copper is no good.
Take care!
Thankyou Richard, I did look at the suspension as my immediate thoughts were of splits etc. However, I haven’t looked as closely as you suggest so will have another look. I did gently move the cone in and out as it moves over the voice coil and can hear/feel it grating against it. Not easy to see on my picture of the woofer but the suspension does look uneven, with creases, as if it’s sagged. I did mention that the cone sits unevenly in the chassis, so more than likely its dropped over the years. These are one owner from new but sadly the chap has passed away recently so can’t ask much about them.
There has been some work done though, one of the grilles is now fixed with Velcro dots rather than the proprietery push in clips and the filling has partially been renewed inside the cabinet with more modern material. I have read that the four bolts on the back of the woofer, holding the magnets in place, can be used to readjust the alignment? I want to tread carefully though and not make things worse! Really appreciate your input, thanks again.
Barrie
Following Richard’s advice I’ve opened up the cabinet again. The cone to voicecoil wires are steel, so I guess this modification was undertaken at some point in the speakers life
While I was in there, I took all the dampening material out (there was loads of it) and took a pic of the crossover arrangement, more for interest than anything else
I also had a closer inspection of the suspension for the woofer, apart from some creases, it’s all in excellent condition with no splits, cracks or holes so that’s another thing checked. The woofer itself is now orientated 180* from how it was when I brought them home. Fingers crossed!
Barrie
Hmm, seeing those screw-terminal white-poly ‘chocolate blocks’ added to the wires makes me think those units or the crossover have been out. In the factory the wires would have been soldered directly from drive units to crossover tag-strip, simply because it’s quicker, cheaper and more reliable.
Yes I did wonder that myself Richard, obviously something done over the years. The chap was quite an enthusiast, he had one of these
https://www.transcriptorslimited.com
to play his massive vinyl collection on, wall to wall and floor to ceiling shelving, was amazing. The deck wasn’t for sale though. Couldn’t have afforded it if it had been, I reckon.
Barrie
Library image of the one I viewed
A thing of beauty!
Barrie
Well, I’ve not read every page (only the last half a dozen), but what a good thread this is!
Part of would love to have a ‘vintage’ HiFi separates system and part of me doesn’t want all the wires, big speakers etc…
I love the Akai 4000D tape deck. A mate had one in the 70’s and they just have ‘presence’.
Another couple friends had high-end systems that both sounded epic.
First system was
Linn LP12 Sondek, Exposure amps (later changed to a Naim six-pack setup), Linn Isobarik DMS speakers.
The other system
Linn LP12, Naim stereo amp, Linn Isobarik Sara Speakers
Meanwhile, I had a Pioneer PL112, SA-5500ii amp, TX-5500ii tuner, Akai cassette deck (forget the model number) and Wharefdale Denton XP2 speakers. Had that system for maybe twenty-years years and it sounded pretty good. Still have the turntable (currently in the loft) and my vinyl. Have been looking at stuff on eBay, but probably won’t buy anything. I do have a little Behringer phono pre-amp that I plan to use during the winter months to digitise some of my old albums.
But, yeah great to see this thread…
Hi Barrie. Those Leak speakers are probably a later version of my Leak 600’s which I bought in 1972 and still have/use. They are 8 ohm 40 watt 40/20000 hz measure 600mm/380mm/300mm and are HEAVY!!!
PS: That turntable was a thing of dreams, cost more than my years salary!!!
PPS: The Leak 600 speakers are virtually the same spec. as my Totem Mite’s which measure 270mm/152mm/227mm and weigh 4kg.!
Hmm, in the 1970s and 1980s there was a fad going around about playing with the phase of the connections to the midrange and tweeter to compensate for the physical separation between them, inspired by the amazing clean sound produced by coaxial multi-motor speakers such as the big Tannoy Monitor Gold or even the cheap single motor twin-cone speakers. Also the wavelength of the audio at relevant frequencies is similar to the usual separation between tweeter and mid and bass, so phasing effects are supposed to be possible if the layout and crossover are not correctly designed! If he was an enthusiast maybe he believed the fad, and played with them to “improve” the sound.
However it is a fallacy, and proper scientific tests in anechoic chambers proved beyond any doubt that the best results are always with the units in phase, but still not quite as good as a point source (ie coaxial, concentric, call it what you will).
An almost relevant side note.
When young, impoverished and unable to buy high power hifi, I made my own speaker systems and ended up by stacking four 8"x5" 8 Ohm twin-cone Elac ellipticals, connected in series and parallel so the input still looked like 8 Ohms, boxed in a folded braced back-horn offering a constant audio load at most lower frequencies (designed with A level integral calculus and my maths-master’s help). The sound was amazingly good (as tested with the excellent microphones we had at school), and compared well with the maths-master’s very expensive Quads. The only reason they were at school being that they were my carpentry project. Being a vertical stack they were quite directional vertically but had an excellent horizontal spread. The boxes were very heavy; 1/2" ply 2’ high by 1’ wide by 10" deep. Lowest flat frequency was only around 40Hz so not the deepest bass, but as good as most of the pop records in the day, and they were very, very loud with 10Watts of EL84 Mullard 5-10 power. The number of parties I was invited to, “By the way bring the record player amp and speakers,” made it all worth while.
The design turned out to be quite profitable eventually. For all I know there might still be a dozen or so pairs of those early speakers rattling around Zim even now, if the white ants haven’t eaten them…