I’ve ordered a speaker/amplifier switch box which will allow 4 amplifiers to output to one set of speakers! Or one amp to four different sets of speakers. I think I’ve got enough of both to be able to utilise the switch box fully! 
I’m going to reconfigure the current set up on Friday when I can get access to it all, Mrs B is going in to work again that day 
Barrie
Why not two switch boxes? Connect amp outputs to one box, and it to the other box feeding all the speakers. Then listen to whatever speaker pair from whatever amp just by turning the switches.
Cuts out all the crawling around behind stuff once installed…
Or will that destroy half the fun?
Hmm…
Hi Richard the one I’ve bought is a 4 amp in 1 speaker out, or 1 amp in 4 speaker out. By reconfiguring the set up display I’ve currently got, I’m putting just one set of floor standers and removing the other 4 sets of speakers. Not sure where I’m putting the spares though. I’ve converted the majority to banana sockets and the new switch box is all banana sockets too. Thoughts are, very simple to replace the single set of speakers to another set when/if the fancy takes. You know what they say, “the devil makes work for idle hands” 
Now you’ve suggested it though 
…
Barrie
A picture of the rear of the new speaker switch box which has not yet arrived (library pics).
One of the inside too!
Not too much to look at there but I think it’s a neat solution for me
Front view, don’t think much of the name of this unit ‘One little Bear’ but could be worse, Dourk Audio also market a brand known as Nobsound! 
Barrie
That is very neat. Each switch is a 4 pole change-over.
I’ve used those types of switch for many years, generally very reliable for higher level signals as they benefit from a tiny bit of current to keep the contacts clean.
Beware of one small point, if you push two simultaneously, and they are wired simply as just “make” (normally open) contacts, they will both make contact! Also, if fiddly careful, you can have no switches making contact, ie all out. (I had to cater for these possibilities with Hon No1 daughter when I built her the hi-fi for her bedroom. Hmm, another retro pic at some time)
However, if they have been wired sensibly, a bit like the two or three switches for a landing light, using the change-over contacts, then if all pushed in together only the one nearest to the end of the chain (no 4 in your picture) will connect, but in normal use the no 1 nearest the beginning goes through a lot more contacts (normally closed 2,3,4).
Hi Richard, thankyou for casting your eye over it! Its just arrived, very well packaged and there is not much in the way of a manual From what I gather, a “half” press of button one, followed by full press of 2,3 and 4, gives output to all speakers? Not sure but won’t be meddling with it. Don’t want it where all 4 amps output simultaneously 
I’ve enough on at the moment with the last casseiver I bought. Decided to have another go at it. Bought some JBWeld to try and fix the door hinge, not pretty but hopefully it will bring the door back into alignment 
Cassette mech still out on the table but I just thought I’d try and see if there was any life in it after reconnecting the loose plug and while waiting for the JBWeld to do its thing. No speakers available so connected my headphones via the front 1/4” socket. Plugged in, switched on and now there is a hum! Massive step forward compared with my previous sound of silence! not much else happening though, with FM selected on the tuner, even without an aerial, I would have expected to hear some output. Scratchy pots/switches abound now that I can hear something though will get the contact cleaner involved shortly.
Barrie
All back together but no success 
listening to the hum, bass, treble, balance, loudness all work (listening on head phones) when first powering up, the VU Meters flicker, same when switching off. Pause and eject buttons work but the others are solid. No change when moving radio bands and tuning meter doesnt move. Front panel lights up, dolby indicator light works, stereo light doesn’t. It’s a shame as cosmetically it’s very nice! Anyway, to cheer myself up I’ve bought another AIWA AD-6600 cassette deck ( same as the one I recently purchased and an AIWA AX-7600 tuner amp, model up from the AX-7400 I already have! 
Just to finish it all off, a pair of Polk Audio floor standers (new and not retro ) 1" silk tweeter, 6.5" mid range and two 6.5" bass radiators in sealed cabinets. All part of the grand plan, which, according to Mrs B, is to fill the house with as much hifi stuff as possible!
Need the lockdown to finish or I won’t be able to move for equipment at this rate!
Barrie
Sounds like a power supply problem. I would guess that the high load stuff like the power amp and panel lighting are powered by an unregulated supply while the preamp and tuner sections are on an unregulated supply which isn’t working.
Thanks for that Paul, TBH, its beyond my pay grade! Heres a couple of pics of it on the workbench, sorry dining table
Here is some more retro home entertainment, not necessarily hifi though…
Back in the old days of home movies, Dixons sold this Astro 8mm projector, I even have its original faux leather zip-up carry bag, handles are OK not so the zip… It still worked forty years ago, and I rarely turn down a gift I can use.
Happy memories.
I know everyone else are more technically clued-up than me, especially Roadie and Richard, but I’ll just mention that the only time I had a hum in a set-up was an earthing problem. Just thought I’d mention it.
Thanks Roger I’m with you on your line of thought! Hum, well maybe just a noise, volume turned right up it was more pronounced, perhaps it isn’t a hum as such, who knows. on another note, my mysterious benefactor of LEAK equipment, passed on some CHORD banana plugs which I presume had been cut off the CHORD Cables to accommodate 2 pin DIN plugs? Anyway, they are machine crimped onto the cables, well, I’ve managed to remove the sleeves by putting them in boiling water, softening the sleeves and allowing me to ease them off the plugs. I can now (hopefully) solder the ends back on to the cables, reusing the sleeves and Bob’s your uncle!
Picking up on Richard’s film projector, somewhere I have a projector from way back when. It has 8mm (I think) film reels with a single centre pull wheel and corresponding holes, rather than double holes either side? I know for definite there is a version of Steamboat Willie, also some very un PC footage of white explorers being boiled in a giant cauldron over a wood fire, with natives dancing around the pot (childhood memories) will have to find it! My dad made a cover for it out of National baby milk tins, painted black but all the writing still there on the underside!
Barrie
Thanks for that Roger but I’m a prod and hope amateur. I can read a circuit diagram and do a bit of very basic fault finding on kit like this but that’s my limit. I’ll have a go at fixing stuff if the alternative is binning it. Worst case is I make things worse and learn what not to do next time.
Richard has the training, knowledge and experience to actually design and build stuff that works.
If Richard is Premiership I’m Sunday league.
You might like a picture from one of my projects. We needed a compact camera around a high quality lens because it was going to be used to take real-time measurements. So this was an early CAD test to see if the folding up circuit board (a flexi-rigid) and the component placements on it would clash with itself and the lens, and if it would fit in the box, and if the second board with all the LEDs on it would fit the connectors.
The left third is all the assorted power supplies (cunningly arranged to not have an earth loop via the external source), the middle third is the camera and its driver and signal processing chips and the right third is the video memory and processing, the computer and the signal interface to the outside world.
Paul, you might be Sunday league compared to Richard, but I don’t even know what the game is! 
I don’t actually collect Hi Fi equipment now but used to be an enthusiast and thought I’d share a couple of photos of my Luxman L3 amplifier and Connoisseur turntable. Both bought in the early - mid seventies and both still working perfectly.
Regards
Darryl
Excellent! Looks lovely! Personally, I just accumulate stuff, not really a collector, although LEAK and AIWA are my main passions.
Really like the separate tone controls for L/R channels, very nice indeed.
Barrie
Fascinated by Barrie’s retro hifi journey.
Just thought I’d share my 1980s kit still in daily use.
I’ve just completed a service rebuild on most of the items.
The Marantz CD player has a new laser assy fitted, the Nakamichi cassette deck new belts and relubed, the Quad pre-amp & FM tuner had most of their capacitors changed (they leak and eat away the PCB tracks!) plus op-amps.
The Linn LP12 I completely rebuilt with new suspension, Cirkus bearing, sub-chassis and S/hand Ittok arm.
Not shown in the photo are the Meridian M3 active speakers which also had their electrolytic capacitors changed. If it all works for another 30/40 years it will outlive me!
The only modern kit is the Arcam rDAC on top which gets a usb feed from my iMac for digitised stuff!
