Retro and budget home hi fi

General Discussion Forums Life, The Universe and (almost) Everything!
101

 

If the cone is b—d, but not grating because the coil is still centred, then there is nothing lost by trying a repair. Just be patient and careful.

  1. I’ve kept my old Maxims going all these years by using diluted PVA woodworking glue where fibres in the moulded paper cones (bass and tweeter) were beginning to separate; paint it on carefully expecting the glue to shrink slightly and pull the cone back to the right profile again.

  2. I repaired a friend’s Kefs (with the plastic cone) with silicone sealant, again minimum necessary and again applied with an artist’s paint brush.  We thought about pvc upholstery glue but a test just peeled off the plastic.

  3. At work we had some original RCA 18" 50W cinema drive units for the big 1930’s Olsen bass horn (ten feet wide, by six feet deep, four feet high, folded back on itself a few times eventually ending in a twin aperture) for a dubbing theatre. A pair is stacked one above the other in the back-box, and the lower one had been damaged by mice, with several holes chewed for access to the back box.  That one I patched with thin card built up to the same thickness and more PVA.  I then had a look at the electro-acoustic equations for the system and realised that the cone resonances were a bit too high (they went for efficiency over fidelity), so I worked out how much more mass to give them and coated both with some rather nice thin under-seal to lower their resonance until it was correct.  That speaker could then effortlessly rattle the soundproof triple glazing on the control room windows fifty feet away with only about 50W of twin KT88 valve amp (We tried and rejected a Quad 50D which clipped too easily and didn’t sound right).

 

 

102

Speaker cone repair with PVA and tissue paper is a useful technique. If the foam surrounds on the drivers have gone then there are plenty of very cheap replacements on eBay. Search for ‘Universal Speaker Surround Repair Foam’.

As for Scottishfiver, looks like we have our very own Ivan Brackenbury. If you haven’t heard of him then check out YouTube.

103

 

He’s a *ick.

How VERY dare you Sir!

104

I have a full set of NAD separates; amp, tuner, cassette tape player and CD player (British design) with a Dual 506 deck fitted with an Ortofon cartridge and Mission Speakers (British made). It is used almost daily and most of it is forty years old! I would be heartbroken to have to replace it.

 

105

No need to get all grumpy just because Sir John Barry’s daughter didn’t do you a ‘He’s Bonkers’ jingle.

106

107

All this talk of retro hi fi has inspired  me to dig out my old JVC system from the 80s.

Fully aware its not up to the same standard previously  mentioned on here but,hey,its says "Made in Japan on the front,which is good enough for me cos funnily enough that’s where my favourite  car was made

Not sure what happened to the Denon CD player I bought to go with it though

 

108

We have a small Philips mini system with flat panel speakers in our conservatory. Model number is MCD240. Small and cheap but bought to fit on a narrow shelf and gives an amazingly full and rounded sound for such a small size package.

All my music is stored in MP3 format on my desktop PC. Next to the Philips system I have an old Android tablet connected to it running a free app called Samba Player. I use that to play music via the network from the PC. I can select individual tracks and complete albums to the queue and select repeat or shuffle as required.

Any cheap discarded tablet or Android phone will do the job just as well. Easy way to update any system to play your existing music collection or to add Spotify or Amazon Music access. All you need is an aux input

109

Nice one Barrie and with all the original packing boxes too. 

I was talking to a chap about his water damaged MK2 ecu tonight. He runs what must be one of the smallest record shops on record:-) - 178 square feet and they also sell coffee.

Vinyl has become popular again but he tells me that cassettes are also coming back in. Your system will be a good investment for sure - certainly worth getting all the functions working again.

A big fan of Aiwa - still have my radio cassette TPR - 910 with its twin cassettes that don’t gently drop.

The radio aerial has come out of its socket but still works if positioned correctly. No original box but have instructions and receipt.

It cost me £129.95 on 22nd March 1978. At this time I was milking cows after school and working weekends/holidays on a farm for 44.5p per hour, so that is 292 hours pay!

I don’t think I will get my money back.          

110

As mentioned in my previous post on this thread (post no.62), I love the mellow sound of 1970s Hi-Fi systems, and back in the Spring I bought a Sony TA70 amp, along with its matching ST70 tuner for our summer house. 

The bookshelf speakers designed back in the day to go with this system (SS70), were changed for a pair of SS-5177, which have more ‘presence’ to them (well, they are four times the size !), and despite the whole set-up being basically ‘entry-level’, as far as Sony systems of the time are concerned, fill the summer house (and garden, it must be admitted !) with the lovely warm, wholesome sound which I love (not too sure about the neighbours though !).

For ease of use, and a slight nod to the 21st century, I simply play either my mobile phone, or my laptop computer through this system.

Digitizing the whole of my record collection would be almost impossible, simply because of its size (some 3,000 plus albums at last estimate), but I have around 200 of my favourites on my laptop, which suits me fine.

I would like to hear other members’ views on this question:- do you think that old music sounds better on an old stereo ?  OK, so playing everything from a lap top might spoil the illusion a bit, but I can’t imagine messing about with a turntable in the summer house ! 

Happy listening 

111

 

I was alright with para.1 but after that I was completely lost!

 

112

I’m a fan of old hi-fi separates. I still have my original NAD3020 in use in the living room. I have another in the upstairs ‘computer/radio’ room to which I attach an old iPad.
My son wanted one so I grabbed a cheap non-working one from Ebay. Replaced a few capacitors and he now has that. Based upon that success I bought a couple more duds and they are now working spares.
I do think the old stuff sounds better but can’t provide any evidence to back that up especially with my hearing these days.
Also bought a copule of Roberts radios and did them up. Latest buy was a 1969 vintage Hacker Hunter. A few capacitor swaps and it’s sounding great.

113
114

 

Interesting thought.

People like Andre Previn  & Mr J Barry I mentioned earlier won’t give digital or CD delivery house room. 

Producing in studios is one thing, but for personal listening, I dare say in the confines of their custom built music rooms, many go for top of the range analoque systems.

“Direct Cut” LPs with the best of …probably…custom built equipment to their ears is the only way.

I took delivery of a 70’s re-mastered Santana Vol 3 the other day. Such was the “band-width” for want of a better phrase required, 1 CD became 2.

Now, the detail was staggering through the decent cans I have, but I found “listening fatique” crept in. It was…clinical if not harsh, almost over produced.

I have several direct cuts, very very expensive in the 80’s, one of which is the Emperor Concerto 5. I recorded them back then onto metal tape, and rarely do they come out the sleeve.

It’s not that there is an audible A/B comparison of sorts, it’s the way it’s delivered and don’t forget even an old Nakamichi tape tape machine will do it differently from a quality belt-drive deck. The old saying goes…ht emost two important bits of any system is the signal-gatherer, and the speakers.

Suffice to say on vinyl on the Thorens/SME/ Audio Technica moving coil cartridge…which has it’s own pre-amp…the plastic blows the tape into the weeds. You can hear the violinists nails scraping, the turning of page. All very subtle. I also have a very good CD of the same performance, but these little sounds are more of a cheese-grater annoyance…harsh and over-produced.

The human ear is an amazing piece of engineering. What the brain does to interpret it all is unique to each of us.  

Iv’e not bought any revival LPs, but at £25/40 each I’ll be very choosy about experimenting. I’ve a feeling they may be overly digitised…no idea yet.

 

1 Like
115

A VERY good point. The same as with eyes. When we argue about what sounds best and what looks best we never know how other people hear or see.

I’m still not prepared to agree that Bob Dylan is a good singer.

116

 

Just on that?

I’ll be needing a set of good quality cans methinks.

The sight of SWMBO’s crystal collections edging along the shelves is, apparently, not acceptable.

 

Cannot afford or justify top dog Quads, but can do around £200.00 for summat.

Best buy a HiFi mag and do some homework.

117

I too am not overly sure about the sound coming from the old system. Compared to the Phillips Fidelio B5 we have for the TV sound (and Bluetooth music) it is a very nice listening experience, not as much bass which possibly is down to the Mourdant short M10’s, the Fidelio has a separate sub woofer, but the AIWA is just as good in its own way. I listen through a Bluetooth reciever connected to one of the RCA aux inputs and the S9 Galaxy phone has quite a few sound settings available to alter the sound that I hear. Obviously, the AIWA pre amp also has controls such as bass/treble/balance/loudness/-20db muting/low filter/mono/stereo and switchable speaker outs A/B/A+B which is all good to “tune in” how things sound!  I know this sounds daft but I can also display the tape deck L/R recording level meters ( when not actually recording) and the main amp output meter display while listening to my music. Far more interesting to look (with everything flickering away) at than the black soundbar which just has the input displayed (hdmi/ ARC or whatever) 

Barrie

118

I had forgotten about the almost trancelike experience of watching electroluminescent and LED bar graph displays dancing away to the music.

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.

119

Amp power output displayed in increments 0.1w up to 60w (never been that high) Tuner has signal strength bar, again in increments plus the frequency display and stereo light. As you say, nice to look at 

Barrie

 

120

  

 

Now I’ve never liked all the “special effects” lights, my brother-in-law has a system (Nad?) with graphic equalizers, and all the lights others mentioned, enough to give anyone a migraine or epileptic fit.  My cynical mind says the the manufacturer puts those on to distract you from the inferior sound being produced by the equipment.  I said that to my B-i-L and he didn’t speak to me for weeks!  Actually, except for the flashing lights it’s a good system.