Tag: vintage audio

March 28, 2022 – More Techno-junk

March 28, 2022 /

My kids have been into music for a little while now. Recently, they have shown a big interest in vinyl. In fact, the record player I talked about a few months ago was spotted by my son at a second hand store. They have been talking about having their own hi-fi setups in their rooms. During Spring Break, we stopped into a local record shop and one of my son’s bought a record. My other son bought a record at a second hand store.

One of my sons has a periodic appointment. If I get the chance, I slink away to the local Goodwill while I am killing time. There is a lot of junk but there is also some really good deals on vintage audio equipment. In this era of sound bars and Bluetooth speakers, quality equipment is passé. I have seen many of stereo receiver for $15-$25, literally pennies on the dollar versus original cost.

I have my eyes open for some alternate speakers and since I don’t really need them, I am being very choosy. When I see the right deal, I will eventually buy them. I have lately been thinking that since my kids are interested, that I could build them their own systems, one piece at a time. I saw this turntable marked at $12 so I thought it was worth a chance.

The last time I hesitated, I missed out on a Technics turntable that only needed a stylus (needle). It was pricey at $100, but I have seen many of them for sale at at least double the cost, depending on the model. So, I grabbed this one when I saw it. Goodwill does a minimal amount of testing. They make sure the device at least powers on. I figured that the price was pretty low risk if it didn’t work.

It turns out, this one also needed a new stylus. I bought a replacement at $22 and then I went for the real test. Setting it up, I found out that the other problem was two of the four rubber feet were missing and the remaining are rotten (bad rubber). That is why I have the clippers wedged underneath the table. I am planning on getting some replacement feet in the $10-$20 range and this old turntable will be back in business.

It played great. I put on Tom Petty and my son’s records and everything was perfect. I suppose all in, this will be a $50 purchase but a vintage player in today’s dollars is a way better than anything I can buy new at the same price.

End Your Programming Routine: I suppose I am in now on building individual stereo setups. This player won’t work without an amplifier. I need a receiver and some bookshelf speakers. Those are both much easier to find than a good turntable. Now, I am in the market for a third turntable as well.

May 18, 2020 – It’s Alive!

May 18, 2020 /

I don’t have a ton of time lately. My schedule has been cruise the different job websites, apply for relevant jobs, write a blog post and then work on getting my rental house together. Even on the weekends, I have been doing this. I may get an hour or two some days and I have been spending it looking at my audio equipment.

The receiver is now working, which means the receiver and tape deck are now working. I also replaced the connection from the computer to the OEM speakers and run the sound through the receiver. I hooked up the surround sound and did a Dolby test, wow it has been years since that experience. I also have been playing my podcasts through the receiver as I putter around in the basement. That has lead me into investigations into building antennas and other things that I will talk about in a later post.

First, I thought that there was a component blown out in the receiver and that proved to not be true. Taking the cover off and looking around, I found a piece of dried grass that was laying across the speaker conductors (I couldn’t really get a good picture of it because it was too deep into the box). I used some compressed air to flush it out and viola, it works.

The same cannot be said with the CD player. That is currently in parts. I think I may have damaged it by not knowing what I was doing. A couple of things that I have learned so far… There is a downloadable service manual which has been helpful in not breaking things further. The CD player has diagnostics on-board which has told me that the table position sensor has failed (I think I damaged it when I tried to force the table back in). It is not easy to find parts outside of drive belt.

Looking around, there are some ‘local’ authorized service people. I may pursue that because it seems that this unit is still worth $200 according to Amazon. At the very least, I am going to look at the board and the sensor a little more carefully to see if a solder job is a quick remedy.

This journey has kind of fascinated me. There are people who are really into this sort of thing. I have to admit, seeing old units from the seventies next to an old magazine add is pretty cool. Learning the history and mystique that is attached to some of the old units is pretty interesting.

Lastly, unexpectedly and kind of serendipitously my wife received a record player for Mothers Day. It isn’t a real high end one, but I thought it would be fun anyway. I do still (think) that I have some records at my parents house, like “Thriller”. Unfortunately, the are travelling for a couple weeks, so I will have to wait until they get back to get them.

Last year, vinyl outsold CDs for the first time ever. It is definitely a growing trend. There is something in my head that seems wrong to play today’s music in vinyl. I am thinking of purchasing something like “The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra: All Over the World”. That seems like an appropriate maiden voyage.