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Okay, so here are my two latest purchases, and I need advice on a third. (photo's aren't mine, ill take some shots when they are all set up). Sansui 222 MKV Does anybody have any advice on replacing the feet on this thing? They have some wierd metal coil wound inside the rubber feet, and seeing as one is missing I'll just replace all 4 of them. I was thinking something soft and rubbery however after doing a bit of searching theres a lot of crazy audiophile speak even for the feet of these turntables. What should I do?  Sony TA-1140 Amplifier Haven't received this yet, and probably paid a bit more than I should have, however it was recently cleaned and serviced so I'd figure it was worth it for me.  The missing piece is the speakers, and I'm not looking to spend more than £150 really. Should I be looking new or second hand? What sort of power? Anything I should look out for that isn't mentioned in the OP.
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Apr 5, 2012 13:46
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Vegastar posted:Alright, I'm not very good at this sort of thing. We bought a Magnavox MCU061 setup off Craigslist. We brought a couple records along to give it a test spin, everything sounded great at the sellers place, we unhooked everything and brought it home, although rather poorly. The platter and belt fell off on the trip, I reassembled it and now everything is playing too fast, both 33 and 45, probably by about 10%. So, after a lot of googling and dicking around, I figured out what a pot is and how to tweak it, then found the two that controlled 33 and 45 speed and adjusted them accordingly with one of those printable disks, and everything is working great. I'm sure it's not a particularly high end system, but for a 40 dollar Craigslist find with a nice glass cabinet and receiver, I'm not gonna bitch.
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Apr 5, 2012 13:57
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sc0tty posted:Okay, so here are my two latest purchases, and I need advice on a third. (photo's aren't mine, ill take some shots when they are all set up). Remove the remaining feet, get 2 rubber squash balls, cut both in half. One half per corner. Otherwise move the lone foot to the center. It's still possible to make a perfectly flat plane with three points of support, provided you can adjust the height of all three.
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Apr 5, 2012 15:08
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I'd spring for the ball rather than trying to wonkily balance three feet. Don't believe the audiophile hype. Cheap is your friend.
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Apr 5, 2012 15:37
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The squash/tennis ball method works surprisingly well. Use it in my kitchen with shaky floors and it works like a dream. If it looks ugly to you then paint it black
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Apr 5, 2012 15:59
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sc0tty posted:
Usually the older amps don't like anything less than 8 ohms, there are a lot of exceptions, but it's a good rule to stick with 8 unless you know it won't overtax the amp. Personally, I like vintage speakers and think a set of KLH 6, 17's, JBL L100's or Dynaco A-25's would sound good with it. From the pound symbol I assume you're in the UK, B&W's, Wharfedale or KEF are more common on that side of the pond and all made pretty good speakers.
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Apr 5, 2012 23:40
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Is $100 a good deal for a working Dual 506 turntable? Yes/No?
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Apr 6, 2012 04:25
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Whee got the belt for my turntable and it's running quite well, as far as I can tell! Sounds pretty good through my headphones.
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Apr 6, 2012 20:16
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Picked up a set of Cerwin Vega AT-8's for cheap and am going to refoam the 8" drivers and recap the Xovers. I'll post some before/during/after pics and give some impressions when done.
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Apr 14, 2012 21:49
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I'm using a Rega Planar 2 with a Bias 2 cartridge and RB250 tonearm going into my McIntosh MA6300. Speakers are Martin Logan Electro Motions. I've had the Rega for three years, and just recently upgraded to the McIntosh integrated amp. Now I'm finding that the Rega's imperfections are really shining through. Should I upgrade the cartridge or replace the entire setup with something a level or two up? Like the Pro-Ject RPM 9.2?
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May 5, 2012 05:34
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wickerpedia posted:I'm using a Rega Planar 2 with a Bias 2 cartridge and RB250 tonearm going into my McIntosh MA6300. Speakers are Martin Logan Electro Motions. I've had the Rega for three years, and just recently upgraded to the McIntosh integrated amp. Now I'm finding that the Rega's imperfections are really shining through. What imperfections can you hear? I mean, you'd need to figure out if they're caused by the turntable or by the cartridge. Are we talking about a general lack of fidelity, or do you have more specific problems like wow/flutter, rumble, anything else?
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May 5, 2012 10:33
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I had a Goldring GR2 that was a rebadged Rega P2. It's a decent table and Rega's own cartridges are good but better ones can be had in their price range. I'd try a cartridge swap before just replacing the whole rig outright. I found a dedicated outboard phono preamp to be a huge improvement as well. Even high end integrated amps have compromises in their design. If I had thought about it, I probably would have bought a VPI table over the Rega P5 I now own. In the price range of the RPM 9.2, VPI has the very nice VPI Classic with a walnut base. If you have any local high end turntable dealers around, I'd definately go have a listen before dropping that much money on a table. The only problem would be finding a brick and mortar store that has survived the internet age. Paperweight fucked around with this message at 23:06 on May 5, 2012 |
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May 5, 2012 21:59
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I bought an old record player and I need a new needle for it, but I have absolutely no idea what needle I need. I tried googling and I read the OP, but I couldn't really find something that could tell me directly what I need to buy. The turntable is a BIC Micro 350. It has a weight on the back of the arm to adjust the weight of the needle on the record and a light that shines on the turntable so you know it's moving at the right speed. It was also eleven dollars. I'm running it through an old Fisher amp, which was evidently the Sears house brand. How do I determine what needle I need to buy for my BIC Micro 350? It seems like a solid unit and I really don't know much about these things, just what my dad has told me. Help me goons, you're my only hope.
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May 6, 2012 06:19
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Take a photo of the headshell area so we can see the cartridge and needle that's on it now. If the tonearm has an adjustable counterweight like you said, chances are it'll take just about any standard cartridge or a p-mount cartridge. See this page for more info: http://www.lpgear.com/category/OPC.html You'll probably want to replace the whole cartridge rather than just the needle because it'll be easier to find replacement needles for a modern cartridge and the one on there now is probably all gunked up and caked with dust anyway. BANME.sh fucked around with this message at 09:35 on May 6, 2012 |
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May 6, 2012 09:29
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Fisher was actually a pretty decent brand in the golden age of vacuum tube equipment. Not sure what happened to them after that. May have been sold off once the age of solid state and cheaper imports came into being. Sears house brand was Silvertone and a few others for electronics.
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May 6, 2012 17:33
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Stalizard posted:I'm running it through an old Fisher amp
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May 6, 2012 18:30
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Alright, I've taken some pictures. Yes, it's dusty. No, I never used it this dusty, the needle has been broken for a long time. Here's the turntable:  That thing on the play button came off of the cartridge/needle/I don't know what to call it. Here's the needle (or is it the cartridge?): Front  Side  Back  And for those of you who care about such things here's my crappy thrift store receiver:   So, what do I need to buy to make this play records again?
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May 8, 2012 01:17
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The cartridge is the big black box that says OP 2 on it. Looks like you can get a replacement needle for about $32 bucks here. http://www.lpgear.com/product/EMPSOP002.html The cartridge does look pretty old and gunked up so I would recommend replacing the whole shebang (a whole new cartridge comes with a needle too). It also looks like a standard mount cartridge so your options are many. Lots of people recommend the Shure mx97e but if you don't want to spend that much, audio technica makes a lot of nice budget cartridges.
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May 8, 2012 01:46
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Wow, I've never actually seen a photo of a BIC turntable before. and it's an automatic changer too, cool! Also that cartridge was somewhat decent for it's time. Even if you don't buy the stylus keep the cartridge. Ron Burgundy fucked around with this message at 02:57 on May 8, 2012 |
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May 8, 2012 02:50
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What's a cheap-ish replacement tonearm for an SL-1800? My current one doesn't have a proper mount for the M97xe and I'll likely just replace the tonearm if it's cheap enough.
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May 8, 2012 04:04
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You should let that receiver breathe 
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May 8, 2012 04:13
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Looks a lot like the plastic bic table I had. It was pretty terrible but on the other hand I've got an OP2 cart right now and it's not half bad. I wasn't able to find much on it either. I wouldn't be so down on that Fisher. It's a good brand and that one looks great!
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May 8, 2012 05:46
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alg posted:You should let that receiver breathe
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May 8, 2012 15:43
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Wow, I never knew Fisher made equipment for Sears, I wonder if they made any of the Silvertone brand stuff, I'll have to ask my dad about that. He used to be a salesman there back in the early 70's. Thanks for the pics, that looks like a decent quality unit, I'm guessing maybe 15-20 watts.
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May 9, 2012 02:36
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From what little a quick Google search turns up, Sanyo made Fisher receivers at some point in time. I at one time wanted to get a Fisher 200B vacuum tube tuner. I used to love messing around with old radios in my free time.
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May 10, 2012 06:32
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Okay, I'm finally posting my stack of 2-channel stuff. Receiver:  Marantz 2250B. Picked this up from Saturday Audio, everything works except the dial lamp (which doesn't mean much to me as I barely ever move it off of WBEZ). Sounds amazing. Turntable:  Technics SL-23, replaced a Sony PS-LX430 (seen here with a cat on top of it). Also picked up from Saturday Audio, this one has a few minor bugs that's going to prompt me to bring it back - it can't seem to spin up to 45 RPM, and it has trouble holding speed until it's warmed up. Research on the Internet points to some dried out caps, easy enough to fix, but as long as someone else will do it for me, I may as well have them do it  CD:  Marantz CD-152, picked up on ebay for $10. I know nothing about this, but it does work, and it's ancient and huge.  It will be pretty much perfect as soon as I shake the bugs out of the turntable! New speakers (currently running Polk R15s) are next.
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May 10, 2012 18:29
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Love the weighted "Gyro Touch" tuning knobs on the old Marantz amps.
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May 10, 2012 18:45
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Speaking of Marantz, I need an amplifier and I saw a Marantz PM 300 at the recycling centre for 85 €. I wonder if it's worth it - seemed awfully light-weight for an amp.
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May 10, 2012 19:02
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I picked up a Realistic LAB-2200 turntable after hunting around for the last week or so. The shop I picked it up from said it needed a new needle, I was able to get it working by bending the needle out a little so it would at least play a record so I could test it. I'm looking to get it fixed, but I'm trying to figure out just what I need. I removed the cartridge to tweak the needle, should I be replacing that or should I be buying something like this?
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May 10, 2012 22:20
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Ashex posted:I picked up a Realistic LAB-2200 turntable after hunting around for the last week or so. The shop I picked it up from said it needed a new needle, I was able to get it working by bending the needle out a little so it would at least play a record so I could test it. If you know for a fact that you still have the original cartridge, you can buy that; otherwise, get a new cartridge outright (presuming that the Realistic LAB-2200 has a standard 1/2in mount)
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May 10, 2012 23:02
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minivanmegafun posted:If you know for a fact that you still have the original cartridge, you can buy that; otherwise, get a new cartridge outright (presuming that the Realistic LAB-2200 has a standard 1/2in mount)
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May 10, 2012 23:25
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minivanmegafun posted:If you know for a fact that you still have the original cartridge, you can buy that; otherwise, get a new cartridge outright (presuming that the Realistic LAB-2200 has a standard 1/2in mount) I'm pretty sure it's the original, it's sitting in my trunk right now so I'll take a closer look later. I believe it's a P-Mount (four prongs on the back of the cartridge, screws in from the side) so I may look into replacing the whole thing. I did some light reading and if I'm looking for clarity I'm better off getting a new cartridge.
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May 11, 2012 00:21
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Farts Domino posted:Doubt it. I had a different realistic linear-tracker but most of the linears that I've seen screw in from the back.
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May 11, 2012 02:40
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I pulled the cartridge and it is the stock one. Here are some pics:  Since the stylus apparently costs $30 I may as well get a new cartridge (kinda takes away from the look), can you recommend what/where to look? edit looks like I can get the audio technica atn102p stylus as a replacement for a bit less. Ashex fucked around with this message at 04:10 on May 11, 2012 |
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May 11, 2012 03:37
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Ashex posted:Since the stylus apparently costs $30 I may as well get a new cartridge. What am I missing here? I don't see how your reasoning makes any sense (unless styli are usually hella cheap in the US).
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May 11, 2012 09:12
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Jerry Cotton posted:What am I missing here? I don't see how your reasoning makes any sense (unless styli are usually hella cheap in the US). I just hadn't expected the cost to be that high. I did look around a bit more and got the actual part number of the stylus I needed and found it for ~$10 less through a vendor on Amazon. I've ordered it and should receive it by the end of the month.
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May 11, 2012 16:33
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Refoamed those Cerwin Vega AT-8's I bought a month or two ago. As you can see from the blurry cell pic, the foam was crumbling at the touch. http://i.imgur.com/ysoSY.jpg And the the original 20+ year old caps were on the Xover. That HTC Hero never did take very good pics, but that's what I had at the time. http://i.imgur.com/so0HH.jpg I ordered a refoam kit from Orange County Speakers and here's what it consisted of. http://i.imgur.com/G1u0x.jpg The instructions were simple and easy enough for most anyone to follow. I picked off the old foam using a combination of my fingers, a flathead screwdriver and a folding boxknife, this was probably the most time consuming part as far as the working time itself. I had to be careful to not move the cone too much as to not scar the voicecoil while removing what was glued onto the rim. http://i.imgur.com/uNDfc.jpg The next step was gluing the foam to the cone, pretty easy, actually. http://i.imgur.com/ZjoDm.jpg Just put a nice bead of glue around the rim and use the brush to spread it even where the foam will go, you don't have to worry about spreading it past the foam, it won't hurt anything except looks. Then press with your fingers all the way around a few times and wait overnight. Now we come to the tricky part, gluing the foam to the frame. You've got to be careful getting the cone in the correct position so the coil doesn't scrape, which can make a lot of noise while playing and cause the coil to short out once the magnet scrapes off the insulation. I used large folder clips to hold everything in place once I lined it up, it worked better than I thought it would. http://i.imgur.com/BPcoT.jpg I've read that CV's have a relatively big gap for the coil and don't need shims for the magnet/coil spacing. On a pricier driver, I'd have taken the dust cover off and used three shim to center everything up, the say pieces of playing card work well for that. Once it was lined up, I glued the unclipped areas and clipped there, then glued the previously clipped areas and pressed it together with my fingers all along the frame rim. The Gasket that comes with this kit is a hair too big for the frame and I had to use wire cutters to clip out about 1/8"-1/4", but other than that it went well. http://i.imgur.com/wSUwb.jpg I moved the clips over a section every few hours and let it sit overnight. The Xover on these is pretty simple, a couple on non-polarized electrolytics, an inductor and a thermal limiter. I ordered some cheap cap replacements from Parts Express, the voltage was higher, so we're good there, but I had a hard time finding a 7 uf 50V so I settled on a 6.8uf. I'm not sure how much it moved the crossover point, but it sounds good, maybe just a hair brighter. That may be the different values or it could just be new caps. http://i.imgur.com/a9pwL.jpg Here they are in the current setup and don't laugh at the cutting board, it's the best drat $2 mousepad you'll ever get. http://i.imgur.com/Sh2B3.jpg For the amount of effort and $ outlay, it's totally worth it. I may start doing this to make some money. Retarted Pimple fucked around with this message at 19:39 on May 13, 2012 |
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May 13, 2012 19:36
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I posted in the DIY thread but wanted to drop this here. Putting out as many feelers as I can. I am conscious and wary of the deadly effects of high voltage and will exercise all proper work habits when touching this thing. OK beards, dig deep. I picked up a mid-sixties all tube AM/FM/record player stereo console from the flea market today. AM is fine and strong, and the turntable, as skate and skiptastic as it is, sounds great, but we have really low volume on FM. If you dime the volume, you get a 50/50 mix of hum and music at very low volume, like, if the air conditioner kicks in it's gone. Output is a pair of 6L6's so there should be excessive power available, and Rush Limbaugh rattled the windows earlier, so the finals are good. We're tuning around fine, the sensitivity is okay and it's picking up the stations I expect it to. What would you look at? FM side tubes? Coupling caps? Switch? Audio tracing tube radios sketches me out. I'm assuming I should put a billion volts of blocking cap in line with any audio tracer. I don't think it's a bad switch contact, or any of the FM front end or IF tubes, but I could be wrong. It's a JC Penney "Two Sixty" and I'm sure it was just a commodity item, so I am not expecting a schematic, but there is a tube diagram on the chassis, so I at least have a toehold.
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May 16, 2012 07:46
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Realigning an FM receiver requires an oscilloscope. I bought a used one years ago. Been meaning to figure it out and find a use for it. Another potential problem is adjusting the IF transformers. They use threaded iron powder slugs that move in and out of the 2 coils in each transformer. Depending on how much crud is built up inside them, it can be a chore to clean them. If you force them, the slotted top part of the slug can disintegrate if the whole thing doesn't just break in half. Definately get a plastic alignment tool set from Antique Electronic Supply. They used to sell replacement IF transformers for radios but that was a long time ago. More than likely, you'll need some new replacement tubes. 12AU7 and 12AT7 tubes are fairly common in AM/FM receivers and are inexpensive. You can get NOS ones for a decent price but I've found some of them tend to be microphonic for audio use. Tube Depot sells quite a few NOS and new vacuum tubes and can test preamp tubes for microphonics, gain and matched triodes. I'd replace any easily reached coupling caps with polypropylene caps. I found changing the one going to the RCA output on an old receiver improved the tone by quite a bit. Some of the old caps will be way off spec after several decades. Edit: Push-pull transformers aren't as good for single ended use since they don't have an air gap in the laminates. If it is a pair of single-ended transformers, rock on Paperweight fucked around with this message at 22:32 on May 16, 2012 |
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May 16, 2012 11:02
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I swapped around a pair of 6AU6's (RF mixer and IF amp) with absolutely no change. It's about all I can do today with no test gear or caps. The FM alignment dance sounds like it might be a pain. Then again if it's just a shorted old bypass cap or something, it could be an easy fix. I'm going to open it once and look inside and test caps/resistors. If i can't suss anything out on that, and an alignment tool in my meaty paw proves fruitless, I may take it on a different angle. I'm wondering if I shouldn't just gut this for the transformers, cabinet and speakers. I have been yearning to build a low watt stereo tube power amp for ages, and this would give me two output transformers and a power trans, 2 6BQ6 aka EL84's if i want them, four good speakers, a cabinet with no major wood damage, no rot, just needs tweed and a refinish, and it's nothing but straight edges and right angles so it'd be easy to strip. I bet I could do a small class A stereo getup for what, $50 plus tubes, since i have the transformers? I can't nail down the transformer part numbers but they obviously are meant for single ended and can do ~10 watts. The model number on top is ~The Two Sixty~ in curly font, and I bet I could get a nice brass replacement plate made up and get ~The Two Ninety~ silkscreened on. Jonny 290 fucked around with this message at 18:09 on May 16, 2012 |
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May 16, 2012 18:02
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