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Jerry Cotton posted:Well that's both good and bad to hear. Good in that a sponge is great for cleaning records. Bad in that it's poo poo for cleaning dishes. I use a dishwasher for that.
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Jan 21, 2014 19:29
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BANME.sh posted:I like to use 50/50 mixture of distilled water and as high purity isopropyl alcohol you can find (99% would be great). Then 1 or 2 drops of dishwashing liquid. poo poo, I can get lab-grade 200-proof like it ain't no thang. But I heard that alcohol destroys the surface of the vinyl. Not arguing, you seem like one of the main resident knowledge-havers and I'll take your word for it. I'm curious why people are so worried about alcohol. Science tells me that it will go on the record in such a small amount and evaporate so quickly that it wouldn't have time to compromise the surface layer of molecules and soften it up.
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Jan 21, 2014 19:32
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:poo poo, I can get lab-grade 200-proof like it ain't no thang. Ethanol maybe. Isopropyl should be fine.
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Jan 21, 2014 19:33
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I had a chance to get an Eico HF-20 mono tube amp (c. 1950s) today for only $25. It was apparently "working", but otherwise in rough shape. I was excited to do a restoration on it, as I've never owned a tube amp before and there's a ton of information about them online. They're quite popular for hobbyists. An hour before I was going to pick it up, the guy called and said he was giving it to his son instead.  This is the HF-20, though not the one he was selling 
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Jan 21, 2014 19:34
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BigFactory posted:I use a dishwasher for that. Should I set the dishwasher to the gentle cycle for records, or is the normal mode fine? Heated dry is probably a no-no, right?
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Jan 21, 2014 19:35
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:poo poo, I can get lab-grade 200-proof like it ain't no thang. If left to sit, maybe, I am not a chemist. I've been using this mixture for a few years with no ill effects. You can always dilute it a bit more if you are worried. It will destroy old shellac 78s, though.
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Jan 21, 2014 19:36
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BANME.sh posted:If left to sit, maybe, I am not a chemist. I've been using this mixture for a few years with no ill effects. You can always dilute it a bit more if you are worried. It will destroy old shellac 78s, though. Good, I see no need to buy snake oil then. I have all that stuff at home. Thanks.
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Jan 21, 2014 19:38
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eddiewalker posted:Should I set the dishwasher to the gentle cycle for records, or is the normal mode fine? Heated dry is probably a no-no, right? As much as I've always wanted to try it, I've never put records in the dishwasher. Sorry. Love to hear the trip report if you want to give it a go, though! Depending on your racks, if you made rubber gaskets that bolted on to protect the labels and give the discs a little weight so they didn't rub all over the place, I could see it working. But somebody would have figured it out by now, so it probably ruins your records. BigFactory fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jan 21, 2014 |
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Jan 21, 2014 19:41
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BANME.sh posted:I like to use 50/50 mixture of distilled water and as high purity isopropyl alcohol you can find (99% would be great). Then 1 or 2 drops of dishwashing liquid. This is what we use in the record cleaning machine at the shop, works great.
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Jan 21, 2014 20:15
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slothzilla posted:If you were going to spend a few hundred on a receiver, would you buy something vintage or used modern? I'm looking at a Marantz 22xx at the moment, but I'm conflicted. I personally would keep my 2.0 and surround sound setups separate. (IMO) movies don't usually need a ton of WPC or dynamic fidelity or whatever to sound good, and a lot of what makes some modern AV receivers more expensive than others is stuff that benefits music way more than it does movies/TV/games. Likewise, music tends to get the short end of the stick when it comes to multichannel AV setups in general and you're always going to put it at a disadvantage of you're designing your space around a 5.1/7.1 model. With that in mind, I'd get a good vintage receiver and build a 2.0 setup around it with some proper full-range speakers for music only and a decent, inexpensive ($250 or less- $150 or less if you go refurb/open-box or used) 5.1 HDMI receiver for the TV with a set of inexpensive bookshelf/surround speakers and a <$150 subwoofer. That will give you way more bang-for-the buck than putting together a purely "modern" system to handle both (granted, I collect vinyl so having an entirely separate stereo for music isn't as weird or superfluous for me as it might for most people). Also- Marantz are awesome and in the top tier of the vintage audio world, but I'm not sure that they really deserve the ridiculous price premium they get (this is assuming you're buying one for the sound and not so much for the collecting aspect). If I were you, and I had several hundred to spend, I'd be looking at high-end late-70s Pioneers, Sansuis, and Yamahas too. Those brands will all see price inflation- particularly for well maintained "monster" models- but not nearly to the extent that Marantz or McIntosh get.
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Jan 21, 2014 20:32
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Electric Bugaloo posted:
Having a multiple stereos is the best (I also have a stereo dedicated to vinyl); I'm putting one together for my kitchen now. I'll do some more research into other manufacturers -thanks for the advice.
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Jan 21, 2014 20:52
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slothzilla posted:Having a multiple stereos is the best (I also have a stereo dedicated to vinyl); I'm putting one together for my kitchen now. I'll do some more research into other manufacturers -thanks for the advice. Some Kenwood gear slides under the radar, too. Moreso than Sansui or Pioneer.
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Jan 21, 2014 21:11
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Isn't there some decent Onkyo stuff out there as well? I'm very happy with mine, but I sort of lucked out, because I wouldn't know how to separate the good from the bad.
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Jan 21, 2014 21:21
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Flipperwaldt posted:Isn't there some decent Onkyo stuff out there as well? I'm very happy with mine, but I sort of lucked out, because I wouldn't know how to separate the good from the bad. I think half the fun is finding something grimy and scratchy for $25 on craigslist or at goodwill and bringing it back to life. Doesn't really matter what the brand is. It's like rock tumbling. Then you end up buying stuff because you can't pass up the deal, and convince yourself that it will make a great garage system, except you already have two of those and you never listen to music in your garage anyways...
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Jan 21, 2014 21:26
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BigFactory posted:I think half the fun is finding something grimy and scratchy for $25 on craigslist or at goodwill and bringing it back to life. Doesn't really matter what the brand is. It's like rock tumbling.  
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Jan 21, 2014 21:29
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Electric Bugaloo posted:I personally would keep my 2.0 and surround sound setups separate. (IMO) movies don't usually need a ton of WPC or dynamic fidelity or whatever to sound good, and a lot of what makes some modern AV receivers more expensive than others is stuff that benefits music way more than it does movies/TV/games. Likewise, music tends to get the short end of the stick when it comes to multichannel AV setups in general and you're always going to put it at a disadvantage of you're designing your space around a 5.1/7.1 model. It's a good approach, but personally I would start with just one really good stereo setup for handling both music and movies. A good decently-powerful amp set of floorstanders will do both really well. By concentraing the expenditure on only a few components, you can get higher quality for the same cost. After saving up a bit more, the next upgrade would be a good subwoofer and a center speaker to match the floorstanders. Depending on your priorities, the center speaker can come first. Lastly, you save up again and buy a good surround receiver with the same power rating for the two front speakers as the old stereo amp. Then sell the stereo amp and buy surround speakers. They're really not that important, the surround channels on 95% of movies are basically just a gimmick. Buying a whole surround system at once is stupid expensive if you want something nice. It's much easier on the wallet to build it piecemeal.
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Jan 21, 2014 21:31
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Can I join the party? Buying too much stuff, can't pass up 30 dollar sansuis or 10 marantzs.
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Jan 21, 2014 23:51
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TooLShack posted:can't pass up 30 dollar sansuis or 10 marantzs.  Please ship me some extras if that's how cheap you're gettin 'em
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Jan 21, 2014 23:52
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I've found the den of hell that all items that don't sell or deemed broken go in the local Goodwill chain. They call it the bargain center, and I feel dirty when I go to it. They load everything on huge carts and just wheel it out like it's trash. Tons of clothes, men in black vhs tapes, all sorts of poo poo and sometimes the stereo equipment that the goodwill people can't figure out how to turn on or is broken. It's the thunderdome there though, they wheel out new stuff every 30min or so and there is a large group of horders/ebayers that run to the carts. I see the same hand full of people there everytime I go, which is not that often because I start to feel like I have a hording problem if go there. Today I found a 80s Marantz SR6000DC, not that pretty and haven't fully tested it out but the relay does click on to bring it out of protection. Also found a marantz turntable of the same era, which the tone arm is jacked but I will take it apart and sell the parts. I Ebay a lot of stuff to pay for my growing record collection. But I been lazy lately on posting and the stuff has piled up.
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Jan 22, 2014 00:17
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KozmoNaut posted:...Lastly, you save up again and buy a good surround receiver with the same power rating for the two front speakers as the old stereo amp. Then sell the stereo amp and buy surround speakers... Yeah, but half the fun of having a vintage stereo piece is that it's not a modern surround receiver. I mean just on looks alone, compare something like this:  to any AV receiver from the last 20 years. As for speakers, I have a pair of boxy-as-hell HPM-900s that sound glorious with music and I got for cheap. I would hate to have to figure out a way to make them look good on either side of a modern TV and I'm not about to try to integrate them into a 5.1 setup when a dirt-cheap set of Newegg special Polks will do more than adequately for movies and nothing more. Alternatively, you could focus on HT aesthetics and look for tiny minimalist satellite speakers without having to worry about whether they'll sound good playing music.
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Jan 22, 2014 01:29
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BANME.sh posted:drat I live out in Hampton Roads, VA and it's a large military area. Most of the old stereo hardware I see and pick up belonged to military guys or dudes who were really big into Hi-Fi back in the 70s. Most of them get rid of it because of the fact that they're "old" and "outdated" when the fact of the matter is that they're all still pretty valuable unless it's low-end hardware. I usually comb the suburban areas, don't really head out into the bigger cities much. It's really hit or miss though due to the fact that most of the thrift shops in my area generally don't know what they have, price it through the roof, and are trying to make as much profit as possible. I haven't found any tube hardware (other than tubes themselves) in the wild, however I did find a HCT HMS-001/Fatman iTube. It's not vintage, but hey, it's tube.
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Jan 22, 2014 04:27
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The Leon Hikari posted:I usually comb the suburban areas, don't really head out into the bigger cities much. It's really hit or miss though due to the fact that most of the thrift shops in my area generally don't know what they have, price it through the roof, and are trying to make as much profit as possible. I haven't found any tube hardware (other than tubes themselves) in the wild, however I did find a HCT HMS-001/Fatman iTube. It's not vintage, but hey, it's tube. Thrift stores around my place assume that every piece of stereo equipment is a mint-condition 1970's Marantz that's has been professionally restored and price them accordingly. So horribly lovely Sears brand turntables sell for $100 and low-low-end Lloyd receivers go for $200. Nine times out of ten ebay is a better deal than buying locally. Craigslist or Kijiji sometimes have deals, but most of the time the unit was sold or spoken for as there are a few people in my area that flip them for a living.
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Jan 22, 2014 16:19
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Blistex posted:Thrift stores around my place assume that every piece of stereo equipment is a mint-condition 1970's Marantz that's has been professionally restored and price them accordingly. So horribly lovely Sears brand turntables sell for $100 and low-low-end Lloyd receivers go for $200. Nine times out of ten ebay is a better deal than buying locally. Craigslist or Kijiji sometimes have deals, but most of the time the unit was sold or spoken for as there are a few people in my area that flip them for a living. Most of the stuff in my area runs $30 to $60. All of it needs a good deoxit scrub and tlc. Usually I'll wait until it gets marked down before I buy because nobody in this area likes to buy from the local shops until it's marked down. I don't see many turntables in the wild either, and when I do, they're usually late 80s early 90s plastic crap that nobody wants. All of the decks I have picked up are early 80s. Haven't found anything deemable as "solid gold" yet.
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Jan 22, 2014 19:43
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I've been camping craigslist for months, checking a couple times a day, trying to find a receiver or amplifier. It's a wasteland around here for vintage stereo equipment. Finally this Pioneer SX1010 showed up yesterday, but I was five hours late to respond so I suspect it's gone now, especially at that price. http://grandisland.craigslist.org/ele/4300044807.html Which is a shame because that might be my favorite-looking receiver ever when it's all lit up. I guess garage sale season is only a few months away. edit: I do have a Sony TA-F40 sitting here that doesn't turn on. How does one even go about finding the problem with these? The fuse is fine and I don't see any blown caps (though I didn't open the power supply). All I know is the power cord is fine because the pass-through power works. wa27 fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jan 23, 2014 |
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Jan 23, 2014 22:17
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wa27 posted:edit: I do have a Sony TA-F40 sitting here that doesn't turn on. How does one even go about finding the problem with these? The fuse is fine and I don't see any blown caps (though I didn't open the power supply). All I know is the power cord is fine because the pass-through power works. Do both the switched and unswitched power plugs work? If the unswitched works and the switched doesn't, it could be as simply as a faulty (or dirty) power switch. Also, there's this in your area: http://grandisland.craigslist.org/ele/4278613603.html 
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Jan 23, 2014 22:22
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BANME.sh posted:Do both the switched and unswitched power plugs work? If the unswitched works and the switched doesn't, it could be as simply as a faulty (or dirty) power switch. Yeah it works switched as well.
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Jan 23, 2014 22:24
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wa27 posted:Yeah it works switched as well. That means something more serious is likely broken. I would assume your first bet would be to check the power supply board. I have no idea how to read schematics though (I just poke at things people tell me to with my multimeter). Edit: I had a TA-F45 and I remember reading that they have a special power supply that was prone to failure. It is covered by a piece of aluminum. You could open that up to see if there are any blown caps in there. BANME.sh fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Jan 23, 2014 |
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Jan 23, 2014 22:28
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BANME.sh posted:Also, there's this in your area: http://grandisland.craigslist.org/ele/4278613603.html That's not a bad price if it works fine.
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Jan 24, 2014 00:34
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 Found this at Goodwill today for $32. Receiver, Turntable, and Speakers (not shown). All in very nice condition. The Turntable jumps around a little bit unfortunately, but that's nothing a little bit of work can't fix. I also think the stylus leans a bit to the left because the audio is unbalanced. Of course, I really won't know until I get inside the thing and give it a deoxit bath. The turntable is definitely one of those suspended types (I know almost nothing about turntables, sadly) and it tends to bounce around a lot while playing. Is there any easy way to fix that?
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Jan 24, 2014 06:17
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You'll need to adjust the counterbalance on the tonearm and anti-skate to the correct value specified by the cartridge. You should also get a new needle for it, since you have no idea how worn out it is. Maybe a whole new cartridge. Here's a guide You did good. You might not want to put the TT on top of your receiver, because you'll obstruct the heat vents.
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Jan 24, 2014 06:34
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BANME.sh posted:You'll need to adjust the counterbalance on the tonearm and anti-skate to the correct value specified by the cartridge. You should also get a new needle for it, since you have no idea how worn out it is. Maybe a whole new cartridge. Here's a guide A lot of what I do pick up I honestly just resell to buy better hardware. If the Turntable doesn't pan out the way I want it to, I'll probably just list it up for parts (or list the entire set up after it's all cleaned up) and see what I can nab. But, I really won't know what's up until I sit down and clean both. I also generally don't keep my hardware stacked like that, I just wanted to get them on the test bed and make sure they both functioned. They might say "we only put it out on the floor if it works" but it's the biggest pile of bullshit. The Leon Hikari fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Jan 24, 2014 |
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Jan 24, 2014 06:55
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Another good day at the local Salvation Army again: for $50 all together, I got an NAD 5340 CD player and a Sansui FR-D35 direct drive turntable. I just discovered that the turntable has an Audio-Technica AT125LC cartridge in it, which may be worth as much as or more than the turntable. I think I'm gonna sell the NAD and keep the turntable.
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Jan 24, 2014 07:54
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A new project. 1950s Dual 1002E Seller was actually someone I'd known from VE/Audio Asylum, but found this on Gumtree. Was a project that never got started. Just taken it out of the case to see why it wasn't running. The usual flaking wiring insulation for a machine of this vintage seems to be the culprit. But nothing gets your heart going like finding a mercury switch. Seems a trifle unnecessary in this design. edit: Extremely seized throughout. All good now, just have to order an ancient stylus. Should clean up nicely, even the lovely suitcase might polish up OK. The guy also had a (broken)Garrard Lab 80 for sale, I might sell this now it's fixed and get the Garrard for a project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06YKZitccac Ron Burgundy fucked around with this message at 12:25 on Jan 27, 2014 |
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Jan 27, 2014 07:12
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I gave up on CDs years and years ago (had my collection stolen around 03' and have been almost all MP3 since then), and I've been collecting a few LPs here and there. I keep meaning to get a turntable but I've been putting it off. Now I think I'm ready to make a move. A lot of poo poo I listen to (metal) is available on vinyl and I figure if I'm going to buy music, I may as well pay for the record if at all possible. Ideally, I'd like to have the turntable in the office sharing the same speakers as the Imac. As far as turntables go I'm assuming this Audio Technica AT-LP60 should be fine? Does having a USB port matter? I really don't care about ripping vinyl. As for speakers, I was planning on getting Audioengine A2 Powered Desktop Speakers. Since they're powered, do I need to still get a receiver? Should I just run the table through the computer or should I forget about powered speakers and run the computer's audio through a receiver? I'm just trying to figure out the best way of doing this.
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Jan 27, 2014 21:30
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Using that turntable, you shouldn't need anything more than those A2 speakers. Since the speakers are powered, they have their own volume knob. And the turntable has a built in phono pre-amp, so you can just plug it directly into the speakers with RCA or 3.5mm cables and you're done. Or you could plug the turntable into line-in on your computer and then plug the speakers into the line-out on your computer. That way you'll get both your PC sounds and turntable available at the same time. Your computer will be acting like a "receiver" in this sense. OR you could plug both your turntable and computer directly into the speakers. The A2 speakers have both RCA and 3.5mm plugs and they're both "on" at the same time. RCAs for te turntable and 3.5 for your computer. This option is best because you don't need the computer on to listen to your turntable. You don't need a receiver at all. I would recommend saving up a little bit more, though, and getting a better turntable. If you look at the cost of LPs, especially double LPs, you are going to surpass the cost of your turntable after purchasing 4-5 albums. The AT-LP120 still has a built in pre-amp, plus it lets you upgrade the needle/cartridge later. Honestly, the LP60 is kinda junky. I actually made a chart comparing modern turntables on my blog, here. If you aren't interested in purchasing any extra components, get one with a built in phono pre-amp. You can always upgrade to an external one later, as well, as the built in ones can be switched off. BANME.sh fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Jan 27, 2014 |
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Jan 27, 2014 21:44
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Even if you decide to get a turntable that doesn't have a built-in phono pre-amp, stand-alone pre-amps are available for not a lot of money.
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Jan 27, 2014 21:49
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Haggins posted:As far as turntables go I'm assuming this Audio Technica AT-LP60 should be fine? Does having a USB port matter? I really don't care about ripping vinyl. As for speakers, I was planning on getting Audioengine A2 Powered Desktop Speakers. I've heard good things about pairing a set of A2/A5+ with a turntable that has a built-in preamp for a compact setup. I personally love Audioengine's stuff and have nothing but praise for their speakers. As for the turntable, I'd bump it one tier up to the AT-LP120 if you can afford it. The LP-60 has a lot of cost-cutting features that make it kind of terrible if you plan to listen to LPs with any amount of regularity (chiefly an irreplaceable proprietary- and pretty lovely sounding- cartridge permanently attached to the tonearm). The LP-120 is pretty much the gold standard entry-level turntable in current production (if you really wanted bang for the buck, I'd go vintage and stick a ~$40 compact preamp on it). If you end up sticking with vinyl, you can keep an LP-120 indefinitely and maybe upgrade the cartridge in the future (or not, I think the AT95e is pretty great myself) or sell it easily and get something snazzier. If you decide that vinyl isn't your deal, you'll have a much easier time offloading an LP-120 for a fair price than an LP-60.
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Jan 28, 2014 22:12
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Is there much difference going from a ~$50 preamp to $150ish, or is that just getting into audiophile nonsense territory? I have a TC-750 that seems fine as far as I can tell.
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Jan 28, 2014 22:15
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Dogen posted:Is there much difference going from a ~$50 preamp to $150ish, or is that just getting into audiophile nonsense territory? I have a TC-750 that seems fine as far as I can tell. I went from an ART DJ Pre II or whatever they're called to a NAD 1240 (which seems to sell for about $100-150) and I think it sounds noticeably better. Plus it's way nicer to have volume, balance, treble, bass etc knobs to fiddle with if I want to. strap on revenge fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Jan 29, 2014 |
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Jan 29, 2014 02:10
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I'm mostly a "buy once" kind of person so I'll go with the AT-LP120. Though that's probably as much as I'm willing to spend, it is kind of a novelty right now anyway since I still have MP3s of everything.
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Jan 29, 2014 02:32
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