Stereo equipmentany

[lewtot184]

The Onkyo turntable will likely need a new belt at least. You can download service manuals for it free online.

It's direct drive.

 

[lewtot184]

I would love a vintage big power receiver. I have a mid 90's Danon thta is about 50wpc but is very very strong and sounds great on smaller speakers. my other receiver is an early 90's Yamaha with more juice but it is getting very tired and sad and should really be retired to garage unit.
I want power because my music speakers are a pair of American Accoustics (made by parent company of MTX for American in WI years ago, note: NOT AAD) that can handle basically anything and could probably blow the windows out of the house if I had the juice to push them that hard. They sound fantastic at moderate levels which is about all that the Yamaha can handle anyway. If I lived near other humans these would be loud enough to cause phone calls. Good thing I don't
I have been toying with finding a pre-amp and finding an old Adcom GFA555 to juice them but much like my project cars, they need to slide down the priority list for a bit.

All the digital MP3 and ear buds and whatever in the world can't replicate filling a room with sound that envelops you sent by a quality player. I prefer CD as that is the era I grew up in but I only use players from the end of the engineered DAC era in the 90's. Once the players started entrusting the DAC to the receiver, and the receivers all started pushing 5.1 and 7.1 for playing movies, regular old 2 speaker stereo sound went out the window. Sure they make nice stuff now days but it is not the same.
My favorite CD player is a 5 disc Sony but the turn table wore out and I can;t find another unit for parts. My second favorite is a 24 disc changer type from Pioneer. very clean sound from that one, just not quite as "alive".
I have my Dad's 1950's original KLH turn table/stereo and bookshelf speakers for the old records. It is getting to need new caps pretty quick but still sounds nice. original KLH was some really nice stuff. Then in the 80's it went full kabuki. Never go full kabuki.
I use his Scott FM tuner with it. I can pick up stations on that thing I didn't know existed from far away and I don't even have an antenna on it. They just don;t make stuff like they used to. But that unit needs some service. Some day....

I would love a vintage big power receiver. I have a mid 90's Danon thta is about 50wpc but is very very strong and sounds great on smaller speakers. my other receiver is an early 90's Yamaha with more juice but it is getting very tired and sad and should really be retired to garage unit.
I want power because my music speakers are a pair of American Accoustics (made by parent company of MTX for American in WI years ago, note: NOT AAD) that can handle basically anything and could probably blow the windows out of the house if I had the juice to push them that hard. They sound fantastic at moderate levels which is about all that the Yamaha can handle anyway. If I lived near other humans these would be loud enough to cause phone calls. Good thing I don't
I have been toying with finding a pre-amp and finding an old Adcom GFA555 to juice them but much like my project cars, they need to slide down the priority list for a bit.

All the digital MP3 and ear buds and whatever in the world can't replicate filling a room with sound that envelops you sent by a quality player. I prefer CD as that is the era I grew up in but I only use players from the end of the engineered DAC era in the 90's. Once the players started entrusting the DAC to the receiver, and the receivers all started pushing 5.1 and 7.1 for playing movies, regular old 2 speaker stereo sound went out the window. Sure they make nice stuff now days but it is not the same.
My favorite CD player is a 5 disc Sony but the turn table wore out and I can;t find another unit for parts. My second favorite is a 24 disc changer type from Pioneer. very clean sound from that one, just not quite as "alive".
I have my Dad's 1950's original KLH turn table/stereo and bookshelf speakers for the old records. It is getting to need new caps pretty quick but still sounds nice. original KLH was some really nice stuff. Then in the 80's it went full kabuki. Never go full kabuki.
I use his Scott FM tuner with it. I can pick up stations on that thing I didn't know existed from far away and I don't even have an antenna on it. They just don;t make stuff like they used to. But that unit needs some service. Some day....

how much power do you need? my onkyo is 65 watts per channel. never really cranked it up but pretty sure it would blow your ear drums out.

i little background on my "audio" journey. i'm 77yrs old and remember my mom's old radio/phono big thing. i remember buying phono needles in a little packet and watching the tone arm peel vinyl (may not have been vinyl in the '50's) off the records. did the 8 track car thing back in the late '60's. by the early '70's i was beginning to lose interest in music. it was more noise than substance. my brother was doing the audio thing and got me into listening to something besides radio around that time frame. i remember listening to the allman brothers at the fillmore east on his equipment and i was hooked! i alway liked '60's rock & roll, and r&b-motown stuff, but really got hooked on blues. back then i went to every blues thing i could find locally. my musical taste is a little broader now.

something we did back then was buy the vinyl and record it on tape (had cassette players in the cars). basically wear the tape out and save the vinyl. i still have most of my records. my brother ended up taking the collectable stuff but i have enough to get started again; providing my records are still flat.

my eyes have taken a dump, so doing something big with cars may be over with. i don't mind being a homebody but if i have to be a couch potato i'd rather doing it listening to albert king , or eric clapton.

 

[YY1]

Be careful using contact cleaner on switches or pots that have a plastic backing for the contact areas.

The "Fader Lube" shown above is specially formulated not to break down/lift the joints.

It's easy to get and affordable on ebay or amazon.

 

[YY1]

I bought this 1991 jam box (no one called them boom boxes in my area) two weeks ago at a thrift store.

20 bucks.

Having a little late 80's listening party (and margaritas) with the wife on Friday night.
3rd tape is ...And Justice For All.

Box is 15 WPC, digital tuner, CD, linkable, logic controlled cassette decks, factory bi amped speakers, five band EQ, adjustable XBS loudness.
Separate batteries (AA) for clock and presets, and a remote (that sadly doesn't work but did come with).
Sounds REAL good.

 

[BB BELLA]

I have denon and pioneer receivers in the house with a mix of speakers cabs,but only listen to digital stuff,and done with cd's! we never change from Chris Stapelton channel on sirius! I have a full toshiba sound system in the shop running off laptop wifi , couple cabs with 12"s/ tweeters and couple smaller yamaha speaker boxes! My truck system Pyle double din, 3 amps, phoenix gold, rockford, powering 4-12's, 4 6x9's,2 6" door kickers. took the backseat out of my extended cab and made the entire back a cabinet up to back window! kinda surprised the windows stay in, but I play in my office with 80 watt traynor tube,marshall G100R for midi patch

2/12's so I'm use to loud,very fn loud!

 

[kiwigtx]

Be careful using contact cleaner on switches or pots that have a plastic backing for the contact areas.

100% ...there are two types of Contact Cleaner ...one that will attack and melt plastic, and one that will clean but not harm plastics.

Be careful which one you use and buy.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I bought this 1991 jam box (no one called them boom boxes in my area) two weeks ago at a thrift store.

We called them “third world briefcases”.

 

[cr8crshr]

It's direct drive.

Usually, on most turntables that have been idle for a number of years, the very first thing to change out would be the tonearm cartridge and needle. Then rebalance the tracking of the tonearm so it tracks the center of the vinyl grooves. Also, a good cleaning of the platter direct drive shaft and maybe a slight light lube of it for smoothing out the turning of the platter. cr8crshr/Bill

 

[sam dupont]

the clicking noise is a concern.

I sell the better equipment I buy, so my home stereo is a Kenwood Super Eleven. It's still pretty good. They were never imported, so I use it as people aren't familiar with them. 125 watts per channel running through Altec 9846a speakers, used in theaters. I bought the speakers at a city auction with one 802 tweeter diaphragm burned up. The original 15 inch woofers have been replaced with 515's. I had Klipsch La Scalas, but side by side, I liked the Altecs better and sold the La Scalas. I like to say: My home theater speakers are theater speakers. About 3 feet tall

 

[Budnicks]

I still have my multiple 5 cd/dvd player Sony from like 1999

I still have JBL speakers w/12" woofers 2" tweeters 6" round midrange still, w/spliters
like Wood fake maple, like 3' tall x 18" wide x like 14" deep,
a brown cloth cover comes off the face, no rips etc.
from like 1975-1977, still sound pretty dang good

I gave the Pioneer turntable (don't remember what series)
& w/my Pioneer amp/AmFM radio, w/built in 2 track stereo/cassette player
like 35watt per channel, you could hook up like 6 speakers on the back
stereo, volume like a surround sound, w/built in equalizer, from the 70's era
I gave it to my younger brother Dr. Mark
he's in love with vinyl, took my dad's old record collection
that wasn't being used for decades on end,
they sounded like listening to a bad recording to me
not a great clarity, or real crisp sound, it never did & it was top shelf stuff
but he loves it

I still have a couple Sony & Emerson VHS 4 head players/recorders
I still have quite a few VHS tapes, so I keep them around for nostalgia's sake

I have probably 200 CDs mostly country & western or oldies rock 90's stuff
another maybe 100 Cassettes, later 70's to 90's stuff
my 99 Dakota SLT 4wd truck has a CD/Cassette player in it, still sounds good too
I rarely listen to any but the FM radio in my truck, rock 104.1 70-80s hits

CD's I play on my Playstation 2, (I know old) every so often,
I watch one or other of the old movies DVDs (probably 50-ish) on it too

you couldn't give that stuff away a few years ago

 

[Detective D]

how much power do you need? my onkyo is 65 watts per channel. never really cranked it up but pretty sure it would blow your ear drums out.

i little background on my "audio" journey. i'm 77yrs old and remember my mom's old radio/phono big thing. i remember buying phono needles in a little packet and watching the tone arm peel vinyl (may not have been vinyl in the '50's) off the records. did the 8 track car thing back in the late '60's. by the early '70's i was beginning to lose interest in music. it was more noise than substance. my brother was doing the audio thing and got me into listening to something besides radio around that time frame. i remember listening to the allman brothers at the fillmore east on his equipment and i was hooked! i alway liked '60's rock & roll, and r&b-motown stuff, but really got hooked on blues. back then i went to every blues thing i could find locally. my musical taste is a little broader now.

something we did back then was buy the vinyl and record it on tape (had cassette players in the cars). basically wear the tape out and save the vinyl. i still have most of my records. my brother ended up taking the collectable stuff but i have enough to get started again; providing my records are still flat.

my eyes have taken a dump, so doing something big with cars may be over with. i don't mind being a homebody but if i have to be a couch potato i'd rather doing it listening to albert king , or eric clapton.

My Yamaha is getting sad but it is(was) rated at 110w. It is from the 90's so it doesn't scale up as well as old stuff, but a LOT better then modern AV stuff can.
These speakers I have are very thirsty. They are rated at 4 ohm, not 8. They can handle 300+ watts, at 4ohm. They are thirsty.
From what I can tell, MTX used their poly style car audio 12's and put a different driver on the back. This let them push huge power into these and the car audio cones/surrounds could take it as they would be plain ol' subwoofers in that application. The configuration is 12, 12, 6, 4, tweeter.
They envelope the large room I have in sound. That is what I was getting at before, new little ear buds and 4" speakers may sound nice in new tech, TV soundbars, whatever. But it is not the experience.
There is a difference between volume, and power. The speakers I have can drink a ton, but that is because they are basically 4 way speakers + a "tweeter". They are HEAVY. I mean I am a 300lb guy and I have to bear hug these from the side. I bet they weigh well over 80lbs each. Might be over 100. I don't move them except to scoot them over for spring cleaning.
They need the power to properly drive. My Yamaha can push them to about 1/2- 2/3 volume before it runs out of juice to properly drive the speakers. I don't usually go past half because depending on the music it might have some spike demand that overcomes capacity. My 50watt Danon can do maybe 1/3 volume, but that thing is a heavy beast for 50 watt and scales extremely well to the 4ohm. When the speakers are properly driven, the sound quality and room filling experience is amazing. I just wish I could get them a hair louder for certain bands. For a lot of music, it is perfectly fine and very enjoyable, but some of the more guitar heavy rock I would like to have just a bit more and I don;t have it as is. An oldie silver face monster would give me the capacity. Or a pre-amp/amp combo.
Another way of putting it- the speakers can move a lot of air at a lower volume, so there is just a lot of sound, even if the volume itself is not overwhelming.

I am sure your Onkyo is fantastic. Old power is different then 90's power is different then AV modern power. It scales different and can remain "clean" because the components are just more heavy duty. There is a guy with an antique store that dabbles in older receivers we frequent that has had a little of everything. I like Onkyo from that era. I think my favorite so far has been Sansui that the guy has had in his store playing Moody Blues or similar.

 

[Detective D]

I bought this 1991 jam box (no one called them boom boxes in my area) two weeks ago at a thrift store.

20 bucks.

View attachment 1982050

Having a little late 80's listening party (and margaritas) with the wife on Friday night.
3rd tape is ...And Justice For All.

Box is 15 WPC, digital tuner, CD, linkable, logic controlled cassette decks, factory bi amped speakers, five band EQ, adjustable XBS loudness.
Separate batteries (AA) for clock and presets, and a remote (that sadly doesn't work but did come with).
Sounds REAL good.

Panasonic made really nice, durable stuff in the 80's and 90's. My brother got one, pre-CD style, when he was in Junior high for Christmas. When he was a senior, he upgraded to a CD capable JVC, which I still have. The Panasonic was taken to the barn and survived there playing every time the light switch was turned on for over a decade. It still worked when the farm was sold but for maybe obvious reasons no one wanted to take it home... or touch it even lol.
I think that will give you years of enjoyment.

 

[RR Fan Dan]

We called them “third world briefcases”.

Ghetto Blasters is what we called them.

 

[Nutso]

My Marantz 2270 has so much power that I can’t go over half volume without hurting my ears and literally rattling the glass doors on my hutch. The Klipsch Fortes put out some sound and are very easily driven.

I am in the process of having a Sansui 1000A receiver restored, it is getting three new tubes and some LED light upgrades along with a good cleaning. It is only 40 watts but on the Fortes I think it will still rock…I love the tube sound.

 

[62Dodge_]

Howdy
This made me want to fire up my old mid 80s system Yamaha C70,M70,T80, Technics cassette, Yamaha Px-3 turntable, and Cerwin Vega S2 speakers. I almost bought klipsch LaScala but I liked the bass of the Cerwin Vegas.

 

[Photon440]

My first real receiver was a Sansui 9090. I wish I still had it, beautiful sound. Real walnut casing, 110 watts per channel and was the first receiver that included power meters. It cost me $650 in 1976. Weighed over 50 pounds and had a real good tuner. In good, reconditioned shape, they sell for $2500-3500 these days.

I'm currently using an older Carver receiver which does sound very good as well.
And for about 30 years I was listening to these thundering AudioResearch speakers, built in Toronto Ontario, with their 18" woofers. (they have grills they were just removed for this picture)

But my wife was tired of the floor space that they used up, so I recently got a pair of Polk Audio RTI A7 speakers, much narrower but I'm very happy with their sound.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Still have most of the audio gear I bought while stationed overseas... Couple reel to reel tape machines, An Akia GX620 and a Pioneer RT707, Technics SL1600MK2 turn table, Technics EQ, Marantz 2285 BD Receiver... Kenwood 888S Speakers... Last. time I had everything hooked up it still rocked, only thing currently hooked up is the Marantz sitting on top of the fridge in the garage powering a couple weather proof backyard speakers... Stuff deserves a better life but I don't crank up the tunes like I use to & Coral thinks her 90's vintage stuff is prettier... Not worth the fight...

Back in the day ad for my turnable...