Potential retro hifi project

Potential retro hifi project

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Discussion

Crackie

6,386 posts

242 months

Saturday 14th January 2017
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benz0 said:
I would use just a second hand conventional amplifier rather than a t-amp though. They're very low powered.
The better known Tripath amps are only 12-20wpc but there are plenty of decent class D amps in the 50-100wpc range.

Its easy to get a genuine hundred watts for very little money if you just buy the boards and PSU. A Sure Electronics board and a Meanwell PSU fed by a Chromecast would be more than sufficient. £80.00 ish all in.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-100-Watt-Class-D-Aud...



streepips

14 posts

142 months

Sunday 15th January 2017
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In an early post you mentioned "freshly varnished cabinet".. The wood looks like teak, if so it would be a crime to varnish..........Get teak or tung oil and work it in a few times, it will glow.
For a deck I suggest a Technics SL5, compact and foolproof, a Behringer preamp, decent T-amp, pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9s if they will fit, or JBL Controls.

bristolracer

5,540 posts

149 months

Sunday 15th January 2017
quotequote all
I would get it home and try it out before you rip it apart.
You may be pleasantly surprised by the sound quality especially if it uses a valve amp.

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

184 months

Monday 16th January 2017
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bristolracer said:
I would get it home and try it out before you rip it apart.
You may be pleasantly surprised by the sound quality especially if it uses a valve amp.
I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stream music to it via bluetooth as standard.

benz0

339 posts

133 months

Monday 16th January 2017
quotequote all
SHutchinson said:
bristolracer said:
I would get it home and try it out before you rip it apart.
You may be pleasantly surprised by the sound quality especially if it uses a valve amp.
I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stream music to it via bluetooth as standard.
Ok Mr. Sarcasm. Old equipment like this often has an RCA input where you can still connect a chromecast audio or bluetooth dongle.

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

184 months

Monday 16th January 2017
quotequote all
benz0 said:
SHutchinson said:
bristolracer said:
I would get it home and try it out before you rip it apart.
You may be pleasantly surprised by the sound quality especially if it uses a valve amp.
I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stream music to it via bluetooth as standard.
Ok Mr. Sarcasm. Old equipment like this often has an RCA input where you can still connect a chromecast audio or bluetooth dongle.
I don't mean to offend, my posts are entirely tongue in cheek. I can't imagine that the drivers will be in any reasonable state after laying around for this long. Cheap modern stuff must surely better it, surely? I wouldn't trust anything with electrics as old as that to be left switched on in my house unattended.

The amplifier has been dispatched to me and I've got a set of old hifi speakers ready to test it once I've got it powered up. I'll update the thread with progress. My next task is finding the radiogram, I've got a few leads locally so should see some movement on it.

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

184 months

Wednesday 18th January 2017
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Amplifier has arrived and suitable 12v 5a power supply sourced in our room of doom (Cisco network switch PSU if anyone's interested). I've got a few cabinets locally on my watch list, hoping to source one pretty soon. Now that I'm looking to just reuse old hifi speakers (of which I have a set in the garage) I should be able to get it powered up and pumping tunes out this evening once I get home.


Cactussed

5,292 posts

213 months

Friday 20th January 2017
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I did exactly this for my wife's xmas present.

Lit cocktail cabinet was in perfect condition, as were the original speakers.
I removed the original tuner amp and put in a Nobsound hybrid valve amp which worked a treat.
Also removed the record player and installed an LED-lit slide-out tray to hold whiskey tumblers.

Looks awesome and sounds lovely.

SHutchinson

Original Poster:

2,040 posts

184 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
quotequote all
Cactussed said:
I did exactly this for my wife's xmas present.

Lit cocktail cabinet was in perfect condition, as were the original speakers.
I removed the original tuner amp and put in a Nobsound hybrid valve amp which worked a treat.
Also removed the record player and installed an LED-lit slide-out tray to hold whiskey tumblers.

Looks awesome and sounds lovely.
Sounds great, did you document it online anywhere or have you got a picture?

Du1point8

21,608 posts

192 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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currently have all the parts for turning a broken (will never work again) Beocord 1500 cassette deck into a wifi radio and if possible a mini music centre using a small HD/USB stick on the back.

Will be utilising the buttons to move forwards and backwards through stations and will try and keep the gauges working.

Only thing stopping me is that its in London and Im in Australia at the moment.



The longer I wait the more the tech moves on and the ideas as to the LCD plate under the cassette deck bit get more and more impressive.

Cactussed

5,292 posts

213 months

Monday 23rd January 2017
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SHutchinson said:
Sounds great, did you document it online anywhere or have you got a picture?
Afraid not, I just sort of cobbled it together for a surprise Xmas present.
Essentially though, I just bought the amp, wired ti into the existing cabinet and speakers and hey presto.
Very simple and looks ace.

AND.

she liked it (thank god)