Retro Hifi..

[Crackie]

Max M4X WW said:

Thanks for the advice guys, I guess I'm just so used to having one.

I will try it without, admittedly its usually just listening to the TV or music through my media PC. I never listen to CD's any more.

This option is far from the retro thread title but could be a solution and would not cost too much. $110.00 ( £70.00 ).
One of these http://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/m... using this software http://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/Product%20... would give you a full 31 bands of very high quality EQ. It would sit in your system between your media PC and Sony amp. It has 4 outputs so you could also use it to run a second system or add some subwoofers to your current system. The mini DSP would allow you to configure the subs with digital time alignment too

I have a 4 way MiniDSP active crossover in my system at home, the sound quality is hard to fault; imho it sounds better than my Wadia CD player yet it only cost £370 which is a fraction of what the CD cost. I've not heard the 2x4 version myself but there are hundreds of favourable reviews about. Setting it up with the sliders would be just like operating a standard graphic equaliser but of you wanted to get a little more sophisticated you could use it to run REW auto room correction software which is an incredibly power bit of freeware.

http://www.hometheatershack.com/roomeq/

http://www.minidsp.com/applications/auto-eq-with-r...

Edited by Crackie on Sunday 24th November 08:09

[Esseesse]

I've got a Sony STR-6200F (receiver, early 70's) on it's way in the post. It's meant to be a good one, fingers crossed it's unscathed when I unpack it...

[ejenner]

brickwall said:

Jaguar steve said:

Early 80s? Apart from the CD player that's where most of my system comes from

Edited by Jaguar steve on Monday 8th July 11:17

Linn Sondek and some Naim amps? That's some serious kit you've got there.

Yep, this guy wins the thread!

Was an interesting 15 pages stuff and I had to google a few bits. The Goodmans Dimension-8 was a highlight!

My kit, this is perhaps the meaning of 'retro' somebody defined a few pages back... It's relatively new but based on a design from 1973, built by me out of new parts from China. Copy of a Naim NAP200.

Everybody thinks their own stuff is good... but as a general rule of thumb I like to see power amps with big capacitors (like you see in mine) and a big toroidal power supply, also present. A simple design which doesn't have a lot of adjustments (none in this case). This has been a great amp for two or three years now. Really pleased with it.




My speakers are old. Someone else on here mentioned they also have the same ones. Mordaunt-Short ms55ti (titanium tweeter). I didn't get these by choice, they were free and I didn't know what they were until I hooked them up but they're really very good so why should I spend money buying anything else when I don't have to?

Note they have x2 large 8-inch bass drivers in a sealed box (there are no ports). Acoustic suspension design principle. Basically pressure develops inside the box to help the speaker move in a more controlled fashion. Air is supposed to leak out through foam seals around the speakers but not so quickly that you lose the sealed box effect. If the design is good the manufacturer will have sized the container correctly for the right amount of air to be inside the speaker housing... I don't know if this is true in the case.




Lastly, not old at all. This is my 'source' and it's 32-bit 768kHz hi-res audio. Connected via USB to my computer (so no conversion to analogue until it reaches the DAC). I quite often use Amazon Music as they now offer Ultra High Definition audio. I also use Spotify with the high-quality enabled but that's not as good as Amazon HD.

It's called RME ADI-2 DAC. A well priced upper spec digital/analogue converter.

You can see from the screen... to answer another question earlier in the thread... the BASS and TREBLE tone controls are both set to zero.

Another interesting feature is the two big 0.0 digits on the display. 0.0 means it's doing nothing to the volume at the moment. If you want it quieter you turn the volume down as normal... but it will start to show minus figures to show it is controlling the volume downward. At -20.00 it is pretty good for watching a speech video on YouTube or listening to the radio. The advice from other owners is to have it set close to 0.0 at your ideal listening volume. But it can increase past 0.0 if you want it louder.

[Castrol for a knave]

Some lovely kit on here.

I'm a bit of a throwback - worked in a top end hi fi shop in the early 90's so I've got a fairly old school set up:

Pre Valhalla LP12, so nice red glow in the dark power button. Sold my Ittock/Troika to pay for uni, along with my Spitfire , so got a Basic with K18

Naim Nait 5i - which as just replaced an Arcam A60 - got to love a wooden amplifier

Spendor LS3/5a

Rotel RT850 tuner - proper 80's - lovely warm sound

Nad 521Bee cooking spec CD player

and staggering into the 21st century - Arcam rPlay streamer and Qobuz Sublime account.

Edited by Castrol for a knave on Wednesday 24th June 16:39

[ejenner]

Both the Naim Nait and Arcam look 'good' inside. The Naim is better obviously... haha.

[ejenner]

Are Splendor a copy of Rogers or what's the deal there?

[Jobbo]

ejenner said:

Are Spendor a copy of Rogers or what's the deal there?

The LS3/5a was a design spec for professional monitors for the BBC; various different manufacturers produced speakers to that spec, so they're just different makers of speakers to meet the same spec: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LS3/5A

[Castrol for a knave]

Jobbo said:

ejenner said:

Are Spendor a copy of Rogers or what's the deal there?

The LS3/5a was a design spec for professional monitors for the BBC; various different manufacturers produced speakers to that spec, so they're just different makers of speakers to meet the same spec: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LS3/5A

Yep - pretty much that.

Nice tight sound for a small speaker, not as tricky to drive as Kans, more expansive. I am not a lover of too much bass so they suit my lugholes nicely.

[ejenner]

Oh, I love bass... but it has to be the musical kind... not the same note thumping repeatedly which is what you get with a badly designed system. I know what sounds good when I'm listening to it... but a simple test for musical bass is to see what it sounds like from another room. As the treble doesn't transmit over long distances it is stripped away and then all you hear is the bass and it becomes quite easy to see how the system performs.

[Jobbo]

Castrol for a knave said:

Yep - pretty much that.

Nice tight sound for a small speaker, not as tricky to drive as Kans, more expansive. I am not a lover of too much bass so they suit my lugholes nicely.

I have a pair of Spendor SA1s, which were very much in favour a decade ago but I suspect have been mostly forgotten now because they're not to LS3/5A spec. I'm a big fan of the LS3/5A presentation and still love the SA1.

[Itsallicanafford]

here is my main system in a retro style set-up - i tend to change around components about once a month so currently in the rack i have a 1991 Sony TA-F670ES powering neat iota alphas.







so here we have a simple RP8-nait 2- Kan 1 on Kan 2 stands set-up.

....if the house was burning down i would grab the wife and kids and the Nait 2!

I am always hearing that Kans are hard to drive, can somebody elaborate on the thinking behind this?

[Castrol for a knave]

Itsallicanafford said:

here is my main system in a retro style set-up - i tend to change around components about once a month so currently in the rack i have a 1991 Sony TA-F670ES powering neat iota alphas.







so here we have a simple RP8-nait 2- Kan 1 on Kan 2 stands set-up.

....if the house was burning down i would grab the wife and kids and the Nait 2!

I am always hearing that Kans are hard to drive, can somebody elaborate on the thinking behind this?

When we used to sell them (back in the day so they would have been Kan I) we found a decent pre / power set up drove them fine, and the set up you have was exactly as we had in one demo room.

I think the problem for some, was that their efficiently was not all that high. so for integrated amps, it was a hard drive. given many integrated amps of that period were not that powerful or sophisticated. It was before high end integrateds were affordable - the Nait 1 and 2 could drive them (as you know), but people were trying to run them from a boggo Rotel or Creek amp and struggled.

[Itsallicanafford]

^ thanks for the reply, that’s really interesting.
Another quick question if you don’t mind.
I have a chrome bumper hicap/32.5/250 set-up but I have not used it with the kans as I was a little afraid of damaging them, do you think if I keep volumns down it would be ok?

[iain a]

Kans work great with a Naim 250, I ran them that way for years.

[barchetta_boy]

Ejenner, could you share a link to the NAP 200 kit?

Many thanks,

Joel

[TonyRPH]

barchetta_boy said:

Ejenner, could you share a link to the NAP 200 kit?

Many thanks,

Joel

There's no kit as such (that I'm aware of) but you can buy completed boards (or boards in kit form) off Ebay.

You then need to provide your own chassis (generic chassis available on Ebay or from modushop.biz) and a transformer etc.

Fully built board

Board in kit form

There are other sources for these like Ali Express etc.

[barchetta_boy]

Thank you. Any tips on transformers? Quite like the idea of building one of these, wonder how the sound compares to a real one?

[bungz]

Had my separates stuck up in the loft for a few years as my ex hated the sight of them.

First thing I did in the new abode was set them up.

Hmmm doesn’t sound as great as I remember this NAD C320Bee.

Down the line I read up about NAD and their cheap skating on capacitors.





Bulged and one rattled as all the electrolyte was escaping.

Decided to do the whole amp not just the power board.

Took ages!

Largely capped with Panasonic FC where possible.



Few traces were a bit delicate but no mayor bodges needed.

Been running all weekend and sounds better than ever.

[phil_cardiff]

Here's my parent's Pioneer DC-Z82 integrated amp, equaliser and tape deck. The tuner is a F-Z92L, turntable PPL-Z82 and CD PD-Z82M.

Just back from being refreshed at a local hifi specialist. My mother gave the original Pioneer speakers away (!) as they were too large so I sourced a pair of Q Acoustics 2010i. Even with the slightly dodgy speaker placement the system sounds good to my ears.

I don't know much about this system other than it cost a pretty penny back in the early 90s I think. Does anyone know much about it? Also, any ideas on it's current value with the Technics cabinets?

[bungz]

Looks nice does that, the graphic equalizer will look snazzy.

Not sure on values, retro seps do tend to hold money well for the right stuff old midi systems not so much?

Who cares though its great.

How does it sound now with the new speakers? (prob much better than the old ones!)

My latest additions ( some of them)



Arcam Alpha 3 and a Newer Arcam Alpha 7 CD with some mission 780se speakers all for a whopping £15

Amp needed recapping and cd player lens was covered in dust. Bit of alcohol and a swab all was good.




The PD 8700 was also a fairly recent addition, marvelous player for peanuts.