Vintage hifi

[Crackie]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

A friend of mine years ago had a cd player where you had to place a weight in the middle rather than the other retention mechanism's no idea what it was

I think some of the early Micromega players used Philips swing arm laser mechanisms and required a 'puck' to locate and stabilise the disc.

[dontlookdown]

deadslow said:

dontlookdown said:

deadslow said:

dontlookdown said:

My Systemdek IIX turntable

I remember I had a Systemdec in the eighties. iirc it was painted with Nextel and you could get them in many exotic colours. Paired with Infinity tone-arm and Denon cartridge which had been sent to New Zealand to be customised by the Garret brothers. Old now, and memory hazy, so details could be wrong.

It was the 80s so quite possibly! Most of the ones I have seen are finished in the ubiquitous black vinyl. Mine is in a rather classier blond wood veneer;) might be oak, or possibly walnut.

It's not the most revealing turntable in the world but it does have a pleasingly 'vinyl' sound that I am fond of.

mine was grey nextel



but other colours were available

Nice. Those are Systemdek IIIs I think. Last one looks like it has an SME arm? Mine is the rather more, ahem, 'affordable' IIX. I doubt many people would have dropped SME money on a tonearm for a IIX;)

Main rival back in the day was the evergreen RP3, not much in it but I chose a IIX for the suspended subchassis - a bit less fussy about vibration/feedback.

[DavidY]

dontlookdown said:

Since we're doing quirky floorstanders, here are mine. The 'baby' Rega R3. 3 way, with a side firing bass unit that is a beefed up version of the front mid range unit. Mine are most of the way to being the RS3 as I fitted the upgraded tweeters.

I bought them damaged on eBay for a song about 10yrs ago and replaced the tweeters and a couple of drivers. The victims of a drunken party according to the PO!

I love these speakers, clear and tight, the treble and midrange really sing and the bass is punchy enough without being boomy or uncontrolled. They look good too, and are small enough not to dominate the room.

My Systemdek IIX turntable is even older, bought second-hand from Vickers hi fi in York in the late 80s! Unusual Helios Scorpio arm, Linn K5 cartridge. Gave it a bit of an overhaul during lockdown, stripped, cleaned and reset arm bearings and cartridge, fixed the broken anti-skate, re-dressed the arm wires which had been snagging. It's no LP12 beater but it's been part of my life since I was a student and I wouldn't be without it.

Amp is fairly run of the mill Arcam A65 with a matching CD65 too. Not high end by any means but makes a well balanced set up.

Rotel 810 tuner and Yamaha tape deck get zero use these days but complete the retro picture. My sole 21st century concession is Sony BM10 Bluetooth module so I can do Spotify and prove to the kids I am only 90% a dinosaur;)

I raise you in the quirky floorstanders - Shahinian Obelisks





In their final configuration driven by a pair of bridged Meridian 559's (approx 1KW per channel!!) the low volume bass control was just sublime - no substitute for power!!!

[dontlookdown]

1kw! Do they double as space heaters;)

Amazing looking things, never seen a pair of those before.

[DavidY]

dontlookdown said:

1kw! Do they double as space heaters;)

Amazing looking things, never seen a pair of those before.

At one time I drove them with a Class A Pass Labs amp, that certainly kept the room warm!! I also had a pair of Shahinain Arcs, and used all of them in a 4.0 surround sound system, no real need for a sub-woofer!!!

The Oblesiks revelled in power, they had a very low impedance dip in their fequency response, and also loved lots of space (but they are factory fitted with castors so easy to move about), but they like a room with height. Once you've been seduced by decent Omnidirectional speakers its very difficult to go back to directional ones!

[Deranged Rover]

DavidY said:

I raise you in the quirky floorstanders - Shahinian Obelisks

Quirky floorstanders you say? How about Duntech Marquis PCL-500s? As you can see, they’re nearly as big as a phone box!



Apologies for the sideways-ness....

To be fair, my current floorstanders are the wackiest of all (132kg each, 13 drive units, 8200W of inbuilt amplification per speaker) but they’re not vintage so would be off-topic.

[Crackie]

Deranged Rover said:

DavidY said:

I raise you in the quirky floorstanders - Shahinian Obelisks

Quirky floorstanders you say? How about Duntech Marquis PCL-500s? As you can see, they’re nearly as big as a phone box!



Apologies for the sideways-ness....

To be fair, my current floorstanders are the wackiest of all (132kg each, 13 drive units, 8200W of inbuilt amplification per speaker) but they’re not vintage so would be off-topic.

Superb speakers, I use a pair of PCL-500s as the fronts for my TV sound.





The vintage Impulse H2s I use in the dining room use the same bass drivers and mid drivers as the Duntechs.

[crankedup]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Chimune said:

My 752s..

Christ, how many do they sleep?

Those are great.

When I shuffle off I’m getting buried in something like those , awesome

[dontlookdown]

crankedup said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Chimune said:

My 752s..

Christ, how many do they sleep?

Those are great.

When I shuffle off I’m getting buried in something like those , awesome

'The Dominator MX. Who cares if it's as big as a Subaru and costs as much. When you die, they can bury you in it!'

[toasty]

Crackie said:

Trustmeimadoctor said:

A friend of mine years ago had a cd player where you had to place a weight in the middle rather than the other retention mechanism's no idea what it was

I think some of the early Micromega players used Philips swing arm laser mechanisms and required a 'puck' to locate and stabilise the disc.

Naim CD5 had a magnetic puck to hold the disc steady.

[gregs656]

I bought some Pioneer Elite CS-J600Es recently. I can't find out anything about them.

They're not massive for floor standers, think they will be perfect for the space I have. Would love to know a bit more.

[tonyg58]

Deranged Rover said:

Quirky floorstanders you say? How about Duntech Marquis PCL-500s? As you can see, they’re nearly as big as a phone box!



Apologies for the sideways-ness....

To be fair, my current floorstanders are the wackiest of all (132kg each, 13 drive units, 8200W of inbuilt amplification per speaker) but they’re not vintage so would be off-topic.

Since Shahinians have already been mentioned,we'll go to the opposite end of the spectrum. You wouldn't believe how impressive Shaninian LARCs sound for their size..

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BEG8wYPCQAALVF1?format...

Edited by tonyg58 on Friday 19th February 21:39

[Chimune]

Thought I'd better complete the share with a picture of my deck with its apparently quite interesting SME arm.

[legzr1]

For the classic Mission lovers, bargain alert!!

https://www.avforums.com/threads/oak-mission-754-7...

[Jaguar steve]

2021 lounge



1995 lounge



Same Hi Fi though.

[Fermit and Sexy Sarah]

Chimune said:

My 752s..

Snap, right down to the same (Prima Vera) finish!

Used with a Tag Mclaren 700/7r, Tag AV32R, CD32R and T32R, Kef XQ50c and Kef Q400b sub

[StescoG66]

Audio lab 8000s + 8000p with Mission 752 freedom quite possibly one of the best combinations I ever had. Had that with a Manticore Mantra and CD63 K I Signature as my front end. Sublime it was

[StescoG66]

New - to me anyway - toy day. Looking forward to setting this up later

[dontlookdown]

StescoG66 said:

New - to me anyway - toy day. Looking forward to setting this up later

Only just seen this. Looks great, identical to mine except for the arm. Is that one of the Linn clone arms you've got there?

Have fun setting it up, they are not super fussy so relatively painless process.

[StescoG66]

dontlookdown said:

Only just seen this. Looks great, identical to mine except for the arm. Is that one of the Linn clone arms you've got there?

Have fun setting it up, they are not super fussy so relatively painless process.

Thank you I shall

That’s a Mission 774LC, which was made by Jelco who do make some Linn arms - the figment is Linn. However is about to be swapped out with a Rega RB330 and the Mission arm will be up for sale.