Speakers for Old Sony LBT-V502

Speakers for Old Sony LBT-V502

Author
Discussion

Jaaaag

Original Poster:

29 posts

17 months

Tuesday 14th March 2023
quotequote all
Morning all

I've recently, through a convoluted means and method, re-inherited my Dad's retirement present from 1990. Its a Sony LBT-V502 as pictured.

Ive put it up in the lounge, as it reminds me of home (Dad passed in 2005), and wired it up. Sadly the CD player does not recognise CDs, but I bought a minidisc player/recorder too as another bit of nostalgia (have hundreds of the things from circa 1999 (Speed Garage Selection is a highlight)

Anyhoo, I think the speakers or at least one of them, are blown as they do not handle volume and are very crackly. I don't really know anything about old audio like this but would like to use it as intended.

Anyone know of any good speakers that would work with this?



Thanks all!

Miserablegit

4,021 posts

109 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
Having googled the system I found one for sale on eBay with speakers.
Here is an image of the rear of the speaker:


It says “impedance 6 ohm” - meaning you can pretty much use any loudspeaker available as most are 8 ohm - just check when you are looking. Get yourself to richer sounds and you’ll be spoiled for choice.

dundarach

5,029 posts

228 months

Friday 17th March 2023
quotequote all
The matching ones on ebay pal, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334770478933?hash=item4...

£35 squids

Jaaaag

Original Poster:

29 posts

17 months

Tuesday 21st March 2023
quotequote all
Much obliged chaps.

Minefield, Richer Sounds, be nice to get a decent sound out of it. Anyone know if things like this benefit from any level of service/clean/maintenance?

Its been sitting in a (dry) garage for about 10 years unused, so it could be full of dust and whatever, its cosmetically clean etc and as I said working, but would like to prolong its life as I think it looks cool and still kind of classy in an "old money Ive had it for years" kind of way.

Cheers

Lucid_AV

416 posts

36 months

Tuesday 21st March 2023
quotequote all
About three or four years before your dad retired I was selling Kenwood and 'Techneeks-mate' stack systems. These were similar to your dad's old Sony. At the time a common upgrade sold to customers was the change the speakers for Mission 70mkII. These, along with the orginal Wharfedale Diamonds were the defacto go-to budget audiophile speakers.

Diamonds were a bit too small and didn't go deep enough to be a sensible upgrade. But the 70mkIis really rocked. The systems sounded fuller, more detailed, and, because these better speakers were more sensitive than the originals, the systems played a bit louder too.

Old Missions and original Diamonds are atill kicking around in the used market (a good testament to their build quality), but you dont have to go old to match up with that Sony system.

Wharfedale Diamond 220 (£199 pair) or Mission LX-1 (£189/pair) would do nicely, and either would be a great pair of speakers if you decided to go for a proper separates system.

Second hand,Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 are really good. So are Monitor Audio BX2, though they do need a bit of space around them to avoid sounding boomy if you like to play at higher volumes.

Let us know your budget range (including man-maths allowance) and any particular size or space restraints.

Edited by Lucid_AV on Tuesday 21st March 18:16

Lucid_AV

416 posts

36 months

Tuesday 21st March 2023
quotequote all
Jaaaag said:
Anyone know if things like this benefit from any level of service/clean/maintenance?

Its been sitting in a (dry) garage for about 10 years unused, so it could be full of dust and whatever, its cosmetically clean etc and as I said working, but would like to prolong its life as I think it looks cool and still kind of classy in an "old money Ive had it for years" kind of way.

Cheers
Out in the garage, although dry, there's atmospheric moisture and - unless heated to house temps (who does that?) - lower temperatures than indoors. If it powered up okay then you might have got away with it, but the damp has a way of getting into some components, so a couple of weeks somewhere warm to acclimatise never really hurts.

Other stuff is mostly about capacitors. They don't age like fine wine. More like vinegar. It wont hurt to open up the main units and check for caps that either have a domed top or look like they might have the stuffing falling/leaking out of the bottom. The main culprits look like this when they're duff:

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachments/rep...

https://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200302/capbl...

Resistors and transistors are more hardy, but they're the ones that don't take too kindly to being powered up when they're damp.

Cleaning is mostly cosmetic. Just avoid using air lines on circuit board. There's a static build-up that can wreck transistors and other sensitive components. Use a large soft brush natural fibre (make-up brush, non-synthetic paint brush) and have an assistant hold up the item so you can brush out and let gravity help get the crud out of the way.

Servicing/maintenance is going to be replacing duff caps, crumbling rubber belts, and possibly looking at regreasing some of the tracks for things like the CD tray if (and only if) it's looking obviously dry. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The CD player could be crud on the lens or it might need a new laser assembly. These can be a common point of failure when its a 'disc won't read' fault.