This joint needs some more vintage hifi

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  • pitdogg2
    pitdogg2 Posts: 25,559
    edited October 2013
    cnh wrote: »
    Couldn't sell a Sansui 5000A for $50? Tough times. I believe I paid $75 for mine. lolcnh

    WOW you got robbed:wink:
    cnh wrote: »
    Well, I should really be lifting some weights instead of hanging out on the forums, now, shouldn't I?cnh

    yep 12-16 ounces at a time:lol:
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,593
    edited October 2013
    pitdogg2 wrote: »
    WOW you got robbed:wink:



    yep 12-16 ounces at a time:lol:

    Nah, straight from the jug :biggrin:....
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • agfrost
    agfrost Posts: 2,430
    edited October 2013
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    You probably wouldn't say that if you ran across a Sansui TU-X1 ;-)

    I saw one on local Craigslist a couple years ago. Heading: "old radio--$20"

    Never got a reply to my "not trying to sound too desperate" email. I'm convinced it was somebody trolling an audiophile friend of theirs! :razz:
    Jay
    SDA 2BTL * Musical Fidelity A5cr amp * Oppo BDP-93 * Modded Adcom GDA-600 DAC * Rythmik F8 (x2)
    Micro Seiki DQ-50 * Hagerman Cornet 2 Phono * A hodgepodge of cabling * Belkin PF60
    Preamp rotation: Krell KSL (SCompRacer recapped) * Manley Shrimp * PS Audio 5.0
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited October 2013
    From NEARC last week (the price was right, in both cases...)

    10068125885_488bcacb2e_b.jpg
    Sherwood S3000 V 2 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

    10068126385_e2fe396541_b.jpg
    SWTPc preamp 1 by mhardy6647, on Flickr
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  • boston1450
    boston1450 Posts: 7,653
    edited October 2013
    The Sherwood ^^^^ is interesting vintage. Hows that sound hooked up?
    ..
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited October 2013
    The Sherwood tuners are generally speaking excellent sounding - this particular one sounded OK in a quick test in MA - I am planning (hoping) to hook it to the real hifi up in NH today & see if it sounds as good as the other ones here.

    Dollar for dollar, I think that the vintage Sherwood vacuum tube tuners (and, in some folks' opinions, their earliest solid state tuners as well) are the best sounding units extant.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited October 2013
    Sherwood(s)

    10127591963_e8cf10e534_b.jpg
    DSC_8058 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

    I installed the S-3000 V and it works well and sounds good in situ in the real hifi...
    10127672406_daf8cdc207_b.jpg
    DSC_8059 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

    Yeah, I'm a Yamaha fanboy... wanna make something of it? ;-)

    10127531375_3a43da8b13_b.jpg
    DSC_8052 by mhardy6647, on Flickr
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,593
    edited October 2013
    mhardy, take some pics of your full layout in that room... I am curious just how big that room really is, especially with all your different racks.

    You've gotta have almost all the Yamaha models at this point lol....
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • boston1450
    boston1450 Posts: 7,653
    edited October 2013
    There is that beautiful cr1000 taunting me :) pure beauty
    ..
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  • Nightfall
    Nightfall Posts: 10,086
    edited October 2013
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    Yeah, I'm a Yamaha fanboy... wanna make something of it?
    I love my CA-1010
    afterburnt wrote: »
    They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.

    Village Idiot of Club Polk
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  • bobivxx
    bobivxx Posts: 14
    edited October 2013
    Are those Altec (604E's?) I bet they sound great in those big cabinets! I've spent many hours listening to a pair of those in the old "moorish" cabs. No sittin on the floor for you!

    +1 on the old sherwood tube tuners too!
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited October 2013
    The room's 26 x 26 give or take (loft over a garage) - there are four of the cheap wire Home Despot racks of miscellaneous junk including the Yamaha "shrine" :-) I only show you guys the presentable stuff.

    Yes they are 604Es with Mastering Labs XOs - cabinet design is described at http://www.wardsweb.org/Billfort/
    Mrs. H and I spent some quality time hangin' pictures on the walls this weekend (since it was drizzly and blah outside) - the sideways one in the photo's a project for next week, however :-P It's a big hunker.
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited October 2013
    Had a tuner day today, Okay the first one is a receiver, but I only worked on part of the tuner in it. Kicked out 3 in one day.
    IMG_20131029_182743.jpg
    IMG_20131029_182724.jpg

    IMG_20131029_161022.jpg
    IMG_20131029_160930.jpg
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited October 2013
    I'm impressed - tuner repair and alignment is not for the faint of heart!
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  • boston1450
    boston1450 Posts: 7,653
    edited October 2013
    That McInosh looks interesting
    ..
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  • dudeinaroom
    dudeinaroom Posts: 3,609
    edited October 2013
    lol...No alignments here, just recap, and reworking of power supplies. If they need realigning they get sent out of house.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited November 2013
    boston1450 wrote: »
    The Sherwood ^^^^ is interesting vintage. Hows that sound hooked up?

    I spent an hour listening to it via single-ended 2A3 amps and Altec Duplexes last night; it sounded absolutely dandy, even as-found. I posted a little blurb at AA: http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/tuner/messages/1/14434.html
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  • alkermes
    alkermes Posts: 24
    edited November 2013
    Very nice...! I would have arm-wrestled you for that S-3000 V, I would love to hear that model.

    Somehow I have accumulated two S-3000 IV's, an S-3000 II and an S-2200 (alas no multiplexer installed). The FM multiplex is just OK on the S-3000 IV's (despite a trip to Brian H. for one of them). Mono is fine. When I switch from mono to stereo the output volume decreases, any ideas why?
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited November 2013
    Do we know each other IRL? We must, eh? :-)

    I'd rather listen to excellent mono than meh stereo - especially on the Sherwoods. They're just amazingly musical tuners (still) at bargain prices.

    No, I don't have any advice about the volume decrease; sounds like a phase issue to me but I really don't know much about the nuts and bolts of MPX.
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  • alkermes
    alkermes Posts: 24
    edited November 2013
    mhardy6647 wrote: »
    Do we know each other IRL? We must, eh? :-)

    I'd rather listen to excellent mono than meh stereo - especially on the Sherwoods. They're just amazingly musical tuners (still) at bargain prices.

    No, I don't have any advice about the volume decrease; sounds like a phase issue to me but I really don't know much about the nuts and bolts of MPX.
    Indeed sir, I took a Sony 6055 off your hands...coming along fine but still needs one or two finishing touches :-)

    I wondered if it might be a marginal tube, but the tubes all test fine (both units). Anything else is an easter egg hunt at my tech level.

    The S-2200 is a very cool unit. Too bad AM/FM simulcast isn't available...Sherman, set the wayback machine to 1960!
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  • robinofsherwood
    robinofsherwood Posts: 25
    edited November 2013
    Found this during a clean out at work. Anyone know what it was?
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited November 2013
    I've seen this before - somewhere. The back panel labeling makes me think HH Scott. It has great panache.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited November 2013
    blew the dust off the Bottlhead Paramours today. Put in a pair of Sovtek 2A3s, adjusted the humpots, and spent some quality time listening to... the Quad ESL-57s... on 'em :-)

    11037513993_6d37a64ffd_b.jpg
    paramours 112413 by mhardy6647, on Flickr
    11037532424_40fafabb81_b.jpg
    Paramours and Quada 112413 by mhardy6647, on Flickr
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  • Oldfatdogs
    Oldfatdogs Posts: 1,874
    edited November 2013
    I love that room and all your goodies in it.Every time you post a picture of it I turn a little green with envy.
    Dan
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited November 2013
    That's the intended purpose of course! ;-)

    ..actually, it is getting 'silted in' - my original intentions kind of got diluted by the amount of crap I've stuffed in there... I have to get a little bit unsentimental and offload some stuff... maybe after the holidays :-P
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,602
    edited November 2013
    Here's one that will blow your mind. I last saw one of these in a showroom in Japan.
    http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/ele/4212181761.html
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited November 2013
    they are not very sensitive but they can also not tolerate very much power - they are also essentially big ol' capacitors... so, yeah, they're a little tricky to match with amplifiers ;-)

    quad_impedance_graph.jpg

    The Quad II amplifier was about 15 watts; generally I think that folks 'in the know' will prefer to use 15 to 25 wpc amplifiers, with vacuum tube amplifiers being preferred (mostly due to the speakers' load characteristics). A McIntosh MC-225 is a very good choice. Quad's SS amplifiers of the 1970s worked well with them - and the Quad II was a fine amplifier :-)

    I usually use PP EL84 with mine, but they are quite acceptable with SE2A3. I didn't try any hard, hard rock 'n' roll or big-scale music with 'em, though (which probably goes without saying). If I ever manage to find room to set 'em up permanently, I mat use a PP 7591 amplifier with them... one of these days I am going to try 'em with my Sherwood (whichever model it is... S-5500II, maybe?!).

    Pairing ESL-57s (especially earlier models) with high power is a recipe for arcing = a recipe for disaster.
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  • PreCd
    PreCd Posts: 786
    edited November 2013
    st40.jpg



    My new to me Eico ST40 Vacuum Tube Amplifier. Just curious how it will play with my SDA2Bs. The ST40 has 3 options for speakers: 8,4,and 2 ohms. I am wondering if I should go with the 4 ohm strap.
    SDA2BTL
    Marantz CD5004
    Adcom GFA-545
    Bottlehead Quickie Tube Preamp
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  • PreCd
    PreCd Posts: 786
    edited November 2013
    It has been modded for 6L6 tubes but that was a long time ago. Has a headphone jack installed. Besides that it is ready for a overhaul. New caps will be my 1st line of work. The tubes sound pretty good on some old Kenwood speakers I have.
    SDA2BTL
    Marantz CD5004
    Adcom GFA-545
    Bottlehead Quickie Tube Preamp
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited November 2013
    No idea how the ST40 will do with SDAs (or even if it is compatible) - but it is a (potentially) good sounding amplifier with some pretty fundamental inherent design flaws. Rumor has it that at least some of them (e.g., the funky loudness circuit) were deliberate acts of mutiny by the EICO engineers(?!). I read this on the internet, so it must be true! ;-)

    On the bright side, that same internet is chock full of recipes to improve the ST-40 and its cousin the ST-70; the output iron is quite good in both amps and they're well worth the effort.

    I used my dump-find ST-40 (which Gary Kaufman kindly re-habbed for me) as the main hifi in the MA house for several months as we were completing the transition to the new house in NH.

    Mods and fixes for these amps may be found at:
    http://www.tronola.com/html/st-70_mods.html (note that this is for the ST-70, which does differ from the ST-40 in, e.g., bias scheme, despite being almost identical cosmetically and using the same output tubes)
    https://web.archive.org/web/20050212191916/http://home.netcarrier.com/~rstevens/st-40.html (this is an archive of the ST-40 mods pages; the original may still be out there somewhere in cyberspace?)

    N.B. no need to resort to the "7591XYZ" output tube kludge any more; new production 7591 tubes are available and more than adequate for the purpose at hand. FWIW, I'd probably de-mod it back to its original output tube configuration, were it mine...

    10766514903_d86ea12afb_b.jpg
    DSC_6439_z by mhardy6647, on Flickr
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