This joint needs some more vintage hifi

voltz

And they look good together but find me a Transport that has the same looks

jcaut

This is not quite as "vintage" as some things here. Realistic STA-790 from 1984. I'd been looking for a reasonable deal on one of these for a long time. Finally got one a few weeks ago. This one was in dirty-but-undamaged, "never been opened up" condition. I recapped it and cleaned it up. Makes a good addition to my collecton!

mhardy6647

1984 was -- ahem -- 31 years ago; your new R/S receiver is definitely in the club ;- )

sucks2beme

I almost bought a KR9600 with some issues. The guy was trying to play
EBAY on CL and I decided to drop out. God knows how many guys he was
stringing along. It went on all weekend. I might of went to $100 if he was playing
fair. Oh well, I'm not really a big Kenwood fan anyway. Had a KR-7600 here,
it was ok but not great.

boston1450

jcaut

Nice SAE amp! I'd not been exposed to SAE gear until a year or so ago when I worked on a 2300 amp for another member here. That thing was all business, construction-wise! I re-capped it and serviced it, and got to use it for a little while. Very nice amp.

Nightfall

I'm very heavily contemplating getting my CA-1010 serviced and using it as a 2 channel pre. I have no idea how much this would cost but there is a guy that posts on Craigslist that offers a repair service on vintage gear and uses only Nichicon caps. I would also like to get the built in power cable replaced with an IEC connector. What do you guys think of this vs just getting a new 2 channel preamp?

http://denver.craigslist.org/ele/5262483125.html

Polkie2009

Haven't seen Joe( or was it Jim?) post here in awhile. He was a SAE aficionado, had racks of gorgeous SAE gear. miss reading his posts, I always thought about trying a SAE A201 power amp.

Mikey081057

There also was GAS amps back in the day... A friend had one and it was pretty cool as I recall. I thought I read that GAS and SAE were out of the same stable... maybe not ... They had an Ampzilla and a Son of Ampzilla...

Polkie2009

Sounds right Mike! Didn't the company eventually end up ATI ?

Mikey081057

Polkie2009 wrote: »

Sounds right Mike! Didn't the company eventually end up ATI ?

That's what I'm thinkin

OldSchoolPolk

As for that Ampzilla,

Maybe you guys have already discussed this but VU meters are just b@d ****$. Who cares if they don't really do anything.....

Had the new Parasound Int. had them you would have heard a collective moan from guys across America, nay the world.

Mikey081057

Don't think i havent considered this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIVUGsvTpVE

mhardy6647

The GAS (Great American Sound) folks (James Bongiorno and others, I guess) were all ex-of SAE. Bongiorno (who started out with Hafler at Dynaco) was also later Sumo (or vice versa, maybe). The GAS "Charlie" tuner (get it?!) became the Sumo Charlie.

Bongiorno, sadly, passed away in 2013. He was a snappy dresser...



If you've gotta listen to soiled state hardware, you can do far worse than GAS, I'd opine. That Son of Ampzilla amplifier was a fine piece of hardware. I had a friend in college with one driving a pair of Polk Audio Monitor 10s (original series) via Polk Cobra Cables. It didn't seem to mind.

The components in the GAS electronics haven't aged too well, though -- most are in need of pretty extensive rehab at this late date. Worth the time, effort, and expense, though.

One GAS component here, by the way. I don't use it -- but I am periodically tempted to...

thoebe by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

I don't have any good photos of it, so here's a bad one :-P

Mikey081057

Are you trying to say it was good but not top shelf?

littlewoodboats

Nightfall wrote: »

I'm very heavily contemplating getting my CA-1010 serviced and using it as a 2 channel pre. I have no idea how much this would cost but there is a guy that posts on Craigslist that offers a repair service on vintage gear and uses only Nichicon caps. I would also like to get the built in power cable replaced with an IEC connector. What do you guys think of this vs just getting a new 2 channel preamp?

http://denver.craigslist.org/ele/5262483125.html

There is a Yamaha specialist over at AK who did my CA1000 and I have not regretted the decision. I have no affiliation with the person. If you would like contact details feel free to shoot me a pm as it is likely less than kosher to post commercial services on another forum publicly here.

mhardy6647

Mikey081057 wrote: »

Are you trying to say it was good but not top shelf?

(rimshot)

D'oh!

Well -- I have yet to find an active preamp that I really like. I currently am using one, 'cause the 2A3 amp needs a little additional oompf... but I am not happy about it :-p

mhardy6647

I believe I've (ahem) mentioned these -- for the past week-and-a-half (or so... how's that for precision?) I have been listening to a pair of EV "Wolverine" model (i.e., low-end/entry level vintage EV consumer grade) LT-12 "three-way" coaxials. Way 1, a ceramic magnet 12" woofer with cast basket, ceramic magnet and accordion surround; Way 2, a whizzer (i.e., Way 1 + Way 2 = EV LS-12, more or less); Way 3, compression tweeter with a diffraction horn (probably equivalent to the T-35B and/or TW-35). In other words, these are basically an LS-12 with a coaxially-mounted T-35B.

"New for '62!"

source: www.alliedcatalogs.com (1962)

LT12 1 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr


As of about two weeks ago, two LT-12s are ensconced in an almost-matched :-P pair of vented cabinets made for corner placement -- about the size (I think) and shape of the EV Aristocrat enclosure (but, unlike the Aristocrats, these corner cabinets are not folded LF horns).


The LT-12s, in these boxes, are a little phat sounding (i.e., some midbass warmth going on) but overall, they are very, very pleasant. Very.

Very.

They're not too photogenic, but I feel moved, nay, duty-bound :-P to post a photo.

022 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr


Or two...

024 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Now, mind you, these are very much entry-level coaxes, but they have a near-ideal foot-tapping coefficient, and they resolve tight vocal harmonies or modestly complex musical passages (e.g., mixed percussion) very nicely -- amazingly nicely, I'd opine.
And they're just thrilled to be driven by SE 2A3s.

I think I have a grand total of a hunnert US smackers (i.e., Samoleums) invested in the whole she-bang; maybe even a tad less.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

varian

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could help identity or tell me what make & model receiver this receiver on the top my Dad had back in the 80's? Someone said it might be a Marantz. I thought it might be a Radio Shack realistic receiver. Write Back.

Thanks,
Varian



https://us.v-cdn.net/5021930/uploads/userpics/080/p2WB03KTSJXQV.jpg

mhardy6647

varian wrote: »

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could help identity or tell me what make & model receiver this receiver on the top my Dad had back in the 80's? Someone said it might be a Marantz. I thought it might be a Radio Shack realistic receiver. Write Back.

Thanks,
Varian



https://us.v-cdn.net/5021930/uploads/userpics/080/p2WB03KTSJXQV.jpg

The lower receiver is a Kenwood. The one on top might also be an older Kenwood (their first generation of solid state receivers look sort of like that). Not Marantz fo' sho'; I don't get a Radio Shack (Realistic) vibe from it, either.

mhardy6647

mhardy6647 wrote: »

varian wrote: »

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone could help identity or tell me what make & model receiver this receiver on the top my Dad had back in the 80's? Someone said it might be a Marantz. I thought it might be a Radio Shack realistic receiver. Write Back.

Thanks,
Varian



https://us.v-cdn.net/5021930/uploads/userpics/080/p2WB03KTSJXQV.jpg

The lower receiver is a Kenwood. The one on top might also be an older Kenwood (their first generation of solid state receivers look sort of like that). Not Marantz fo' sho'; I don't get a Radio Shack (Realistic) vibe from it, either.

(oops, I meant to edit the post above, but quoted it by mistake -- oh, well...)

The top receiver might also be an Emerson or Sanyo era Fisher -- I shall do some "research" :- )

PS -- "Varian" is or was a company that specialized in radar and later RF products such as NMR spectrometers (the A-60 was the first successful NMR spectrometer, according to the American Chemical Society) and also spectrophotometers (and now, apparently, MRI instruments for medicine); is your moniker related to that Varian?



PPS: The Kenwood receiver in the photo is (I think) this one :- )

KR-6160 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

voltz

Doc your are impressive sometimes

pumpkinman

@mhardy6647

Man I don't know how you got anything from pic.
A better pic would certainly be helpful.

aprazer402

This looks too good to pass up, but I already have a Kenwood KR-9400 I bought new in '75. A Kenwood Nine Receiver for $125.00. No Affil. I know this is in the vintage section and not misc. for sale . http://omaha.craigslist.org/ele/5327588215.html

aprazer402

I must have been confused, I was thinking the Kenwood Nine was the TOTL, the Model 11 I believe was more powerful. Weren't the Nine and Eleven models found mostly in Asia and military BX's there? I don't remember seeing them sold in stores stateside.

mhardy6647

Yeah, they were unknown to me back in their time (the 9 and 11 and their kin, that is) in the US -- i.e., I think they were not commonly sold in the US, at least on the regular old consumer market.

FWIW, I really don't think they're quite in the same league as, e.g., the KR-9600... but I've never owned one so that's not a particularly informed opinion.

aprazer402

Thanks Mark. My KR-9400, 120 wpc, uses a standard power amplifier, transistors? The later, more powerful KR-9600, 160 wpc, uses Darlington power packs? I'm told if these go bad they are very scarce, not used often for such a powerful amp. I have a Pioneer SX-780 that uses the Darlington 60 wpc power packs, which are available. I'm not an electronic guru, so most of my limited knowledge is unfortunately from reading and this forum, not hands on. To my dismay and regret.

mhardy6647

Yes I believe you're right about that -- I forgot all about the KR-9400. I'm not a huge Kenwood devotee... 'cept their tuners; they made some fine tuners over the years (and their successor-of-sorts, Accuphase, made 'em better still).

DSC_9935 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

The Kenwood tuner on the bottom actually doesn't sound better than the Sherwood on the top -- except the Kenwood has fuller and deeper bass than the Sherwood. The Sherwood is a bit better in the midrange... but the Kenwood is, I will note, the best sounding soiled state tuner in the house (at least, of those I've actually spent much time listening to).

gfong

Picked this one up today, nice and clean sounds great. harman/kardon 730

mhardy6647

ooh, I'd like to have an hk730 :- )

I have part of one, sort of -- the A402 is the amp and preamp of the 730 (or at least, I think it is).

DSC_9831 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr


I am a sucker for many things harman/kardon -- all the way back (at least!) to the Citation II (the "Deuce"), they made multiple generations of some fine-sounding stuff.

I really wish I had a Deuce ;- )