This joint needs some more vintage hifi

Wardsweb

Here are some classics before and after some TLC.

jdjohn

The ElectroBrand 9700 mini receiver, about the size of a cigar box.

Technical info on it is scarce, but based on the research I did, it's probably about 12WPC.
Here are the very basic guts:

Here is the rear, but I can tell you that the 'Phono' input is really just a line-level input.
The FM tuner worked fine for me.

Also, you can see that the speaker outputs are RCA proprietary, but I can confirm they work!

I plan to give this to a family friend for use in his garage. Nice small footprint for the receiver. I'll also construct appropriate RCA speaker cables for him, plus I found a pair of wall-mounted indoor/outdoor Infinity speakers in my dad's collection to include.

More info about the receiver here:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/bizarre-mini-stereo-receiver-electro-brand-9700.769401/

BlueBirdMusic

Jody, was the ElectroBrand 9700 in your dad's collection? I like the tower orientation.

jdjohn

Hi Harry. Yes, it came from there.

pitdogg2

jdjohn wrote: »

The ElectroBrand 9700 mini receiver, about the size of a cigar box.

Technical info on it is scarce, but based on the research I did, it's probably about 12WPC.
Here are the very basic guts:

Here is the rear, but I can tell you that the 'Phono' input is really just a line-level input.
The FM tuner worked fine for me.

Also, you can see that the speaker outputs are RCA proprietary, but I can confirm they work!

I plan to give this to a family friend for use in his garage. Nice small footprint for the receiver. I'll also construct appropriate RCA speaker cables for him, plus I found a pair of wall-mounted indoor/outdoor Infinity speakers in my dad's collection to include.

More info about the receiver here:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/bizarre-mini-stereo-receiver-electro-brand-9700.769401/

Nothing proprietary about them. Growing all my mom and dads audio gear had them for speakers. I remember dad going to musicland to buy 3 25' RCA speaker cable extensions to run so he could have tunes in the driveway. I cringe today to think of the resistance on the 20ga cables.

Shudder

jdjohn

pitdogg2 wrote: »

jdjohn wrote: »

I plan to give this to a family friend for use in his garage. Nice small footprint for the receiver. I'll also construct appropriate RCA speaker cables for him, plus I found a pair of wall-mounted indoor/outdoor Infinity speakers in my dad's collection to include.

Nothing proprietary about them. Growing all my mom and dads audio gear had them for speakers. I remember dad going to musicland to buy 3 25' RCA speaker cable extensions to run so he could have tunes in the driveway. I cringe today to think of the resistance on the 20ga cables.

Shudder

You're right...bad choice of words. Just not your typical speaker binding posts or clamps or whatever with black/red connectors.

mhardy6647

They were very typical at one time for loudspeaker connections -- typically (but not exclusively) on lower-end components (and loudspeakers).

Even (e.g.) some pretty respectable and decent hifi receivers (typically in the late-60s/early-70s) had "RCA" connectors for their "B" (or rear channel, in the case of quad receivers) loudspeakers.

Radio Shack loudspeakers in those days often had a pair of screw connectors for bare wire (or spade connectors) and an RCA jack (in parallel to the screw connections). The RCA jacks sometimes even sported little plugs to maintain the air seal of the cabinets (and/or to keep crud outta the jack)!






the little black plastic plug in the RCA jack is visible in this photo

(borrowed images all -- there are one or two pairs of R/S loudspeakers here, but I am too effing lazy to take a photo of the back side of any of them! )


EDIT: back apron of a Radio Shack "Realistic" QTA-753 quad receiver showing two flavors of loudspeaker connectors I actually had one of these (same model) for a while (dump find, of course)... worked fine, but, I mean... why? Even I have my limits (i.e., only so much space in the basement).



source: http://vintageelectronics.betamaxcollectors.com/realisticstereoreceivermodelqta-753.html

jdjohn

Yep, I've got some vintage KLH speakers sporting RCA jacks.

mhardy6647

jdjohn wrote: »

Yep, I've got some vintage KLH speakers sporting RCA jacks.

Good point! I think the loudspeakers that KLH sold with/for their "all in one" systems did (and they were pretty fine acoustic suspension monkey coffins of their day).


source: http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/html/1967/h060.html

A KLH 24 loudspeaker (yeah, I think I had one of these for a while...)




The little KLH 32 might have had an RCA input connector, as well. I had a pair for a while but I really don't remember. I do remember that they sounded far (far) better than their size or their rather nominal construction values (not to mention drivers) would have led one to expect!

audioluvr

I want to buy this just to look at!

https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ele/d/portland-sony-tc-758-reel-to-reel-10/7157244952.html

krazypolk

1 hour later and it's already gone. What was the listed price?

audioluvr

$250. Included the factory box, packing and manual

la2vegas

Bueno, or no bueno?

audioluvr

Mui bueno

tratliff

la2vegas wrote: »

Bueno, or no bueno?

I like the RT-909. Only drawback is it is not a 15 ips machine. Really depends on condition and price.

mhardy6647

tratliff wrote: »

la2vegas wrote: »

Bueno, or no bueno?

I like the RT-909. Only drawback is it is not a 15 ips machine. Really depends on condition and price.

Indeed. It is a funny configuration, with 10-1/2 inch reel capability but only 3-3/4 and 7-1/2 ips tape speeds. Not a bad deck, and lovely, but not really serious tape hardware. Pioneer made some earlier "prosumer" decks that were a little more serious in intent.

Full disclosure: I have an RT-909, and it works, but it needs a fair amount of maintenance (CLA, as they say) after four decades. Speciafically, one of the damped tape tensioners is sticking and needs to be torn down, cleaned, and refilled with silicone damping fluid. These decks require a fair amount of effort to rehab. Buying a rehabbed one will be expensive, and buying a fixer-upper will be a commitment (and still not inexpensive). Here's the scoop on rehabbing one, FWIW:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/restoring-a-pioneer-rt-909-reel-to-reel.93227/

Says Rabbi Rich:

The RT-909 is by far the nicest consumer reel-to-reel Pioneer ever produced. It is rack-mountable, handles 10.5" reels, is a dual-capstan, closed-loop servo controlled drive, electro-motive reel braking, with auto-reverse capability. The design is truly simple, yet elegant, doing away with most of the complicated mechanism of many of the other decks in its league. The unit I just restored has playback response of 20-20Khz +/- 0.5db, at -10db modulation, which blew me away when I heard it put it all together. My main rig will never be without a one of these beauties. It is no wonder that so many of these units were sold back in the day, even as expensive as they were ($1100 1979 dollars).

EDIT:
Oh. Not sure why the photo shows an NAB adaptor on a 7" plastic reel -- don't do that.
Also -- for reasons I (still) don't entirely understand (related to torque), one is not supposed to mix reels of different sizes (although I have been known to do it). In fact, apparently one's not supposed to mix metal and plastic reels. Many decks have "large"/"small" reel size selectors on the front panel, and I know I've seen at least one deck that let the user set the feed and takeup reel sizes separately (for Philistines like me)!

I still like TASCAM (TEAC) decks for rugged, decent sounding use with minimal headache (FWIW).

la2vegas

The 909 image that I posted is from a local seller. He wants a hefty 200 dollars for it. He de allude to the fact that it is in need of some tlc.

tratliff

la2vegas wrote: »

The 909 image that I posted is from a local seller. He wants a hefty 200 dollars for it. He de allude to the fact that it is in need of some tlc.

If it works $200 is a steal. But it is nice to have someone local that can rehab them.

mhardy6647

Yeah, as long as it is basically functional/resoreable, that's a ridiculous price -- given the current market. At that price, probably either long gone or a scam, though.

la2vegas

It was from a legitimate seller in Sin City, but yes, it is gone. Sold a few hours after posting.

mhardy6647

surprised it lasted that long. In the Northeast, it'd have been gone in minutes.

la2vegas

Vegas is a fickle town like that...

boston1450

I had a rt909 & i had Electronics & More go over it before i sold it off, new rollers & tuned up & complete check up. He had it for a month. Picked it up. Played it for 20hrs & listed it for 6-700.00 ( CRS ) with 3 new reels & 1 used reel from original owner. Sold it in one day. Guy drove 5 hours from Vermont to Maine. He left very happy. It was mint as stated & with paperwork from E&M. He called me a month later to thank me again. A happy ending. Pictures were posted in this thread somewhere

boston1450

The rt909 tend to bring followers. It's was beautiful with the big reels. I had Akai & Teac so Pioneer wasn't needed... I got the sa9800 amp eq & tape player & HPM100 big boys & a Pioneer pl720 (I think-it had auto or manual ) & also a cassette player that held 6 cassettes & rt909 ALL for 150.00. It was a money maker for sure. The only thing that i thought was needed was to service the rt909 before selling. The amp eq tape player sold off for 400. Hpm100 350 & pl720 250. I did not like the speakers. Even on the Yamaha 2040. So it all went except the 6 cassette player I kept.

audioluvr

Thought this was cool. Not $2,000 cool but...

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/ele/d/camas-phase-linear-7000-pioneer-ct-a1/7254580699.html

msg

Seeing that black Sony cassette in there brings back fond memories of making tapes with TDK and Maxell tapes.

The fact that they looked cool just added to the experience. I even splurged for an electro-magnet tape eraser from Radio Shack to wipe the tapes before re-recording using $40 I found on my paper route one day. The tape eraser stopped working at some point, but I still have a lot of those tapes I made.

jdjohn

Need any?


I also found one of those electro-mag erasers in my dad's garage.

msg

Wow! I've been meaning to get the tape deck set up again, just for nostalgia. I do have a couple of tapes that I should convert to digital to preserve them, some stuff unavailable anywhere else. Next on my list, Jody. You know, after I get my turntable set up again?

Wouldn't mind having a couple of TDKs and Maxells on hand.

I think I had some of those Sonys too, but for no legitimate reason whatsoever preferred the TDK and Maxell. Probably just due to marketing and/or cool names.

I found a post on a tapeheads forum about those old bulk tape erasers. They had a use cycle, apparently. I'm sure I read that and didn't understand the consequences at the time.
I'm pretty sure I probably burned mine up. I used to use it to wipe friends' tapes, too, and once, accidentally, a few computer floppies.

Milito

I always preferred the Maxells over the Sony tapes.

mhardy6647

msg wrote: »

Seeing that black Sony cassette in there brings back fond memories of making tapes with TDK and Maxell tapes.

The fact that they looked cool just added to the experience. I even splurged for an electro-magnet tape eraser from Radio Shack to wipe the tapes before re-recording using $40 I found on my paper route one day. The tape eraser stopped working at some point, but I still have a lot of those tapes I made.

Lemme know if you ever need a replacement demagnetizer.
There's a couple-three of 'em here (although I guess I only assume they work).
On the "plus" side, you wouldn't even have to find forty more bucks.

Back when you were delivering papers, a nice house was, like, fiddy bucks, wasn't it?
No, wait... that was me.