Apostasy

mhardy6647

I...

I found my Yamaha CA-800 this past weekend.

I knew it was somewhere around here.
It was in the basement, carefully covered with an old cloth, hiding under a VCR in plain sight.


DSC_0180 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Finally, sometime yesterday I got it hooked up upstairs.

I am spending some quality time listening to it with some of the speakers around here that aren't really suited to 3.5 watts per channel.

... although, most of the listening I've been doing has been with the amp in Class A output bias mode, in which case it's good for about 15 wpc.

My profoundly ugly (someday I'll rehab 'em) but great sounding DCM timewindows (a $10 charity fleamarket find).


DSC_0176 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

And my less ugly (dump find) ads L-710s.


DSC_0184 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

These were - and still are - both wonderful loudspeakers.

StevieB

I'd love to get my hands on some timewindows, have had TF 600's since the early 90's.

oldrocker

Neat Yamaha and other goodies.
I myself hope to have some new toys soon.

drumminman

Would love to have some 710's for nostalgia. Used to own 700's cause that's all I could afford at the time.

mhardy6647

second tier apostasy now...

DIYs with the venerable 4" fullrange PartsExpress 269-469 (Pioneer OEM) "69-cent wonder". Don't laugh; these were/are amazingly capable, competent, and good sounding little drivers.

DSC_0209 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Radio Shack Electrostat 2a: single-ended electrostatic tweeters and a rather nicely made 8" Japanese AlNiCo woofer. One of the very (very!) few good sounding "monkey coffin" loudspeakers that Radio Shack ever sold.


DSC_0212 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Teledyne-era AR14: Certainly one of the better sounding two-ways with a 10" woofer I've ever stumbled upon. As an aside, the earlier morph of the AR14 used an OEM version of the same Peerless 1" silk dome tweeter used in Polk's early "Monitor Series" loudspeakers.


DSC_0214 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

... and finally, another, somewhat more upscale full-range DIY -- a really nifty pair of small ported cabinets loaded with the (no longer available, sadly) Fostex FE207E drivers. High sensitivity drivers probably better suited to fleapower (which is what I would usually hook 'em to) -- but they sounded dandy with the CA-800 set to Class A output bias.


DSC_3316 by mhardy6647, on Flickr
(different [better!] lens, different DSLR body, and different time of day)

Sorry the photos aren't better -- very much just grab shots :-P

[Deleted User]

Very nice. I should pack up the drivers I have laying around here to
see what you could come up with.

nooshinjohn

I need to find out where that dump of yours is...

voltz

Someone was having fun! Rock on Doc!

hochpt21

Awesome pics....thanks for posting. Looks like a fun day...or week...or month..

mhardy6647

Mrs. H was out of town for a week :- )

mhardy6647

DSC_0240 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

... today I listened to a pair of Genesis Ones (extremely similar to the EPI 100, including a variation of the "airspring" concave dome tweeter)... and a pair of ads L-470 speakers... before putting the amp up on the Yamaha shelf (hope I haven't overloaded the cabinets of the stuff under it).

DSC_0241 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

[Deleted User]

love the radios as well. Any tube radios?

mhardy6647

now, what do you think? ;- )

The Zenith in the photo is all tube -- it is also stereo, note the companion speaker next to it. It was a dump find (kind of a cool one, at that).

The Hallicrafters S-120 communications receiver up on the top is also a tube radio (as are the two Sherwood hifi tuners and the Sherwood stereo amplifier that fit altogether too comfortably next to a few Yamaha components on that shelf).

EDIT: Oh, the keen-eyed just might spot the little Polk Audio headphone box next to the Otari -- that was my half-price "friends and family" purchase :-P

mhardy6647

well - speaking of apostasy -- I cannot bring myself to call it heresy on the Polk forums ;- ) -- I am sitting here tonight listening to Rhino remastered/expanded (redbook) CD version of the Dead's Bear's Choice via an old (and unrestored; strictly as-is) dump find Heathkit AR-29 cap-coupled, quasi-complementary output soiled state receiver and a pair of Dynaco A-35 speakers of identical provenance :- ) -- and it sounds righteous...


DSC_0284 by mhardy6647, on Flickr


DSC_0270 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

FTGV

Nice CA800.I have one (and CT410)in my vintage vinyl rig. Wish I had a good pr of EPI100's to go with it.

mhardy6647

Polk Audio Monitor 7s are an even better choice! ;- )

The CA-800 is a fine sounding amplifier; I am quite impressed with that one -- especially set to Class A bias for the outputs.

mrbigbluelight

sigh

Okay, tell the truth ...... you have a pair of Mach One's hidden behind your 2a's, don't you ?

Just curious, are those Sherwoods sitting on the 2nd shelf (from the bottom) in that one picture ?

mhardy6647

heh-heh-heh... no, but I did have a pair of Mach Twos for a little while!

Yes, I have a small but sincere Sherwood collection. I love the Sherwood vacuum tube tuners -- best sound quality for the buck in FM tuners I've found (mono or MPX stereo). Their vacuum tube integrated amps (and receivers, too, for that matter) were also quite good although their chassis layouts are very cramped (i.e.,no fun to work on/restore). My Sherwood integrated amp is one of the PP 7591A models... I'd love to acquire one of the PP EL84 (or was it 7189) integrated Sherwood amps, though.

Sherwood S8000IV by mhardy6647, on Flickr
... this one has the traditional paint loss by the volume control :-P