What did you do to your stereo rig today?

mhardy6647

I do have a Pioneer TX-9500II here, one model year before the TX-9800 mentioned earlier. Nice tuner -- I've yet to actually listen to it, though.

DSC_6307 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

tratliff

Jetmaker737 wrote: »

tratliff wrote: »

Yeah outdoor antenna is what I am planning but hope that the signal is good in the attic. The HOA will frown on a pole mounted one. I might could get by with it close to the roof. But I am going to see how it works before making a decision. I'm not really out to far.

I have an electrician coming over tomorrow to run some coax up to my attic and put an outlet next to my stereo. I've got a Magnum Dynalab ST-2 to put up there. My tuner is a Sansui TU-9900. I bought it on this forum. I had it modded by Joseph Chow and he put a special filter in it to screen out the side band signals that radio stations use to put the song title and whatnot. It can interfere with adjacent channels. Anyway, tuner sounds awesome and there's some worthwhile radio stations in my area.

Please let me know how it works. I got one of the cheap Omni directional ones off Amazon today. It was cheap, only $20, but did a pretty good job. I wouldn’t mind trying one of the ST-2’s if it works well.

Jetmaker737

tratliff wrote: »

Please let me know how it works. I got one of the cheap Omni directional ones off Amazon today. It was cheap, only $20, but did a pretty good job. I wouldn’t mind trying one of the ST-2’s if it works well.

Hi @tratliff ,
I'm not super thrilled with the ST-2. I'd had it mounted to my stereo rack before. Could pull in most but not all good stations, but signals generally not very strong. When I got a new rack I decided it was time to finally get that thing up to higher ground. So today it's mounted up in the attic, about 15 feet higher than it was. Reception has not changed to a noticeable degree. So that's disappointing. But now that I have the coax up there I guess I can start doing some research and try something different. Who knows, maybe it's not the antenna at all. But guess I will find out.

pitdogg2

I used this one on a 35' aerial tower. I can state for both TV and FM it was WONDERFUL. I pulled in stations from hundreds of miles away some days. I could easily get all OTA TV stations up to 75 miles away daily. Of course I had the proper preamp and amplifier made by Channel Master and the COAX was quad shielded and 100% copper conductor.

https://www.channelmaster.com/collections/outdoor-tv-antennas/products/ultra-hi-crossfire-100-tv-antenna-cm-3671

tratliff

Jetmaker737 wrote: »

tratliff wrote: »

Please let me know how it works. I got one of the cheap Omni directional ones off Amazon today. It was cheap, only $20, but did a pretty good job. I wouldn’t mind trying one of the ST-2’s if it works well.

Hi @tratliff ,
I'm not super thrilled with the ST-2. I'd had it mounted to my stereo rack before. Could pull in most but not all good stations, but signals generally not very strong. When I got a new rack I decided it was time to finally get that thing up to higher ground. So today it's mounted up in the attic, about 15 feet higher than it was. Reception has not changed to a noticeable degree. So that's disappointing. But now that I have the coax up there I guess I can start doing some research and try something different. Who knows, maybe it's not the antenna at all. But guess I will find out.

Sorry to hear that.

I mounted the one I got from Amazon in the attic. I got improvement but not sure if a more directional antenna would do better. My tuner has a signal strength meter and I am getting around 60 out of 100 right now.

I am debating ordering a 4 element yagi from Amazon. I can get it for about $50. I’m just unsure if it will do any better and if it does will it be noticeable when I listen.

tratliff

pitdogg2 wrote: »

I used this one on a 35' aerial tower. I can state for both TV and FM it was WONDERFUL. I pulled in stations from hundreds of miles away some days. I could easily get all OTA TV stations up to 75 miles away daily. Of course I had the proper preamp and amplifier made by Channel Master and the COAX was quad shielded and 100% copper conductor.

https://www.channelmaster.com/collections/outdoor-tv-antennas/products/ultra-hi-crossfire-100-tv-antenna-cm-3671

That would be awesome but my HOA would go crazy.

audioluvr

I have one of these. They are awesome! And like @pitdogg2 says, use quad shielded all copper coax.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RCA-Attic-Outdoor-Compact-Design-HDTV-Antenna-ANT705E/303087505

Jetmaker737

tratliff wrote: »

Sorry to hear that.

I mounted the one I got from Amazon in the attic. I got improvement but not sure if a more directional antenna would do better. My tuner has a signal strength meter and I am getting around 60 out of 100 right now.

I am debating ordering a 4 element yagi from Amazon. I can get it for about $50. I’m just unsure if it will do any better and if it does will it be noticeable when I listen.

From my understanding a yagi would be better because it's directional but I have stations coming at me from several directions.

audioluvr

I won't ever use a yagi. The word is appalling to me. I mean who came up with such a stupid sounding name! Kinda like Bungalow. I will never own a home that's considered a Bungalow. UGH!

aprazer402

Tiny portable bungalow!



EDIT:
On topic:
Q. What did you do to your stereo rig today?
A. Nothing.

tratliff

audioluvr wrote: »

I have one of these. They are awesome! And like @pitdogg2 says, use quad shielded all copper coax.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RCA-Attic-Outdoor-Compact-Design-HDTV-Antenna-ANT705E/303087505

@audioluvr are you using this for FM and/or HDTV?

mhardy6647

audioluvr wrote: »

I won't ever use a yagi. The word is appalling to me. I mean who came up with such a stupid sounding name! Kinda like Bungalow. I will never own a home that's considered a Bungalow. UGH!

Guy's name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagi–Uda_antenna
There are other directional antenna designs. How do you feel about log periodic?


https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Consumer/Allied-1970.pdf

https://www.com-power.com/products/antennas/log-periodic-antennas/alfm-80120

mhardy6647

No Bungalow...
Bungahigh?

aprazer402

^^^^ It looks like the dwelling may be partially on the ground behind the tree and that the decking surrounding the large tree is and part of the front of the dwelling off the ground. At least I hope part of it is on the ground! Pretty clever.

Edit: Most of my Botany knowledge was left in my distant past. Will the trunk of a large growing tree increase in vertical height where the deck is attached? If so, if the dwelling is partially on the ground and the decking is attached to the dwelling and the tree I would suspect some movement of the structures? The tree it appears could actually be helping prevent the dwelling from sliding down the hill? Any structural engineers here?

stevep

audioluvr wrote: »

I won't ever use a yagi. The word is appalling to me. I mean who came up with such a stupid sounding name!

Blame this guys parents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidetsugu_Yagi

audioluvr

tratliff wrote: »

audioluvr wrote: »

I have one of these. They are awesome! And like @pitdogg2 says, use quad shielded all copper coax.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RCA-Attic-Outdoor-Compact-Design-HDTV-Antenna-ANT705E/303087505

@audioluvr are you using this for FM and/or HDTV?

Both

mhardy6647 wrote: »

That thing looks like an ant/slug superhighway!

55SLA70

Replaced my aging Cambridge Audio 640C V2 cd player and DacMagic dac with a Marantz ND8006 cd/network player.

BindingPoster

I switched it on and cued it up to play some music for a couple of hours. Mostly Nick Cave. It was nice.

jbreezy5

55SLA70 wrote: »

Replaced my aging Cambridge Audio 640C V2 cd player and DacMagic dac with a Marantz ND8006 cd/network player.

Review forthcoming?

jbreezy5

Picked up this new (to me) audio rack at a thrift store.

maxward

Nice find. How are you liking the Audiolab transport?

oldschlpolkie

Swapped out my 8tls for these bad boys and couldn’t be happier! They sound amazing!

55SLA70

jbreezy5 wrote: »

55SLA70 wrote: »

Replaced my aging Cambridge Audio 640C V2 cd player and DacMagic dac with a Marantz ND8006 cd/network player.

Review forthcoming?

jbreezy5,

Yea, I can do that. It might be a couple weeks though. One of my preamp tubes went South and the replacement, as well as the Marantz, need time to fully break in. When I first fired it up, it sounded thin and fatiguing. Quite dismal, really. I got about seven or eight hours on the new combo now and it's just beginning to lose some of the upper end edginess and the lower mids/upper bottom are beginning to come in. It's almost listenable now, but it has a ways to go. I can say one thing, the Marantz has a significantly larger soundstage. We just installed new WiFi in the house and I'll probably start streaming this weekend. I'm looking forward to finding a good blues station.

BTW, nice setup you have there. I really like that direct drive Dual. It's been a few decades since I heard one of those.

jbreezy5

maxward wrote: »

Nice find. How are you liking the Audiolab transport?

Good eye; that is a 6000CDT. Honestly I had trepidation about disc scratching due to slot-loading, but I have been rather lazy about looking for it. I’ve only had it for about 6 weeks.

If any scratching has occurred repeated listens don’t reveal it, as the transport reads discs without hiccup. I plan to be more intentional and use new CD-Rs, beginning May, to watch for scratching.

I like the display as it is easy to read from a distance. The player is mechanically and electronically quiet while reading discs (this is a big deal for me b/c previously I had a Denon DVD-1920, and currently a DVD-1940 in another system, and both are mechanically noisy machines, IME).

Otherwise, I like the simple appearance, quiet operation, ease of use, and disc reading capability of the unit.

I l

jbreezy5

55SLA70 wrote: »

jbreezy5 wrote: »

55SLA70 wrote: »

Replaced my aging Cambridge Audio 640C V2 cd player and DacMagic dac with a Marantz ND8006 cd/network player.

Review forthcoming?

jbreezy5,

Yea, I can do that. It might be a couple weeks though. One of my preamp tubes went South and the replacement, as well as the Marantz, need time to fully break in. When I first fired it up, it sounded thin and fatiguing. Quite dismal, really. I got about seven or eight hours on the new combo now and it's just beginning to lose some of the upper end edginess and the lower mids/upper bottom are beginning to come in. It's almost listenable now, but it has a ways to go. I can say one thing, the Marantz has a significantly larger soundstage. We just installed new WiFi in the house and I'll probably start streaming this weekend. I'm looking forward to finding a good blues station.

BTW, nice setup you have there. I really like that direct drive Dual. It's been a few decades since I heard one of those.

55SLA70,

I look forward to reading your review. It may sound weird, but I enjoy the process of equipment break-in; gets better everyday.

Thanks! The guys here filled me in on the Dual. What’s really cool is it has a brushless motor, and the arm has adjustable VTA.

I need to get some speaker stands for the KEFs. 😁

Jetmaker737

tratliff wrote: »

Sorry to hear that.

I mounted the one I got from Amazon in the attic. I got improvement but not sure if a more directional antenna would do better. My tuner has a signal strength meter and I am getting around 60 out of 100 right now.

I am debating ordering a 4 element yagi from Amazon. I can get it for about $50. I’m just unsure if it will do any better and if it does will it be noticeable when I listen.

@tratliff , I installed a new antenna today. It's a Winegard HD-6010. Got it and a mast at Amazon. Pretty inexpensive:

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B001HKM1HM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B00068YUN4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here are the before and after measurements. My tuner has a scale of 0-5. Many stations are a push but I'm very happy with the few that now come in stronger. A couple of these were my targets:



Photo of installed antenna:

tratliff

Jetmaker737 wrote: »

tratliff wrote: »

Sorry to hear that.

I mounted the one I got from Amazon in the attic. I got improvement but not sure if a more directional antenna would do better. My tuner has a signal strength meter and I am getting around 60 out of 100 right now.

I am debating ordering a 4 element yagi from Amazon. I can get it for about $50. I’m just unsure if it will do any better and if it does will it be noticeable when I listen.

@tratliff , I installed a new antenna today. It's a Winegard HD-6010. Got it and a mast at Amazon. Pretty inexpensive:

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B001HKM1HM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B00068YUN4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here are the before and after measurements. My tuner has a scale of 0-5. Many stations are a push but I'm very happy with the few that now come in stronger. A couple of these were my targets:



Photo of installed antenna:

Nice. Looks like you made good progress. I have been just letting mine be. I am getting the stations I want pretty good. I might try another soon. I’ll take a look at what you got.

jbreezy5

Picked up a pair of aDs L500 at The Record Exchange!

mhardy6647

jbreezy5 wrote: »

Picked up a pair of aDs L500 at The Record Exchange!

scha-weet.
Judging by the logos, those are relatively early ones.

Loves me some ads/Braun loudspeakers -- then and now. Couldn't afford them then, though.

jdjohn

I found a pair of ADS L400 in my dad's stuff. The woofers don't match, though. One has a butyl surround like the L500 above, the other...doesn't. I'm afraid I may have a hard time finding an original replacement woofer. I like the looks of the tweeters!