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Sometimes, the old ways are the best

Old 12-05-12, 07:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Grand Bois
Those old Advents sound great, but you'll find some pretty sloppy looking work hidden behind the grills. I guess performance was more important to them than looks. It reminds me of some French bikes.

I have a pair of little Advent 3s. The woofers bottom out and make a terrible racket when I crank them up to what I consider a moderately high level. I've learned that they all do that from the experts at Audio Karma. They still seem to get a lot of respect, but not from me.

I always liked the looks of the later models with the wrap around grills and solid pecan top and bottom. I've never heard them, though.
I've read that before, but honestly I like my model 3's quite a bit. I can play them at what I feel is a pretty good volume (it would be difficult to converse in the room) and I get none of that bottoming out. I'm using a cheap Pioneer 50wpc receiver, model SX-201.
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Old 12-06-12, 06:43 AM
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One of mine finally self-destructed. The paper cone tore in a complete circle around the center. There are no new original replacements available and the woofers are an odd size, so I gave up on them and replaced them with some Boston Acoustics A70s.
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Old 12-12-12, 09:24 AM
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I found an entry level Fostex monitor & subwoofer set (model PS-3.1) at a thrift shop for $15 the other day, and couldn't resist the opportunity to have a great audio setup at work. They're not vintage by a long shot, but they sound fantastic.

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Old 12-14-12, 05:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Grand Bois
One of mine finally self-destructed. The paper cone tore in a complete circle around the center. There are no new original replacements available and the woofers are an odd size, so I gave up on them and replaced them with some Boston Acoustics A70s.
I've heard really good things about the A70s. Are you happy with them?

Funny, it's been BA week for me. First I found a fairly beat up pair of A60s for $10. Refoamed them and they sound very nice. Then today I picked up a nearly flawless pair of A150s. Just need a re-foam. I'll be very interested to hear them, as I've heard nothing but praise. Pretty big though; that could be an issue, but I couldn't pass them up at about the same price as a foam kit to restore them.
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Old 12-14-12, 07:36 PM
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Originally Posted by due ruote
whoa - that's kind of like a $50 DeRosa. I'm not sure what I'd do with that much power, but it might be kinda fun to find out.
I sold it two days later, for a fair profit. It fired up ok, but by default it needed a rebuild. I just don't have the time for a huge project like that, so I found someone that did and made him very, very happy.

Besides - I'm moving away from receivers and gravitating towards integrated amps now. On my radar, a Sansui AU-717......
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Old 02-05-13, 10:33 PM
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Spotted this row of receivers at the flea market on Sunday:



I found this odd pair of ceiling/wall mount satellite speakers at a thrift shop this afternoon and couldn't resist for $1 each. They turned out to be B&W "Ovale," pity the subwoofer wasn't around.

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Old 02-06-13, 01:28 AM
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Originally Posted by bigbossman
Besides - I'm moving away from receivers and gravitating towards integrated amps now. On my radar, a Sansui AU-717......
Got one finally, and I'm almost finished with the rebuild:

A few pics as received (yes, that's a penny between the transformers):














Almost complete:









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Old 02-06-13, 08:28 AM
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Sansui made some great amps, and that's one of them. I just wish they had silver faces.

I was into Sansui equipment before I got into Marantz and now I'm back to Sansui. I'm working on a 5000 receiver right now. It was built in 01/68, so it's one of their first solid state receivers. It looks almost like new, including the walnut case. They had a couple of poorly designed boards that could cause runaway overheating. They could even be a fire hazard. There was a recall to replace those boards. A tag shows that mine was done in 1981. It's has a brighter sound than the Marantz receivers. My wife prefers it to them. I haven't decided yet.
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Old 02-06-13, 08:41 AM
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Originally Posted by bigbossman
Got one finally, and I'm almost finished with the rebuild:

A few pics as received (yes, that's a penny between the transformers):
Nice job cleaning it up/refurbing. Man, those phenolic boards look nasty; always hated those things.
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Old 02-06-13, 12:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Pars
Nice job cleaning it up/refurbing. Man, those phenolic boards look nasty; always hated those things.
Thanks.

That glue that Sansui used is both corrosive and eventually can co conductive over time.

First order of business is to remove all components touching the glue and assume they are bad or will soon fail. In fact, after removal all the glue tainted parts I removed were corroded to some degree, and many fell apart when removed.

Once the board has been vacated of parts you then have to clean off the glue, which generally involves several applications of acetone to soften the glue and careful but thorough scraping to achieve COMPLETE removal. It was a tedious process, and the rebuild of the power supply alone spanned two evenings.

On the PS alone, including the approximately 39 or so capacitors that needed changing, the defective parts total was 64 or so components. Most all the rectifier diodes, the protection relay/diode/transistor, several plain diodes, and a handful of resistors and other small signal transistors were all partially corroded. Of course the power regulator transistors and zener's, too.

All that remains now is to remove and replace the main filter caps ($25 each ). Once that's done I'll replace the DC offset and bias pots, do the final adjustments, and button it up.

This AU-717 sounds pretty sweet right now, and I look forward to many years of listening enjoyment out of it. It is a beast, but in a very good way.
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Old 02-06-13, 12:19 PM
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Originally Posted by Grand Bois
Sansui made some great amps, and that's one of them. I just wish they had silver faces.

I was into Sansui equipment before I got into Marantz and now I'm back to Sansui. I'm working on a 5000 receiver right now........It's has a brighter sound than the Marantz receivers. My wife prefers it to them. I haven't decided yet.
Yeah - it took me a while to come to terms with the black. I'm a long-time Pioneer fan-boy, and have always loved the silver-face series. Silver and wood grain cabinets just look right, IMO.

Interesting that you say the 5000 is "bright" compared to the Marantz. I rebuilt a Sansui 771 receiver last summer, and it had such a pleasing warm tone that I hated to give it away to my best friend.

I'm moving away from receives and migrating towards integrated amps. I picked up a honey of a Kenwood KA-3500 at the swap meet a few months ago. After a complete rebuild I was into it for only about $30-$35, and flipped it for modest profit to help fund this AU-717.

I like not having to deal with tuner issues.
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Old 02-06-13, 12:21 PM
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Congrats on the nice rebuild. It looked like you must have put in some work cleaning that. Do I spot some Panasonic FMs and looks like some Nichicon Muse caps in there?

I used to have a Marantz 100W/ch integrated, bought new (from Warehouse Sound?) think it was the 1060? Not too impressed with it; the Hafler stuff I replaced it with in the '80s kicked it, and my current Odyssey power amp and Pass preamp kick those to the curb. Both built in the US as well. Initially they (Marantz and then the Hafler) were driving a pair of Infinity Monitors (the ones with the Walsh tweeters). It took a long time for us to pick out the right pair of speakers back then
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Old 02-06-13, 12:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Chris_in_Miami
Spotted this row of receivers at the flea market on Sunday:

That Pioneer on the bottom would be worth snagging, if the price is right.
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Old 02-06-13, 12:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Pars
Congrats on the nice rebuild. It looked like you must have put in some work cleaning that. Do I spot some Panasonic FMs and looks like some Nichicon Muse caps in there?
I like to use Nichicon capacitors - in this case primarily the FW or KW series audio grade. There are two bipolar caps in the power supply, and both of those are Muse. Why? Because that's what Mouser had on-hand in the uf/voltage value I needed.
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Old 02-06-13, 01:22 PM
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Panasonic FMs are usually my favorite if available in the proper uf/voltage required. Very low ESR, 105C rated. I meant Panasonic FCs in the previous post (the blue with gold printing electrolytics). I do use Nichicon, and the Muse series (FW and KW are part of that). I always pick 105C rating if I can get them.
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Old 02-06-13, 05:57 PM
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Originally Posted by due ruote
I've heard really good things about the A70s. Are you happy with them?

Funny, it's been BA week for me. First I found a fairly beat up pair of A60s for $10. Refoamed them and they sound very nice. Then today I picked up a nearly flawless pair of A150s. Just need a re-foam. I'll be very interested to hear them, as I've heard nothing but praise. Pretty big though; that could be an issue, but I couldn't pass them up at about the same price as a foam kit to restore them.
I'm sorry, I didn't see your question until now. The A70s are just okay, but it may be a placement issue. I had to hang them on the wall due to space limitations and some speakers don't sound their best that way. I've got some Magnaplanars that sound like crap unless they're pulled out at least four feet from the wall. I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of space to waste.

My favorite 8" 2 ways are a pair of AR B18 Rock Partners. Despite the unfortunate name, the weird wedge shape and black vinyl covering, they sound great, especially for the acoustic guitar nuevo flamenco I've been listening to lately. I'm looking for a second set so I can stack them. They sell cheap, probably because they're so ugly.

Last edited by Grand Bois; 02-06-13 at 06:06 PM.
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Old 02-06-13, 06:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Grand Bois
I'm sorry, I didn't see your question until now. The A70s are just okay, but it may be a placement issue. I had to hang them on the wall due to space limitations and some speakers don't sound their best that way. I've got some Magnaplanars that sound like crap unless they're pulled out at least four feet from the wall. I don't know about you, but I don't have that kind of space to waste.

My favorite 8" 2 ways are a pair of AR B18 Rock Partners. Despite the unfortunate name, the weird wedge shape and black vinyl covering, they sound great, especially for the acoustic guitar nuevo flamenco I've been listening to lately. I'm looking for a second set so I can stack them. They sell cheap, probably because they're so ugly.
No worries.

I like both the pairs of BA speakers I have. The A60s sound really good in our small kitchen. The A150s blow me away. I'm not an audiophile and I never had a pair of speakers this nice before. They take up some space but are totally worth it imo. And I'm just driving them with a cheapo '90s entry level Pioneer receiver.
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Old 02-06-13, 10:39 PM
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I had a pair of BA car speakers once, forgot the model, but part of a nice system, properly amped, and they blew me away. I've heard BA home speakers too and been impressed. My favorite vintage speakers are A/D/S. Warm, full-bodied sound.
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Old 02-27-13, 07:46 PM
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I'm making a portable speaker suitcase by taking a pair of Technics three ways and putting them into an American Tourister suitcase. Commercial units can be seen here at the boomcase.

I have a Lepai 2020 amp to drive the speakers. It can be run off a 12V battery pack or DC adapter.

Here are my questions to you electronic audio gurus:

I plan to salvage the crossovers, but the suitcase can only accommodate a single 10" woofer, plus the two middies and two tweeters.
Does that mean the woofer should only be fed from the right or left channel but not both, making it mono bass, and stereo in mid and high range?

How critical is porting the suitcase for the woofer?
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Old 07-19-13, 07:48 PM
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I snagged myself a sweet Hammond M3 yesterday. Can't wait to get her into my new place.











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Old 07-19-13, 08:31 PM
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^^^ Has it ever been played? Except for some dust inside, it looks brand new.
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Old 07-20-13, 03:23 AM
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You're right. I don't think it really has. It's so fresh that the keys and switches don't even feel broken in. A weird feeling on an instrument from 1958.
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Old 07-22-13, 09:20 PM
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I've been acquiring a bunch of stereo gear over the past year or so...

This past weekend I scored a set of pre-1968 Rectilinear III speakers. They're in outrageously good shape- and I can't believe how nice these sound.









I decided to pair the Rectilinears with my Advent Loudspeakers. They compliment each other perfectly. I was very underwhelmed with the Advents. I got them from an estate sale- they'd been refoamed- poorly, so I had them redone and they still underwhelmed me. While I was rearranging speakers to get stuff set up- I set the Advents on the floor- WOW. All the difference in the world. I had them stacked at about chest height- they sounded bright, beamy and anemic. On the floor- they pound. I've been listening to Physical Graffiti non-stop with this set up. I'm at a toss up between the Sansui and the smaller Pioneer SX838. Probably going to put the big Pioneer on CL.


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Old 07-23-13, 06:57 AM
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Originally Posted by The Golden Boy
I've been acquiring a bunch of stereo gear over the past year or so...

This past weekend I scored a set of pre-1968 Rectilinear III speakers. They're in outrageously good shape- and I can't believe how nice these sound.









I decided to pair the Rectilinears with my Advent Loudspeakers. They compliment each other perfectly. I was very underwhelmed with the Advents. I got them from an estate sale- they'd been refoamed- poorly, so I had them redone and they still underwhelmed me. While I was rearranging speakers to get stuff set up- I set the Advents on the floor- WOW. All the difference in the world. I had them stacked at about chest height- they sounded bright, beamy and anemic. On the floor- they pound. I've been listening to Physical Graffiti non-stop with this set up. I'm at a toss up between the Sansui and the smaller Pioneer SX838. Probably going to put the big Pioneer on CL.


Good idea with the floor placement on the Advents!

I ran them stacked for years and everyone was very impressed with the sound quality.

Except for my wife.

Too much floor real estate being used by "those darn speakers" in her living room.

The neighbors certainly knew when I had picked up a couple of new albums at the record store......
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Old 07-25-13, 07:10 AM
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Originally Posted by gomango
Good idea with the floor placement on the Advents!

I ran them stacked for years and everyone was very impressed with the sound quality.

Except for my wife.

Too much floor real estate being used by "those darn speakers" in her living room.
Thanks G.

Placement makes a huge difference. You can read it all the time, but until you experience it- you just don't quite get it.

"Too much floor real estate..." that's my problem. I guess it says something that I've acquired "too much" stuff to effectively place on the floor and use properly. I want to use the Marantzes- so I did some rearranging.




I stacked the Marantzes on the Advents, and turned them upside down so the tweeter was a little lower, they're really bright at chest level. I removed the big Pioneer and moved the little Pioneer to the lower level- it's not hooked up. The CD and tape deck aren't hooked up yet- everything has been run through the iPod or the laptop.
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