Otis

Did somebody say Thorens. here's my 125 MKII with homemade maple plinth.



My other fave for mono and shellac:

byrdwyngs

And I'm one of them. But back in those days I couldn't afford both really nice bikes, and really good stereo gear. I chose bikes, and still have several of them. Most of my vintage audio gear has come from eBay over the last 5 years or so.

bigbossman 

One thing you could always count on then (maybe now, but I don't follow audio gear any more) what that the best speakers and amplifiers came from or were designed domestically. Nobody built clean sounding power supplies like the U.S.

byrdwyngs

That 125 is a beauty. The SME 3009 arm is pretty sweet too. A very tough combo to beat. That Empire isn't too shabby either.

lotek 

geez, take a few days off and look what happens, the audio asylum comes to Cranky&Vintage.
I love it.
I don't think it's a problem with the volume pot if the sound is cutting out and not fading.
Sounds more like an intermittent, I'd look at the speaker outputs on the receiver as a possible culprit
too.
I'm running Visonik turntable, into an Acurus DIA100 amp with Sonus Faber Concerto speakers.
I have a Bottlehead Foreplay preamp waiting for an amplifier to plug into and I just bought
an AR ES turntable that needs rewiring. Fun stuff.
Over at Audio Asylum I'm Lotek ( imagine that) though I haven't posted in ages.

marty

cb400bill

We aren't Cranky. At least, not till someone Drews up a nice bike frame.

lotek 

sounds better than Retrogrouch central

jazz567

I agree that it sounds like a dirty/worn volume pot is the culprit. +1 on the advice to use a spray contact cleaner to flush out the innards of the pot, and then follow up with a lubricant made for the job. I've done that many times for old gear (stereos, guitar amps, etc) and it works great, unless the pot is just too worn out.

I usually stuff paper towels all around so I reduce the dripping where I don't want it, and then flush out the pot(s) really well with the cleaner. You want to get it in there enough to carry out all the junk as the cleaner runs out.. turn the control around as you are spraying inside. Once thats done just a small spray of the lubricant is all you need.

Good luck

RobbieTunes

If you ever want a high-performance set of bedroom or computer speakers, though, Sony made a model called the SAVA-7 that is pretty amazing. You can only separate them by 5 feet, and you have to have the remote, but each speaker has front, rear, center, and sub in it, plus separate amp sections for each, plus DSP. They went down in flames, marketing-wise because they cost too much. Crutchfield sold them on clearance for $130 and most of their employees snapped 'em up. I use a set at 5K and 10K races at the start/finish line, run an mp3 through them.

RobbieTunes

I agree pretty much. Even in the 80's, they were all about the appearance of good sound. I did have some Pioneer HPM-900's that sounded pretty good, until I heard some AR-1's. I've kind of run the gamut, from Altec Lansing monitors to similar Polk Audio RT-12C's, then dbx Soundfield 1's (kept blowing woofers iwith the 1812 O---crazy days and dbx stopped honoring my warranty). I'm pretty happy with my Klipsch Forte II's, and they are only heard by me, as my family thinks surround sound is where it's at. They don't get into Thelonius Monk, Big Twist, but my 14-year old does join me when I'm playing Johnny Cash...

bent-not-broken

Try audioKarma.org forum to answer any vintage audio questions.

Vintage audio is a good companion to vintage bikes when hunting the thrifts and garage sales. I have almost as much vintage audio gear as I do vintage bikes. I love Japanese bikes and ss audio from the late 70's and early 80's. My current system which retailed in the $2-3000 then, was picked up for less than 1/10 of that in todays dollars.

Pioneer sx 3900 (125 watts)
ADS 1290 Speakers
HK 65C turntable
Pioneer ct 950 tape deck
Onkyo eq 35 equalizer

QuickDraw

I build tube amps as a hobby, mainly Guitar amps, but I've built some of the gear in my hi-fi setup too.


these are the innards of a treble booster that i built using some nice NOS parts.



My main Amp, Vox Ac-30 with some tricks. Guarded by Wookies.



My Martin and my Philco from 1938.

cb400bill

Nice Philco. When I was a teen we inherited a similar GE radio from our grandparents. Lovely cabinets.

QuickDraw

thanks, I bought it at a antique store for $40 the sign said "gut it and put your cd player inside." I restored it instead. The cabinet is really nice, someday if i find a nice Zenith for a good deal, I'll jump on it. They certainly don't make em like they use to.

TL179

I used to have a set of pair of these and a pair of Monitor 5s in my living room. Had to give the sanuis back to a friend when he returned from England, still have the monitors (silver tweeters).

https://www.sansui.us/images/Speakers...s/SP2000_5.jpg

cb400bill

[QUOTE=TL179]

RobbieTunes

I remember those monsters. my roommate had a 9090db and those things. we hooked a casio synthesizer up to the receiver and blew the tweeters in minutes. live and learn.

It is inevitable that C&V cyclists often like C&V audio.
It's interesting.

Caferacernoc

Looking good Quickdraw. I'm a guitar player and an audiophile also. I spend lots of time on diyaudio.com, diystompboxes.com, various tube amp sites........
I like to tinker with that stuff too, of course. Building hi-fi speakers, modding guitar amps and pedals......
To me it's the same as the bikes. And old motorcycles, cars. Building quality stuff that is customized for your personal needs. Stuff that you otherwise can't afford, isn't made anymore, or doesn't exist. Plus, it's great to have something that is one of a kind and be able to say "I built that"!

pacifico

Bill, I've got a line on a pair of those Sansuis that could be had just by asking. They're not that good looking, but they sound great. Very tempting.

My setup right now is a Kenwood KA-900 hooked up to some cheapish Polk towers, JVC QL-A2 with an Empire cartridge, Sanyo T-35 tuner, Denon DCD-520 CDP, and a Sony MDS-JB940 Minidisc deck. I didn't spend more than about $20 for any of these pieces.

As backups I have a little Onkyo receiver from the 80s with an iffy balance pot (need more deoxit) and a Yamaha A-760II that needs a little work, along with a Yamaha double tape deck that I don't really use. I should probably get these fixed/fix them sometime.

Audiokarma.org is a fantastic resource.

Mike Mills

Those are nice. I have lots of classical music which cannot be heard any other way except via a phonograph player. I have many cassette tapes but no way to play them. Luckily, almost the tapes were all made by me which means I have the disk.

I'd forgotten the make/model of my phono cratridge. It is an ADC (Audio-Dynamics?) XLM Improved Mk II.

QuickDraw

I totally agree, I love to tinker with and build things, bikes, audio gear, old cars, my old house. Last night it was hovering around 0 degrees out and i was in my garage working on some old bike parts for a friend. I was having fun doing it too, cold but enjoying it.

lotek 

I failed to mention I have a pair of Allison Acoustics 4's sitting packed in my attic needing
new woofers. I bought them back in 77, along with a Yamaha CR620 receiver and the
above mentioned Visonik turntable and Ortofon M20Super cartridge.

damn, I just found a pair of Allison 1's on the Dallas Craigslist for cheap. My wife would kill me!
Marty

DARTHVADER

i've got an empire 208 with a newer tonearm.
i got a grado sonata cartridge off ebay for $28, needs to be retipped, i'll be doing that in a few months probably...then i'll see what a nice cartridge will do...

i have new tube amps so i guess they are KOF.

lotek 

Did y'all see the thread about the guy who's brother was cleaning out a recently vacated
house and found a pair of CJ Premier 12 amps? talk about your catch of the day. . .

BobHufford

I had one of these from about 1980 (bought it used) until last November when the utility company sent a massive power surge through our house. Did about $1650 worth of damage including a few pieces of my old stereo which was not on a surge supressor (the cable company had bypassed it putting in a new amp and I missed it --doh!). Anyway, the old Sony could not be repaired, the amp (Carver) could and I replaced a power supply on the speaker controller. The utility company paid up, I had the components repaired or replaced (as I'm sentimental if nothing else -- I've had most of this stuff since 1980, if not longer). Current set up:

Carver M-400a "Cube" amp (just rebuilt)
Kenwood Basic C-1 Preamp (temporary replacement -- still shopping)
Sony PS-X55S turntable with Ortofon TM-20 cart
Marantz Model 105 tuner
Marantz CC3000 CD player
KLH-3 speakers (with Analog Bass Computer)
Bose headphones

While shopping for the pre-amp it was very tempting to spiral off into a vintage stereo "hobby". That's that last thing I need ...

Bob