lotek 

Bossman, in terms of music Jimmy was the little brother, although he's no slouch either.
THink I'm just going to get some new Cardas wire and spend a few hours with the soldering iron

seypat

+1 and a half! Kim Wilson can rock with the best of them. Unfortunately, he was photogenically challenged and that is what derails more talented musicians than anything else.

rekmeyata

No, I never seen them, I sure would of liked to though. I do have a CD of theirs just simply called The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

Actually it was Stevie's older brother that played for them, he taught Stevie how to play.

bigbossman 

Went garage sailing today, and picked up a minty copy of an album I've been looking for on and off since I left home in 1982.....



Picked up some vintage Dr. John and John Mayall, too.

BlankCrows

I really don't know much about vintage audio equipment, but I do know that sometimes the pretty old stuff has more value than the price it is for sale for, so I figured the $5 thrift store cost was worth taking a flyer on this old Technics RS-1500US 2-Track reel-2-reel beast. Now, to figure out how and if it works is perhaps an even tougher task for me.

Hopefully I can at least double my investment on this thing......

rekmeyata

That's a very nice reel 2 reel recorder. There's one on E-bay as we speak trying to get $900!! The recording and sound quality of those were fantastic, so fantastic that it rivals, if not beats, digital recordings!! Problem with tape is that it wears out the more you play it, but it does take a while, and tape was subject to dropouts if it got near a magnetic source like speakers.

I have a friend that has a Technics 1/2 inch reel 2 reel in his recording studio, he masters all of his recordings onto tape then onto digital format or analog if he's going to put onto vinyl. He says the tape sounds better then mastering it into digital, and I believe it because he's demonstrated it for me dong a A B comparison.

I think that machine used 1/2 inch tape, maybe 1/4, but I'm pretty sure it was 1/2. This stuff is still available on the market, mostly on E-bay brand new unopened boxes of tape. Problem is with a home user like me or maybe you is what to use it for. If you're into vinyl I use to record the new record onto tape then saved the record and use the tape, then when the tape got a bit worn just re-record the record back onto new tape.

Now if only they would remake Polaroid Land type 48 black and white film again, that format took fantastic B & W photos.

Poguemahone

I swore I wouldn't buy any audio equipment unless it was a sufficent upgrade or something I could flip. New downstairs turntable, Technics Sl-1360, nice upgrade over the Sl-220 down there now.



Ten bucks, with a Shure stylus. Guess I'll trade the sl220 for something.

Of course, it doesn't play this weekend's finds, a nice pile of 1990s/2000s CDs-- Wilco, Sleater/Kinney, Iggy Pop, the first Television album (remasterd cd with bonus tracks, I've got the lp as well), Amiee Mann, etc. But you can't have everything in this world.

bigbossman 

^^^ Sweet!

I just picked up a very clean Pioneer TT at the local thrift for $15, and now another nice Pioneer PL-115D just got posted on CL for $10. Must resist...... I have three nice TT's already.

Grand Bois

That Technics 1500 R2R above is a holy grail deck. It's worth big bucks if it works and the heads aren't worn out. There's a company that restores and customizes them and sells them for $4k and up.

I'm into Teacs myself. I have four now, an A-2300SX, an A-4070GSL, an A-3300SR and an A-3300SX2T. I got them all cheap because they didn't work. The only thing wrong with them was that the 35 year old grease on the moving parts had turned to glue. I replaced it with the same Park grease that I use on my bikes and they work great. Just like with vintage bikes, there are lots of them out there that were bought and sat unused.

WNG

Great turntable score. Love those old direct drive Technics.

rekmeyata

Correct. Some of those older turntables with belt drives and no electronics used good size motors and my early 70's Rotel RP1000 turntable only ever needed a belt change...no grease. I did buy it used so not sure if they greased it or not, but the belt was replaced at that time. It's not a high end turntable but it seems to play and sound quite nicely though through my JBL L7's powered by a MacIntosh MC275 amp on the mids and highs and a HK 2400 amp for the base. I did do something weird, I removed the original Audio Technica cart and replaced it with a Grado Gold which really made a big difference. Funny, the Grado cart is worth more the the turntable!! But it made it sound better. I also replaced the original RCA cables with Monster M850 RCA cables which had some small improvement but they were cheap and the original RCA's were brittle feeling so I felt they needed to go.

lotek 

damn you all...just when I thought I was out.
I've been very quietly looking for a Revox r2r recorder.
I'm looking at a used Thorens Td160 turntable, I already have an AR
and a Visonik (had it since 1977).

mandrake

Which AR? I have an ES-1 (and am keeping it).

lotek 

I think it's an XA, maybe XB it's packed away and not working, another
'pro-ject' (pun intended!)

Marty

curbtender

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/boa/2663189602.html
Classic Wooden Runabout Boat - $6500 (santa rosa)

Otis

Since this thread will not die and we're talkin' Thorens. Here's my 125 II with custom cabinet:



And a Empire 598 that was "destroyed" in shipping stripped down and put in a custom cab for a dedicated mono system:

mandrake

With my favorite jazz label on the table.

rekmeyata

Wow! if I was into boats I would be all over that beauty.

x136 

The last time I saw this thread, I was idly looking for a stereo for the garage. Found one a few months ago:



Late-70s-ish Sony STR-V45. Nothing fancy, but after a thorough bath in Deoxit, it works pretty well driving a pair of less-vintage JBL Northridge E30s. Not bad for $20.

rekmeyata

There was a sweet Kenwood KX 830 cassette deck on sale on my CR local listings but like the reel to reel situation I no longer have a need or use for one, plus I have a HK one now I rarely use, so I passed.

WNG

I picked up an interested piece this past weekend at the local Goodwill. A bunch of stuff came rolling out from the back and I recognized a brand among the stacked audio gear.
Wasn't sure what it's for but at $12, I was taking it home to find out.
It's a dbx 400x source routing switch. It was the only high end piece on the cart. Usually you don't connect dbx components to mid-fi gear. I should return to take another recon.

It's actually sitting atop a Kenwood active 12" sub I also picked up there for $15. It's not C&V gear though. Not sure where to use them yet. They would get ruined in an AZ garage so no custom man cave sound system for me.

Roypercy

Great thread. I was into vintage audio before I recently started getting interested in C&V bikes (although I was riding a '74 Super Course MkII for years, so maybe that's not really true.) I've been through a lot of gear in different setups and combinations over the years, and have taught myself how to do basic maintenance/repairs. My system right now is pretty stable, haven't felt the need to upgrade for quite a while:

Hitachi HA-610 Integrated Amp
Kenwood KA-7300 tuner
Sony PSX70 Turntable
Akai GXC-709D tape deck
Sony-DVP-NC875V DVD player for CD and SACD playback
and a big honkin' pair of University Classic Dual 12 speakers

Like a lot of people here, I really enjoy good analog sound; it's just better to my ears. Plus, it's been possible to find great vintage gear for very little through thrift shops and CL, which has helped me, as my wife points out, assemble the sytereo I couldn't possibly afford when I was a teenager in the 70s.

BTW, (going back to the OP, although it's probably moot now) refoaming speakers is not hard at all, and considerably cheaper than having someone do it. There are plenty of places online where you can find instructions and supplies.

rat fink

dbx is generally used for DJ and recording equipment. The quality of their equipment varies, but the resale can be pretty strong. I've had a fair few pieces from them, and some have surprised me. Much of their equipment is actually quite obsolete, but occasionally musicians will re-purpose the units by adding them to their signal chain. I once had a unit that was a total one trick pony, basically a octave/frequency shifter that could shift low frequencies one or two octaves lower. Well, it turned out that that model had gained wide acceptance in the acid techno genre and they were now worth some money. Your source routing switch reminds me of my tape route selector, a glorified tape switch. I couldn't figure out what good it was for, and what it could do that the right mixer couldn't do better, but the dang thing sold for $50. Not bad. Their compressor/limiters, EQs, and crossovers are probably their most useful stuff. For what it's worth, pretty much any rack mount audio gear has value.

...Just thinking about that stuff makes my miss all my old racks from my DJ and home studio days.

rat fink

You know, on the topic of old ways being the best, check out one of my most recent acquisitions:




A mostly restored Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer.

rat fink

I don't think I've shared these here yet. I made one a few months ago, and made another last weekend. They are so nice to have because the make the album selection process easier and more fun:






If anyone wants the plans, I can post them here.